Page 25 of Wayward (Wrecked #4)

Tango

Easton

H aley’s lying in the bed, her leg resting on a pile of pillows. Her blue eyes follow me as I cross the room. “You need to get some sleep. I’ll wake you when he gets back.” I pull the blanket up over her body and tuck it under her chin. Just like I remember my mom doing when I was little.

“Don’t you think someone should go after him?” She pushes up on her elbows.

Zane sits on the side of the bed. “No. He’s worked here before, Little Bird. He’s gone to get help. Or something.”

“He could have told us what he was doing.” She takes Zane’s hand.

“Damn straight he could have,” Sam says, pacing by the closed curtains.

Calvin’s in the other room with the lights out and the curtains cracked so he can see the path between the center of the villas. “He didn’t want you to worry,” he calls back at us.

“Yeah, well, he failed at that.” Haley tries to get up. And both Zane and I are there to help her. “I’m going to the bathroom. I can do it, but thank you.”

“You should get some sleep, Haley,” I say.

“Only if you do too.”

I untuck her and help her out of bed. Holding her elbow, I steady her into the bathroom, then close the door and let her have some privacy.

Zane and Sam have wandered out to the living room.

Parking my ass on the edge of the bed, I wait for her to come out.

This is so fucked. We should take our chances and head to the police.

But then, I know enough about guys like Ed and his son.

They take what they want, and damn the rest of society.

“You okay?” Haley hobbles out of the bathroom.

I rush to her side. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

“We’re going to be okay.” She squeezes my hand, and I help her back into bed.

I nod. Because I wish I could be as confident as she is. I click out the lights. “I’ll be in soon.”

I head back into the main room and sprawl over the far end of the sofa, glancing at Zane and Sam. Haley’s not the only one angry at Dante. We’re all fighting off sleep, but there’s a buzz in the room. A pulse that says Holloway could find us at any minute.

“Dante’s here,” Calvin says. He thuds over to the main door and moves the chair from under the handle. He waits, bent over, looking out the peephole. The lock clicks and Calvin opens the door―Dante steps into the room. It’s seven a.m.

“Where the hell did you go?” I’m the first to say it. We circle Dante; all of us have our arms crossed over our chests―a quartet of fathers about to give the misguided teen consequences for missing curfew.

Dante laughs―fucking laughs. “I’ve been out, Dad.

” He’s got a black backpack and an armful of plastic grocery bags with paper bags inside them.

“Here.” He thrusts a fist full of bags at me.

The contents smell fucking delicious. “To get what we wanted, I had to wait until the restaurant closed. And . . . where’s Sassy? ”

“I’m here.” Haley emerges from the bedroom using various furniture pieces to get across the room.

“I’ve got some painkillers for your ankle and an Ace bandage.”

“Thanks, but where did you go? I was really worried.” Haley pulls the resort robe tighter around her waist.

“I went to the restaurant I worked at when I lived here. The owner is an ass, but he’s just the kind of ass we need.

He’s got great food and stays open until there are no more customers.

Midnight or five a.m., he doesn’t care. Word got out I was there, and things got busy.

” Dante puts the other bags down on the table and takes off his backpack.

“And it took a while for the place to clear out enough to ask Anan for what we really need.”

“And that is?” Sam asks.

“Passports.” Dante sits, and it’s only now I realize he’s wearing black scrubs instead of the security clothes Holloway gave us on the Rosewood .

“Food, clothes, and maybe a way off the island. That part is still a little up in the air.” He tosses some colorful Thai currency on the table.

“But he paid my take for tonight, or last night, whatever it is. Don’t get too excited.

That 5,000 Baht is about a hundred and fifty USD.

” He pulls Haley into his arms. “I need to sleep.” He kisses the top of her head. “Have you slept, Sassy?”

“No.” She leans on him.

“Well, we all need to sleep. But maybe we eat first?” Dante takes containers out of the bag. There’s enough to feed twenty people. He passes chopsticks around and tosses a fork at Calvin―who growls and grabs a pair of chopsticks from the pile.

Haley moans over the top of her container. “Holy hell, Dante. This is amazing.” And the rest of us stop eating and watch her. She glances up. “You better eat, or I’ll eat all of yours.”

“There you go, Sassy. I love a woman that isn’t afraid to eat something large,” Dante says.

“No, you love that woman,” I correct.

“Touché.” Dante raises his container at me. “I stand corrected.”

We all eat, trading containers until we can’t take another bite.

Dante leans back. “Right, now we sleep, and then sometime this afternoon we need to take pictures and get them printed for our new passports.”

Haley tilts over and places her head in my lap. I’m happily petting her hair away from her face when I turn to Dante. “Where are we getting these pictures taken?”

“Here.” He pulls a smartphone from his back pocket and tosses it to me.

I turn it over. It’s brand new, and it’s on.

“It’s not on a cellphone plan, but we can connect it to the Wi-Fi. You know, if you want to do a little deep dive into your family over the last year.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.

Haley sits up. “Are you ready?”

I’m still staring at the phone. Am I? I’m not sure. “What’s the Wi-Fi password?” I say, looking at Zane. He’s got the resort info book open again. He tells me, and I put it in. I’m shaking while I open a search engine.

“Where did you get the phone?” Haley asks Dante while she settles into the crook of my arm.

“Anan’s got a drawer full of them. That was one of the only ones unlocked and charged enough.”

I’m tuning them out as I type in Dad’s name.

The list populates the first few articles about things at Rockwell-Harding.

But far down the page it goes into the Rock Candy being lost, and then there are the pictures I was hoping existed.

My sister is wearing a life vest and being pulled onto a cargo ship.

There are pictures of Dad too. But those are a hell of a lot scarier.

