Page 27 of Wayward

“If I’m going to understand the charts and his logbook,veneed more light.”

“Fine,” Holloway says.

The Rosewood’s captain opens the door next to the wheelhouse. It’s a large office with a closed interior door toward the aft of the boat, and his cabin. He moves a few things from his desk and puts the ones he brought in down. I place the ones on my stack down on top.

He flips through the charts until he finds the right one, where the Rock Candy lost power. “Here?” The Rock Candy is marked on the map. His hand slides down from where he pointed, down the side of the chart to the edge where it’s stamped with a rose. He holds his finger next to the rose, where a name is printed.Captain Haakon Lindholm.He glares up at me. And it takes a minute.

Fuck, yes!

I give a single nod. And do my best not to jump up and down.

Chapter 12

Chow Boss

Dante

It’s been at least three hours since Sam left. Calvin’s taken over watch, and I’m fighting with Penny for a few inches of bed. And when she kicks me in the groin in her sleep, dreaming of chasing a rodent, I'm sure, I roll off the bed and pull on some clothes. I don’t give a fuck about the cameras. Never have. I make my way over to the porthole. Calvin’s leaning next to the door, his ear almost pressed against the wall. There’s a sliver of pink across the horizon. But there’s more than that?there are lights. They’re far away, but it’s too soon to know if I’m looking at a swath of tankers, an island, or a main body of land.

“What?” Green’s at my side before I can say anything. “Fuck.” I can see the wheels turning in his head. “Everybody up. We’ve got lights outside.”

Zane jumps out of bed. Easton’s slower, but Sassy? Sassy bolts past me like a cheetah, her oversized Rosewood pajamas slipping down her waist as she does. “Land, land? That’s fantastic.”

I curl my fingers around her shoulder. I don’t want to squash her excitement, but this isn’t going to be good.

“Wait, where’s Sam?” Sassy pivots from the lights out the porthole, her hands landing on my chest.

“Holloway came and got him. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” I give her shoulders a squeeze.

She nods because, really, what else can she do?

“It’s early, Sassy. Go back to sleep.”

“I’m not tired, but I can try. Have you slept?”

“Some.” I eye our four-legged bed hog, who’s now sitting pretty like she didn’t do anything, leaning against Haley’s hip. “Come here, Sassy, let’s snuggle.” I take her hand and lead her back to the bed. There is a pounding on the door, and it swings open.

“Chef?” one of the unnamed guards says. There’s another guard in the hall.

“Yeah?” I straighten my shoulders, but Haley’s clamped onto my hand.

“Come with me.”

I kiss the top of Sassy’s head. “Love you.”

Green’s blocking the door. “What do you want with him?”

“Move.” The guard puts his hand on his gun.

Green steps to the side, and I head out. It dawns on me that he’s the same guard I tempted with my pesto alla Genovesa. “So, where are we going?” I ask, though I have a pretty good idea. We’re up one flight and halfway down the main body of the ship.

“Here.” He nods.

The galley. My home, normally. But this one’s been set up by a blind mongoose. What the hell? There’s shit all over the counters. Bins of lentils next to flour, a tray of twenty-five different hot sauces, and mounds of dirty pots in the sink. “Great, why am I here?”

“I told Z about your pesto all genie?”

“Genovesa.”