Violently.
“Kallie. Get up.”
Ash’s voice was panicked, and suddenly she rolled toward the side of the cushion.
“Come here,” he said as he wrapped his arm around her.
The boat was rocking side to side. Rolling them around and crashing them against the waves. Wide swings battered against the boat as Kallie peeled her eyes open. Tried to shake the fog from her sleepy head. She steadied herself and gripped onto the closest edge she could find, then turned around to find Ash trying to step into his clothes. The boat was rocking wildly, and he was having a hard time getting into his shorts. She reached out for him to help steady him, then he rushed as he pulled his shorts up his body to the helm of the boat.
Kallie looked out into the horizon, and the sight in front of her froze her in her spot.
It should’ve been close to dawn. The sun should’ve been rising over the sea, waking them up gently from their night of romance and passion. But instead, the dark clouds roiled across the sky and screamed out in the distance. Lightning strikes sank to the water, kicking it up as waves moved heavily in the distance. Pregnant with anger and swollen with rage, the storm had taken over the beauty of the sunrise and morphed it to its own nefarious purposes.
“Oh my gosh,” she said breathlessly.
Kallie scrambled to her feet as best as she could. She reached for her clothes, stumbling against the boat as she tried to put them on. Ash reached out for her, catching her before she went overboard. Fear was creeping up her throat and tears were welling in her eyes.
“Here. Let me help you,” he said.
Ash steadied her in his arms as she hopped into her dress. Her bikini was lost, but she didn’t care. Her eyes were trained on the distance. On the angry clouds moving toward them. Beckoning for their lives and asking if they wanted to play a game of poker.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“I want you to get below deck, okay?” Ash asked. “Get into the room and hunker down. Everything’s going to be fine. Kallie!”
She whipped her gaze over to his eyes and she found a calm in them that was almost unbelievable.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” he said.
She nodded as her eyes panned back out to the angry purple sky. The gray waves toppled about in the distance, and she made the grave mistake of looking back. Her eyes peeked over Ash’s shoulder to see how close they were to land.
And there was no land in sight.
The storm had dragged the out to sea, and now it was going to chew them up and spit them out.
Ash led her to the stairs, and she stumbled down them. Tears were brewing behind her eyes as she barreled into the room. But the rocking of the boat and the tumbling of the waves made her sick to her stomach. Without the earth to steady her vision, she felt as if she were floating aimlessly. Her head was spinning and her stomach was rolling, and with each crash of the wave bile crept farther up her throat. She could feel it burning. The room was spinning.
She couldn’t stay below level.
Not without Ash.
Kallie made her way back out to the stairs and rested against them. She clung to them as the storm battered against the yacht. Lightning arced out of the clouds, lighting up the world around them before disappearing. Giving them a taste of just how small they were against the ocean tides before leaving afterimages burned upon her retinas.
Kallie was shaking.
Violently.
Like the boat on top of the raging sea.
She heard Ash trying to call in the authorities, but she could tell by the sound of his voice that he wasn’t raising anyone on the radio. She peeked her head up from below and surveyed the chaos around them, noticing how close the storm was approaching. They were headed straight for it, even as Ash tried to turn the boat around. Tears dripped down her cheeks as Kallie clung to the stairs, and soon she heard his voice.
“Kallie. Kallie, look at me.”
“Yeah?” she asked.
“We have to brace ourselves, okay? I’ve put in various calls to the guards, but it’ll take time for them to get the messages.”
“Okay,” Kallie said breathlessly.