Page 14 of Wicked Waters

“Don’t even fucking think about going anywhere.” He stepped back, glaring down at me.

“Ro—oh. Quinn.” Freya suddenly appeared from around the side of the lighthouse, staring suspiciously between us. “What’s going on here?”

I didn’t trust her, and I definitely didn’t want any word getting back to my parents. “Nothing’s going on. You’re welcome to him.” Turning back to Roman, I hissed, “Don’t try to speak to me again.” Pushing past them both, I stalked back around to the lighthouse door and entered. Roman and Freya appeared less than a minute later, so I made my way to the far side of the ground floor room. I needed a distraction, but Penelope was occupied, flirting with a guy from the lacrosse team. Looking around at the others in the lighthouse, I suddenly felt alone. It wasn’t a feeling I liked—I’d spent far too much time alone when I was in Switzerland. Here, the fact that I’d been away for so long made me feel like the new girl all over again. I knew I should make an effort, to at least try to talk to people, but instead, I decided to get some air.

Outside, I immediately felt calmer.

The calm lasted for less than a minute before a hand came around my waist and gripped my arm tightly.

Not again.

Roman’s low rasp sounded in my ear. “You’re coming with me.”

8

QUINN

“No, I’m not.” I dug my heels into the ground, throwing my weight back.

“You are. I said we needed to have a conversation, and now we’re going to have it. Back to the boats. We’re leaving.” Roman tightened his grip on my arm and began dragging me away from the lighthouse, back towards the jetty. I stumbled a little, and he slowed down so I could regain my footing. Even as he did so, he frowned, and then as soon as I was steady on my feet, he picked up the pace again.

Was he seriously going to do this? “We can’t just leave.”

“We can and we will.”

“People will talk.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he growled.

“But I can’t?—”

“Enough. Boat. Now. We’re going to have a conversation without any fucking interruptions.”

We reached the dock, and he wasted no time in manhandling me into one of the moored boats. I practically fell inside, collapsing down on the seat at the back and putting my head in my hands. I heard him moving around, and then the engine turned on, and we were roaring away from Chaceley Rock.

What was everyone going to think when they found out that Roman and I had both disappeared? I had to hope that they were too drunk to notice. I hoped that once we were done, he’d be taking us back to the island, otherwise, we were going to have a lot of explaining to do, not to mention the risk of my parents finding out.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t even realised that the engine had cut out until Roman’s shout sounded from the front of the boat. “Fuck!”

“What is it?”

He ignored me, flicking switches, turning the key in the ignition over and over again. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“What’s wrong? Why have we stopped?” I carefully made my way over to him, attempting to stay steady as the boat bobbed gently in the ocean.

He finally met my gaze, his eyes dark and angry.

“Know anything about boats? The fucking engine just cut out.”

No.

“I don’t, sorry.”

“Fucking useless,” he hissed, which I thought was a bit unfair since it had been his idea to do this in the first place.

“Doesn’t look like you know any more than I do,” I countered, glaring at him. “Weren’t you on the swim team? You should know more than I do.”

“Fuck you, Quinn. That has nothing to do with boats. If we can’t get this engine going, we’re stuck here. Do you want that?”

---