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Chapter Twenty
The next morning, Haydenuntied me, I got dressed, and neither of us mentioned what had happened.
“We’re making good time,” he told me. “We should reach the marina before nightfall.”
“Which marina?”
“Fort McArmitage. They know we’re coming, and I have a car waiting for us.”
“And where do we go after that?” I was afraid I already knew the answer to that, but I had to ask.
He glanced over at me. “Atlanta.”
I swallowed. My home city where I’d grown up, and the place my father’s prison was located.
“Don’t cause me any trouble, Jolie,” he warned. “I mean it. Let’s just make this final part run smoothly, okay?”
This wasn’t the final part, though. That wouldn’t happen until we knew my father had broken out of jail and was coming to find me.
“Okay,” I agreed, even though I didn’t mean it. In the next few hours, we’d be back on the mainland, and there would be other people around. Other people meant help, and getting help would mean this whole nightmare was coming to an end.
I didn’t plan on giving Hayden any idea that I planned to try to escape, however. The more complicit he thought I was, the more he’d relax around me and let down his guard. I told myself that was what last night had been about. I’d been trying to let him think I wanted him. It hadn’t been because I actually had wanted him.
We’d had sex, and then he’d picked up the pillow and placed it beneath my head and covered me with the blanket to keep off any chill. Just like with the ginger and hot water he’d made me, he showed me these moments of kindness, but he’d already fucked things up by tying me to the furniture.
But he was right not to trust me. I did plan on making my escape if I could.
Hayden and I had grown strangely relaxed in each other’s company. We ate our meals together, and I played some more cards and watched another pod of dolphins play alongside the boat. The day was bright and warm again, though it wasn’t as hot as it had been on the island. I had no idea how many miles we’d traveled, but I could already tell the difference in climate.
Around mid-afternoon, the dark line of the coast appeared on the port side of the boat. As we got closer, the coast grew more defined, and nerves churned in my stomach. I wasn’t sure how I felt about seeing my homeland again. I’d stayed well away from Georgia for some years now, but the place might also bring my freedom.
Freedom.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, either.
Another couple of hours passed, the sun growing lower in the sky, and Hayden steered the boat closer to the coastline. Ahead was an estuary which led toward the mouth of a river.
“We need to go up the river, and the marina where we’ll dock is a little farther upstream,” he told me.
I settled into the seat beside him at the helm and tried to calm my racing heart.
Hayden skillfully navigated the boat down the river. I spotted more boats, and my stomach flipped with nervous excitement. Where there were boats, there would be more people.
We turned into a natural bay that was full of docks, and more vessels were tied up at most of them.
We were here.
Hayden drove the boat toward one of the empty, numbered jetties. Just before we reached it, he turned off the engine and we coasted the rest of the way in. The boat bumped against the side before coming to a halt. Hayden threw a rope over the pole at the end of the jetty and jumped onto the dock, before tying the boat up. Then he put a hand out to me. I took it, and he helped me step off the boat and onto the dock.
I turned to take in our location. The only thing on my mind was making my escape, and immediately, my gaze sought anything or anyone who might be able to help me.
Hayden pressed up close behind me and wrapped both his arms around my waist. He leaned in and pressed his cheeks against mine, his stubble grazing my skin. “Remember that we’re a loving couple. Don’t try anything, because you won’t like the result.”
I stiffened in his arms.
“Now smile and wave.”
Someone was coming down the jetty to meet us.
