I exchange a look with Yosh. He stares back, just as shocked.
Yosh coughs. “What the hell happened?”
Erin scans the place, then drags a chair over and settles in beside him.
“There’s an ongoing police investigation into drug smuggling on the island. Arcadia’s been on their radar for a while, that’s why they raided the place last Monday. Apparently, Terrence was bringing cocaine in through the beach. Raynor would pick it up out on the water, and Terrence made sure it moved through the front door without raising suspicion. I never would’ve guessed the two of them were working together.”
Yosh falls quiet, and I can’t tell what’s going through his head. Would he have known? I mean,Raynor is Deep Diver,his fuck buddy of two years. Maybe there were signs?
Then something hits my mind.
“When the police interrogated me, they asked me questions that didn’t add up. Like if I used cocaine, and if I’d caught something strange at the beach during my stay. It all makes sense now.”
Erin’s head snaps toward me. “Really? They questioned you about that?”
I nod, replaying last Sunday and Monday in my mind. All this time, I’d assumed everything was connected. It made perfectsense; the drugs in Yosh’s drink, the raid the next day. But apparently, I’d got it wrong.
Terrence had no idea that when he’d drugged Yosh, the clinic would be under investigation within hours.
Two separate incidents lining up perfectly. Or maybe not? If life in society’s underclass taught me anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as both coincidence and perfection. It’s always one or the other. So which was this? Pure chance, or too perfect to ignore?
I look at Erin. She rests her hand on Yosh’s shoulder in a way I do not like at all. Especially when her fingers dig possessively into his shirt.
“I have to go. I’m having dinner with my cousins. Take some time to reconsider the position. I’ll call you this week, sweetie.”
She kisses Yosh goodbye, then gives me one last look.
“Safe trip home, Tom.”
I scoff once she’s out of earshot. That sounded a bit too insisting.
Yosh rubs his eyes with the heels of his palms, letting out a frustrated sound.
“How am I ever going to tell her I’m in a relationship with you?”
“That woman hates me to the bone.”
Even as I say it, I can’t quite figure out why. She welcomed me with open arms when I first arrived at Arc, but everything changed after that night I met her for a smoke on the beach.
That was when I’d seen her for what she really is.
Maybe she can’t stand that I see straight through her bullshit, but compared to Jay, her little power play is almost cute. Nothing I can’t handle.
We fall quiet for a moment, only murmuring a polite thanks when our food arrives.
I pick up the cutlery and smirk.
“So, your nemesis and your ex both got arrested. Sounds like a bad joke, doesn’t it?”
Yosh sighs, dragging his fork through the jasmine rice.
“I always knew Terrence would end up in trouble, but Deep Diver? No way. He’s always been a good guy. Happy, laid-back. I thought the ocean was all he needed.”
“I guess the cliché is true. You can know someone for years and still have no idea what’s going on beneath the surface.”
Oh, he gets the pun. Next thing I know, he kicks me in the shin. Still, he can’t hide the little smile tugging at his mouth.
“Let’s focus on you and me,” he says, offering his fork with a piece of grilled mahi-mahi.
