Chapter Twenty-Nine - Victoria
The sun is hot and blazing through my closed eyes when I begin to wake up. No pounding rain. No whipping wind. No insufferable humidity hanging in the air.
“Hungry?” West asks, kissing me on the lips. “I made us ready-to-eat survival pancakes for breakfast.”
I smile and open my eyes. He’s still Naked Man next to me. He will stay that way all day if I let him. God, I kinda miss the fucking exhibitionism we used to share.
I think about all the words he said to me last night. All the ways he made me feel good. And I give in. For now.
“Yeah,” I say, sitting up to look at what he brought me. “Starving, actually. I don’t think I’ll complain if you want to go catch us some seafood for dinner tonight.”
“We’re going home today. Mysterious will come get us.”
“How do you know?” I ask, feeling a little bit of regret over that news.
“He said he would. I don’t really know what the fuck is happening, but I can’t afford not to trust him right now. We’re sorta stuck. He’ll be here. We’ll go back to the mainland and I’ll figure it out.”
“What about Wallace?”
“You’re still thinking about that fucking job?” West laughs.
“Aren’t you?”
He makes a face, which I know means yes, he is. But he says, “Later, Tori. We’ll talk about all that stuff later.”
“Why later?”
“Can you just relax and eat the fucking pancakes?”
“Don’t be a dick to me. I just want to know where we stand in that department.”
“Department? You mean business? Tori, come on. We both know your business is bust. If Wallace is still available to be hunted, I’m the one who’s going to hunt him. Not you.”
I stand up and go looking for my clothes. I pull my skirt on first and then slide my arms into the thoroughly ruined lavender silk blouse.
“And now you’re going to throw a tantrum? Even though you know I’m right?”
“You’re not right,” I say, pissed off. Why do I ever think he’ll change? Why do I ever think he’ll stop being a controlling asshole? Why do I ever give in to him at all? He is who he is. “In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Corporate, I’m a fighter.”
“Oh, I’ve noticed. You throw that fight shit in my face every chance you get.”
“Why are you being an asshole? Was last night just another one-night fuck to you?”
“Don’t cheapen my actions and words just because you’re too stubborn to face facts. I really don’t appreciate that, Victoria. Everything I’ve ever said to you was sincere.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Including that whole ‘You’re a loser’ shit you just spewed.”
“I never called you a loser.”
“Then do not insinuate my business is bust! It’s not. I’m fully capable of bringing it back from the brink, Weston. I’ve got tricks up my sleeve.”
“You’ve used up all your tricks, Tori. You have to stop relying on tricks.”
“Fuck you.” I head towards the door, but West grabs my arm. I grab his arm with my opposite hand and disable the hold in one smooth motion. He backs off, hands up in the air, his clothes in one hand. “Don’t grab me,” I snarl.
“I’m not grabbing you,” he says, pulling his pants on. “I’m just letting you know I don’t want you to walk out. And you know your jujitsu magic won’t work on me anymore. You know I can fight back.”
“But you won’t,” I sneer. “Because you think I’m too weak to bother with.”
And then I spin on my heel and walk out the door. I go down the steps, West following me downstairs, taking them two at a time. And he’s in front of me before I get to the door.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He’s still buttoning his pants and his shirt is hanging open.
“To the beach to wait for the rescue. I’m just done with you for now. If you want to talk to me once this Wallace Arlington job is over, I’ll talk. But until then, you’re my opponent.”
“You can’t win, Tori,” he calls, as I leave the house and find the footpath that will take me back the way we came. I ignore him and just keep walking.
I’m sure there’s probably a closer beach, but the beach we came from is the beach that faces the other island. And if people come, they will probably go there first. I need to be there so I can figure out a way to signal that we’re here.
I’m not sure about Corporate’s friend Mysterious. I have no idea who that guy is. But I’m pretty sure that Vlad the pilot has alerted the coastguard. It’s got to be like… a float-plane pilot’s creed or something, right? If they drop people off who expect a pickup, and a massive storm prevents said pickup, the pilot has to alert people.
Right?
I’m going with it. I really need to get off this island. My clothes are ruined, I don’t even have underwear on, my tits are sweating like crazy, and I need a shower. I smell like the fucking ocean right now. And I feel gross. All that salt is stuck to my skin.
“Tori,” West calls, a little way behind me on the path. “You’re going to get lost.”
“Oh, fuck you. There’s a path here, Weston. I’m following it, the same way we did yesterday.”
“Tori,” he says again, jogging up next to me. “Just fucking calm down. Why are you so mad about this Arlington thing? You know it’s not enough. You know that one job won’t be enough to dig yourself out of the mess you’ve made.”
The mess I’ve made? I can’t even speak right now. So I ignore him and all the stupid words that come pouring out of his mouth as we make our way back to the beach.
When we get there, I’ve had enough of him for a lifetime. Plus, he’s still fucking talking.
“I’m not listening,” I say, shaking my head as I walk out onto the white sandy beach and scan the horizon.
I can just barely see our island. It looks a lot farther away than I thought it was.
Did I really swim from there to here?
I smile at that.
I guess I did. I’m here. I made it. I’m a survivor.
Never mind that West had to put that lifejacket on me for the last leg of the trip. I’m not an ocean swimmer and I made it three quarters of the way with almost no help.
“Goddammit, Tori,” West yells. “Stop fucking ignoring me!”
“What?” I say, reeling around to get his hands off my shirt. “What, goddammit?”
West puts his hands up like he’s surrendering. “Can you just be calm for a minute?”
“Why should I be calm? You have no faith in me, Weston. None. I can take care of myself and you should want me to take care of myself. You should say, ‘Hey, Tori, you’re just as good as me, so take your best shot and best of luck. We’ll see who get the contract in the end.’”
“That’s what you want me to say?” he asks.
“Yes. Something like that. Something uplifting and positive.”
“Here’s something positive for you. How about I just give you the money you need, you let me get the contract, and then I’ll fucking kill Lucio Gori and we’ll all live happily ever after?”
“What?” He did not just say that. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re not doing anything to Lucio Gori, let alone killing him.”
“He raped you. Do you really think I’m just gonna let that asshole get away with that? You are fucking out of your mind.”
“I didn’t tell you that story so you could go avenge me, Weston. I told you in confidence.”
“Well, you should know me better.”
I am so angry, my head might split right down the middle. “You planned that little heart to heart conversation, didn’t you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t plan anything. You told me because you wanted me to do something about it.”
He’s serious. He really thinks my confession was code for, Go kill him for me. “I told you because you confessed something personal about your childhood. I thought we were trying to earn each other’s trust.” I stare at him for a second. “That’s not why you told me, was it?”
“Tori, why do you have to be so—”
I punch him in the face. His head snaps to the side and a little trickle of blood runs off his cheek. He turns back to me and smiles.
I punch him again.
He laughs. “I’m gonna hate-fuck you, Victoria Arias. If you hit me one more time, I’m gonna throw you down on the sand and—”
I move on him. My leg sweeps behind his ankle, I grab his shirt and thrust him sideways as I twist my hip. He lands on the hard sand, still laughing.
I stand over him, seething.
“I hate you, Mr. Corporate. How about that? I fucking hate you right now.”
“Hey.” He smiles. “Like I said, hate fuck’s a-coming. I’ll play along, how about that? I hate you too, Miss Arias. And just to keep things going, I’ll go one step further. I hate you more.”
I stand over him, ready to… to… I want to scream! “No, you cannot hate me more. I hate you more and I want you to admit it, right fucking now.”