Fuck.

Fuck!

Adrenaline flows through my veins like a drug, and I hope it doesn’t stop any time soon because right now I need it. Tonight was not supposed to go down like this. We we’re just going to threaten him. Tell him to leave town or we were going to show the girls all about his sick habit of filming people without their permission.

Who the fuck knew Moneybags had a goddamn gun on the boat?

The ride back to the docks is filled with Mali’s cries. Laiken sits right where Cam put her, not moving an inch. She hasn’t looked away from the back of the boat, as if she’s still staring at the island that has long since vanished in the distance.

“Mal, I need you to breathe,” Cam says calmly.

She’s trying, but I don’t think she can. She’s having a panic attack—hyperventilating as she struggles to breathe. Cam is knelt down in front of her, trying to help her through it.

“He’s…he’s really—”

There’s no chance of her even getting the words out as he shushes her and tells her to focus on his breathing. I know Laiken used to have them, so he’s pretty skilled on how to work through it. I glance back at her as I drive the boat, but it’s like she’s mentally not there.

Checked out.

Left on the island with Monty’s body.

WE GET BACK TO the docks, and I find Devin waiting there for us. The bag in her hands holds everything I’m going to need. But I can tell by her face that she’s confused.

“What’s going on?” she asks, watching Mali with a concerned look on her face.

I don’t answer. Not yet. Cam helps Mali off the boat while I go over to Laiken.

“Baby,” I say softly. “Babe, we need to get you home.”

Her eyes look empty, devoid of the life they once held. The only reason I know she’s still feeling something are the tears that still flow down her cheeks.

Gently, I lift her up and carry her off the boat. “I’m going to need you to stand, babe.”

She does, knowing she has no other choice, but when my sister sees the state Laiken is in, she only grows more concerned.

“Is that blood?” she panics. “Hayes?”

I take a deep breath, pulling my keys from my pocket and handing them to Devin. “Take Laiken and Mali back to my house and stay there until I get back.”

My words finally pull Laiken from her daze. “You’re leaving?”

Fuck. I toss the bag onto the boat and take her face in my hands, not even paying attention to Monty’s dried blood on it. “I have to, baby. I have to go take care of this. But I’ll meet you there. I promise.”

Pressing a kiss to her lips, I tell her that I love her and pass her to Dev. Normally, my sister would be drilling me with questions, but she does as I ask, knowing there will be time for that later. Right now, there are much more important matters at hand.

I turn to Cam and we share a look before both climbing back onto Monty’s boat. Watching until the three of them get into my truck, I press the throttle down and start heading toward where Cam’s small fishing boat is stored.

THE RIDE BACK TO Slaughter Island is eerily quiet, with only the sound of both boats’ motors. And after a while, that starts to fade into a white noise. Thankfully, the ocean is calm tonight. If it wasn’t, Cam’s boat would never make it out here.

We finally get back to the scene of the crime. Monty’s body lies where we left it, but the change of the tide has the water washing over him as we approach. Cam pulls his boat up next to me and stares wide eyed at Monty. Grabbing a pair of gloves out of the bag, I slip them on and get to work—dousing everything in bleach to get rid of any evidence of us being here. I find a roll of garbage bags in one of the compartments and I toss it off the boat and onto the sand.

Meanwhile, Cam kneels down beside Monty’s body, looking like he’s on the verge of having a mental breakdown.

“What the fuck did—”

“Dude, you’re my brother, but now is not the time,” I tell him.

Once all the blood from where Laiken was sitting is gone, and I’ve covered the rest of the boat in bleach, I grab the bag and hop off the boat. There’s a bucket from Cam’s boat that I use to grab some water, throwing it all over where the bleach just was. Then, I push the boat off the sand and watch as it starts to float away.

“If they find that, won’t they smell all the bleach?” Cam questions.

I shake my head. “There’s a storm coming out of the southwest. The chances of them even finding the boat are slim, but if they do, the rain will have washed a lot of it away.”

Ripping off a few of the garbage bags, I lay them down inside Cam’s boat, then walk over to the body. “Help me lift him.”

Cam grabs his ankles while I lift from under his arms. We carry him over to Cam’s boat and lay him on top of the area I prepared, keeping any blood from getting anywhere we don’t want it. But the sand beneath where he was laying is covered in it. Hopefully, the storm will wash that away too, but just in case, I scoop what I can and throw it into the ocean.

Just before we leave, I spot the gun lying in the sand. The one that fired the bullet right into Monty’s stomach. I grab it and toss it into the boat beside the body, then we leave the island I never want to come back to again.

