Page 17 of Wayward (Wrecked #4)

Monsoon Bay

Sam

“ W e’ve stopped moving,” Zane whispers to the right of me.

I nod.

I can’t stop thinking of Haley in the hutch. We should have brought her under here with us. And I’ve had enough. I’m not sure the last time I squeezed under a bed, but I definitely had more space when I did. Hide and seek with Charlie, maybe?

“Sam?” Zane whispers.

I hold my hand up to him to say wait, but straighten myself up. Easton’s already at the end of the bed, pulling Haley out of the box. Dante and Zane pop out of the other side of the bed.

“I thought it would be a good space,” Haley whispers and then winces when she tries to put her foot down. “My foot’s asleep.”

Easton picks her up and turns to the bathroom when the door opens.

“Well, I see you all fucking listen well. I said stay hidden. Fuck me,” Thayer growls and shakes his head, closing the door behind him.

“We’ve anchored. I’ve made arrangements for you to be taken to the main building.

My father’s men have their own facilities on the other side of the property.

You’ll need to be out of here fast. Holloway will come get you.

I know this isn’t what you want. But in my own way, I’m keeping you safe.

So don’t fuck me over.” His eyes narrow, and he glides through the door with a click.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to think of him anymore.

Is he even telling the truth? Mostly I have no idea what’s in it for him.

“Sam?” Haley wraps an arm around my waist, rubbing her calf with the other hand. “Are you good?”

“No. But yes. What do you think is in it for him?”

“Thayer?” Her eyebrows rise. “I don’t know. But you know, I don’t think he knows either. He’s like a hurricane, not sure if he’s going to rain down over the coast of Florida or save it all for the Carolinas. Ya know?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect.”

We debate about going back into the closet, but we’re all sick of it and end up sitting and sprawled over the massive bed. Haley’s still trying to stand when the door opens again. We pop up, a wall of men between the door and the bed.

Holloway has a sack over his shoulder. “Here, black clothing to match the rest of the security team.” He tosses it down on the bed and shakes his head.

Like he too can’t figure out how we’re still alive.

“I’ll be back in five minutes. Be ready.

Single file. There are some guns in the bottom of the bag.

” I must have given him a reaction because he laughs.

“No ammo in them. But it would look weird to have a boat full of unarmed guards coming ashore. And Hal, cover up your hair.”

“Got it,” Haley says behind me. I turn to find her still rubbing her leg. Her wide blue eyes hold mine.

“Be ready.” Holloway shuts the door.

Soon, we’re changed and standing with our empty guns strapped to our bodies. Haley found a black T-shirt of Thayer’s and has it wrapped around her sun-bleached hair as a scarf with a ball cap over top of it.

Holloway’s back in the room in no time. “You’re a sorry looking bunch of recruits. But let’s go. Anyone talks to you, you let me do the talking.” Holloway moves over to Calvin. “Do you understand me, Green?”

“I’ve been a good little prisoner.”

“Fuck me. Move.” Holloway opens the door and we’re out.

Through the main salon where the odd wood fire is crackling, out onto the back deck, and down to the swim platform where there’s one guard―the older guard who threw Collins into the water―and the head steward Kennedy.

I step up to the tender. Calvin has already climbed on board.

“What’s wrong with him?” Holloway points at Haley. We’re moving quickly, and Haley’s limping.

“My foot’s asleep.” She lowers her voice, just like she did back on the pirate boat.

“Well, cut it out,” Holloway growls.

“I’m trying,” Haley huffs out.

I step onto the tender and turn back to take Haley’s hand to help her aboard, but she shakes her head.

I drop my hand because she’s right―Thayer’s dad or the security team might be watching.

I take a seat in front of Calvin, moving all the way to the end of the bench. Haley sits next to me and slides down.

“Hurry up.” Holloway glares at Easton, Zane, and Dante. “I’m not sure which I’ll be happier to have gone, you or the damn animals.”

I look back at the Rosewood and at Holloway.

“Penny, my dog?” Fuck, after all of this .

. . to lose Penny now? She’s half of the reason I didn’t lose my mind when I was adrift on the Rock Candy .

I’m trying to forget my drunken nights on board, the hours of spying for a speck of light on the horizon.

Praying that anyone I came across didn’t want to shoot me to salvage the Rock Candy for profit.

“And Pepper?” Haley asks. Haley’s the other half of what kept me alive all those days. Staring at her picture kept me from losing my shit altogether. Hoping, praying that she was okay. Picturing her back in Miami, alive, kept me going through those long days.

“They’re already in the main house. Mr. Z had me bring the two of them there. After the animal shelter picked up the feral cats,” Kennedy says.

My head snaps to Kennedy. “I want her back―them back. Penny and Pepper, not the feral cats,” I say to be clear.

“Good luck getting them back from Esmeralda. When she finds something she likes, she doesn’t let go. She can be a bit―” Kennedy cuts himself off with a look from Holloway.

