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“Sounds like you need to eat. What do you want me to feed you?”
“Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things and since we blew past dinner…”
“I happen to make great pancakes. I just need a stove.”
“Are you trying to get me to a house?”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to try. You want me there.” We stared at each other for a moment with nothing but the sound of the yacht bobbing in the water. “Come with me,” I asked.
“Where?”
“To a month abroad, starting with Morocco,” I offered, then pulled on a fresh shirt and led her to where we started on my yacht. “It’ll be the most fun you’ve ever had.”
She accepted another drink and stared at the liquid as she considered my request. “I don’t know if my body can handle that much fun, but why the hell not?”
Excitement I didn’t think I would feel floated through me, making me feel lighter. We toasted to taking an adventurous trip and downed most of our glasses.
It didn’t taste quite like it should’ve. I studied my cup as I ran my tongue over the roof of my mouth. Something wasn’t right. The wind didn’t feel as sharp on my skin. My senses were somehow dulled. Everest wasn’t looking at me; she was staring just beyond me, shocked by what she saw.
My ears took a moment to tune in; I turned to see Anika swinging an oar at Everest as she called her a bitch. I didn’t think about anything but protecting her. I wrapped myself around Everest to shield her from the blows. The oar hit me in the back a few times until we fell to the floor. I kept Everest underneath me, grunting my way through the pain of Anika’s attack.
“It was supposed to be me! We were supposed to be together!” She yelled as she hit me.
Her declaration was news to me, and there was no way she could’ve confused me with Whit. He’d start sweating the moment his hair got beyond his approved length. The realization of her obsession with me had hit me too late and would cost me, and the first woman to ever enchant me, our lives. My anger surged, but my body wasn’t cooperating with my brain’s commands.
The pain of being hit over and over left me incapable of lying. “Never,” I groaned. “Rowe is all you’ll ever get from me.”
“Fuck him. You were the only interesting thing about him!” she screeched as she kept hitting me.
Whatever she gave us may have slowed down my reaction and made it hard to fight her off, but my brain worked. I still understood the hell she’d put my brother and son through, and this confirmation that she had some kind of twisted view of our future ignited hatred so bone deep that I delivered a threat I’ve never had to use before. One I never wanted to use.
“Anika. Pray for a miracle. I will kill you for this. I’ll rip apart your life then hunt you down like the rabid dog you are. Be happy my brother fucked you when we did because the only thing about you that would make me hard is watching the life drain from your body.”
I looked back at Anika with all the disgust I held for her.
She was red with fury. “Then you can die with her.”
The cold finality in her statement preceded the resounding crack on my face. White light flashed behind my eyes. Everest cried beneath me as I held on tighter. The oar fell on the deck, and Anika moved to a new weapon. My body was heavy. I wanted to fight back, but whatever was in my system was potent.
“You love this shit so much; it can be the end of you.”
The blow from the heavy glass was devastating. Blood from my head dripped on Everest and me. My already heavy lids felt like they wanted to close, but the stubborn part of me couldn’t let it end like this. She was tired, her tantrum was dying down. Willing myself to move, I pulled together enough energy to trip her. Everything still felt like it was in slow motion; I rose as Anika tried to get her bearings from the fall. Gritting my teeth, I swung with everything I had left. Unlike Anika, I knew where to hit someone to knock them out the first time.
Her body went stiff, and I fell on the deck with relief, although I was slipping away.
“Get help,” I slurred. I knew I could save Everest even if I couldn’t save myself.
“No, Disney,” she cried. Everest walked as well as she could and grabbed the life vests. She pulled hers on, but it was hard to move me, and I didn’t have much help left in me.
“Go. Save yourself. Call for help.”
“No.” Her tears warmed my eyelids. “Wake up. We’re going for a swim.”
My own tears fell; everything hurt so much. “I’ll never see my brother or son again.”
“Yes, you will, WALTON.”
I knew how it felt to be knocked out. The feeling I had was worse. I was slipping away before I could do anything about it.
