The Island

by Alice Ward

  I had a lot on my plate that night, and Dean made sure that plate stayed full. There was my first kiss, followed quickly by my first boob grope, and then his tongue went into my mouth.

  A tongue that felt thick, gooey, and tasted like Red Hots. I didn’t like it at all. And I hated the fact that Dad had been right. With a quick punch to the stomach, the boy ended his kiss and told me to get out of the car, which so far was only two blocks away from my house.

  I could’ve gotten out of that stinky car and gone home with my head down. That wasn’t me. I wasn’t a victim.

  Instead of going that route, I grabbed the jerk by his sky-blue lapels and pulled him close to me. “If you think for one second that I plan to walk away from this prom, you’re an idiot. You, Dean Richardson, will take me to dinner with our friends, then to the prom where you will dance respectably with me whenever I want you to.”

  “Oh, yeah,” was his clever reply.

  That little smart-ass comment got him a good jerk, and I heard the rented fabric rip a little. “Yeah. Wanna know why, dickweed?” He could only nod his response as he gulped. “Because my daddy was a Navy SEAL. He can get into your house, your bedroom, and take you out without anyone knowing what the hell ever happened to you. Would you like to find out if what I’m saying is true? If you do, just deviate from my plan, even once.”

  Needless to say, he agreed with what I said, and we had a lovely night. He never asked me out again, but that was cool with me. I didn’t want to date the loser anyway.

  My inner thoughts were interrupted by more of that quiet talking I didn’t understand. I made a quick decision to act like I was asleep to see if they’d get any louder. My gut was telling me something wasn’t right, and my gut was usually spot on.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Eli

  It was as if I was in a thick, hazy fog. At first, I thought I’d fallen asleep on the ground somewhere, and a big stick was poking into my side. But it kept jabbing me, and then I heard a familiar voice hissing things I couldn’t understand.

  Little by little, I remembered where I was. In a private jet, heading to Scotland. And the jabbing in my ribs was Kendra. She and I were going on a trip all alone. I’d managed to pull it off.

  “Eli,” she hissed.

  I turned my head to the side without opening my eyes. They simply felt too heavy to open. “Go back to sleep, baby.”

  “Oh my god, Eli. We’re not in bed together. Wake up, please.”

  My mouth was dry. It felt as if balls of cotton had been placed in it and left there for a few decades. I tried to run my tongue around but it felt heavy too. “My mouth tastes like shit.”

  “Yeah, your breath is giving that away. Open your eyes.” She jabbed me in the ribs again.

  “Stop doing that. Damn.” I blinked and found the light was just too bright to open them all the way. “Man, that drink was stout.”

  “I think there was more in it than just alcohol. You’ve been out for a while, Eli. I think something’s going on here. I’ve heard a lot of talking. It would be great if you could wake up.”

  “I’ve been out for a while?” The thought had my brain beginning to whirl back to life. “Why didn’t the drink affect you?” I managed to get my eyes to open more and looked at her. She looked perfectly fine. Still just as pretty as when I picked her up.

  I, on the other hand, had the idea that my eyes were most likely bloodshot and I knew my breath was an anomaly, all on its own.

  “I didn’t drink it. That’s the only reason we’re still here, I think. I’ve heard the men talking in some language I don’t understand. But some of them lapse into English now and then. I’ve heard your name said more than a few times. I’ve also heard them saying things about why I’m not asleep yet.”

  I felt like I was in a dream. Kendra was talking so quietly, I could barely hear her, but the worry that threaded through her voice was prevalent. There had to be something going on, she wasn’t the type to freak out easily.

  My balls tightened as I processed everything she’d just told me. “I think you’re right, there was something in that drink, there had to be. My head is as fuzzy as a bear’s ass.” I tried to get up, but she grabbed my arm, not letting me go anywhere.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Us. We’re going to the bedroom.”

  And maybe stick my head under the sink faucet for an hour or two.

  She poked me in the chest. “Eli Reed, damn it. This is not the time to be thinking with your… uh, male member.”

  The word shot a laugh out of me. “Member?” God, she was adorable.

  The look in her eyes had me surfacing another degree. “Penis. Whatever. Leave it in your pants, Reed.”

  I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to clear them. “I just want to put some distance between us and them, to figure things out without all the damn whispering, but if you’re interested in my member…”

  She growled. “Something is going on. They wanted us both knocked out. That means they had some plan for us. I have no idea what it is, but I know I’m not about to go into that bedroom and have sex with you while our lives are in danger.”

  I looked at her again. She was slightly less bleary this time. “If we’re about to die, don’t you think you’d want to have that experience before we leave our earthly bodies?”

  She growled again and I got serious.

  “I need to get up and walk this off, splash my face with water so I can think, maybe lay down for a few minutes.” My head was fuzzy as shit.

  “Lay down?” The fire that had started with my first sexual remark turned into an inferno in her emerald eyes as her hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Eli, listen to me. We have to think fast. Things have to be dealt with efficiently. This isn’t the time to go lay down, finish out your nap, and see what happens. This is the time for you to shake off the remainder of the drug you were given and figure things out.”

  She was right.

