Fate

by Tia Wylder

  I had Adele hold the flashlight while I searched through the kitchens for a spare key to the pantries. When I was unable to find one, I took a deep breath and charged at the door before kicking the lock with all of my might. It barely budged.

  “Jack, you’re not going to be able to open that,” Adele said in a disapproving voice. “It’s too thick.”

  “Well, help me find a key, then,” I said in exasperation. “We have to eat something.”

  Adele rolled her eyes. “Stay here,” she said. She gripped the flashlight in one hand and walked away. I could barely hear the patter of her feet on the floor by the time she stopped. I heard a drawer being pulled open, then the clatter of utensils as Adele rummaged.

  “I don’t think you’re going to find a key in there,” I called loudly.

  Adele ignored me.

  “I may as well try to push the door open again,” I said, eyeing the thick pantry lock. “Bring the flashlight back over here.”

  There was no answer. I could feel my frustration with Adele rising, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Come on,” I called. “You’re not going to find the key. Just bring the light back and let me try a couple of times – then we can check the front desk for spares.”

  Adele finally walked back over, grinning triumphantly. She handed me the flashlight and stepped closer to the locked door.

  “What?” I asked warily. “Did you find the key?”

  Adele shook her head but didn’t answer. “Hold the light,” she said. “Right here.”

  “Why? If you didn’t find the key, we’re wasting our time – not to mention the batteries of the flashlight,” I said.

  “God, Jack, just shut up for a minute, would you?” Adele cocked her head to the side and gave me an annoying smile.

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

  Adele leaned closer to the lock with something clenched between her teeth. That was when I saw the reflection of a shiny knife blade. Adele held the handle of the knife to the lock, sliding the edge of the blade inside and twisting it from one side to the other with a careful, practiced motion. She gritted her teeth and leaned closer, gently pushing from her shoulder and methodically twisting her wrist.

  There was a small click! and the lock sprang open before dropping to the floor.

  Adele turned to me with her hands on her hips. She raised an eyebrow.

  “See,” she said, her voice filled with triumph. “You didn’t need to bash your head in after all.”

  “You can stop gloating,” I muttered under my breath. “Come on.”

  I pushed open the pantry door, dropping the chain to the floor. Adele followed close behind me as I shone the flashlight over the different shelves. Just as I’d expected, the shelves were fully stocked. Canned fruits and vegetables, uncooked pasta, tons of bread and rolls and muffins.

  Adele’s eyes went wide, and she grabbed a pack of bagels, ripping the plastic open and cramming a bagel in her mouth. She closed her eyes as she chewed.

  “God, I needed carbs,” Adele moaned, swallowing and taking another huge bite. She offered the pack to me, but I shook my head.

  “We should make an inventory of what we have and conserve it,” I said firmly. “There’s no need to go crazy.”

  Adele narrowed her eyes and set the pack of bagels down on a large chef’s table. “Why? That’s pointless – the storm isn’t going to last forever, and we shouldn’t be starving ourselves,” she argued.

  “But we don’t know how long we’re going to be here,” I argued. “It could be weeks!”

  Adele grabbed the flashlight from my hand and spun around in a slow circle, illuminating the huge supply of food.

  “There’s no way we’re going to run out,” she said crossly, handing me the light and reaching for another bagel. “And we need to keep ourselves nourished. Starving yourself won’t do anything to help that – you’ll just feel sluggish and worse and sick.”

  “But we shouldn’t eat more than we know we can spare,” I said angrily. “And I’m not going to let you eat the entire pantry!”

  “Jack, in case you didn’t notice, there’s another pantry,” Adele said. She crammed the last of her second bagel in her mouth and stared at me as she chewed.

  “You're such a brat right now,” I hissed. I stalked forward and looked over the shelves. There was everything I could have imagined: ketchup, every kind of canned bean, pickles, mustard, relish. It was nothing like the meager store in the kitchens, where I’d only found a few stale loaves of bread and the big jar of peanut butter.

  “See,” Adele said, stepping forward with a smirk. She took a jar of pickles off the wall shelf and twisted it open with her hands before eating a few slices. Adele handed the jar to me. “Pickle?”

  “No, thanks,” I said darkly. “I’m going to look over here.”

  Adele and I spent the next couple of hours combing through the storage. There was a walk-in freezer, too, which had obviously stopped working…but I did find several huge pieces of meat that were still thoroughly frozen. Between the two of us, we scavenged enough food for what would be the first decent meal I’d have had since before leaving.

  Thankfully, the large gas range in one of the kitchens was still working. Adele thawed a package of hot dogs as I opened a few cans of baked beans and creamed corn. By the time we sat down, I was starting to feel better. The prospect of real food was looming in front of me, and I’d realized that Adele was probably right. Even with our large picnic spread, there was no way we were going to even go through half of the food.

