“Me either,” I whisper.
I walk over and take his shoes off and he continues to sleep.
I smile at Ben and shake my head. “Not the night I had in mind, Ben.”
He smiles. “I bet. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” he asks.
My eyes flick to Joshua. “There is absolutely nothing going on around here,” I mutter dryly. “Go and have fun.”
Joshua
The sound of the water lapping on the side of the boat awakens me. It’s still dark but the sun is just coming up. It’s cold. I roll over and put my arm out for presh… she’s not in bed with me. She must be in the bathroom. I doze back off to sleep but wake again half an hour later, freezing. Fuck it’s cold. Wind whistles through the room and I frown and sit up.
“Tash,” I call out. No answer, just the sound of the water gently hitting the side of the boat. It’s dawn. She must have left the door open.
“Tash, baby, come back to bed. What are you doing?” I call again. Fuck, she’s pissed at me. No wonder, I carried on like a lunatic last night. I don’t even remember going to bed. Christ, I didn’t even drink much. I slowly get out of bed and look down at myself. I’m still in the clothes I wore to the wedding. I must have been wiped out. I never sleep with clothes on. I shake my head in disgust and head into the bathroom.
“Tash,” I call.
Again, no answer. My eyes go through the kitchen and to the door that goes out onto the deck. It’s open. That’s why it’s so fucking cold in here—she’s really pissed and trying to freeze me alive. I rat through my bag and grab a sweater and head for the door. As I walk through the kitchen I step in something, my feet slide from under me and luckily I catch my fall. My eyes go to the floor to see what I slipped in.
A huge puddle of blood is on the floor… what the fuck!
“Natasha!” I scream as I run for the door. My eyes shoot around the cabin. “Natasha!” I call again.
Dear god, where is she? “Natasha!” I scream frantically as I run out onto the deck. My eyes widen and I gasp in shoc
k. Blood is all over the deck and drag marks lead to the side of the boat and over the edge. A knife lies on the floor covered in blood.
“Ben!” I scream. “Help, somebody help!” I run to the side of the boat and look over the edge into the water… nothing.
“Natasha!” I scream. “Natasha, where are you?” I call frantically. My phone rings and my eyes dart around to look for it. It’s on the cushion on the seat at the side of the boat. I scramble to answer it. It’s Ben.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. He obviously heard my calls for help.
“Where’s Natasha?” I scream as I hold my breath.
“What do you mean? She’s with you on the boat,” he snaps.
“No, she’s not.” My heartrate feels like I am about to have a heart attack. “There’s blood, Ben. Blood is everywhere,” I cry.
“On my way.”
I run to the side of the boat where the drag marks lead and dive overboard into the water. “Natasha,” I call as I flap on the surface. I take a huge breath and go under the water to see if I can see her. My head frantically looks around. I can’t see anything—the water is too dark. I can’t breathe and my heart starts to thump in fear in my chest. I break to the surface and gasp for air as the rubber dinghy comes flying through the water towards me. Three of the guards dive into the water next to me.
“Ben, there’s blood all over the deck,” I gasp into the water as I half drown.
Ben’s horrified eyes meet mine and he jumps off the dinghy and climbs the ladder onto the boat.
“Oh my god!” he screams. “She’s in the water!” he yells frantically. “Find her,” he yells to his men.
We all go back under the water frantically. Oh no, Tash, where are you baby? What’s happened? The water is too cold and I am unable to move anymore and Ben drags me from the water and then dives in himself as I stand on the boat, frozen with fear.
“Natasha!” I yell. “Natasha, where are you?” I scream. I hold my head in my hands and start to hyperventilate. I can’t breathe and I start to cough uncontrollably as my eyes dart around to the shore.
Where are you, presh?
I’ll ring her. I race and climb the ladder onto the boat and fall as I miss the last two steps and I climb again and scramble to my phone. Oh my god… there’s so much blood. The tears start to run down my face and I grab my phone and dial her number. It rings as my heart races. Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up.