“My friends mean everything to me.”
“Oui. I noticed.” He hit a sore spot on my back, pressed in firmly, and worked the knot.
“How?”
“No model comes with a clique of friends for a photo shoot. Maybe a manager or a stylist but you have a crew.”
“Hey, that was Lex’s idea. I’m only eighteen. We didn’t know what you guys would be like to work with. I wasn’t going to come alone.”
“The four of you have a—how do you say in English? A bond.”
“Yes, we certainly do.” Feeling vulnerable, I crossed my arms over the life jacket and pulled my knees up.
“It is endearing to watch. Have you known your friends long?”
Before answering, I realized he’d made observations about me during our time in Miami. I don’t know why that made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was because I’d assumed that Leon hadn’t paid me any attention. Seems I was wrong. “Lex, Blake, and Vive are all I know. They’re all I’ve ever known. My life revolves around them. I wouldn’t have gotten through my childhood without them.”
“Same with Fab and Gus. We do everything together.” Darkness shadowed his face when our eyes met. For a brief second, I sensed he thought about the chance that we might be the only survivors. He’d be in denial if he didn’t at least consider it. “What do you think your friends are doing right this minute?”
I shrugged.
“Picture them in your mind. What do you see?”
Death.
“I can’t. I don’t have much of an imagination.”
“Try, for me, s'il vous plaît.”
“Alright,” I closed my eyes and said, “Lex’s dad is in Japan doing a concert. Her mom is in rehab. Other than her new boyfriend, Ford, who is an NYPD cop, she doesn’t have anyone to call.”
“And…what is Lex saying to Ford?”
“She’s probably trying to get him to send us a helicopter.” I whipped that up only to appease Leon. I didn’t believe a word of it. Nope.
My subconscious debated on whether Birdie would overdose, taking her own life after she learned that her only daughter, who she’d had a recent falling out with, was dead.
More importantly, it was Birdie who’d gotten me my contract with Minnie and this magazine gig. Birdie would never be able to forgive herself. Maybe I’d overdose along with her. I’d never thought about suicide, till today. I didn’t agree one taking their own life or understand how they could do it. For the first time, I could see why people who lose everything quit life.
A bitter taste came up in the back of my mouth. Tears streaked my face. Stop thinking like that Taddy Brill. They’re fine. Your besties are looking for us.
“You okay?”
I lied with a nod, wiped my eyes, and hoped the tears would stop.
“Très bon,” Leon encouraged me to continue.
They are alive. Believe it. “Blake’s family is tight with a Senator in Connecticut. Last year, he volunteered for a political campaign to get gay unions legalized. Knowing Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, they’ve probably gotten the Senator to call the Coast Guard or the White House and assemble a search team.”
“And mademoiselle Viveca?”
“She’s drinking, of course, and screaming at Air Carribea’s management team for justice.” I chuckled, opening my eyes in the sun. No one screwed with Vive. She’d rip their heads off.
“Oui, sounds like we will have a big search party here shortly.” For the first time since meeting Leon, his straight-white teeth set perfectly into a smile. I don’t know if it was to sell the load of B.S. he wanted me to believe or if it was because I’d made him feel better. The truth was that he’d made me feel better too.
“Thank you for that.” I ran my hands up and down his muscular arms, examining the shallow abrasions on his skin. “Do these hurt?”
“No.” Holding up his left hand, a shirt was knotted over a wound. Blood soaked through the ivory fabric. “When I reached for you, the seat cut me.”
“I’m sorry…”
“It is not your fault.”
“If you hadn’t done what you did, I’d be dead.” Without a second thought, I leaned down, pressed my lips against his marks, and thanked him with kisses.
Masculine and rough, he pulled back a bit, acting as if he hadn’t been touched in a while. I wrapped my hand tightly around his pointer-finger and gave him a squeeze, letting him know that it was okay. I was a touchy-feely girl. I hadn’t always been. Six months in juvie, isolated from any contact, will do that to person.
His lips curved up into a grin. “I would do it over again if given the chance.”
Wrapping my arms around Leon, I gave in to my overwhelming need for a hug. I ran my fingers up and down his back. “Thank you.”
Again I sensed hesitation. Then he took to me, meshing his chest up against my life jacket and breasts. Dipping my face into the nape of his neck, I held on to him, and in return he held on to me. His heartbeat steadied with mine. The green and citrus smell of Leon that I’d grown fond of this week had been replaced by adrenaline.
His hands ran over the back of my neck. He pulled me closer into him and buried his face in my hair. His breath in my ear, he rocked me gently and soothed, “We will get out of this.”
I felt safe in his arms, as safe as I could feel, considering we were stranded with no food or water. Regardless, I was practical. We needed to come up with a plan.
“How?”
“We ejected over there.” He pointed east. “The plane touched down past that direction. Near Eden. We are moving west.” His big arms came up in the air as he spoke.
I studied the water’s direction. “We’re moving further away.”
“Oui.”
“Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”
“I did not know if you were in pain. Then you started mumbling about…lollipops.”
“Princess Lolly,” I corrected.
“And something about Candy Land. You like to play the game?”
“When I was kid I played the board game all the time.”
“Me too.”
“Some girls dream of growing up to be Barbie or Cinderella. Me, I wanted to be Princess Lolly.”
“Something tells me you would be good at that.”