Reckless Girls(40)

Robbie shrugs. “Easy-peasy, girlie. Sail back to Hawaii, reload. Then you come right back here, keep livin’ the dream.”

He spreads his arms wide like he did last night, taking in all of the island, and I look past him at the line of trees, the darkness of the jungle.

For the past week, it’s felt like we’ve had this place all to ourselves, our own private paradise.

But Robbie is right. If you had a boat, you could stay here indefinitely.

The idea that Robbie might not be the only person we’ve been sharing the island with sends a shudder through me, and I’m grateful when I hear someone call, “Lux!”

It’s Jake, making his way up the beach. Looking farther down the shoreline, I can see the dinghy pulled up on the sand.

He’s wearing a pair of faded red trunks and some boat shoes, and as he approaches, I see his gaze slide to Robbie.

“Hey, there,” he says, friendly enough, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Hey yourself!” Robbie calls back, then stands up, brushing the sand off his shorts. “Not creeping on your lady, promise,” he says, and I look over at him sharply, trying to figure out if he’s fucking with us.

“Not his lady,” I say even as Jake says, “My girl’s still on the boat.”

Robbie looks back and forth between us, then chuckles, shaking his head. “Right, right, she’s with the other guy, the dude with the—” He makes a gesture over his bicep, indicating, I guess, Nico’s tattoo. “And your lady is blond. It’s all coming back to me now.”

Jake gives me a wink, and I feel myself flush a little. Just the suggestion of being “his girl” makes me feel … embarrassed? Self-conscious? It’s like having a sex dream about a friend or a coworker. You might not have been into them before, but suddenly they’ve reared up in your mind as an option.

“At least he thought I had excellent taste,” Jake offers, making me laugh.

Then he jerks his head. “Come on, Lux,” he says. “I want to show you something.”



* * *



JAKE TAKES ME FARTHER DOWN the beach, past the dinghy, and we round a corner into a small cove, the beach rising up in a small cliff over the water. It’s only about five or six feet up, but we scramble, slipping and sliding, and when Jake reaches down to take my hand, I let him, his palm warm against mine.

The image of him and Eliza at the pool flashes through my mind again, and my entire body goes hot with it, making me stumble as we crest the little ridge.

“You okay?” he asks, glancing back at me, and I nod, making myself smile.

“Great, yeah.”

There’s another one of Eliza’s blankets spread out there, set back against the tree line so that it’s in natural shade, and another cooler, plus a stack of paperback books. “Eliza and I sensed that our original spot might get a little crowded, so we decided to go slightly farther afield,” he says, spreading his hand out. “You like?”

“Very nice,” I agree, looking around. “But where is Eliza?”

“Off on a walkabout,” he replies, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Think she’s getting a bit sick of me, to be honest.”

He says it lightly, but I still frown.

“You guys okay?”

Jake waves me off. “Oh, fine. Just been cooped up together too long, I suppose.”

I shade my eyes, looking down at the beach, and as I turn to the left, I can see Eliza far down the shore, her blond hair blowing in the wind. “She said you’ve known each other since you were teenagers.”

“Mmm,” he hums in agreement. “First love. Nearly knocked me off my bloody feet when I ran into her again a few months back. I was at this pub in Canberra, and there she was. Moving through the crowd, holding a pint, like some sort of goddess.” He shakes his head, smiling at the memory. “Funny thing is, I didn’t recognize her straight off. Just thought, ‘Ah, that’s a beautiful woman, I should probably go talk to her,’ and then…”

“Then Eliza,” I sum up and he laughs.

“Good summation of my whole life, really. ‘Then Eliza.’ Anyway, we picked right up where we’d left off, like no time had passed.”

I look over at him and see he’s watching Eliza, too. “And then you just … decided to travel the world together?”

“Something like that, yeah,” he says, then looks back at me. “And you and our intrepid Mr. Johannsen?”

I briefly tell him about meeting Nico at the Cove, about the months in Maui, and he nods as I finish.

“Aren’t we a pair of lucky sods, then? Meeting people to take up on these glorious adventures.”

Something about that surprises me. I don’t know why, but I’d just assumed this had all been Jake’s idea. He grins, nudging me with his elbow. “She’s very persuasive, my Eliza. When she says, ‘We should sail to a fucking deserted island,’ well. You find yourself sailing to a fucking deserted island.”

I can see that. Eliza has that kind of energy—she’s the sort of person you want to please for whatever reason. Maybe it’s because she presents you with a version of yourself that you desperately want to live up to.

Something sparkles in the sunlight, catching my eye, and I see that farther down the tree line, there’s a line of empty beer and wine bottles set up.