by Robin Huber
He sits up a little straighter and runs his hand over his beard.
Adam remains slouched in his chair, holding his cards, but his eyes meet mine, then Grant’s, and I see his jaw clench.
I run my hand through my wet hair and say to Makayla, “Why don’t you go get a shower?”
“Okay. But where is Dr. H?” she asks, concerned...by the intensity of the storm, by the stranger on the shore. There’s a couple of reasons she could be worried about him right now.
Mia stands up and peers out of the darkened window. “He’s at the village. Hopefully they’re having better luck with their generators.”
“Why is he there so late? And why is he alone?” I ask, looking at Grant.
“Because I didn’t want to spend the night there,” he answers flatly.
“Carlita was having contractions,” Mia says. “He thought it would be a good idea to stay, just in case she went into early labor. She’s not due for another month.”
I nod. He’s safe there. Probably safer than we are. Gus said the traffickers usually steer clear of the village.
Jason stands up and walks over to Mia. He puts his hand on her waist and says to her, “We should probably settle in for the night. The storm isn’t passing anytime soon.”
Adam shifts in his chair and watches Mia pull a few candles down from the cabinet.
She hands one to Makayla. “You’ll need this. And these,” she says, handing her a box of matches.
“Thanks.” Makayla glances up at me before she leaves to take a shower, and I give her a subtle nod. I’ll be there soon.
I sit down at the table with Adam and Grant, and as soon as everyone is gone, Adam asks, “What the hell is going on?”
“Makayla and I were surfing on the south end of the island and there was someone on the shore watching us.”
“Okay. It was probably one of the locals,” Adam says. “They surf too. Maybe they were just checking out the swell.”
“It was pouring rain.”
“Why were you surfing in the rain?”
“We weren’t. We were...” I pause when I see the amused look on Adam’s face.
“Go on.” He grins and leans back in his chair. “I think we’d both like to hear,” he says, glancing at Grant. “What were you doing?”
I shake my head and say, “We were heading in.”
“Are you sure? Because it could have just been a curious teenager from the village getting his rocks off watching you.”
“Like you?” Grant says to him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I see how you look at Mia.”
“I like Mia, but I’m not some voyeuristic pervert.”
“You like Mia?” I ask.
“Yeah, not that it matters. For some reason I can’t understand, she’s with that pipsqueak.”
“Jason’s smart. That’s why she’s with him.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You’re smart,” Grant says. “Use your brain to figure out a way to bang her.”
Adam and I both give him a harsh look. “Where’s your fucking honor, man?” Adam says to him. “You’re a pig.”
Grant laughs. “It’s this island. I can’t stand it. It’s making me stir crazy.”
I shake my head and say incredulously, “It’s paradise.”
He drops his head to the side and says, “Yeah, well, if I was sleeping with Makayla, maybe I’d think so too.”
I put my fists on the table. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” He grins. “I’m just saying, she’s hot. I’d fuck her too.”
I stand up and my chair scrapes across the tile floor. “What did you just say?” My heart pounds in my chest and my blood pulses hot through my veins.
“What’s your deal, man? Calm down.”
“Don’t talk about Makayla like that.” I lean over and put my hands on the table in front of him.
“Oh, what, are you in love with her now?”
I swallow hard, but don’t answer.
He laughs and looks at Adam, whose face is unreadable. When I don’t move, Grant stands up and says, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m going to say this one time. And you’re going to listen. Makayla is with me now. She is my girlfriend. Treat her that way.”
He narrows his eyes and nods slowly, maybe a little condescendingly, but says, “Yeah. Okay. Whatever you say.” He rubs his hand over his beard and steps around me. “I’ll be in my room if you need me for anything, like fighting the bad guys—you know, the whole reason we’re here.”
When he leaves, I sit back down and look at Adam, who has a concerned look on his face. “You’re in love with Makayla?” he asks, and I’m not sure how to answer.
“I don’t know. That’s not the point. Grant’s an asshole. That’s the point.”
“I agree with you there, but that’s not news. You, falling in love? That’s news.” He smiles and shakes his head. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“It’s not surprising,” he says, ignoring me. “You’ve been drawn to her since the minute you found her.”
“Yes,” I admit, thinking of the first time I saw her, beaten and lifeless on that bloodstained mattress. I knew I needed to protect her...to be near her. The feeling was overwhelming.
I didn’t even know her then.
I didn’t know that she makes jokes when she’s uncomfortable or that she plays with her hair when she talks about her parents. That she pushes her lips together when she’s fighting a smile and creases her eyebrows when she concentrates. I didn’t know that her skin turns the color of creamy coffee in the sun. Or how her long, thick eyelashes would seduce me whenever they fall over her green eyes. How I would lose myself in them when she looks at me.
I didn’t know that the sun would bring out the tiny, almost invisible freckles on her nose and streak her long, wavy hair gold. Or how the perfect outline around her full lips would drive me crazy. And how she would blush when I touch her. I didn’t know about the small beauty mark on her left shoulder or the matching one on her right breast. I didn’t have the curves of her body memorized or know how soft she would feel in my arms. I didn’t know how she would moan quietly when I’m inside her.
