Fifteen minutes and three shots later I’d dropped my towel and was dancing with the girls and telling them how much I loved them, while they drunkenly swore to sabotage the efforts of any girl who tried to talk to my man. We’d formed a circle and were singing at the top of our lungs to a song on the radio. Blake threw a heavy arm over my shoulder and pushed his way into our group. The girls screamed with laughter when he started dancing in the middle. And then he accidentally kicked over the empty bottle of bourbon.
“My bad,” he said, righting the bottle. Then his head swung up to look at me. I grinned, swaying, and he muttered, “Oh, snap. Little girl’s been into the liquor.”
“Dance with us, Blake!” I said, clapping my hands. My new friends all cheered.
“No, ma’am. It’s time to get you to bed.”
He grabbed my hand, but I wiggled away. He chased me around the group of girls, me yelling about needing one more drink until he caught me and threw me over his shoulder.
“Don’t leave!” Jenny begged.
“Sorry,” Blake told her. “I promised her man I wouldn’t let her get too drunk. She gets all crazy and starts kissing random dudes.”
“Shut up!” I screamed, pounding his back. “That’s not true!”
At least, not anymore.
Blake smacked my butt. Hard. I screamed again, lifting my hands to protect my behind as he moved us away from the laughing crowd. “I’m telling Kai!”
He laughed all the way up the stairs and into Kaidan’s apartment as I flailed. He tossed me on the bed where I crawled to Kaidan’s pillow and buried my face in it, breathing him in.
Blake left and came back with a glass of water, setting it on the nightstand.
My hand fumbled to pull the phone from my pocket, so Blake plucked it out and handed it to me. I clutched it to my chest after reading the time. Six in the morning.
“He loves you, you know,” Blake said in an unexpected moment of seriousness.
“I know,” I whispered. And my heart melted with the sureness of that knowledge.
“Good. Now drink this water and go to sleep.”
With effort, I sat up partway and drank the whole glass. He took it from me.
“Thank you, Blake.”
“Nah,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”
He left me to go pass out on the couch, and I fell asleep without a single thought in my mind. Exactly as Blake had intended.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE ISLAND
A familiar, yet irritating sound forced my eyes open some hours later. I was deliriously confused and my mouth was drained of moisture, as if I’d been gnawing a sock. I attempted to swallow, and blinked through fuzzy eyes. Where am I? On the third ring of my cell phone I jolted up in bed. With shaking hands and a queasy stomach, I answered.
“Hello?” My voice came out husky.
The other end of the line crackled. “Anna? Is that you?”
I pressed a hand over my heart, so relieved to hear Kai’s voice. I cleared my throat. “It’s me.”
“Sounds like you smoked a pack of ciggies.”
I smiled. If he was making jokes, then he was okay.
“Did you get Z?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank you, God,” I whispered. “That was fast. Did it go okay?”
“Not exactly, although Kope was brilliant.” His voice held a reluctant admiration.
“What do you mean not exactly?”
“We can’t find Flynn. He sent a message just as we were getting her out. Said he thought he was being tailed. There was a lot of commotion nearby, but we haven’t heard from him since.”
I gripped the sheets as icy fear clawed my belly.
“Have you told my dad?”
“Yes. He hasn’t heard from Flynn either. He told us to head for the airport with or without him.”
“Oh, my gosh,” I whispered. I imagined Flynn’s gigantic smile. Please let him be okay. “Do you think someone saw you guys?”
“No. I think he would’ve looked like a spy if he was caught keeping watch from his vantage point, but no humans would think to link us.”
“Let’s think positive,” I said, more for my benefit than his. “I’m sure he’s fine. Right?”
“Yeah.” But he didn’t sound so sure. “Your dad’s got human helpers here, too. I’m sure they’re on it. We’re keeping an eye out for him.”
Right now I desperately wanted them on a plane, headed to safety. All of them.
“Is Z okay?” I stood, grasping my pounding head, and padded to the bathroom for a drink of water.
“She’s skittish and won’t speak, but she’s coming along without complaint now that she’s recognized Kope, and I showed her your picture. We had one incident, but nothing to worry about. Is everything all right there?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine here. I just want you to come home.”
There was a crackly pause, and then, “I like hearing you say that.”
Home. It was a wonderful word. “I love you, Kai. Be safe.”
“We will. I’ll text you with our flight information. I’ve got to run.”
When we hung up, I drank a glass of water and climbed back into bed, all nervous energy as I thought about Flynn. He was strong—a fighter in more ways than one. It’d be hard to take him down. Still . . . what if he’d been captured? What if we exchanged one jailed Neph for another?
I was gnawing my cuticles when Blake barged in. His hair was flat on one side and stuck straight up on the other. He flopped down on the other side of the bed, pillow lines on his face.
“What’s up, drunkie?” he asked. “Was that Kai?”