Escape

by M. K. Elliott

  He was both.

  The steady thrum of the approaching helicopter made him sag with relief. Pinpricks of light illuminated in the night sky and he rushed inside to let everyone know help was coming.

  The chopper landed with a whipping of air and a flurry of activity. Two paramedics jumped off the aircraft and he watched, taking a step back, as Lucy gave them Leanne’s stats and told them she was an ER doctor.

  “She’s lucky she had you here,” the older of the paramedics said. “If she had been moved in the wrong way, there is a chance she could have pierced a lung.”

  Lucy nodded, as though she understood the implication of what he said.

  Rudy stayed by her side, feeling like a bit of a loose end. He was used to being the one who was in charge and in control, and it felt strange to find someone else in his role.

  Watching Lucy at work was like seeing the real Lucy. He had suspected there was more to her than she was letting on and now, seeing her so calm and authoritative in the face of a crisis, he could see the whole person. He didn’t understand her reasons for keeping her profession a secret, but he could tell she was good at her job. If he were ever in an accident, he hoped Lucy would be there to take care of him.

  He couldn’t help being impressed, but he was also worried. If Lucy hadn’t been at the resort, and if she hadn’t been with him when Leanne fell, what would have happened? The clinic on the island was tiny and as basic as they came, with just a single waiting room and treatment room. It didn’t have the equipment or the staff to deal with anything more serious than a dose of Delhi-belly or a bad case of sunburn.

  Lack of a decent medical clinic had worried Rudy for a while and now the worry was more of a reality. The paramedic’s words rang in his ears, ‘she’s lucky she had you here...she could have pierced a lung.’

  Did he believe in luck, or was it more like fate?

  Rudy hadn’t hidden the surprise on his face when she pulled out her ID card, but Lucy had been too preoccupied to start explaining things. Only when the chopper left for the main land with Leanne on board, did he turn to her.

  “So,” he said. “You’re a late starter?”

  Together, they sat out on the veranda of the clinic—a wooden deck running right the way round the building— waiting for their ride back to the resort. They were high up in the middle of the island. The forest stretched out in front of them, the dark shapes of trees under the moonlit sky.

  The only ‘ambulance’ (another SUV driven by a middle-aged Thai man called Sanun) had already gone home for the night and they were stranded. Rudy had called the resort and they were sending someone out to collect them.

  She hadn’t wanted Rudy to know she was a doctor, but she had been left with little choice.

  Lucy hated having to explain herself to him. She wanted to follow her usual instincts and run and hide, but his broad, solid presence made it impossible for her to disappear and she knew she had to play this one out. Whatever she was—whoever she was—she had reached a point where she just needed to be honest with him.

  She sighed, “I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would want to talk about my work and that was the last thing I wanted to do.”

  “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t you want to talk about it? It must be so exciting being a doctor.”

  “See,” she said, raising an eyebrow, “this is exactly why I didn’t tell you. When people know you are a doctor they look at you differently. It’s like they expect something more from you or think you should be something special.”

  “Being a doctor is something special. Leanne might have been seriously injured if you hadn’t been here to help her.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I like to help people, but I’m certainly nothing special.”

  Lucy thought about how she had never dreamed of being a doctor, how she’d simply managed to fall into the profession, if that was possible.

  After finishing her A-levels, she’d gone on to get a biology degree at University College, London. She had taken the degree because she hadn’t known what the hell she was going to do with her life. At her father’s advice, she decided to get a science degree because, after all, ‘no one employs an arts graduate’ (her father’s words, not hers). But then she had graduated and was still clueless. A year working in the pathology lab at Guys Hospital, taking cultures and analyzing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, only made her realize she wanted more. She knew a few people studying medicine and thought, why not? She was certainly clever enough and she liked people, well, most of the time anyway, so she just went for it.

  Being a doctor was never something she dreamed of doing. It had just seemed like a sensible option.

  Besides, plenty of doctors weren’t anything special. Some of the people she had studied with were little more than morons who played drinking games every night. It scared her how those types of people could be responsible for the lives of others.

  “So, am I right in thinking that you don’t like your job very much?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

  “Why do you think I’m here?”

  “Well, I’m impressed.” He stared at her with wide-eyes and raised eyebrows. “A doctor? A real ER doctor?”

  She shoved him playfully on the shoulder. “Stop looking at me like that. This is the exact reason why I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you to look at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you don’t see me anymore. All you see is a doctor.”

  He laughed and then saw her face and stopped. “I’m sorry, but I don’t see you any differently,” he paused. “Okay, well maybe I do a little,” he admitted. “But only in a good way. You’re beautiful and incredibly smart.”

  She couldn’t help but smile.

  He thinks I am beautiful.

  That was the compliment she hung onto. She had been told all her life that she was smart—she knew she was smart—but it wasn’t often someone told her she was beautiful. Had Max ever told her? If he had, she couldn’t remember. He had told her that she looked great before they left the flat for a night out, and he had told her he loved her, but beautiful? She didn’t think so.

  The night drew on.

