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Adela placed one foot in front of the other, sluggishly making her way over to Camilla. She sat down on a gray suitcase in the shadows of the palm trees and tried to bring down her heart rate by taking deep breaths.
The wind blew the last remaining clouds away, giving the sun free rein to dry her wet jean shorts and black tank top above her black triangle bikini.
Camilla rapped her unmistakably yellow suitcase under her butt. “Okay, so we’ve got my suitcase, and that purple one is Raven’s… Is that gray one yours?”
“No. Liv’s,” Adela whispered.
Adela’s throat tightened while thinking about their friend. Liv had tried to back out of this weekend getaway on the very last second by sending a text in their group chat about not feeling well. But Camilla, being Camilla, wasn’t having it.
Camilla drove straight to Liv’s apartment, got into a huge fight with Liv’s on-again-off-again boyfriend—who apparently had it in his head to be on-again this weekend—and she’d whisked Liv away.
Camilla’s bottom lip trembled. “Liv should be sitting at home right now, sucking face with that jackass who doesn’t appreciate her. I should have left her alone to do her thing. She could be dead because of me!”
Adela couldn’t stand seeing her friend in pain and immediately pulled her in for a hug. “It’s not your fault, Cami. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.”
Camilla shook her head. “Nobody could have gotten us out of that storm with the boat still in one piece. That lightning strike on top of that storm would have taken anyone down. And it’s also not your fault that the life raft didn’t inflate. So what that the tough Adela Martinez couldn’t save our boat? You brought the boat close enough to swim to this island, where we can argue about who’s the absolute worst friend in the world. You saved my life, Adi.”
Adela still blamed herself, but she appreciated Camilla’s support. She hiccupped through her tears. “Thanks.”
Camilla kissed the top of her head. “Okay, I’m going to put on something else so we can go look for our girls. Those lucky bitches probably washed up on the good side of this island. I bet they’re drinking a Mai Tai in some luxury resort right now, waiting for our lazy asses to show up.”
Adela knew Camilla talked out of her ass, but for now, she would go along with this fantasy. Everything was better than to face the harsh reality of being stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with their best friends still missing.
CHAPTER TWO
Jack liftedthe life raft’s orange canopy flap and peered out over the calm Pacific Ocean. Leaning back over the inflatable tubes, he stretched his sore limbs that had been tussled in the cramped raft for the past thirty hours.
Jack took in his five friends huddled together in the canopy while the sun beat down mercilessly on his bare neck.
It had taken Jack and Rodrigo months of preparation to get them all six together for a bachelor party getaway for Rodrigo’s twin brother.
For once, Jack’s irregular shifts as a wildland firefighter weren’t what made it hard to meet up. Everyone was just so fucking busy nowadays.
Fortunately, they left their responsibilities and stress behind the moment they met at LAX to catch their joint flight to Hawaii. The childhood friends since middle school slipped effortlessly into vacation mode, drinking beers and shooting the shit at an airport bar before takeoff.
The first day on their luxurious rented catamaran had been unforgettable. If it hadn’t been for that damn storm taking them by surprise, and even turning the catamaran turtle, things would have been perfect.
Now they were floating around the ocean in this rotten life raft. He was thankful at least Dominic and Reed knew what to do as experienced sailors. Dominic had inflated the life raft in no time and directed everyone to grab the things they needed to survive.
Jack rubbed his eyebrow, wondering how much longer they needed to endure this humid, smelly raft. He already had enough of being cooped up after just thirty hours. He’d hate to think about being stuck on this raft for thirty days. If they would even make it that far…
"Sorry," Jack said to Reed when his knee bumped his.
"No problem." Reed shifted, making a bit more room on Jack's side while he bumped into Dominic on his other side, earning a grunt from him.
As a wildland firefighter, not much spooked Jack. His hotshot crew would seek out danger, traveling to fires where they would work for at least fourteen days straight.
Instead of facing danger head on and actively fight the elements of nature, Jack had to sit back and hope for the best since he could do shit to get them out of this predicament.
Jack took in the flat surface that surrounded them for miles and miles. The only thing left for them to do was to keep their watermakers up and running, and hopefully catch some fish with the three fishing poles Rodrigo had taken with him on the raft.
“Fuck! Did you hear that?” Reed hung over the yellow inflatable tubes while looking up into the sky.
“What is it?” Jack glanced up at the same blue sky, not finding anything but the harsh sunlight hurting his eyes. Jack couldn’t believe he’d once willingly soaked up this squelching heat just to get a nice tan.
“Shh! Listen!” Reed put a finger against his lips.
Jack shot a look over his shoulder inside the canopy, meeting the stoic gazes of Zane, Gabriel, Rodrigo, and Dominic. Reed exclaiming that he heard something—which turned out to be absolutely nothing—got old pretty fast after the twentieth time this past hour.
