Reckless Girls(45)
“So it doesn’t worry you at all that he got super weird with me, and is now hiding somewhere on this island?” I’ve always known Nico is laid-back, not the kind of guy to fret over things. But I’d told him what Robbie had said to me aboard the Azure Sky, told him how freaked out I was.
Now he reaches up, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I just think you’re overestimating how dangerous that guy actually is, that’s all.”
Dropping his hand, he turns to look at me. “I mean, Amma was saying earlier that she thinks she could take the dude in a fight, and she weighs like ninety pounds.”
I’d seen him and Amma talking earlier at the bow of the Susannah, Amma laughing at something Nico said, Nico grinning at her, and thought it was weird they were being so casual after what happened. Now I know they were joking about this, and the thought makes me bite my lip before I say something catty.
Nico reaches out then, his hand skimming down my arm. “I know it was scary, babe,” he says. “And I’m sorry. But seriously, I don’t want you lying awake at night, thinking this dude is the boogeyman.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” I insist, shaking his hand off. “And I don’t appreciate your, ‘Oh, I’m too cool to worry about things,’ shit right now. Not about this.”
I’m not sure I’ve ever been mad at Nico. Not really, honestly angry, but here we are, and I have no idea how he’ll react.
He sighs, rolling over to face me, propping his head up in his hand. “Lux,” he says, pushing my hair out of my face with his free hand. “Can we not do this?”
Before I can reply, he leans over, brushing his lips over mine, and even though I’m still mad, still worried, it’s easy to respond, to open my mouth to him and let him really kiss me, his hand now coming up to slide up my rib cage, hot against my skin.
“We can’t,” I whisper when his hand moves to the waistband of the shorts I’m wearing to sleep in. “Brittany and Amma…”
Nico groans softly, dropping his forehead to mine. “We could be quiet,” he whispers, smiling, and I shake my head.
“I’d feel too weird.”
“And I feel weird that I haven’t touched you in days,” he murmurs, his nose tracing a ticklish path over my cheek.
A part of me realizes that this is some kind of attempt at distracting me, but since it’s working, I don’t really care.
“Not exactly how we planned our first big sail going, is it?” I ask as I scratch my nails gently over his collarbone.
“There will be other trips,” he replies. “Private ones, just you and me. Tahiti.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “Fiji.” Another kiss. “Anywhere you want to go.”
“I think that’s a Beach Boys song,” I whisper back, making him chuckle, and even though there’s still that worry in the back of my mind, that constant buzz about Robbie and where he is, in this moment, I can forget all of that.
Just for a little bit.
“Well,” I whisper, letting my hand rest on the back of his neck, “if you promise to be really quiet…”
“I’m not the one we have to worry about,” he replies, his leg nudging my thighs apart as he pulls me closer.
Nico kisses me again, and I arch up against him, losing myself in the sensation of his skin on mine, the taste of his mouth, the scratch of his stubble.
I’ve just started moving my hand down his chest when there’s a sound.
The door to the cabin creaks open, and I look over Nico’s shoulder to see a silhouette there.
Amma.
“Sorry,” she whispers in the darkness, her hand coming out to steady herself as she makes her way into the main cabin. “Needed some water.”
I doubt she can see much in the darkness of the cabin, but I still scoot away from Nico with a barely suppressed sigh of irritation.
“No worries,” he replies, cheerful as ever, and Amma makes her way over to the little fridge beneath the sink.
Once she’s got her bottle and tiptoed her way back across to the cabin, Nico turns again to me, but I put a hand on his chest, shaking my head.
“Told you,” I whisper. “Too weird.”
He flops onto his back with a muttered, “Shit.”
I take his hand, lacing his fingers through mine.
“Tomorrow,” I say. “We’ll find some time tomorrow.”
* * *
BUT THE NEXT DAY, PRIVACY is hard to find. Jake and Eliza are already on the beach when we get there, and perhaps because they’re still thinking about Robbie, Brittany and Amma are sticking close.
“Any sign of the dude?” Nico asks Jake, who shakes his head.
“Nothing. Probably camping out in the jungle, doing his Robinson Crusoe thing.”
I look out at the trees past his shoulder, frowning.
“So, we’re just not going to worry about him?” I ask, and Jake follows my gaze, lifting his chin slightly.
“Didn’t say that. But short of sending out some kind of hunting party for him, I’m not sure what else there is to do.”
He’s smiling as he says it, but I remember the calm way he’d lifted that gun to Robbie’s head yesterday, the crack of the shot as Robbie had darted into the trees.