  “I’m so sorry your evening was ruined like this,” said Rudy.

  She shook her head. “Don’t be silly. It wasn’t your fault. Anyway…” she smiled, “it wasn’t all bad.”

  “Now I know you’re lying.”

  Their ride arrived, pulling up in front of them. One of the local boys who worked at Turtle View stuck his head out the driver’s window.

  “Hey, boss,” he called. “I hear you need a ride.”

  “You took your time, Tai,” Rudy said, getting to his feet. “We were starting to think we were going be spending the night out here.”

  Tai clocked Lucy and gave Rudy a wink. “I think you would be fine.”

  Rudy opened the door for her and then climbed in beside her.

  “Let me take you out tomorrow,” he said. “I can’t help but feel like I owe it to you after what you did today.”

  “You don’t have to keep making things up to me.”

  “Yes, I do. And anyway, I want to.”

  She was thrilled at the thought of spending more time with him. “Well, if you’re sure your boss won’t mind you taking the time off.”

  From the driver’s seat, Tai snorted with laughter. “Yeah, make sure you ask the boss. You know what he can be like.”

  Lucy raised her eyebrows in question.

  Rudy leaned forward and punched the boy on the shoulder. He gave a shout of protest.

  “Just ignore him,” Rudy said. “It’ll be fine. I’ll come pick you up from the restaurant at nine.”

  She hugged herself in excitement. Was this really happening to her?

  Rudy turned up the next morning on the back of a Yamaha.

  As the bike roared into the resort, everyone turned to look and Lucy had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from squ
ealing with excitement. She was so proud to be the one he was here for and she could feel the jealous glances on her back as she picked up her bag and made her way over to him. On the back of the bike was a spare helmet. As she walked up to him, he picked it up and handed it to her.

  “I’ve never been on a motorbike before,” she admitted.

  He looked at her in surprise. “You’ve got to be kidding me? What have you been doing all your life?”

  She lifted her hands in a shrug. “I guess you found that one out last night.”

  “Oh yeah,” he grinned. “Well, you don’t have to do much. Just sit on the back and hang on.”

  She eyed up the bike doubtfully. “What am I supposed to hang onto?”

  “You can hold onto the side of the seat, or if you think you can stand it, you can always hang onto me.”

  “Maybe I’ll hang onto you then,” she said. “After all, this is my first time.”

  “So I’ll be your first.”

  They stared at each other, the obvious connotation joining them in a heated moment. The faintest hint of a smile played on his lips, but his dark eyes read something deeper, something more intense.

  Rudy patted the space behind him. Lucy gave a thankful prayer that she had chosen to wear shorts instead of her usually favored skirt, and climbed on behind him. She pulled on the helmet he had given her. The helmet fit snug and tight around her head, almost pressing on her skull. It was a strange feeling to be so confined, but she was glad to be wearing it instead of doing what many of the tourists did and race around unprotected. Motorbike accidents make up the largest category of tourist’s injuries.

  Of course Rudy wasn’t a tourist; he was practically a local.

  She hid her smile against his back as she wrapped her arms around his waist. His stomach rippled hard beneath her hands and the warmth of his skin radiated through his t-shirt.

  “Ready?” he asked her over his shoulder.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  He kicked the bike to life and the engine roared around her ears. Rudy put the bike in gear and slowly let out the clutch. As soon as the bike started moving Lucy instinctively held on a little tighter, but she was so aware of his body and her own she couldn’t relax against him and she held her body stiff and upright.

  Quickly, the bike picked up speed and they rode back up the hill and away from the resort. Lucy wondered where they were going. Rudy had told her they were going diving, but she couldn’t help notice he didn’t have any scuba equipment strapped to the bike.

  They raced across the island, the steady thrum of the bike beneath her, and she leaned with Rudy as he artfully guided the bike around potholes. The sun warmed her back.

  Would she ever want to be anyone else in the world?

  They didn’t head through the middle of the island, toward the port, but instead seemed to follow the coast road around the island.

  After about twenty minutes, they drove down a hill toward a tiny deserted cove. Pure white sand edged the cove and a small wooden dock stretched out into the ocean. At the end of the dock, a white, fifteen foot motor boat lifted and dipped with the gentle swell.

  The question was in the widening of her eyes, but of course Rudy couldn’t see it. Was he going to take her out on that? Just the two of them?

  Excitement bubbled up inside her. The presence of the boat might be a coincidence, but she doubted it. The bay was deserted; no one else was around.

  She couldn’t help her body pressing up against his as they rode down the hill, toward the ocean.

  How it would feel being so close to him if clothing didn’t separate their skin?

  The ingrained scent of the ocean clung to him and his dark hair was shorn close to his neck, and she knew it would feel as soft as moleskin beneath her fingers. Something inside of her seemed to soften and it was all she could do to resist pressing her lips against the muscle where his neck met his shoulders.

  Rudy pulled the bike to a standstill and climbed off. She followed his lead, hoping he wouldn’t read her thoughts in her eyes.

  “What are you waiting for?” he asked her, gesturing down to the boat. His smile was wide and white in his suntanned face.

