Illusion

by J. S. Cooper

  “Something like that,” Jakob replied, and I looked past him to see who he was talking to.

  My eyes widened as I stared at the other man. He looked unassuming and pale. He was only slightly taller than I was, and he had dark brown hair. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes from where he was standing, but I could see a pleasant smile on his face. He looked like a regular guy. I wondered how he had gotten on the island and why he hadn’t called out to us earlier. I hadn’t seen a boat or aircraft anywhere, so there was no way that he could have been dropped off after us. I hurried toward Jakob, and the man’s face turned into a huge smile as he looked at me.

  “Why, hello there.” He smiled as he walked toward me. “It’s nice to meet you both.” He had a slight accent, and I noticed that he was limping slightly.

  “Are you okay?” I moved toward him, but Jakob grabbed my arm. I looked back at him, and he shook his head acutely, but I ignored him. There was nothing to be frightened of with this new man. I was strong enough to take down a man with a limp, if it came to a fight.

  “I hurt my leg.” The man continued to smile at me. His eyes were bright and blue. He was more handsome than he’d appeared from far away. “Am I glad that I happened upon you both. I thought I was going to be stuck here by myself.”

  “We’re glad you found us as well.” Jakob walked up and put his arm around my shoulder. The possessiveness of his action annoyed me, and I tried to move away from him, but his grip on my shoulder was tight. “It must be scary to be on the island by yourself. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Steve.” He offered his hand to me, and I shook it. I was surprised at how strong his grip was. I’d assumed he’d have a limp handshake, like most unassuming men. His firm grasp didn’t match his appearance. And the light in his blue eyes seemed artificial somehow. I knew immediately that I didn’t trust him.

  “Bianca.” I smiled at him, trying to show him that I was friendly and not sizing him up. My father had always told me to never let a person see that I was evaluating them. If a stranger knew or sensed that you were studying them, they’d retreat and become resentful. I didn’t want Steve to have any ill feelings toward me. If he thought I trusted him, he might be more willing to give me information. I was almost positive that this wasn’t a chance encounter.

  “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” His eyes flirted with me, and my smile wavered, slightly uncomfortable at his boldness considering Jakob’s arm was around me and his whole stance was extremely possessive.

  “I’m Jakob.” Jakob’s voice was light as he ignored Steve’s outstretched hand. “How did you get here?”

  “I’m not sure.” Steve frowned. “I fell asleep on the beach at the resort and woke up in the jungle.”

  “The resort?” Jakob smiled. “There’s a resort on the island?” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and he pushed me behind him slightly. “I think you must be mistaken.”

  “There must be a resort, right?” Steve smiled back. “How else did I get here?”

  “Good question.” Jakob looked at me for a second and then turned back to Steve. “Forgive me if I’m not as convinced by your story as you may have hoped, but I’m having a hard time accepting the fact that you think you’re still on the same island as your resort.”

  “I don’t really know where I am.” Steve’s eyes grew worried as he rubbed his head. “I’m hot, and I’m thirsty, and I’m slightly disoriented. All I can remember is having a drink and then falling asleep. I feel like shit now, might have a bit of a hangover.”

  “It sounds like you’ve had a rough time of it.”

  “How did you two get here?”

  “Bianca and I were kidnapped, so we’re not really sure how we got here, and for that matter, we don’t even know where we are.”

  “You were kidnapped? Together?” Steve sounded surprised, and his smile weakened a little. His reaction was strange. It wasn’t how I expected someone to react to the news that someone had been kidnapped.

  “Yes,” Jakob answered at the same time I said “No.”

  “Which one is it?” Steve looked back and forth at us.

  “They kidnapped us both at separate times.” Jakob’s voice was firm. “Neither of us knows why, but we’re so glad that we’re here together.”

  “So you know each other?” Steve’s gaze was on me, and I could see that he was searching for answers in my eyes. I wanted to be honest with him, but I didn’t want Jakob to be mad.

