Page 116

“Six hours?” she screeched, then turned to me and threw her arms around my neck. “Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s over. It’s really over.”

I didn’t respond as Raine kept repeating the same phrase. I placed my hands on her sides and pushed her away from me.

At the time, I didn’t realize what was happening, but I was shutting down. The walls were going up, and I was shoving everything and everyone away from me. Part of me wanted to tell them all to just fucking go – I’d stay here – but there still wasn’t any fucking booze on this island, and I wanted a damn drink.

John Paul formally introduced me to the pilot, obviously not noticing that I wanted to kill the motherfucker.

“Good to actually meet you,” Nick reached out to shake my hand. I took it briefly and then dropped it again. “John Paul’s told me a lot about you.”

I looked over to John Paul with a scowl.

“Only the good shit,” he said with a laugh.

“I just radioed back,” Nick said. “They’re just a step away from calling me a liar, but I guess seeing these two will make believers out of them.”

“Can we just get the fuck out of here?” I said to John Paul, ignoring the other guy completely.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he replied. “Anything you need to get?”

“We should check the shelter,” Raine said.

“Why?” I asked, turning towards her. “There’s nothing here worth taking back with you. What do you want, a fucking souvenir?”

Raine stared at me for a moment, her brow furrowed. She looked like she was about to say something, but then I realized my belt was back at the shelter and I wasn’t leaving without that.

“I have to get my belt,” I grumbled and turned away

from her, stalking quickly up the sand towards the shelter. My boxers were lying on the dried grass mattress, so I dropped my shorts, pulled the fuckers on, and then pulled my shorts back up, too. I grabbed the belt off the hook on the wall and slipped it through my belt loops. I didn’t even look at anything else inside but turned on my heel and nearly ran straight into Raine when I started out again.

“Holy shit!” I yelled as I grabbed Raine by the elbows to keep from knocking her over.

“Bastian, what’s…?”

“I’m done here,” I interrupted. “If you want something, fucking get it so we can get the fuck out of here.”

I walked out, ignoring whatever she was trying to say to me. I didn’t acknowledge John Paul or the other guy – Nick…whatever – as I walked by and dropped myself into one of the seats at the back of the helicopter.

“Ignore him,” I heard John Paul say. “He’s always been a moody bastard.”

Focusing all my attention on keeping my hands from starting to shake, I strapped myself in, leaned my head to one side, and stared out the window. I heard Raine approach with John Paul, and he helped her get the harness on once she was seated. I was pretty sure he left his hands on her a lot more than he really needed to, but I guessed it didn’t matter anymore, anyway. She wasn’t mine, not anymore. I knew she wasn’t. I knew it would happen like this.

Nick climbed in through the front and lowered himself into the pilot’s seat. In my peripheral vision, I could see John Paul looking at me, but I acted like I didn’t notice.

“It’s a six-hour flight?” Raine inquired.

“No, we’re only about a half hour from where we’ll land this baby,” Nick said, tapping the controls as he prepared to take off. He started the engine, and the blades began to rotate. I watched them swoop by until I could no longer count the rotations. “I don’t have enough fuel to get all the way back to Venezuela. We can get a puddle jumper to take us there once we land.”

“Bastian?” Raine’s voice was barely audible over the engine noise.

“What?” I snapped back, not looking at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s fucking wrong,” I snarled. “Everything is fucking peachy.”

“You see why we always kept him away from the passengers?” John Paul said with a laugh. “I bet he’s given you quite an earful over the past few weeks. Sharks and that kind of shit suck, but I can’t imagine anything worse than having to listen to him bitch for weeks on end!”

“Fuck you.”