He’s strapped to a stretcher like they put you on after a car crash, and he’s being hoisted above the water.

It’s a picture, but I can almost feel the stretcher he’s lying in swinging back and forth onto the ship.

Then there’s a picture of him from a few weeks ago in front of the headquarters sign at the New York office. He looks old.

I close that article and click on one about Emily.

That’s a page down. She’s standing in our dining room in Miami.

There’s a navigational chart behind her.

It takes up the full wall. Attached to it are pictures connected with string, like she’s on a murder mystery show.

Emily looks like shit. Her hair isn’t combed, and she has dark circles under her eyes.

“They were rescued,” Haley says softly.

I hold Haley’s stare. Her eyes are glistening.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I skim through the rest of the article about Emily.

There are a few more pictures. “Isn’t this Shayla, the other stew?

” I hold it for Haley to see. Shayla is sitting on the silk sofa next to Emily in the formal sitting room in our Miami house.

“It is. She looks so good.” Haley stares at the phone. And I know she’s talking about Shayla because Emily looks like she needs to sleep for a month. Guilt washes over me. She’s been looking for us, for me. Not that I was intentionally keeping myself from them. Not until now.

I squeeze Haley’s hand and turn to Dante. “Your friend is going to be able to help us get out of here, and fast?” I need to get back to them. Let them know I’m okay. That they can relax. It’s so tempting to just log in to my company email and shoot them a message.

“What are you doing, Rockwell? I see that look in your eyes. Don’t get us killed.” Dante reaches for the phone, but I angle it away from him and pass it to Zane.

“No. I’m not doing anything. My sister, my dad, the whole other raft was rescued.

They were at sea for a long while. My dad took the hardest hit .

. . other than Candy.” They all nod. But Sam has the same scowl on his face when anyone mentions Candy.

He has a good reason to be upset with her and my dad.

They made Anders take the tender out when it wasn’t safe.

It’s remarkable that Dad and Anders made it out alive, from what Calvin has explained to me.

“Anyone else want to check on their family?” Zane says, holding the phone up.

“Are you checking on your sister and mother? Or the soccer scores from last year?”

Zane lifts his head, his smile bright. “All three?”

“And how are they?” I ask.

“It looks like they’re fine. I made a fake account on Insta. Anyone else want to check social media?” Zane holds the phone up.

“I’ve already checked in on the other raft and my sister and mother.” Dante picks up Haley’s almost empty container and eats the last bites before dropping it into an empty bag on the floor. “That’s damn good.”

“Because you’re an amazing chef,” Haley says and yawns. “Sorry, how are you not falling over?” She cocks her head toward me.

“You promised me you were going to go to sleep, Firefly.”

“I’m asleep already. I have to be dreaming. I’m here with all of you in a nice air-conditioned resort with a big cozy bed.” She nuzzles into my arm.

I extract her from my arm, stand, and carefully carry her across the room into one of the bedrooms off the living room.

Zane pulls down the covers, and I place her in the middle of the bed.

She pats the spot next to her. And there’s nothing I want to do more than crawl in beside her.

But Calvin’s whispering to Dante in the other room.

I’m not excited about trusting Dante’s old boss.

A guy who can get us fake passports and has a drawer full of cell phones.

The kind of guy who runs a business until first thing in the morning.

We might need him, but I don’t like it. Zane kisses her temple and slips back into the main room.

“We’ll be right in. I should clean up a bit,” I say.

“You sound like me.” Haley smiles.

“That’s a good thing.” I pull the door partially closed.

“Easton?” Haley calls.

“Yeah?”

“Get the truth out of Dante. I know he doesn’t want to scare me. But anyone who’s selling passports? That’s the same sort of person who would easily sell us out.”

“I know, Firefly. I know. I will.”

“Good. Because I’m not as tired as I thought.” She pulls the robe off from under the covers and tosses it on the ground.

“Haley,” I growl. “Go to sleep.” But I sure as hell hope that she’s awake when I come back. I close the door, and four heads turn toward me. “Keeping things from her isn’t going to help in the long run.”

“He’s right,” Sam says. He’s sitting in one of the dining room chairs pulled up to the coffee table.

Dante and Zane are on the sofa. Calvin’s in the lone swivel chair.

“You trust this guy?”

“Anan?” Dante asks. “Enough. Passports aren’t his money maker, more of a side hustle to his side hustle.

He’s a talented chef. He’s been offered head chef positions at all the major resorts.

Or at least that’s his brag. He makes his money with gambling and collections and the restaurant―it’s more than a front.

It’s his passion. Honestly, he’s the only person I’ve ever met who sleeps less than me.

He’d be bored without all the underworld shit he does. ”

“I don’t like it,” Sam says.

“Then we go to the police,” I retort.

“No.” Zane taps Ed’s file with his foot.

“Okay . . . okay, no.” I nod. I’ve been around plenty of rich assholes who think they can pay to get out of anything. Ed has firepower. “We get somewhere safer first. New York, Miami. Somewhere my dad can have hired guns to protect us.”

Calvin’s eyebrows shoot up. “Do we know your dad’s not in on this?”

“Fuck you, Green. My dad isn’t trying to kill me, or you.

He might have been mixed up in some shit, but he’s not a killer.

He would never have hurt anyone. Especially Emily.

” I didn’t like him with Candy, but he loved her.

“You can see it by the look on his face. Back when she was alive and again by the haggard look of him in all the current photos.”

“Sorry.” Green holds my stare.

Sam picks up the folder. “Damn it, I don’t like it. But this list is awfully convincing. Though there’s a hell of a lot of lines with NY on them. Still, we should head home.”

There’s a twist of my stomach. We’re going to get there.