Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
And she lied right to everyone’s faces.
“Can you tell me anything about Clayton?” I plead with Kincaid before he walks away. “Is he still alive?”
He pauses. “I’m not sure.”
“Did they…did they take him to run tests? Did they take him because he was bad? Because no one would miss him?”
Is that why I’m here?
Because they want to run tests on me, because no one would miss me if I disappeared? Was that their plan all along?
Were your sessions a way to somehow prove my worth to stay alive?
Did I prove my worth?
But I don’t voice those last questions. I’m too afraid of the answer.
And Kincaid doesn’t say anything. The look on his face, the steel grey of his eyes, tells me that he’s not allowed.
He leaves, closing the cabin door behind him for privacy, and I stare down at my tea for a couple of minutes, lost in thoughts that don’t make any sense, choked by a growing sense of fear.
I think I’m right.
I think they picked me because I was broken and alone, and they wanted to see whether I would crumble further or whether I could be saved.
How many times did Kincaid tell me he wanted to save me?
That he was supposed to protect me?
It wasn’t to protect me from myself, not entirely. It was also to protect me from them. It must have been a happy accident for them that I lost my scholarship—no one would notice at all if I never came back home.
Something snags in my thoughts, a prickle of unease, but when I try to focus on it, it floats away. It seems if I try too hard to think about anything, everything just dissolves.
I slowly get dressed, breathing deeply to keep the mounting dread at bay. The boat continues to rock, the waves coming in a little harder now, and on deck, the ropes start to bang against the mast.
The storm is almost here.
After I’m dressed, I make my way out of the cabin, pausing at the doorway to see Kincaid sitting at the chart table, staring at something in his hand that he quickly tucks away. He clears his throat and straightens up.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“How do you think? Like I’ve been drugged. Like I am losing my fucking mind because of the shit heap of lies everyone keeps telling me. Like if I stay here one minute longer, it’s going to be me in that tree next time, getting shot and dragged away to who knows where.” My heart is starting to race with anger, leaving me feeling woozy, and I have to lean against the doorway.
Kincaid crosses the boat in seconds, arms holding me up. “Don’t be ridiculous, Syd. You’re letting your mind get away from you, and you’re still feeling the effects of the drug. Look, there’s a storm coming. You have nowhere you need to be today. You can just stay here and take it easy. You’re safe. I mean it.” He pauses. “I’m the one with a rifle, and I have a lot of bullets left,” he jokes.
I nod carefully. “I know. But I want Everly to know my intentions. I want her to tell me it’s okay to leave. I need to hear it.”
“Alright,” he says, leaning down to peer at me. “We can do that right now if it makes you feel better. I’ll let her know I’m leaving with you.”
“She won’t like that,” I say quietly.
“Probably not.”
“She’s jealous, you know. She’s jealous of me, I think. Or maybe she’s jealous of you.”
He smiles faintly. “I know that, too.”
“But she’s married.”
“Let’s just say they aren’t happily married,” he informs me. “There’s a reason that Michael is rarely here. But divorces are costly, and they both have a lot to lose. Some days, it’s easier for them to turn a blind eye. Other days…Michael likes to make my life a living hell, as much as he can.”
Hearing this little drama, that Everly isn’t as put together as she seems, makes me feel a bit better, even if it means that Michael is out to get Kincaid.
Still, I have to ask. “Did you ever, uh, sleep with her?”
“God, no,” he says, wrinkling his nose. “Everly is beautiful, of course, but she’s a snake. Not in a good way.”
“But she’s tried.”
He laughs. “Yes. She has tried. But that’s enough about that. All you need to know is that things were an awful mess for a while.” I’m watching him as his face falls, the laughter dying on his lips. Darkness falls across his eyes. Then he clears his throat again and nods at me. “Shall we go?”
He leads me to the doors, and as soon as he opens them, cold, wet wind blows my hair back. He helps me up the steps and out of the boat. The dock is wet and slippery, and I have to lean into him to keep my balance, but at least it’s not raining.