  “Here,” Adele said as she sat down and handed me a hot dog. It was on a fancy china plate embossed with “Hotel St. Charles” and I laughed at the juxtaposition as I stared down at my food.

  “Thanks,” I muttered. The only sound in the room was the lashing of rain and whipping wind from outside of the hotel.

  Adele and I chewed in silence. The hot dogs tasted like propane, but I didn’t care. They were hot and salty, and it was somehow the best meal I’d ever had. The baked beans were only lukewarm, but I wolfed them down and grabbed a second portion from the large can.

  “We should find a cooler, or something,” Adele said. She looked down at the industrial pack of hot dogs. “We’re not going to be able to keep this stuff otherwise.”

  “We’ll look around after we eat,” I said. “I bet they have some at the front desk, for people to rent when they stay here.”

  Adele didn’t say much as we ate. She picked at her food, and there was a frightened, meek look in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before.

  “Are you okay?” I asked finally.

  Adele looked up at me. Her face was blank and expressionless. “What?”

  “You heard me,” I said. “I asked if you were feeling okay.”

  Adele narrowed her eyes. “No, Jack, I’m not okay,” she said quietly. “Someone is dead because of me, and I don’t even know if Barnes was right. What if we can’t catch Franchot? What if the storm stays so bad that we can’t leave the hotel?”

  I sighed.

  “What?” Adele gave me a sharp look. “You can’t tell me you aren’t worried,” she said. “Because I sure as hell wouldn’t believe you.”

  “It’s not that I’m not worried,” I said. “It’s just I’m worried about staying alive, not catching Franchot.”

  Adele sighed. She took a bite of baked beans, chewing thoughtfully.

  “Jack, I came out here to rescue you,” she said. “But that wasn’t the only reason why. And you know that. You know just how important this is to me.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered.

  As we finished our dinner, I couldn’t stop staring at Adele. It was incredible – she was like no other woman I’d ever met. Most other women would be cowering and frightened, hiding and worrying about their hair getting ruined in the storm. But not only had Adele risked her life to meet me here, she still had a very clear goal in mind.

  And I knew I was going to have to help her.

 
“What? You’re being quiet,” Adele said. “What’s going on in your mind?”

  “Nothing,” I lied. “It’s just…”

  “It’s just,” I said, frowning. “I’ve never met anyone like you. You inspire me, Adele. You really do.”

  Adele frowned. “If you think this is going to get you out of helping me, you’re mistaken,” she replied before taking another bite of hot dog. “I’m committed to this.”

  “I know you are,” I said. “And that’s why I want to offer you a job with Trident Gold.”

  Adele narrowed her eyes. She set her plate down on the carpet and frowned at me. “What?”

  “I told you, I want you to work for my company,” I said. “I want you to be my environmental consultant.”

  To my surprise, Adele shook her head. “No,” she said. She got to her feet and brushed her hands off on her thighs. “I can’t do that, Jack.”

  “Why not?” I squinted at her. It was completely dark in the room now, save for the dim glare of the flashlight that I’d set standing on one end. “What’s so wrong with working for me? You’d have everything you ever wanted.”

  Adele licked her lips. I watched her lower lip glisten with saliva in the dark room.

  “I can’t,” Adele said simply.

  I felt myself start to get angry. I got to my feet, knocking my empty plate to the side. “What the hell is your problem,” I said loudly. “I don’t get it, Adele – you’re so hot and cold with me! One minute, you fucking fly to Nassau in the middle of a hurricane to help me, and the next, you can’t even deign to work for my company.”

  Adele’s face remained expressionless. “I just can’t,” she said. “And if you actually thought about it for more than a second, or thought with your head instead of your dick, you might get it.”

  “Now you’re just being a bitch,” I told her. “After everything I’m doing for you, where the hell is this ingratitude coming from? How can you possibly reject a job offer from Trident Gold?”

  Adele laughed briefly, but there was no humor or warmth in the sound.

  “You don’t get it, Jack Nathan,” Adele said softly. “And I don’t think you ever will.”

  And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Adele

  It seemed that with each passing hour, the storm got worse and worse. I was almost glad I didn’t have access to the internet because if I’d learned how bad the storm actually was, I would have been even more frightened.

  After Jack’s stupid job offer, I avoided him as much as possible. I took a key from the front desk to a room that had as many internal walls as the hotel offered, and tried to stay quiet. I kept waiting for the storm to subside, even momentarily. just so I could sneak out of the hotel and look for Franchot…but when days passed, and that didn’t happen, I could feel myself starting to lose hope.

