by Kenya Wright
The first night we made a makeshift shelter with massive banana leaves and long sticks. Lotus found berries to snack on. I didn’t trust them at first. I let her eat them and waited for her to die. She didn’t and throughout the stormy evening, berries packed my stomach.
The land was too wet to make a fire. We slept in each other’s arms. It had nothing to do with a bond or friendship. It was cold and wet. We needed each other’s warmth and I didn’t trust her too far from me. I kept my arms clamped around her the whole time, waking up anytime she moved.
Meanwhile, my cock had lost all logic. Every time that jasmine fragrance filled my nostrils, my cock tried to convince me that sex would make us warmer. I damn near came close to propositioning her twice before seeing Dawn’s face and returning to hating Lotus.
She’d cost me my obsession. Granted, she saved my life too. I’d need time to think about what I would do next. So much had changed. Who knew where Freddy and Dawn were or how much time had flown by?
In the morning, we searched for berries and moved forward, arguing every few feet and making sure each other was alive in the next.
By the third day, the berries and rain water wasn’t enough to keep us walking, but we kept it up. Barely talking to each other, yet hanging onto each other with each step. Hunger lured us around this deserted island. The desire to survive kept us working together. We weren’t at our best. I bet we backtracked some hours. There was no way the island was that big.
The rain had finally stopped. The sun came out. The forest appeared clear and for the first time, I realized that we had been walking in circles. In the first hour, I slammed a rock stained with berries into the center of a tree. In the second hour, we stopped at the same damn tree with the berry-stained rock.
“Damn it. We’ve been doing big dramatic loops each day and not walking to the center.” I turned in the possible right direction. “I know where we should go now.”
Lotus fell to the ground. “Let’s wait a few minutes.”
“No. Rain is coming. Night too. We won’t be able to get a clear view until the morning and we’ll probably be dead by then.” I yanked her up and carried her.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t walk.”
“We’ve had this discussion. We both need to rest when we can. Who knows what’s ahead of us. At least if I carry you to a shelter, I can sit down while you kill everyone.”
She glared at me.
“What?”
“Are you serious?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes and rested in my arms. “Okay.”
Holding her was becoming a second habit to me. I’d never been wrapped up in any human being for so long of a time. Even with Dawn, I took breaks, leaving her some nights just to be free of the contact. It wasn’t that I didn’t love being touched. I just didn’t enjoy losing myself so much in somebody.
And here I was rubbing against and cuddling with an enemy, scared that something would happen to her and I’d be all alone. Desperation had taken over as we wandered around lost. Even though the conversation wasn’t much, I was blessed that she was there and confident that she’d help when needed.
Carrying her the whole time, another hour passed. The rain returned. Light came up ahead. My heart lit up for the first time in several days.
Give me a fucking break, God. This place can’t be where I die.
I stopped between two trees and blinked through the rain. “Look. Do you see that or is this just my imagination?”
Lotus had been leaning her head on my chest. She turned to where I was looking and climbed out of my arms. “It’s a cabin.”
She staggered forward.
“Be careful.” By this time my legs had weakened and my arms were exhausted from holding Lotus. Slowly, I followed behind her. “We don’t know who’s in there.”
“Trust me when I say this.” She heaved herself forward. “Whoever is in there, better be open to guests because that’s where we’re staying tonight.”
We arrived there in perfect time, right as the rain increased. Fishing poles, machetes, and knives scattered around the area. There were planks of wood tinted with blood and tons of baskets and fishing wire.
“Fisherman,” I said.
“Long gone.” She pointed to the dried blood.
“I hope they left fish.”
“I doubt it.”
I growled. “Be positive.”
“I hadn’t taken you for a guru of consciousness.”
“Maybe it’s all the drugs that I’ve consumed in the past week.” I got to the door. “Here’s a tip. I like marijuana, not tranquilizers. If you want to party with me, remember that.”
“Noted.”
“And if you knock me out again, I’ll kill you.”
“Also noted.”
It was the most we’d spoken in days. For some reason, we’d saved our words like a swimmer would save their breath to stop from drowning. Now with a safe haven right in front of us, the words came.
And the questions would come next.
And she better have answers. I just need a few days to rest.
I turned the knob. It hadn’t been locked. The door opened with ease. Cobwebs and dust greeted us. It was good for the fishermen that they’d not returned. We weren’t exactly the nicest people to let in from a storm.
She limped toward what looked like a small rustic kitchen. “Please, let there be food.”
I shut the door behind us, not that happy that there was no lock. Too bad the cabin hadn’t been for hunting. I would’ve been happy to find a gun or rifle lying around. Instead, there were just knives and a few rusted machetes, not that I needed a weapon for the average intruder.
The whole time she rummaged around in the kitchen, I took note of the noises, pausing anytime I heard the clang of metal.
She might’ve grabbed a knife. I’ll have to check later and stay focused.
I did a quick walkthrough to make sure no one was in there. The place was deserted. Tanned animal skins hung from one side of the ceiling. It looked like no more than two huge rooms and a small bathroom—a place to cook, a place to sleep, and another to wash.
