“Hey there, Raine girl!”
Raine girl? I fought the urge to growl as he wrapped her up in his arms, and she hugged him back. He spun her around once and let go of her, which was best for his own health. What I really wanted to do was a combination of tearing his arms off and maybe beating the shit out of him for looking at her. I wondered if he realized she was naked before and just how much he might have seen. My eyes shifted back to John Paul’s, and I glared at him. He looked at me cautiously, raising his eyebrows.
“John Paul! How did you ever find us?” Raine squealed.
“Well, it wasn’t easy,” he admitted. He looked over at me. “You guys didn’t leave much of a trail.”
“I ran out of fucking breadcrumbs,” I snapped at him.
“Bastian!” Raine chastised under her breath.
“Well, what kind of trail did he expect me to fucking leave?” I yelled.
“You don’t have to be like that.” Raine stared me in the eye. “He just saved us!”
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
“Don’t worry, Raine girl,” John Paul said. “I’m used to him being a grump.”
I fought back the urge to slug him – again.
“Who the fuck is that?” I asked, trying to get the focus off my moods. A tall, lanky guy jumped down from the helicopter and walked over to us.
“That’s Nick Sinclair,” John Paul said. “He’s the only pilot who was still willing to look for you two.”
The guy was blond and displayed a big smile as he hurried in our direction. He ran up and pulled Raine into his arms and gave her a big hug. Raine’s obvious surprise told me she didn’t know him, and my first instinct was to move up close enough to pull her away from him – away from his touch – but I didn’t do it. I wanted to, but somewhere between her change of clothes and his hands on her, everything changed. I didn’t fucking know what I was supposed to do. It was happening. It might not have been exactly like my dream, but it was fucking close enough. The only question was whether or not I stayed here alone.
“That’s from Lindsay,” Nick said as he released Raine and took a half step away, his hands still on her hips. My hands clenched into fists, and it took every effort not to reach over and clamp one of them around his neck.
“Lindsay?” Raine cried out. “Where is she?”
“Back on the mainland,” he said. “We can be there in about six hours.”
“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.”