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But I suck it up, grab the rope, and pull myself up. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I manage to climb it without chafing my lady parts. I’m sure I look ridiculous as I feel like a sloth, lazing around on a sunny day, so when Saint offers me his hand, I accept gratefully.
An electric current courses through me the moment we touch, but I disregard it and focus on climbing over and keeping my important parts covered. When my feet hit solid ground, a relieved breath leaves me.
My hand is still nestled in Saint’s. He meets my eyes, the perfect poker face, while a blush overtakes me. “Thanks,” I say, gently severing our connection.
He nods in response.
As I focus on my surroundings, my high soon fades because there isn’t much inside. Old food wrappers. A dirty sleeping bag. Some bottled water in a six-pack. That’s it. “Is that water still sealed?”
“It seems to be,” he replies, which has a bubble of hope surfacing.
“That’s good, right? That means whoever was here had to be rescued. If they weren’t, surely all their water would be gone.”
Saint and I are clearly worlds apart on whatever happened to this lodger. “Not unless something happened to him,” he suggests calmly.
“Happened to him?” I’m almost too afraid to ask.
Saint nods, not giving much away.
“What would happen to him? He had food, water, shelter.”
I wait for Saint to argue, thinking my argument is pretty solid until he places his hands on my shoulders and turns me around. I’m too engrossed with his hands on me once again to take note of what he’s implying, until he says, “That would happen to him.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. “I don’t see anything,” I reply, wondering what I’m missing.
He reveals what a moment later. “Exactly. Who knows what’s out there. The foliage is thick, so it’s easy for one to take a wrong turn. Not to mention the animals that remain hidden, awaiting unsuspecting victims to stumble past their lairs. Here, we are the prey…”
I shiver at his ominous words because I know what that feels like firsthand.
“What sort of animals?”
His thumbs rub over my shoulder blades pensively, and it takes all my willpower not to buckle. “I don’t know exactly. But I’m going to take a walk, and I’ll let you know if I see any.”
“What?” All pleasant feelings soon take a nose dive as I spin around, eyes wide.
“I need to figure out where we are. I also need to familiarize myself with this island. You stay up here. I won’t be long.”
“I’m coming with you,” I argue. I’m not his prisoner anymore. He can’t tell me what to do.
Saint shrugs as he snares a bottle of water. He slides it into his pocket before reaching for the rope and stepping over the wood edge. “Suit yourself. But don’t expect me to piggyback you this time.”
My bare feet scream at me, refusing to be subjected to the harsh terrain again.
He reads my thoughts and smirks. “I didn’t think so. Besides, you have a bird’s-eye view from up here. You can warn me if anything with fangs or claws is coming my way.”
I fold my arms across my chest, arching a challenging brow.
“Well, you have a perfect view when it tears me apart then. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss that.” Is he making jokes now?
No matter what he’s done to me, the thought of his death doesn’t please me in the slightest. But I don’t let him know that.
As he begins to shimmy down the rope, I quickly step forward. “Here. You need this more than I do.” I go to take off his shirt, as he is the one traipsing through a jungle, but he makes use of his upper body strength and hangs from the rope, effortlessly.
“Keep it. It looks better on you.” He scans my body from head to toe, before meeting my wide eyes. He smirks, continuing his climb down, while I’m unsure if I heard him correctly.
When his boots hit the hard ground with a thud, I peer over the edge, holding my breath. He doesn’t look back and ventures off into the wilderness. My trapped breath escapes me. I don’t know what has come over me, but it needs to stop. Just because he’s no longer my captor doesn’t mean he’s changed into a good guy.
Once he’s lost in the thick backwoods, I decide to strip his shirt off anyway because it’s gotten quite hot. My dress hangs off me, and I feel utterly exposed with no underwear on. I can only hope some of our stuff washes ashore because parading around in this outfit is hardly practical in a place such as this.