ALL YOU CAN SEE are the stars in the sky as we ride out into the ocean. The handheld depth finder Cam has shows what I’m hoping is big enough sea life to ensure his body is never found, and I stop the boat.

“Here’s good,” I say.

There’s no one around for miles, and the only thing we can hear is the sound of a buoy a little ways off. I move to the front of the boat where Monty’s body lies and start filling his pockets with all of the sinkers Cam had on board.

“All right, let’s dump him,” I tell Cam. “The sharks will take care of the rest.”

He does as I ask and the two of us lift the weighted body and heave it into the water.

We both stay completely still, watching as it sinks and knowing that this secret is graver than any one we’ve kept before it. Reaching down, I pick up the gun and take it apart. Each piece gets doused in bleach before I toss that too.

“Good,” I murmur once I’m done. “Let’s go.”

I have to get back to my wife—or at least whatever is left of her.

IT TAKES LONGER THAN I would have liked to get back. We wanted to avoid any Coast Guard boats. Technically, Cam’s boat isn’t even nighttime legal. But my concern was that if they saw us out there, they would attest to us being anywhere but at my house all night.

I drop Cam off at the docks to get his Jeep and drive the boat back to where he stores it. He meets me there and I hop in with him, finally heading to my house.

“If anyone asks, we left the dock when Monty started getting too drunk and snapped at Mali,” I tell him as he pulls into my driveway. “We came back here and spent the night drinking and celebrating my birthday. Just the four of us.”

Just the four of us. I should’ve taken Laiken’s offer of that. It should have been the plan from the start. But no. I just had to take advantage of the opportunity to get around Monty. Wanted to give myself a birthday present of making him go away.

This is not what I had in mind.

Cam nods silently and the two of us get out of the Jeep.

I walk inside to see Laiken sitting on the floor with a towel beneath her, still in shock. Mali is curled up in a ball on the couch, and Devin is in way over her head. If there was anyone else that I could’ve called, I would have. The last thing I wanted to do was get her involved. But the only people I trust were with me when it happened.

“I didn’t want her getting blood anywhere, but I didn’t know where to put her,” my sister explains.

My eyes stay focused on Laiken. “It’s okay. Thanks, Dev.”

Cam leans against the wall, looking exhausted, while I carefully lift Laiken into my arms. She rests her head against me as I carry her upstairs and into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, I wait for it to heat up and bring us both into it—fully clothed and all.

As I put her down, she stands on her own two feet as I start to wash Monty’s blood off her. And when her brows furrow and she tries to look down, to see all the blood rushing down the drain, I stop her.

“Keep looking at me,” I say softly. “Just keep your eyes on mine.”

And she does, not taking her gaze off me for a second while I clean her up.

Like I said, I will always do whatever it takes to protect her.

THE NIGHT IS SLEEPLESS. I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling for hours. My mind is spinning from the events of tonight. The only thing that keeps me calm is the sound of Laiken sleeping beside me. It took a while for her to get there, tossing and turning the same way I did, but she finally managed to doze off.

Once I knew she was safe and at least somewhat okay, I went downstairs and talked to Devin. She’s frustrated that I won’t give her the whole story, but all she needs to know is that she hasn’t seen me since Laiken and I left Mom’s. Implicating her any further just isn’t a good idea, and something I’m not willing to do.

I watch Laiken sleep, admiring the way she looks so peaceful. It has a way of comforting me. I don’t know how the next couple of days are going to go, or even what the future holds for me now, but I do know that I won’t let anyone else go down for this. If anyone gets blamed for Monty’s murder, it’s going to be me. That’s it.

THE TENSION IN THE room is thick enough to suffocate you. Everyone is tense, but that’s not surprising. We all witnessed someone die yesterday, and definitely not from natural causes. It would be understandable if we were all at each other’s throats, but thankfully, we’re not.

We’re just worried.

Cam spent most of last night talking to Mali and getting her to calm down. I don’t know exactly what he told her, but I know whatever it was, it worked. She’s not in her normal upbeat, spitfire kind of mood, but she’s functioning—which is more than I can say for Laiken.

She won’t eat.noveldrama

She’s barely even talking.

If I hadn’t forced her out of bed, she would probably still be lying there, staring at the wall.

“Lai, you have to eat something,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “I’m not hungry.”

Even her voice is monotone. Like I’m not talking to the love of my life but a robotic replica of her. I can’t just let her stay like this, and she can hate me for it later, but she needs something in her stomach.

I pour her a bowl of cereal and place it in front of her. “Just a few bites, babe. Please. That’s all.”