  I couldn’t believe that Jack had offered me a job with his stupid company. I’d never felt so insulted. He was obviously intimidated by me, or wanted to get rid of me somehow, and he thought the best way to do that was to offer me a job? It was so ridiculously stupid that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. And not only that, it showed me what he really thought of me. Obviously, I wasn’t that important to him. I was nothing. I was just a girl he’d fucked, and now he was trying to discard so I wouldn’t be able to hurt him professionally.

  It was more than a slap in the face. It was like a punch to the gut, a sharp pain that was only just now beginning to dull after days without talking to Jack.

  I couldn’t work for him. I couldn’t ever work for Trident Gold – not when I had these complicated feelings about Jack, and no way to deal with them. I felt like I was falling in love with him…and all he wanted to do was brush me aside and put me in some tiny office while he fucked everyone else in Boston.

  After I’d been in Nassau for three days, the hotel began to flood. I noticed when I went downstairs in the morning to take more food from the pantry. There was at least six inches of water on the floor, and the way it was gushing in from the side of the room just made me feel worse.

  When I got into the kitchen, Jack was standing there with a worried look on his face. He’d gotten to work putting all of the food we could eat on the top shelving units of the pantry, but his face was creased and lined with worry.

  “We might have to go up to the roof,” Jack said. He shivered. “The tide is rising, and it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.”

  “Okay,” I said. I felt numb – I knew that if we had to leave the hotel for higher ground, there was no way we’d survive.

  “It’ll be okay,” Jack said, as if reading my mind.

  “I hope so.” It was all I could say.

  Jack and I didn’t talk as we packed up supplies in coolers and plastic bags. We took ponchos from the gift shop and tried to wrap ourselves up as best we could. I was so scared that I was shaking – every time I looked out the windows of the gift shop, the storm seemed to be worse than ever before.

  “Jack?”

  “Yeah?”

  I bit my lip. “We’re so stupid,” I said, shaking my head and clutching my hands nervously in front of me. “Jack, this is insane.”

  Jack laughed. It wasn’t even a fake laugh – it was real. At first, the sound was uncomfortable and jarring. But after a second or two, I actually started to feel better. And to my surprise, I opened my mouth and joined in.

  “Yeah,” Jack said, snorting. He set a stack of boxed chocolates down on the Styrofoam cooler that we’d found. “We’re idiots.”

  When our laughter died down, I started to feel nervous again.

  “Come on,” Jack said. “We should get out of here.”

  Jack and I didn’t talk as we carried our respective burdens as high as we could go. When we got to the top floor of the hotel, I looked out the window and gasped. Outside, the water was churning and raging. The waves had to be at least twenty-five feet high, and they were pounding against the walls of the Hotel St. Charles with relentless, terrible speed.

  “Oh my god,” I said. My heart seemed to freeze in my chest. “This is getting even worse!”

  “It shouldn’t be long now,” Jack said. “I was able to get a satellite signal on my smartwatch. We’re in the thick of it now, but in a few hours I think it’ll calm down.”

  His words filled me with a dangerous hope.

  “You really think so?”

  Jack stared at me for a long time before nodding. “Yeah,” he said. “At least, I want to think so.”

  I curled up on the edge of the bed and watched the storm. Jack sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. At first, I wanted to push him away. But his touch was warm, and I couldn’t deny that it was comforting.

  “I really am sorry,” I said, turning to Jack and looking into his deep brown eyes.

  “Don’t be,” Jack said.

  “No, it’s my fault,” I replied. It was strange – I’ve never been good at talking about my emotions, but somehow being here with Jack was making me feel open and transparent. Maybe it was the storm, or maybe it was the fact that I was likely sitting next to the last person who would see me alive.

  “Adele, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Jack said softly. “You were doing what you thought was right.” He sighed and covered his face with his hands. “And besides, if anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I’m responsible for two deaths – my pilot, and the captain of that charter boat you took here from Miami.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How are you responsible for that? I was the one who forced him to take me out in the storm.”

  “If I hadn’t been here, you wouldn’t have needed to rush in like a white knight and save me,” Jack said. He gave me a rueful smile. “And Adele, please. I feel horrible about it already – I really do.”

  “I know.”

  We sat in silence for a long moment, listening to the waves crash against the hotel. The wind was still whipping through the tree
s, but it did sound like it was beginning to slow down.

  “If I hadn’t insisted that you help me, neither of us would be here,” I said softly. “I take full responsibility for that fact, at least.”

  Jack didn’t reply. He took his arm away from my shoulders and propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on his closed fist. When he looked at me, I felt a surge of affection between us that hours ago, I wouldn’t have been able to fathom. It was crazy – here I was, practically alone in Nassau, about to die in a hurricane…and I was falling in love?

  I remembered Lisa’s words, her warnings, her cautionary advice. I wished I could talk to her. I wished I could talk to anyone from back home about how I was feeling.