  Of all the things I knew about Kendra Baxter, one thing I knew for sure was that she was undaunted. She took everything in stride and dealt with it without letting her nerves overrule her. Kendra wasn’t your average woman. She was calm. Composed. Mature past her young years. I had to take her seriously and pull my head out of my ass.

  I looked around for my cell, intent on calling the agency I used for security. Why the shit wasn’t my bodyguard dealing with all this? But my phone wasn’t where I left it. Or in my pocket. It wasn’t anywhere.

  “Where’s my phone? Did you take it? Do a little snooping?”

  With an incredulous expression, she punched me in the arm. “You idiot! No, I didn’t try to look through your stupid cell. The steward came and took our phones away about four hours ago.”

  The number of hours hit me like a rock upside my head. “Wait. Four hours ago?”

  Exasperation filled her face. “Yes, I told you you’ve been out for a while.”

  “That’s more than a while. I thought you meant like an hour. An hour I can see, but four?” I began to get worried too. On legs that weren’t completely steady, I stood.

  She grabbed my arm and yanked me back down. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to find out what the fuck is going on.”

  “Your head isn’t clear yet. Your body isn’t working at full capacity either. If it was, then I’d say you stood a chance of not getting us killed.”

  “Thanks for the high praise,” I muttered.

  She huffed. “A fight could land us in the ocean right now. If we crash, we’re dead. That’s it. End of story.”

  Looking out the window, all I saw was water. Miles and miles of deep ass water and nothing else. “Fuck.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking for hours. We have to be smart about this. Now, do you understand?”

  Leaning my head back to try to regain all my mental capacities, worry sprouted new roots. Then voices seeped out of the galley. Voices that included that of my bodyguard. Voi
ces that weren’t in English. It was a language I wasn’t entirely sure of — Middle Eastern, Asian maybe. So hushed it was impossible to know the accent, even if I could understand the language.

  Why would my bodyguard be conversing in another language with the cook and the steward?

  No good answer came to my mind. As I contemplated that question, sounds began to emerge from the cockpit. The same language was being spoken by the two men in there as well.

  “Kendra, let’s go to bed.”

  “Eli, I swear to God—”

  Moving quickly, I put my finger to her lips. “Hush. My head is clearing now. I can think better than I could before. Listen to me. They may be transporting something back there. Maybe drugs or guns. If we can find out what crime they’re committing, we might be able figure out just how much danger we’re actually in.”

  She furrowed her brow as she contemplated the idea. “That’s actually kind of plausible.”

  “It’s entirely plausible. Now, let’s go look around. It’ll give us the upper hand to know what’s going on, but they need to think we’re going back there for romantic reasons.”

  She nodded, and we stood, my arm around her waist as she giggled like an overly enthused co-ed. We needed to work on her acting skills. “Grab your drink and act like you’re sipping it as we walk,” I told her.

  In the galley, I nodded to the men standing inside, giving them an I’m about to get laid smirk. The men smirked in return.

  Kendra lifted the glass and said, “Cheers,” before pretending to take a sip.

  “Would you like another, sir?” the steward asked. “It would only take a moment.”

  I considered my options. It would be better if they thought us both to be knocked out. That way the element of surprise could be on our side when they discovered otherwise. “Sounds great.”

  “One moment.” He turned his back so I couldn’t see him mixing the drink. A minute later, he handed it to me with a smile.

  I pressed the rim to my lips, pretending to sip as well. “Thanks.”

  He nodded. “Enjoy.”

  I winked. “I will.”

  As soon as we got inside, I locked the door and went to the bathroom, taking both of the spiked drinks with me to toss down the drain.

  “Great idea,” she whispered. “You check in there, and I’ll look in the closets.”

  “I have to piss like a racehorse and brush my teeth.” I closed the door and heard her digging through things. I cracked the door open. “Be quieter.”

  She flipped me off. “Mind your business.”

  As I took care of my business, I tried hard not to worry too much. It was no use. I was worried as fuck. If anything happened to Kendra, I didn’t know what I’d do, and the odds of protecting her against five men — I had to assume the pilots were in on this too — was daunting. Looking at myself in the mirror, I splashed water over my face.

  “You will not let anything happen to that girl, Eli Reed. No matter what.”

  With the pep talk over, I exited, finding Kendra had our luggage out, looking through every pocket. “I don’t see where anything was put into our luggage. Unless this was planted in yours.” She held up the dark blue, barely-there negligee I’d bought for her just in case we did end up romping around in the sheets.

  “Um, no. That was in there before. Never mind about that.” I took the other bag that was still zipped and looked through it.

  She clicked her tongue. “Naughty boy.”

  I shot her a look. “I thought that had already been established. I’m naughty, and I want to be that way with you. No big surprise there, is it?” I looked all through the bag that had her toiletries in it and found nothing. Like absolutely no birth control of any kind. Not even condoms. Which I had plenty of, not a problem there. But I was still surprised. “Kendra, are you on any birth control?”

  Her jaw dropped, her eyes bulged, and her face went bright red. “Eli! What the hell?”