  “Yes.” Jakob nodded. “We’re lovers.”

  “Oh!” I gasped, and blushed. I felt my face growing red at Jakob’s words, but I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of him touching me, of his lips trailing down my neck. His fingers pressed into my back and trailed down to my ass suggestively. I wasn’t sure if this was part of his game, but I knew that I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted to feel his hands all over me. I wanted to touch him and feel his hardness, between my legs. I wanted to . . .

  “You’ll have to excuse her.” Jakob chuckled and pulled me into his arms, suddenly making my thoughts turn into reality as my breasts crushed against his chest. “Bianca gets a bit shy when I discuss our intimacy in public.”

  “Jakob.” I tried to push him away, and his hand fell to my ass once again and squeezed it firmly. I struggled against him, but his hold became tighter, and I couldn’t move.

  “Later, my dear.” He smiled down at me gently, his eyes issuing me a warning as he pulled me closer toward him. I could feel his hardness pressing against my stomach, and I knew his little charade was turning him on as well.

  “I guess I’m the third wheel.” Steve’s smile was completely gone, and I was cautious of how quickly his demeanor had changed. He’d gone from friendly to surly in moments, and I began to realize that his casual and friendly demeanor was definitely a pretense.

  “We’re happy for the company,” Jakob spoke, sounding anything but happy. “Maybe between the three of us we can figure out exactly what’s going here. I for one don’t want to spend the rest of my days on this island.”

  “Yes, I’ll be happy to stay with you both here.” Steve nodded. “I really want to figure out a way to get off the island. And of course I want to know why I’m here. Why we’re all here. Having that knowledge would be good. That would be really good.” He looked at me then, his eyes slightly narrowed and his lips thin. There was something about the way that he’d spoken that discomforted me. He didn’t sound scared. Or afraid. He was acting way too calm for someone that had supposedly been on a beach and woken up on a deserted island.

  “I agree.” I shivered next to Jakob. I was still in his arms, and I was suddenly glad for more than one reason that he had laid his claim on me.

  As much as I wasn’t sure about Jakob’s intentions, I knew that Steve was bad news. I couldn’t ignore the feeling that he was definitely here for a more sinister reason.

  “Should we go take a seat?” Jakob nodded back toward our pants. “Get to know one another?”

  “Sounds good. I need a bit of a rest.” Steve nodded, and we all walked back to the sand.

  “I don’t trust him,” I whispered into Jakob’s ear as we walked back, and the look in his eyes told me that he agreed with me.

  “Let’s not let him know that.” Jakob’s breath tickled my ear as he whispered back at me. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with him. Part of me thought it would be a better idea to let Steve know that we didn’t trust him from the get-go.

  “I guess I’m really not at Sandals anymore.” Steve gave me a look. “Serves me right for sitting on the beach and drinking all day.”

  There was something off with Steve’s story. He’d said that he had been relaxing on the beach when he had fallen asleep. And then he’d woken up in the jungle. I looked at him again and gave him a weak smile before looking down at the sand and thinking. He was wearing pants and a blue shirt. Why would he have been wearing pants and a shirt on the beach?

  The other thought that struck me wa
s how calm and collected he seemed. He was so calm that he’d been whistling casually. If I’d woken up in the middle of a jungle after falling asleep on the beach, I wouldn’t be whistling as if I had no cares in the world. I’d be frantic as hell. Something didn’t add up. And all of us knew it. The only sounds around us were those of the waves crashing in the ocean and some birds chirping.

  I stared at Steve and then at Jakob. They were sizing each other up, and I could feel the sudden tension in the air. Steve looked back at me and ran his hands down the front of his shirt. “I’m glad I’m here, Bianca. I can help to protect you.” He then looked at Jakob pointedly.

  “She doesn’t need your help. She’s got me.” Jakob responded in a menacing tone and I wondered just how true that was.