“The bed is too small.” I peeked in the bedroom again. “So, you’ll have to sleep on the couch.”
“Very funny.”
“Humor keeps the mind exercised for survival.”
“Maybe you should exercise silence.”
A yellow quilt lay on the twin bed. My feet would probably fall over the edge, but I was happy to have a mattress under my body tonight.
We would sleep together, regardless if the bed were comfortable for the two of us or not. I wouldn’t close my eyes around her without my hand being clamped to hers.
I need a weapon to put under my pillow. I’ll get it after she falls asleep.
“Good job.” Lotus clapped from the kitchen.
I joined her. “Why good job?”
“I thought you were practicing silence.”
“No, just thinking how uncomfortable our sleep in that bed will be.”
“We’re not sleeping together.”
“You should eat. You’re so fucked from starvation that you think you have options.”
Saying nothing else, Lotus opened the fridge.
How long would this friendly partnership last? Could I even sleep with her in the same room? We’d trusted each other while sleeping in the forest. We’d needed each other. Did we need each other anymore? She could’ve killed me long ago, but she hadn’t. What was I to do with her?
My dream from days earlier flashed in my head. Dawn had shifted to Lotus and from there, I’d swam around with my enemy in the ocean like a loving fool.
What the hell had that dream been about? Why was I even thinking about her?
And then Lotus shrieked with happiness. “Cheese! Bread! Dried meat! Wine! Lots of wine!”
“Throw me a bottle.” I crashed into the chair and hoped for the storm to hurry up and clear.
Liquor was
the last thing I needed. We were both dehydrated and starved. Exhausted and broken. But we’d survived and deserved a goddamn victory glass of wine.
“After we eat, I’ll check for supplies,” I said. “It doesn’t look like the storm will let up. I really hope there are some board games here. It looks like a game board type of place.”
“You’re talking Monopoly and. . .”
“Life, Clue, Operation. The classics.”
Lotus smiled for the first time as she pulled two bottles out. It brightened the whole room. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
How gorgeous? I would be an idiot not to notice.
In the past few days, I’d watched her sleep having nothing else to do. Slowly, I would breathe in and out as the rain fell around us. I sat there and monitored her small chest rising and falling. She slept with those full lips parted. Strands of that dark hair stuck to her face and added a haunting effect to her.
Those moments drove me crazy. Those moments made me question everything—our existence in the world to pondering the man I’d become. I wanted to touch her damp skin and gaze into her eyes.
In those moments, I knew exactly how Prince Philip felt when he discovered Sleeping Beauty. People tried to claim he was a necrophiliac—a man that enjoyed making love to a corpse. Others pointed to her being helpless and him taking advantage.
But there was never anything powerless about a sleeping beauty. A woman that could command all my attention just by napping in front of me and would tornado through my existence while she was awake.
And Lotus was a fucking tornado, wrecking and knocking down all the blocks and games I’d built around me.
She stood in front of the wine bottles and narrowed those beautiful eyes. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“It’s hard not to.”
She frowned. “It’s creepy.”
I shrugged. “We’re friends.”
“Are we?” She stood strong but looked like she wanted to collapse into the chair.
“Relax. We saved each other’s lives. Let’s celebrate and talk about the future tomorrow.”
“So, we’re not going to kill each other?”
“Not today.”
But when will I kill you?
Chapter 42
Lotus
Not today?
Caden stood sideways near the sink.
“Finally.” He tore off his wet shirt, exposing damp muscle. Next, he pulled off his jeans and boxer briefs and slung them on the floor. Muscle. Carved and glorious. Caramel-covered muscle. On his legs. Clung to his thighs. Cutting his waist. Packing his stomach. Layering his arms. Huge. Massive. All man.
Even naked and barefoot, his body language screamed, don’t fuck with me.
I dragged my attention away from him but damn, I didn’t want to. I could’ve counted each muscle all day. Licked at the humps. Rubbed my body against the layers. Slipped my hair along his back and nibbled at him for hours.
If I stared too long and lowered my attention down to other places, I would be more lost than when we were wondering around the island.
Speaking of the island, I could’ve stopped it earlier. Why did I let us stay lost for so long?
I wasn’t myself anymore. Something had changed when we washed up on the sand. Nothing happened the way I’d planned. He comforted me too much. He carried me too many damn times. He made sure I ate, checked my feet for blisters, and ran his fingers through my hair when he thought I was asleep.
He hummed to me.
He wasn’t humming to me. He was probably humming to himself. . . He hums. Why does he hum?
His deep voice interrupted my thoughts.
“You’re a pretty bad bartender.” Still naked, he held out his hand. “Share the alcohol.”
I handed him a bottle of wine and forced myself to look away from him. “I see you’re getting comfortable?”
“I’ve been wanting to get out of those clothes for days. I had a nightmare about them last night.”
“What happened?”
