Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
There is blood all down their faces, but that isn’t enough to stop them.
They manage to get to their feet, moving like wild animals hunting prey, circling each other. They are both panting, their chests rising and falling. Seeing them like this is terrifying, but it is also mesmerizing. Seeing them in their truest form, the way they move, the way their muscles flex, is incredible. I can see their skill, and I know nothing about fighting.
Ace drives a fist into Kellen’s nose, and the crack that radiates down the beach is horrifying. This is going to end badly. I lunge forward, attempting to stop them, but a hand closes around my shoulder and drags me back. Zeke. He shakes his head, eyes dark.
“Don’t. Let them go. They gotta get through it.”
I bite my lip, but I back down. I stand and watch two men try to murder each other on a tropical beach as the sun glows pink and the gulls circle, screeching like goddamn banshees.
“Oh my.”
Adrian’s voice comes from behind me, but I don’t turn.
He has arrived at the wrong time.
Ace’s face is a bruised wreck, and Kellen has blood pouring from his nose. Ace spits his own blood into the sand, wipes his mouth, then wipes Kellen’s blood off his knuckles with the hem of his shirt.
“If you ever put your hands on me again,” Ace says, his voice trembling with barely contained rage, “I’ll fuckin’ kill you.”
“Oh, he is mad mad,” Adrian whispers.
Word.
Ace turns and walks off, vanishing into the shadows of the tree line. I go after him, but the trees close thick and quick, and he’s already disappeared deep into the thick jungle. There’s no path, but I can hear him somewhere ahead—he’s not bothering to move quietly, snapping every branch that dares to block his way.
I don’t even know if it is a good idea to follow him.
I go after him anyway and find him at the edge of the lake. He’s kneeling, one elbow propped on his knee, the other hand dipping into the water and washing the blood off his face.
“Whatever you’re goin’ to say, just say it,” he mutters, not even turning to see who it is.
“You want to tell me what the hell that was?”
He doesn’t answer.
He looks out over the water, and I realize he isn’t going to say anything.
“You want to kill each other over a fucking fire?” I ask. “Because if you keep it up, that’s what will happen.”
“He dares to fuckin’ put hands on me, then he gets what’s coming.”
“Until it goes too far. You know, better than anyone, that one punch can kill, Ace.”
He glances over at me, his face darkening with bruises already. “You think I don’t fuckin’ know that?”
“Then why do it?” I say, my voice going higher than I’d like. “Why risk it all for fucking male ego?”
“It ain’t fuckin’ ego,” he spits.
I flinch.
Then, I take a deep breath and go over, crouching down next to him, knees digging into wet ground. “I need you here,” I whisper, my voice raw. “Ace, I don’t think I can survive this if something happens to you. Don’t you see that?”
His whole body softens. He turns his body towards mine, taking my face in his hands. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, do you hear me?”
“You can’t promise that,” I whisper, my throat suddenly so tight I can’t breathe.
“Baby, I can.”
He presses his forehead to mine, and we sit like that for a long time, just feeling each other. Fear crushes my chest, fear that I might lose him, fear that something will happen, fear that this will all destroy me because I’m falling in love with this man.
So fucking hard.
I can’t think about it right now, because it is utterly terrifying.
“Promise me you won’t kill each other,” I plead. “At least not until we get off this island. Then you can do whatever you want, hell, I might even help you.”
He almost smiles. “Deal.”
We don’t move for a long time, just sit like that in the falling dark, the forest breathing around us, the beach crashing against the shore in the distance. Eventually, I finish washing the blood off his face, and we slip back through the trees. By the time we step onto the beach again, the sun is setting. Kellen is gone, Zeke is staring into the fire, and the girls are busy preparing dinner. I try to read their faces, but everyone’s looking anywhere but at us.
Ace stands a few feet away and doesn’t say a word.
Zeke does. “You two good?”
“Yeah,” Ace mutters, voice hoarse but even. “We’re good. I’ll go sort it out.”
He presses a long kiss to my forehead, then he’s off to find Kellen. I get to work helping Aggie fillet the fish, so we can cook it.
“That was terrifying,” she whispers, as we prepare the flesh. “Seeing them fight like that. It was so... real and intense.”