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But I can’t. Because I’m not built that way. Because Holly did such a number on me, I know if I give into Daisy, there would be no turning back. She would own me, all of me, and I would be at her feet—hook, line, and sinker.
I can’t let that happen.
For one, I need to keep my head on straight until we’re rescued. There is no way around that.
For two…I’m afraid.
I’ve had my future dashed before. I’ve had my hopes and my heart ground up into dust. Call me a coward, but I’ll do anything not to go through that again.
Even if that means saying no to Daisy.
Even if all I want to do is say yes.
“What?” she asks me. “You’re looking at me weird.”
I clear my throat, giving her a quick smile. “Just trying to figure out when you became such a chicken.”
Good job, Tai. Deflection.
“Chicken?” she repeats. She laughs. “That’s rich.”
She puts her hand at my shoulder and pushes me forward.
“You’re the brave spear fisherman Maori warrior. You go check it out.”
I shrug and walk through the overgrown grass to the bungalow, carefully going up the stairs alongside vines that have wrapped themselves around the railing. So far they seem to hold.
The deck seems to hold too, and I poke my head in through the doorway.
It looks like no one has been in here in a long time, though it’s not as bad as the outside.
There are three sets of bunkbeds, one against the back wall, the others on either side of it. The bunkbeds are bare, just wood slats, which is probably for the best considering a whole world of creatures could make their home in old mattresses.
There’s nothing else in the room except a low table against the opposite wall, and there are four windows, the shuttered kind with battered screens. The door is off the hinges, and while some vines have snaked in across the floor and there are bugs scurrying about, I think I may have found our new sleeping quarters.
“It’s not the Four Seasons,” I tell Daisy as I exit and come back down the stairs. “But we can make do.”
She scrunches up her nose. “Anything gross?”
“Not really. Go take a look.”
She hesitates and then goes up the stairs. I can’t help but stare at her ass as she goes, the way they look in those jean shorts turns my brain to mush.
You idiot, I can’t help but think. She had her legs wrapped around you, talking about spearfishing while you were naked, inches from your cock, and you didn’t do a fucking thing.
She pops her head back out of the bungalow. “It’s okay…Doesn’t look very comfortable but at least it’s off the ground. I may need you to kill all the spiders though.”
“I will slay whatever dragons you wish,” I tell her. I walk around to the front of the bungalow and peer around it. There’s another building a few yards away.
“Hey, I found the hatch,” I tell her.
I walk through the mix of grass and sand until I come to a squat, low concrete building surrounded by frangipani flowers. The door is missing on this one. Beyond it I see another, smaller concrete block.
I go in the bigger one first. There’s dirt inside, covering up what used to be the floor, and vines are growing up the walls. In the middle are a bunch of tables and steel chairs. On the walls, covered by the overgrowing foliage, are old charts and maps. A relic of a printer sits in the corner, gathering dust.
“What is it?” Daisy asks, poking her head in.
“I dunno. Could be an old research station. This place definitely isn’t a resort.”
“Whatever it is, it hasn’t been used in forever. Guess they don’t have a phone or internet, huh?”
I look around. There’s a stack of brown papers beside an old-fashioned calculator. It’s impossible to read what’s printed on them, but there’s a faded stamp in the corner that reads Nature something or other.
“I think maybe this island was used as a protected wildlife area,” I tell her, turning around. “But whoever was stationed here has been gone a long, long time.”
We step back outside, and I head over to the other building.
Turns out to be a shower block and toilet. Both not up to anyone’s standards.
“Don’t even bother,” I tell Daisy as I come back out.
“No toilet paper?” she asks, her eyes dancing.
I’m never going to live that down, am I?
“For your information, I’m completely fine now,” I tell her. “Just a little…”
“Raw?”
“Shut up.”
I was going to say embarrassed.
She giggles and I do my best to ignore her.
We both look across at the lagoon. It really is stunning here, like a completely different ecosystem than the other side. The water is so clear and so shallow, it looks like you can walk across it to all the islands. Or at least it would be an easy swim. I wish I hadn’t left my binoculars back at camp, I’m curious to see if there are any remnants of buildings on the other islands, though at first glance there don’t seem to be any. This place not only looks deserted, it feels deserted, too.