  Both of them turned to look at me then. I stared back at them and offered a small awkward smile while my insides churned. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood, but I had no idea which of my supposed saviors was actually the wolf.

  five

  “There’s something off about that guy Steve,” I whispered to Jakob as we sat down on the sand. “I don’t know if I trust him.”

  “I could have told you that as soon as I saw him.”

  “What are we going to do?” I bit my lower lip and tried to stop my body from shaking.

  “We’ll sleep together tonight,” Jakob whispered in my ear as we watched Steve hobble over to the ocean.

  “What?” My voice rose, and my stomach flipped over.

  “We’ll sleep together.” He pulled me toward him. “We have to act the part.”

  “I don’t know if I want to act any part.” I swallowed hard as our legs grazed each other’s. I felt a small spark of electricity run through me.

  “I don’t trust him.” His voice was low. “We have to show a united front.”

  “We don’t know him.” And I don’t know if I trust you either.

  “His story doesn’t add up.” His eyes narrowed as we watched Steve splashing his face with water. “He didn’t just fall asleep at a resort.”

  “I was thinking the same thing, but why is he here, then?” I lay down on the sand. I wasn’t sure why I was arguing with him, when he was bringing up the same points I had just been making internally. “Why are you here? Why am I here? Maybe he was drugged like we were?”

  “He wasn’t a part of the plan.” He shook. “I’m positive of that. Whoever wanted us here didn’t intend for this man to be here as well.”

  “You don’t think so?” I shivered.

  “Whoever orchestrated our kidnapping had everything planned to the most finite detail. They had your drink laced with something, for heaven’s sake. They wouldn’t just have a third person show up. Not like this. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “So then why is he here?”

  “That’s what I intend to find out.” His eyes narrowed as he looked toward the ocean. I could see his muscles flexing as he stretched his arms out. I swallowed hard as I stared at his toned body. If it came down to a fight, Jakob could definitely take Steve down.

  “You don’t think he’s the one who put this all together, do you?” I whispered as Steve limped back to us. I knew that I didn’t think that, but I was curious to hear what Jakob had to say. Mentally I was starting to feel confused. Really confused.

  “I don’t know.” He looked down at me and paused. “None of us really knows anything.”

  “I need to tell you why I think I’m here.” I spoke quickly as I decided suddenly to trust him. “I need you to know what I’ve been up to.”

  “Tell me later.” He nodded. “Let’s wait to talk until he’s gone to sleep. He’s walking back now.” He looked toward the beach and I saw Steve hobbling back toward us.

  We spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach chatting idly about why we thought we were on the island. I was pretty sure that none of us was being honest or up front about our pasts. I knew I wasn’t. I mumbled on about life in the city being dangerous and how the rise of human trafficking made women like me a target. Both men nodded in understanding, but I knew they had to be thinking that had nothing to do with all three of us being on the island together.

  Jakob didn’t bring up going to explore in the jungle, and I didn’t ask him either. I wasn’t sure that either one of us was willing to go explore now that Steve was a part of our pack. There was something about him that reminded me of a serial killer. Maybe it was the way his eyes followed my every movement. Or maybe it was the way he stared at my breasts and licked his lips. His fingers also looked too manicured. I could tell from his fingernails that he wasn’t a man of labor. Then there was the fact that his accent kept changing. It ranged from British to Australian, and I wasn’t sure if he was putting it on or not.

  “I’m a man of leisure.” Steve lay back on the sand. “I come and go as I want.”

  “That must be nice,” I answered politely, as Jakob just stared at him.

  “It’s not a bad life to lead.” He grinned at me and then looked at Jakob. “I sometimes feel like a nomad, taking an odd job here and there, but it’s a great way to see the world.”

  “I’d love to travel the world one day.”

  “That’s a nice dream,” he replied to me, and I frowned, not knowing how to take his comments. That’s a nice dream? Did he think that I wasn’t going to make it anywhere?

  Steve seemed to sense my annoyance, because a couple of seconds later he pulled a flask of something out of his pocket and took a long swig.

  I reached for it eagerly as he handed it over to me.