I didn’t know how peaceful she would look sleeping next to me or how it would feel to hear her whisper my name in her sleep.
I didn’t know that I would fall in love with her.
“Yes,” I say, “I’m in love with her.”
Adam leans back and laces his fingers together behind his head. “Good for you, man. That’s great.”
“Is it?” I shake my head and rub my hand over my mouth and jaw. “With everything she’s got to worry about already, is it great?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Makayla is...delicate.”
“She’s pretty damn tough, if you ask me.”
“That’s not what I mean. I know she’s tough. But she also went through a very traumatic experience that I pulled her out of. She’s okay now, but the broken pieces are still there—I’m just holding them together.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, of course not. I just worry that I won’t always be able to keep the pieces together. And the thought of hurting her, after everything she’s been through, is fucking unbearable.”
“So don’t.”
“That’s easy to say for someone who knows exactly what he wants in life. A wife, kids, a house, and a dog.”
He laughs and shrugs. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No, there’s not. It’s exactly what you should want.”
“You don’t?”
“Adam, you know my childhood was...messed up. I don’t know the first thing about any of that. I don’t know if it’s in me.”
“Kellan, don’t sell yourself short. And don’t sell Makayla short. Just because someone screwed up your childhood, don’t let it screw
up the rest of your life. And don’t let it screw up what you’ve got with Makayla.”
I inhale a deep breath and blow it out slowly. He makes it sound easy. But I have so many broken pieces inside me, I don’t think she could carry them all.
“So what are we going to do about your shoreline stalker?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. But stay vigilant tonight. And keep your gun near you.”
“I always do.”
“Hopefully, whoever it was keeps to themselves and moves on when the storm lets up. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the village and ask around to see if anyone else saw anything.”
“All right, sounds like a plan.”
“Hey...thanks for the talk,” I say, getting up.
He stands up and holds his arms out. “Just call me Doctor Adam.”
* * *
Makayla
I wake up alone and call for Kellan, but he doesn’t answer. I run through the strange house trying to find him, but panic washes over me as I search for him in unfamiliar rooms. Kellan? I run down the beach, calling his name through the thick fog that blankets the shore, but he doesn’t answer. Kellan?
“Kellan!”
“Makayla, what’s the matter?”
I blink my eyes open and see Kellan hovering over me in the dark.
“You were gone,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “No. It was just a dream.” He rubs his thumb across my cheek. “I’m right here.” He wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. “Go back to sleep.”
I try to fall back asleep, but I can’t shake the strange dream. I lie awake in the dark listening to the pelting rain and rolling thunder, and watching the lightning light up the sky outside the window every few minutes.
The thought of being alone, of being without him, is almost unbearable. He’s the only thing keeping me from being consumed by the darkness, protecting me from the reality that awaits back home, from the potential danger here, even in this magical place. I close my eyes and try to remember a time when my life was easy, and I was safe. I think of my morning routine before work, grabbing my coffee on the way in, rebuffing Jacob in the elevator. I open my eyes and look up at the moonlit mosquito net above me. I inhale the warm air that fills the room. And I look at Kellan lost in sleep. As dangerous and uncertain as this new life of mine is, I wouldn’t trade it for my old life, because it would mean trading him. And I wouldn’t do that for anything in the world. I just pray that he feels the same way.
After countless minutes lying in the dark, worrying about our fate, I untangle myself from his arms and pad quietly to the kitchen for a glass of water.
I lean over the sink and peer out of the kitchen window as I sip it. A full moon is hanging low over the mountains, but it’s shrouded by the clouds that keep dumping rain all over them. I stare at the hazy gray circle in the sky for several long seconds, then I fall back on my heels and feel someone behind me. Kellan.
I turn around and see a man glaring at me with dark eyes and panic surges through my body, paralyzing me as the black mercury pulses fast through my veins. I watch the water drip from his dark hair and roll down his shadowy face. He’s not a local. He says something to me in Spanish that I don’t understand, but I stand frozen, unable to move. I can’t find my voice, or my lungs, or my heart.
“Turn around,” he says, raising the end of a gun to my cheek, and the cool metal brings me back to my body.
I raise my shaking hands and turn around, staring at the watery gray moon as he drags the gun down the middle of my back. He puts his hand on my hip and soaks my thin pajama pants with his wet clothes as he presses himself against me. And I’m back in the cave.
I try to fight the man moving on top of me, but I can’t lift my hands. My wrists burn against the restraints and the feeling of being pressed into the mattress over and over again, along with the sweet smell of incense, makes me feel sick.
“Kellan,” I cry softly, but I can’t move.
“Shhh,” he says, gripping the back of my neck and pushing me down over the sink. “Quiet, mami.”
Something inside me snaps and I scream, “Kellan!”
Within seconds I hear several doors open and shuffling down the hall, but the man doesn’t release me.
“Let her go!” Kellan says, but the man knots his fingers in my hair and spins me around. I look at Kellan and his eyes flare.