What the hell does that mean? But I keep my questions to myself. Haley’s more important. As much as I love that damn dog, I’m not putting Haley’s life in jeopardy. We’ll find a way.

I glance across the water to the beach. We’re about three hundred yards out.

At the shore’s edge, there’s a long dock with a boat shed.

Beyond the dock, there are several long flights of wooden stairs up to a structure that climbs the hill.

Pops of red metal roofs flash through the deep foliage.

It’s steep enough that I can’t see the tops of the buildings from this angle. “That’s the main house?”

Dante slides in next to me. Zane sits next to Calvin, and Easton sits in the row in front of us.

“Yes, but you’re not going there,” Holloway says as he boards and takes the tiller from the old guy.

“Good luck.” Kennedy tosses the lines from the Rosewood and we’re off. I’m not sure if his wish is a warning or genuine.

I’m glaring back at Kennedy when Dante catches my attention over Haley’s head. “Esmeralda? She better give us our animals back. We’ll make it happen,” Dante says.

I wish I could be as confident.

Holloway pilots the tender toward the house and its massive dock. There’s a bit of chop in the water. Until we’re over the breakers, water sprays over the pant leg of my too-large pants with each wave.

Haley points at the house on the hillside. “Whoa.”

I’ve seen some mansions in my day. This one goes up the side of a steep cliff.

Each story has a balcony, and every level up steps back.

The structure’s sienna-colored wood glistens in the midmorning light, and the red roofs flash.

If I was cruising by, I’d think it was a private resort, not a family compound.

Once we’re through the breakers, Holloway changes course and veers away from the house and the large dock.

Away from the pristine beach, out of sight of the main house, stands a utilitarian concrete building halfway up the hillside.

There are no glamorous teak stairs here, but rather a well-worn path along an eight-foot-high fence topped with barbed wire.

In the span of a couple hundred feet and a vegetation screen, we’ve gone from an upscale five-star resort to Alcatraz.

There’s a small wooden dock fifty feet or so out from the shore.

It has more missing boards than ones still intact.

I peer over the side of the rubber tender.

The water’s deeper than I thought it would be, twenty feet at least.

Holloway turns the tender to the side and comes along the crumbling dock to a waiting guard.

“How’s your leg?” I rub the lower part of Haley’s calf. “Can you feel it yet?”

“It’s still pins and needles.” She tries a smile. “We need to get Penny and Pepper,” she whispers to me.

“Good luck with that.” Holloway laughs over the outboard engine, stands, and tosses a line to the guard.

Dante’s out first. I step up and around him, turning back to help Haley.

“Why?” Haley steps tenderly on her foot on the dock and winces.

“Here, Sassy. Let me help you.” Dante holds out his hand.

“It’s Hal. And I’ve got it.” She steps on the dock, but Dante’s not moving.

His hand stays stretched out to Haley. They’re having a standoff.

And I know who’s going to win. I step over the row of seats in front of me and up onto the dock next to Easton.

Haley’s climbing out with Dante standing over her.

I take another step back without looking.

There’s a crack. And then I’m through the dock.

Somehow, I have the presence of mind to clutch my hands to my torso as I go down.

Down.

Water.

Seaweed.

Splintering boards follow.

There’s a rock at my feet. Sharp rocks on my leg.

I flail my arms. Splinters of boards mix with seaweed and barnacles.

I turn onto my side and give a few hefty kicks. I’m out from under the shitty dock when I burst through the top of the water. Sputtering.

“Sam!” Haley screams, all discreetness in her voice gone. “Sam.”

“Fuck, Sam, are you okay?” I’m not sure which guy yells it. I am glad to hear that Haley didn’t fall in behind me.

“I’m good.” I bob up and down, grateful to be wearing the too-big shoes.

Coral, barnacle, and rocks claw at my legs.

Flotsam and jetsam swirl around me. I take a few strokes toward the dock but stop short.

There’s no point going back up there. “Get off there. Carefully. I’ll meet you at the shore.

” I switch to shallow strokes, swimming on my back.

“Sam, your arm,” Haley says when I get closer, a concerned edge of panic in her voice.

I don’t have to look to know I’m scraped to hell and full of adrenaline. “Watch where you’re going.”

They’re bunched up on the dock. I turn on my stomach and swim until I can stand―taking my own advice. It’s tough going as the rocks are uneven and I’m fighting clothes that are a few sizes too big for me. I grapple over the wave-battered rocks. Calvin’s wading in to meet me. “I’m good. I’m good.”

“Shut the fuck up and let me help you,” Green says.

I nod and throw my arm over his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“That’s what family is for.” He half carries and half yanks me over a few yards and helps me up to the path where Holloway is keeping everyone else from coming down.

“Let me go.” Haley rips away from Holloway. “Sam, oh god.” She touches my arm and drops to her knees where my pants are sliced open.

“I’m good, Hal.” I stress her name. “Thank you, though.”

“Can you walk?” Holloway hollers from the path.

“Yeah. I can walk.”