  “What is it?” Jakob frowned at me and shook his head as I was about to take a swig.

  “Gin.” Steve grinned. “I always carry a flask around with me.”

  “Give it back, Bianca.” He grabbed the flask from my hand and handed it back to Steve.

  “Hey, I was thirsty.” I glared at him. He was fast getting on my nerves. I knew we were trying to work together, but I didn’t need him acting like he was in charge of me. I could take care of myself.

  “Alcohol won’t help you.” He shook his head and looked up at the sky. “I don’t think it’s going to rain today.”

  I resisted saying I told you so. “So what are we going to do?”

  “We need to find water.” He looked down, and I could see him thinking. “We need to go to the ocean.”

  “What? We can’t drink the salt water. Even I know that will kill us.”

  “No, we’re not going to drink the water.” He jumped up. “We need to collect the rocks.”

  “The rocks?” I froze. “Why?” I had images of him pummeling Steve—and maybe myself—to the ground. I could almost see the pools of bright red blood in the sand. I shivered at my morbid thoughts and shook my head.

  “I think I know how we can get some water.” Jakob’s eyes looked at me searchingly, and I knew that he had witnessed my shoulders shaking.

  “From the rocks?” I frowned. How were we going to get water from the rocks? “You’ve heard the saying that you can’t squeeze blood from a stone, right? I’m pretty sure you can’t squeeze mineral water from it either.”

  “Bianca.” He gave me a wry smile. “Please, just start collecting rocks from the ocean.”

  “What are you going to do?” I huffed. “I’m not your slave.” You can tell me what the plan is; I’m not too dumb to understand, I thought.

  “I’m going to show Steve what he needs to do.” He gave me a smile and then looked down at Steve, who was watching us with a curious expression on his face. “You do agree that it wouldn’t be fair if we asked Steve to shuttle rocks back and forth, what with his bad leg and all.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help.” Steve frowned, and I could tell that he was annoyed that Jakob had pointed out his inferiority. “I may have a slight impediment, but I assure you that I can still get the job done.” His tone was snide as he spoke to Jakob. Then he looked at me and smiled. “I can assure you, Bianca, that I’m very capable of getting the job completely done.�
�

  “Come with me,” Jakob said, grabbing Steve’s hand and pulling him up hard. “I’m going to need you to dig a hole.”

  “A hole?” I exclaimed, my mind once again drifting to thoughts of someone getting their head smashed in by a giant rock.

  “Bianca, why aren’t you going to get the rocks?” Jakob snapped, and I ran toward the water.

  My heart skipped a beat as I reached the water and looked back. I saw Jakob and Steve walking farther away from the water toward the sand dunes. I reached into the water and pawed at the ocean bed. Why did he want me to find rocks? And why was Jakob having Steve dig a hole? Was he planning on killing one of us and then burying the body? I looked out at the empty horizon and shuddered. What I wouldn’t have done to have seen a yacht sailing along the smooth waters in that moment, or even a young guy on a Jet Ski. I’d feel bad about leaving Steve and Jakob behind, but I’d make sure to get help.

  “Have you found any rocks yet?” Jakob’s smooth voice made me jump as he entered the ocean behind me.

  “Not yet.” I shook my head and went back to running my hands along the seabed. “How many do we need?”

  “We’re going to need quite a few. The larger the better.”

  “What for?”

  “Survival.” He walked away from me. There he was with that word again. I wished he wouldn’t keep saying it. The word survival made me think of death, and the last thing I wanted to be preoccupied with was my own mortality right now.

  I stared at his back for a few seconds before turning around.

  “So did your parents have a happy marriage?” Jakob called out to me as we looked for rocks.

  “I think so,” I answered, not knowing how to respond. “My dad really loved my mother. He was devastated when she died.” I felt a pang of pain in my chest as I recalled my father sitting on the couch staring at a photograph of my mother. “He never loved anyone after her.”

  “So it was true love, then?”

  “Yes, I believe it was.”