  “Are you kidding me? Are we going on the boat?”

  “Sure. I wasn’t going to make you swim out to the reef.”

  Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it’s safe taking me back out? Have you put out a warning to the coral?”

  “The coral will be fine. I’ll make sure I give you my full attention this time. I promise you, I won’t let anything happen.”

  “And if it does?” she pressed him.

  “It won’t.”

  They smiled at each other for a moment and a frisson of excitement raced through her stomach. Lucy wasn’t stupid. She knew what that look meant.

  They walked up the dock to where the boat waited for them. The name, Patience, was painted on the side in turquoise.

  Rudy climbed on board and held his hand out for her. She reached out and placed her palm in his. His strength supported her as she climbed onto the boat, having the obligatory wobble as she did so.

  The boat was fairly simple, with a small wheel house, the dive gear stacked up just inside.

  “Where did you get a boat from?” she asked him, still amazed, expecting him to say he had borrowed it from the resort.

  “Oh, I stole it,” he said with a dead-pan expression, totally serious.

  She nudged him in the ribs. “Really?”

  He laughed. “She’s mine.”

  “Really?” she said again, but this time more out of surprise than doubt. How did a dive instructor afford his own boat? Even small ones like this still cost a lot of money to buy, and they were even more expensive to keep them running. But then she remembered that he used to be a banker and figured that he must have had money saved from his previous life. Still, she couldn’t help but be impressed.

  Rudy got the boat started and then jumped back onto the dock. He lifted the rope off the pier, freeing the boat, and leaped back on again. The boat thrummed beneath them, smoke pouring out the back of the boat, but it quickly subsided once the engine had warmed up. The water sparkled, clear and blue beneath them. The bow of the boat cut through the waves with ease. With Rudy at the helm, they headed out into the ocean, leaving the island behind.

  “Did you name the boat yourself?” she asked, remembering the name: Patience.

  He stood at the wheel, his tanned forearm rested on the polished wood of the wheelhouse, guiding the boat through the water. He stared out at the ocean ahead and answered without turning his head, “Yeah, it seemed apt at the time.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well, after I first came here, I went home and worked my ass off for three years to be able to afford to move. To do what I planned, I needed to have a decent sum of money behind me, so I had to keep working and save up.”

  Working behind the counter in your local branch of NatWest obviously didn’t pay much these days, she thought. But then she looked at the boat beneath her feet and realized what he must have been saving up for.

  She gave a low whistle. “Three years? That’s commitment.”

  “No different than you committing—what, five years?—to becoming a doctor. I don’t know about you, but once I have decided I want something, I don’t tend to let too much get in the way.”

  His brown eyes flicked down her body and she understood where the phrase ‘undress you with his eyes’ came from. Under his gaze, she pulled in her stomach a little more and held her shoulders back. A little trippy beat of excitement raced through her. He wanted her, she was certain, but she couldn’t understand why he didn’t just walk up to her and kiss her. They were out here, a good couple of miles from shore, with no one else around. He could take her here on the deck and no one would be any the wiser.

  The thought made her catch her breath and she had to turn away from him, pretending to admire the view, certain he would see her thoughts in her face and read
them as easily as she had read his.

  She hadn’t decided yet, she told herself. Technically she still had a man waiting for her at home. Think how hurt Max would be if he knew what she was thinking right now. But the guilt trip didn’t work on her this time, and when she allowed herself to turn back to Rudy, studying his full mouth and strong jaw, she knew something would happen between them today.

  Lucy realized they were slowing down.

  Glancing back toward the shore, the island was little more than a speck. Rudy threw the anchor over the side. The water was a cobalt blue and when she looked over the side, she couldn’t see the bottom.

  “We’re diving here?” she asked nervously.

  He saw her anxious face and smiled. “You’ll be fine, honestly. There is a reef wall below us, that’s why it looks so deep, but where the coral is, it’s shallower.”

  She wasn’t convinced.

  “Hey, if it’s too much we can head inland a bit. I just really wanted to show you the wall. You get so much more here than a few tropical fish.”

  It was the thought of all the things she couldn’t see that made her nervous. Images from the first Jaws movie flashed through her head. But she didn’t want to be a wimp in front of him, so she shook her head and forced a smile.

  “No, its fine,” she said. “As long as you don’t shout at me this time.”

  He had the decency to look embarrassed. “I promise, he said, holding up one hand as though he was swearing an oath. “No shouting.”

  Rudy helped her with her gear and then put his own on. They did the safety checks needed before a dive: air levels, straps, weights. He handed her a set of mask and fins, and she eyed-up the fins in mistrust. Those things were purely designed to humiliate her.

  Rudy saw her misgivings. “Why don’t you jump in and I’ll hand them to you? You can put them on in the water, some people find it easier.”

  “What if I drop them?”

  “Then I’ll get you another pair.”

  She didn’t like the idea of being in the water alone, but she liked the idea of falling overboard in the fins even less, so she allowed Rudy to help her to the side with her oxygen tanks. Still feeling huge and awkward, she jumped in.