By the grace of God, she gives in. I sit here watching her like some kind of parent, but I won’t be okay if she’s not. After she eats half the bowl, she drops the spoon in it and pushes it away. But I’m happy with it. I kiss her forehead, whispering a thank you, and bring the bowl over to the sink.

The sound of Mali’s phone ringing grabs my attention and all four of our heads turn to it. She steps forward and looks at it.

“It’s his mom,” she mutters.

Shit. I’m about to open my mouth, but Cam does it for me. “Hey, you can do this. It’s just like we talked about, right?”

He’s gentle with her, but firm, and she nods. After taking a breath, she answers the phone and puts it to her ear. We all stay completely silent as we listen to her tell his mom the same story we went over—that we were with Monty until they got into an argument, and then we left.

“I’m sure he’s just being Monty, but I’ll try calling him, and if I can get ahold of him, I’ll tell him to call you,” she promises.

A few seconds later she hangs up the phone, but before she can put it down, I stop her. “You have to call Monty now.”

Her brows furrow. “What?”

“It has to look believable if they check the phone records.”

She swallows harshly, grabbing her phone and scrolling to his contact. “This is so fucked up.”

The sound of the outgoing ring is a taunting one as she puts it on speaker. We all watch it, holding our breath as if he’s just going to answer, even though we know he won’t. And when it goes to voicemail, Laiken’s head drops.

“Hey. It’s me. Your mom called and said that she can’t get ahold of you. So, when you get this, call her. And then call me. We need to talk.”

It’s a nice touch she adds at the end, letting it corroborate the part of the alibi where they got into a fight. It slightly surprises me that his mom is looking for him already, but then again, my mom would probably panic if she couldn’t get ahold of me either.

“Cam, you ready to go?” I ask him.

Laiken looks up at me with fear in her eyes. “Where are you going?”

“Hockey practice,” I answer. “We have to make it look like today is just another day.”

“Can’t you just not show?” she pleads. “Your twenty-first birthday was yesterday. I think Coach basically assumes you’re too hungover to skate.”

It pains me to leave her, especially when she’s so fragile, but I at least have to show up and make it look like everything is business as usual.

I sigh. “Let me attempt to go. I’ll have Coach send me home, and I’ll be back within the hour.”

She wraps her arms around me and holds me close. I press a kiss to the top of her head.

“You’re going to stay, right?” I ask Mali.

“All day,” she confirms.

Before we leave, Cam asks if she’s okay and she nods. Then he kisses her forehead and heads out the door with me. I don’t know what happened between them last night, but maybe I should take some notes. She’s holding herself together a lot better than Laiken, and Monty was her boyfriend.

As we walk out the door, Cam asks if we’re taking his Jeep or my truck. But instead of answering, I hold up one finger and rush over to the bushes, emptying the entire contents of my stomach into them. The adrenaline is wearing off, and not needing to be strong for Laiken for right now, my body gives in to the stress of the last twelve hours.

Might not be so hard to get Coach to let me leave after all.

THE NEXT COUPLE NIGHTS go the same way as the first, spent with my mind running wild while I can’t sleep. Even the sound of the rain doesn’t help, especially after we were all hauled into the police station yesterday morning for questioning. Since then, Laiken has made it a habit of Googling Monty’s name. I stop her each time I catch it, but I can only do so much.

When I finally manage to doze off, letting sleep deprivation pull me under, it doesn’t last long. A nightmare immediately haunts my mind, picturing myself being charged for murder and pulled away from Laiken as she sobs in Cam’s arms.

Monty’s face appears in front of me. “I knew you’d fuck up eventually.”

I jolt awake, trying to catch my breath and tell myself it was just a dream, but then I notice that Laiken is no longer in bed next to me. Panic immediately sets in, and I look toward the bathroom, but she’s not there either.

Climbing out of bed, I go downstairs to find her sitting on the couch. My lungs feel like they can finally take in air again. I don’t know when Cam and Mali got here, but all three of them are laser focused on the TV—more specifically on a picture of Monty.

Authorities are searching for Montgomery Rollins, the son of Senator Jeremiah Rollins, after his parents filed a missing person’s report early yesterday morning. He was last seen Friday night while at the boat docks with a few friends. According to reports, the friends left after he became intoxicated and got into an argument with his girlfriend. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Calder Bay Police Department.

They move onto another topic like his disappearance is just another headline. Like it’s not the tragic event that has my life hanging in the balance. Cam switches off the TV, and the whole room stays completely silent.

None of us really know what to say anymore.

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