Reckless Girls(52)

I open the stainless-steel refrigerator and pull out a twelve-pack, thinking that I might as well refill the deck cooler for Eliza while I’m at it. But my hands are sweating, and one of the bottles slips through my fingers, crashing onto the floor in a spray of broken amber glass and foam.

“Fuck,” I mutter, stepping back from the spreading pool as the smell of yeast and hops fills the cabin.

I look around for a towel, anything to clean up the mess, but the whole minimalist thing they have going on means there’s nothing at hand except for more metal and glass, and that’s not exactly helpful right now.

I open the cabinet underneath the sink and there, next to a bottle of Windex, I find a neat pile of white towels.

There’s also a lumpy black bag, its zipper partially opened.

Wonder what all they got on that boat, I hear Robbie say, remembering his crooked smile and hard eyes.

Robbie’s bag. The one he’d thrown on shore that day. It had been black like this. Canvas, the zipper broken.

I feel like Bluebeard’s wife as I pull it out into the light.

As soon as it’s in my lap, I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s not the same bag. This one is too new, branded with the Tumi logo, and when I try the zipper, it slides open just fine.

God, this place is making me paranoid.

I’m closing up the bag again when I notice an oddly shaped piece of plastic protruding.

Whatever is in the bag is heavy, and I have to use both hands to pull it out.

It’s cash.

A lot of cash. Stacks of it, tightly bound together, and wrapped in plastic. American dollars, euros, British pounds, the colorful face of the queen smiling genteelly up at me.

My heart is pounding as I shove the money back in the bag, only to realize there are more plastic-wrapped parcels inside. One is cash, but two are thicker, heavier, and I realize, in numb disbelief, that they’re bricks of hash.

So: not just cash, but drugs, too.

Nico had asked Jake and Eliza what they did, how they made a living, and Jake had been vague enough that I’d just assumed he was another rich kid with inherited wealth—he didn’t have to actually make money, it just existed for him. And after hearing that they grew up together, I figured Eliza was the same.

But clearly, there’s more to it than that.

Is that why they’re here, on this deserted island? Are they running from the law?

Suddenly, I realize just how little I actually know about Jake or Eliza, or Brittany or Amma for that matter—or fuck it, maybe even Nico. These people are basically all strangers to me, and I am alone with them in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. My head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton, and my mouth has gone dry, and all I can think is I have to put all this shit back, exactly as I found it, quickly shoving it into the bag like the canvas will burn me.

That’s when I hear footsteps on the stairs leading into the galley.

I turn to see Eliza standing there, looking down at me.

Smiling.

“So,” she says, folding her arms, sun-bronzed and beautiful and remarkably calm. “Now you know our little secret.”





TWENTY-ONE





“You’re gonna be cool about this, right?” Eliza asks after a long pause, and I nod almost automatically.

This is something Eliza is good at, I realize: phrasing a statement as a question, so that your only option is to agree with her.

Stepping forward, she leans down and takes the bag from me. “It’s not that big of a deal,” she goes on. “It’s just some pot. We don’t deal in the scarier stuff, you know? Just the fun shit.”

She flashes that sparkling smile, and I nod robotically.

“Right, hash is nothing, really,” I hear myself say, wondering if there’s more hidden on the boat, and where.

Eliza can clearly read my mind. “I know, it looks like a lot, and yes, we’d be completely and utterly fucked if we got caught with it, but you know how it is—big risk, big reward.”

“Totally,” I say, nodding even more manically, and Eliza laughs, coming over to hug me.

“Oh, Luxy,” she says. “Don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite.”

And it’s so stupid and silly, but my whole body seems to flush with pleasure. How does she do it, make you feel like her approval is so important, so vital?

Then she looks right at me. “But something’s wrong, isn’t it, love?”

Before I can stop myself, it pours out of me. “I caught Nico and Amma. In bed.”

Her brows draw tight together, a trio of wrinkles appearing above her nose. “Oh, Luxy,” she says. “Oh, fuck.”

Tears spill down my cheeks and I let her envelop me again.

“What a pair of cocks,” she says, and that actually makes me laugh a little, pulling back as I swipe at my cheeks.

“Such cocks, yeah,” I agree. “I swear to god, it’s this place. Being on the edge of civilization, away from everything and everyone. I think it makes people insane.”

Eliza nods. “What are you going to do now? Did you confront them?”

I shake my head. “No. In the moment, I was a complete coward and basically ran away.”

“I understand that,” Eliza says. “But maybe you’d feel better if it were all out in the open?”