  I zipped up her bag as I shrugged. “You don’t have any kind of contraception in your suitcase. No pills, no condoms. I have to ask, what do you use to prevent pregnancy?” I leveled my eyes on hers, trying to make her be a grown-up about it. She was so mature, I often forgot she was barely old enough to drink legally.

  “I have no need for any of that stuff.” She tossed the luggage she’d finished going through into the closet, making much more racket than was practical under the circumstances.

  Shit.

  “Yeah, baby,” I moaned loudly, trying to cover for us. “That’s right. Just like that.”

  Her eyes went wide. “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed.

  I held a finger to my lips and pointed at the door. “Suck it good, baby.” I made a few more grunting sounds, thrusting my hips at her for good measure. “That’s right.”

  I almost couldn’t finish the charade and had to clamp my lips together to keep from laughing. The look on her face was priceless.

  After a few more hip thrusts, I got back to business, placing her bag much more quietly into the closet before returning to the most recent subject. “And why do you have no need for stuff like that?”

  She looked like a deer caught in a million headlights. “Please don’t ask that right now. It’s not important. Can we focus on what’s happening here?”

  A storm of questions swirled around in my brain. And the answer to them all was obvious, as I remembered all her excuses for not being with me over the past month.

  “Kendra, are you not on anything because you’re still a virgin?” She didn’t say a word, or blink, or breathe. She didn’t have to. I knew it then. “That’s why you’re so strong-willed in the sex department. You’re holding out, aren’t you? You’re holding out for the man you’ll love one day. That’s it, isn’t it?”

  Her eyes slowly moved up to meet mine, but she still didn’t utter a word. I could see it there. She was keeping her virginity intact for love. My heart pounded. And not for the reason I thought it would.

  I expected to feel horny as fuck at the thought of getting a shot at taking that cherry. I didn’t feel that way at all. I felt protective of her. And I thought more of her for what she was doing. She was rare. Not because she was a virgin, but because she was true to herself, no matter what. I was impressed, and I adored her even more.

  “You’re right, we have to focus on what’s happening, so let’s put this subject to the side for now.” I took her still red face in my hands. “Just know this. I’ll take care of this situation I’ve gotten us into. Whatever is going on, it has to do with me. You’re just an innocent who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everything is going to be okay.” I kissed her forehead, letting my lips linger there for a long moment, breathing her in. With reluctance, I let her go and headed to the door.

  Just as I was about to turn the knob, I heard movement on the other side. I stopped and put my ear to the wood. Kendra moved in just under me and did the same. Resting my hand on her back, I wanted to give her as much reassurance as I could.

  There was mumbling I couldn’t make out, then one of them said, “Maybe they’re both asleep now.”

  My heart pounded as they tried to open the door but found it locked.

  “Fuck, go see if there’s a key to this in the galley somewhere,” my bodyguard said. “I don’t want to have to break the door down. This will go easier if they stay asleep. We don’t want to make a lot of noise.”

  Kendra looked up at me, and we held each other’s eyes. They did want to do something to us. I had no idea what or why, there was no contraband they were smuggling that I could tell. It was us they were after. Me.

  We heard them walk away and Kendra stood up, moving into my arms. I hugged her tightly, my lips brushing her ear. “It’ll be okay. I can take them.”

  “There are five of them, Eli. Don’t be crazy.” Her lips pressed against the side of my neck, and I had to close my eyes as I was nearly overcome with emotion.

  She cared about me. She didn�
�t want me to get hurt. But I cared about her too, and I would do everything I could, even if it meant getting hurt, to save her. “You let me take whatever risks I have to. I’m not letting them do whatever their plan is. Thankfully, you didn’t drink their potent concoction.” I kissed the top of her head as I rocked back and forth. “I’m damn glad I brought you with me.”

  “Me too.”

  I let her go to put her behind me as someone said, “I can’t find a key.”

  “Fuck!” one of the other men cursed.

  “Stay behind me no matter what happens,” I whispered.

  She shook her head, a stubborn look coming over her face. “We have to get something to defend ourselves. We have to hold them off.”

  “Not we,” I corrected close to her ear. “Me. You hide. You should get into the closet. I can handle them. Don’t worry about a thing. It would be better for you to get in there.”

  Her fists planted on her hips and she hissed, “I’m not useless.”

  We both shut up as the handle of the door wiggled.

  Shit.

  They were about to break in.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kendra

  I couldn’t just stand there and let Eli get hurt. He was going to handle things like a bull in a china shop, and I knew that would end horrifically. “I’m going to go out there and say you’re sick in the bathroom. I’ll ask them what was in the drink. I’ll act stupid, you know. It’ll throw them off. Buy us some time. We’ll be in Scotland in less than two hours.” I tried to move around him to get out the door.

  He grabbed me as he shook his head. “I’m not about to let you do that.”

  “Your idea sucks.” I looked at the doorknob that had stopped wiggling and heard the men talking about looking for the key again.

  I could read Eli like a book. No way would he stand by and let me go out there and distract the men. He was a typical alpha male, and there’d be no getting around him. We needed another idea, as both of ours wouldn’t work for the other person, and I thought frantically for anything better than Eli storming out against five heavily muscled and possibly armed men.