“What if I don’t?” the man says, dragging the gun down my cheek until it’s pressed firmly under my chin.
I keep my eyes on Kellan. His hands are gripped tightly around his gun and he’s pointing it at the man’s head. Adam and Grant flank him, aiming their guns at the same target.
“Makayla!” Mia shouts from behind Jason in the hallway.
“Mia, get back!” Adam says to her.
The man drags his fingertips along the waist of my pajama pants and slides his hand up under my tank top, squeezing my breast until it hurts. My throbbing skin crawls and my eyes fill with tears that run down my cheeks when I close them.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Kellan grits, and I open my eyes. His tortured face is filled with rage.
“Or what?”
“I’ll kill you.”
The man whistles loudly and two more men appear with guns that are pointed at Kellan. “No,” I cry, but the man raises his hand to my face and squeezes my cheeks.
“Shhh-shhh-shhh.”
Kellan’s chest rises and falls to the beat of my terrified heart.
“This is our isla, gringo. So we’ll kill you, not the other way around. Except for this one,” he says, kissing my cheek. “I was watching you today. You’re a passionate one. I think I’ll keep you for myself.”
“Kellan,” I cry.
He lowers his gun, but his fiery eyes stay locked on mine. “Drop your guns,” he says to Adam and Grant. He gives them a knowing look and they put their guns on the floor. One of the men kicks them away and they go scattering across the floor. My heart sinks, but Kellan’s eyes meet mine again and he gives me a subtle nod.
The next thing I know he’s beside me, twisting the gun away from my assailant. He hits him with his elbow and the man falls to the floor unconscious. I look up at Adam and Grant, who are pointing guns at the other two—now unarmed—men.
Kellan reaches for my face and pulls me close. “Are you okay?” he asks, scanning me.
“Yeah,” I choke out, breathless from the fear still gripped tightly around my throat. I hide in his arms, shaking, trying to comprehend what just happened. “Kellan,” I cry, but he just holds me against him.
“Do it outside,” he says to Adam and Grant, but I’m too afraid to look up. I see the man’s legs and boots being dragged across the floor by my feet, leaving a wet trail on the tiles. I close my eyes and try to block out the thuds and groans of the other two men.
Kellan rubs my arms and back, but the unyielding tremble in my body won’t subside. “You’re okay. They’re gone,” he whispers against my ear. “Come on, let’s go get you changed.” He holds my hand and takes me back to my room, but it feels like I’m walking into a thick fog.
“Makayla,” Mia says, but I don’t look up as I pass her.
“She’s okay,” Kellan says to her.
“I’m okay...I’m okay,” I repeat quietly. “I’m okay.”
Kellan stops and holds my face in his hands. “Makayla, look at me. Look at me,” he says again, and I look up at him. “You’re safe now. They’re not going to hurt you. No one’s going to hurt you. Do you hear me?”
I bob my head and follow him to my room.
* * *
“Makayla,” Kellan whispers against my ear. “Makayla,” he whispers again slowly. My eyes flutter open to bright daylight and I see Kellan’s turquoise eyes gazing at me. “Hi.” He brushes the hair off my face. “I’ve been watching you sleep for the last hour. It’s almost ten.”
I don’t remember falling asleep after the incident last night, but I have a feeling Kellan’s eyes never closed.
He looks tired.
“Hi.” My eyes instantly fill with tears and I begin to cry. I bury my face in his shirt and he holds me against him.
“Shhh...it’s okay,” he says softly.
I sniffle and say, “You told me to tell you when I remember what happened to me.” I keep my eyes closed and hide in his arms. “Are you sure you want to know?”
I feel his muscles tense when he says, “Yes. Of course.”
“Last night, when that man was...touching me, I remembered. It was like I was in the cave again. I could even smell it,” I cry, and he holds me close, pressing his mouth to my hair. “I remember what he did. I remember,” I cry, and I don’t have to elaborate. He knows.
“Makayla, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he groans into my hair.
I cry, feeling a thousand emotions. Some, I felt before when I assumed what happened, but now they’re magnified by what I know happened. The shame, anger, revulsion, and fear each take a turn chipping away part of my soul.
Kellan holds me and lets me cry, but I can’t look up at him. After a few minutes, he whispers, “Look at me, Makayla.”
“I can’t.”
He reaches for my face and lifts my chin, forcing my eyes up to his. “I told you, it doesn’t change anything.” His eyes water and his voice cracks when he says, “You are precious, Makayla. And beautiful. And strong. And nothing...nothing could ever change that.”
A sob bubbles out of me, because I know the only reason I’m not completely disintegrating right now is him.
He holds me in his arms for a long time until we eventually fall back asleep.
When I open my eyes, I see the mosquito netting blowing in the breeze around Kellan, but I don’t wake him. He’s sleeping hard.
I get up and go to the kitchen to find something to eat. But I find Mia and Adam instead.
“Hey, are you okay?” Mia asks, reaching for me. She pulls me into a hug.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?”
She bobs her head, but I see the emotion on her face. A tear rolls down her cheek, and she quickly wipes it away. “That was really scary.”