No, Clover. Just no.
“You three don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m not foolish. I understand that I might be in danger, but it’s not going to find me here. And I need this vacation. I need it to...” I take a breath before I tell them the exact reason I’m here. I would rather eat a bag of coal than let them know the real reason I’m here. And as long as they don’t know about the boxer brief heist, I’m safe.
“Look. I’m going out to have a drink with my friend Harry. I’m going to dance, have a good time, and be safe while doing it.”
“Your friend Harry is no longer on the island,” Nolan says calmly, but there’s a harsh undertone in the way he says Harry’s name.
Chapter Ten
Clover
Surely they’re just joking. They must be. Right?
I narrow my eyes at them. They look dead serious. I don’t believe them.
As calmly as I can, I continue to move toward the door. No, my hand does not tremble when I turn the knob and open the door. And no, my legs don’t tremble as I step out into the corridor.
I’m met with an eerie silence. Like we’re the only people here. Normally, the corridors are full of people coming and going into their rooms, but now there’s no one.
I spin around and face the three reasons my heart is a broken mess before I rush toward the balcony and peer over the railing.
There is no one out there. The pleasure island is completely empty. No people at the bar. No music, loud chatter, and laughter. Nothing. No neon lights strung around trees, flickering.
“No,” I say slowly. “No, no, no.”
I turn and go back inside, speechless. The realization slips in hard and fast. I truly am the only guest here. And no, these three banes of my existence don’t count as guests, since the qualifying factor to be a guest is to be human.
“Where,” I ask slowly and carefully, pronouncing each word with emphasis so there’s no confusion about my question. “Is everyone?” But the controlled calm I forced upon myself slips and explodes. I gesture wildly toward the balcony.
“There should be an entire resort out there. With people. Real people. Drinking, laughing, having fun, hooking up. “Where are they? Where is everyone?”
No. They couldn’t have. They wouldn’t have. Why would they?
“Did you—“ I stop, because the thought sounds insane even in my own head. Then I say it anyway.
“Did you clear the island?” But I answer the question myself. “You cleared the island.” I double over in shock and alarm, my thoughts swimming in a sea of chaos.
“You kicked out every single person... from an entire resort because of me?” But I was brought room service. My meals were left outside my door. And it tasted delicious.
Kellan speaks, his voice hard, as if I had forced him to answer a stupid question. “A necessary precaution.”
I blink.
“A necessary precaution,” I repeat, nodding. I turn to look out at the balcony, then at them. Then back at the beach again, just to confirm it’s so aggressively empty, it’s a ghost island. Then I have a complete and utter breakdown, a fine one, one that will go down in the books, one they will remember forever.
“And you thought I would be safer with you three alone on an island a million miles away from home than I would with a madman who wants to chop off my fingers so he can send them to my brother? I take it that’s what he threatened to do, right? But you thought that was a better idea?” I shriek.
“It’s not. I’m leaving. I don’t care if I have to walk off the island, but I’m leaving.”
I bend to pick up the purse I had dropped onto a chair just before discovering I was being held hostage on an island by their psychopaths.
And just when I’m at my angriest, my dress decides now is a good time to slip and expose my bra. Luckily, it was just a bit of the red lace, but when I look up, I’m stunned to find their expressions have changed. They’re looking at me with darkened eyes, their hands clenched.
I swallow, and instinct has me moving back a little.
“What are you wearing, Clover?” Nolan asks.
What a weird question.