“Every time I took them off, I looked down and they appeared right back on me.” He grabbed a knife out of the sink and hit the bottle just right at the edge. The cork popped up. He pulled it up with his mouth, spit it out, and took several large gulps. “And instead of my jeans having zippers it was teeth, a full mouth that I had to unclamp. . .”
He held the bottle in mid-air and turned to me with an odd expression.
That hazel gaze pierced through my heart. My voice came out low. “What?”
“I haven’t told another living human my dreams in twenty years.”
My shoulders relaxed. He’d looked like he was going to kill me. In fact, his expression edged with murder. I could see it in the corners of his mouth. It was the face of a man right before he drove a newly sharpened knife into my chest.
I swallowed. “You’re not big on sharing.”
His gaze never left me.
Don’t show him that you’re scared. He’s like a dog. He can smell it, but as long as I don’t run or freak out, he’ll remain at bay.
“Last night, I had a nightmare too.” I brought the loaf of bread and stacks of cheese out, taking the knife and cutting out some pieces for us. “I lay in your arms with rain pouring down on me under a tree that barely shielded us from the storm.”
“That wasn’t a dream. It really happened.”
“And yet, I can still count it as a nightmare.”
The murderous expression cracked. He drank some more from the bottle.
What will we do now? I’ve taken all this too far.
We sat at the table and dug in. We stuffed our mouths with cheese and bread, taking swigs of wine when we could. When he had the wine, he’d slide it to me. I’d catch it, take a swig, and slide it back. There was a harmony to our dinner with the storm rumbling outside and the quiet dust settling in the cabin.
He was naked and I was dripping wet. And it had nothing to do with the wet clothes. If he hadn’t been here, I would’ve taken them off. But he was and my body reacted to him so easily.
“You’re not used to seeing naked men.” He grabbed the last two slices of bread, stacked cheese on them, gave me one, and took a bite of the other. “Have you ever had sex?”
I ate the slice he gave me, no longer hungry but needing something to put in my mouth.
“Naw.” Nodding, he chewed his food and finished the wine.
I rose, returned to the refrigerator, and took out two bottles of wine, wishing I’d stocked the fridge with more things or at least had my staff come down with more supplies. At this rate, we would only be here for another night.
He whispered from right behind me. “You should have sex with somebody.”
I jumped and dropped the bottles.
He caught them before they hit the ground. “I would say that you are the baddest chick I’ve ever met, but you do have a big weakness.”
I nodded. “Kryptonite?”
“Your weakness is never having had any dick.” He gave me one of the bottles. “You stare at mine for too long like you want to cut it off and keep it. This keeps you off balance and your mind unclear.”
“You wouldn’t say that to Superman, or Batman, or any other male superhero.”
“You’re not a superhero.” He leaned forward and kept his lips a few inches from my mouth. “I bet I don’t have to fight you to defeat you.”
“You would.”
“I could beat you by making you moan.”
Speaking of his cock, it pointed at me.
I swallowed down my nervousness. “Move.”
Laughing, he walked back to his chair and sat down.
“I’m not a virgin.”
He laughed some more.
The wine made me light-headed. I twisted off the cap and drank some of the water. “I’m not.”
He watched me the whole time, never taking his gaze off me. “You should take off those wet clothes. You’ll end up getting a fever.”
I went to my chair and sat down. “I saw you fight.”
He raised his eyebrows. “When?”
“When you were a kid.”
He laughed and drank some more water. “I was never a kid, Lotus.”
My name on his tongue was a beautiful sound. It came out so odd and full of sex. Here, one of the most powerful men in the world said my name like we were on equal footing. But I knew the truth. Never did I forget that if he hadn’t been so drugged, so confused, so utterly caught by surprise, he could’ve killed me many times.
He was right about the need to have a clear mind in this world. I’d kept him distracted in the same way he’d done to Dawn and Freddy and I was barely holding on.
How is he able to do this for so long?
“You were in this dirty gladiator-looking arena,” I said.
He rose and grabbed another bottle of wine. “They all look that way.”
“It looked like your first time.”
“That was my intention.”
“I watched you kill an archer with his own bows.”
“That’s the only way to kill an archer. I hate bows and arrows. There’s nothing more satisfying than putting the guy’s own arrow right through his stupid skull.” He grabbed the knife and hit the bottle from a specific angle.
The cork popped up.
I continued, “You looked scared.”
“Probably because I was.” He yanked the cork out and took a large gulp of wine.
“I was ten.”
He wiped his face and handed the bottle to me. “And so, you’ve never been a kid either.”
I didn’t take the bottle.
Silence bridged between us.
Naked, he kept his piercing gaze on me and his hand extended as if offering me more than wine.
How could he just stand around naked and not think about what it was doing to me?
That’s the problem. He knows what’s it’s doing to me.
“I don’t want it.” I got up and he didn’t move back. Barely three inches rested between us. The storm continued to rage around us.
I stepped away.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. “You think you know me because you saw me kill someone with thousands of others cheering me on? You don’t know me. I remember the fight you’re talking about. It was my first one. But that tells you nothing else, but that I’ve been killing people for a long time. Anybody with eyes could’ve seen that.”
