Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
At that moment, as the raft hits wave after wave and the sounds of thunder and rain beat around me, I look at him and see a future I’ll never have with him.
At that moment, I realize I want that future.
That I want to go back to the island and just be with him.
That I want to love him.
My tearstained eyes look up at him with unshed tears threatening to fall when we lock gazes.
“Alaric …”
He must see it because he shakes his head. “Not like this.”
“Then when?”
“Dove …”
I lean forward and place my lips on his. “We will die,” I say against his lips.
“We might.”
“I don’t regret it.” His brow pinches at my confession. “I don’t regret any of it. Not one minute of the time I have spent with you.
“Phoenix,” he says my name like it’s a benediction. Then he takes his hands and pulls me closer, his mouth sealing over mine.
He tells me without words that he feels the same way.
No matter what the outcome, we wouldn’t change it. No matter the pain, hurt, lies, and death … whatever brought us here, we welcome.
He kisses me as if I’m his oxygen. And as if he needs me to survive, I kiss him back. The raft tips to the left then back to the right. It moves like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing around the ocean with nothing left to hold it steady.
Our outcome is unknown, but if I die in his arms, I’ll be okay.
Neither one of us profess our love, but we don’t need to. It’s written in every touch.
Maybe because saying it would be too final.
Maybe admitting you have fallen in love with your enemy is too much right now.
“Phoenix Michaels, no matter what happens, I will never regret you,” he whispers against my lips.
And then we hold each other.
Silently waiting for the end to come.
Knowing if it does, we will have forever been changed by each other, and that is enough.
40
Alaric
A sound pulls me from the deep black abyss of my mind.
It sounds like a motor.
I jolt up, my eyes still hazy from sleep.
“Phoenix …” I shake her, and her eyes flutter open. “Do you hear that?”
She wipes the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?” she asks, and I place my finger to my mouth.
“Listen. Do you hear that?”
We both go quiet, and then I hear the sound of the engine or motor or whatever it is again.
Lifting my body up, I move to open the top.
Rain pours in. The storm still rages, but we didn’t die last night. The ocean is rough, the raft still bouncing around under dark gray clouds, but in the distance, I swear I hear something.
I don’t see anything because the hazy sky is too dark, but I can’t mistake the sound.
Water continues to pour down on us, and I know I need to act fast. If there is anyone out there, we can’t risk losing them, but at the same time, I can’t risk taking on too much water.
“Flare gun,” I shout, and Phoenix grabs it and hands it to me. “Cover your ears,” I say, and then I fire into the distance. As soon as the gun fires, I move to close the top.
“What are you doing?” Phoenix asks as I close it completely.
“I can’t risk too much water coming in.”
“But what about the sound?”
“We have to hope they see the flare. I can’t see where the sound is coming from, so I won’t be able to steer there, regardless.”
“We just wait and see?”
“Yeah.”
The look in her eyes tells me she is thinking what I’m thinking. To have come this far only to be teased with rescue would be a cruel joke.
I don’t want to think about it now. There is no part of me that is ready to let her go, but I have to if they come back for us, which I know they will.
When we are rescued, that’s exactly what I will have to do. I’ll also have to put this all behind me.
No matter what Michael did, my feelings for Phoenix are too intense to act on them.
I’ll need to call off the hit.
When Phoenix slipped into my life, I meant to do it because him dying by another man’s hands didn’t seem right.
When everything first happened all those years ago, I just wanted revenge. I placed a hit on him. In turn, Michael went into hiding.
Now …
I shake off the thoughts in my head. If this is my last moment with Phoenix, I’m not going to spend it thinking of her father.
My feelings are a storm inside me. It’s as if the ocean water is rising, and there is nowhere to escape. It pounds against me, but when she takes my hand, she’s the calm. She makes the tide recede.