Page 13

Anchor

I walked Pearl up the winding trail back toward the cabins. I hadn’t let go of her hand the entire way.

“You okay?”

I finally asked, my voice low.

She nodded slowly.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be okay again.”

That gut-punched me harder than I expected.

“I didn’t want you caught up in this, doll. You were supposed to paint some walls, maybe have a little fun, and go home.”

She let out a shaky breath.

“Yeah, well. Welcome to Skull Island, right?”

I managed a dry chuckle. She had guts. I’d give her that.

The cabins came into view, and her windows glowed faintly with warm light. Bernice’s was dark. Pearl’s porch light was on, casting a soft yellow arc onto the steps. The peacefulness of it felt like a goddamn lie after what we’d just seen.

I didn’t want to let her go yet. I didn’t want her sleeping alone, with her head full of dead bodies and club secrets.

But I also knew I wasn’t good at comfort.

Still, I hesitated when we reached her steps. She stopped, looked up at me.

“I can’t tell if I should be afraid of you,”

she whispered.

I stared at her.

“You’re not.”

“How do you know?”

“Because if I meant you harm, you’d already be gone, Pearl.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. I regretted saying it the second it came out.

“Shit,”

I muttered.

“That didn’t come out right.”

“No,”

she said quietly.

“it didn’t. But I get it.”

She turned to go inside, and I didn’t stop her.

I should’ve gone back to the clubhouse, but I didn’t.

I walked the perimeter of the cabins twice, then made my way to the lake and sat down on the old bench near the shore. The wind blew steady off the water, cool and damp. The trees whispered in the dark.

Something was wrong. More wrong than just two dead bodies. Someone was trying to send a message, and I had no fucking idea who it was or why.

KOAMC carved into the first guy.

The second body was his girlfriend. Same letters carved in.

It was like someone was trying to frame us. Or taunt us.

Either way, it was personal.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out and saw a message from Piney:

DOC’S DONE.

I stared out at the black water and ground my teeth.

Someone had killed them and dumped their bodies here, and they’d done it recently.

That meant they were close.

Still watching.

Still waiting.

By the time I made it back to the clubhouse, most of the guys had turned in. Cross was passed out on the couch in front of the TV. Post was doing inventory in the back. Skull was smoking behind the bar, with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Anything new?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Just ghosts and dumbass teenagers.”

“Where’s Prime?”

“He went to talk to his contact at the docks. See if anyone’s moved through who shouldn’t have.”

I nodded, poured myself a glass of whiskey, and took it to the far end of the bar.

Skull watched me for a minute before stepping closer.

“You think this is random?”

“No.”

“Same.”

“I also don’t think it’s a warning,”

I added.

“Not exactly.”

Skull frowned.

“What then?”

I looked at him.

“I think someone’s testing us. Seeing how far they can push before we break.”

His jaw clenched.

“Then they’re about to find out we don’t fucking break.”

I downed my whiskey and stood.

“Keep an eye on things. I’m gonna go over the footage for a bit.”

Skull nodded.

“Holler if you need anything.”

I sat in the surveillance room, flipping through camera angles, double-checking gates, access points, docks, windows. Looking for something, anything, we missed.

Around three a.m., I switched over to the feed near Pearl’s cabin.

She was asleep. At least, the porch was dark, and no movement lit up the sensors. But I still stared at the screen, like somehow I’d see her heartbeat flicker in the static.

It wasn’t right that she was involved.

It wasn’t safe.

But it wasn’t avoidable now, either.

She’d seen too much.

And that meant someone could target her next.

Someone already had, even if they hadn’t known it.

That body had been left for us to find, and Pearl had found it.

That felt intentional.

And if someone was watching the island, waiting for our reaction… they’d seen hers too.

My hands curled into fists.

I wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.

Not while she was under my roof.

Not while I was breathing.