Page 86 of Four Times Saved

It took a lot of convincing, but Ethan agreed to us staying on our little paradise island away from the real world tonight. What he didn't know was that the boatman hadn't reappeared just to take us back to where our car was parked, but I had asked him to do something for me.

My men had been distant. It was clear they were struggling with something they didn't believe they could share with me because of everything that had happened. Ever since I'd met them, it had been all about what they could do for me. I didn't want it to be about that tonight.

We were all hanging out by the pool when the doorbell rang.

"Who the fuck is that?" Ethan jumped to his feet.

"Oh, fuck. He's found us!" Ryan grabbed me.

"Who found us?!" My heart was rattling.

"Just get her inside. I'll go check it out." Matt started hurrying away.

"Fuck! I didn't expect him to figure out where to find us so soon!" Ethan grabbed hold of my hand and when I shrugged out of his reach, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"You can't take him on, on your own. I'm coming with you!" Eric looked around, his hands frantic. He growled when he found nothing to grab and ran off with Matt.

"Guys, what's going on? You're freaking me out! You don't think Terry and the..." I swallowed my words, unable to bring them to the surface when I looked around this massive empty house with nowhere to hide.

"Lily." Eric's voice tapped in, surrounding me. I jumped and it took me a moment to realize we had an intercom. I wasn't used to that shit. "Did you ask the boatman to bring a bunch of stuff?"

I let out such a huge breath, I almost passed wind out of my asshole. "Yes! Yes, I did."

"Lily..." Ethan groaned and lowered me to the floor.

"Fucking shit." Ryan wheezed and grabbed his head. "You're supposed to make us aware of stuff like that, Lily!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." I frowned. My cheeks burned as I made my way to the door.

The boatman's eyes were startled, his skin flushed. He had a large bag over his shoulder like Santa's sack and a giant picnic basket in his hand.

"I brought the stuff you requested." He choked.

"Thanks so much. I'm so sorry about this. It's just...things are a little bit complicated at the moment. Matt, can you pay the kind man?" I asked, a small smile on my trembling lips as I stared up at his furrowed brows.

He did. "Sorry about that," Matt echoed and with a breath, he took the picnic basket. Eric took the bag. The poor man hurried away, scared as hell. I knew we were scared because we thought it was Terry and the kidnapper. But I guessed he didn't receive the most pleasant greeting. Either that or he thought we were batshit crazy. I doubted he'd be offering any more of his services anytime soon.

"What's all this?" Eric asked, testing the weight of the surprisingly light bag.

I shut the door behind us, bolts and all.

"Pillows, blankets, food, candles..." I listed. "I thought I'd do something nice for you all in return. I didn't think it would be this chaotic. Sorry." I winced at Matt.

"It's a sweet gesture." He sighed. "It just caught us off guard. Next time, tell us."

I let out an exasperated breath. "That's what Ryan said." I bristled, recalling the way he yelled at me. I'd never seen him that mad before. "But surprises don't exactly work like that."

"How are you doing?" Eric reached in with his arm around my waist.

My pulse was still causing a racket beneath my skin. "I'm fine. What about you guys? You're clearly more affected than you're letting on. You can talk to me about what you're feeling, you know that right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Eric nodded and released me.

"What's all this?" Ethan scowled at us when he and Ryan found us in the kitchen.

"A nice deed. You should fix your face," I told him while I popped the fish in our sparkling new, luxury wall oven. It would make my old oven look like its kid. The oven door opened and closed so smoothly, I was almost afraid I'd slam it too hard by accident. My old one took a bit of a push and pull and it would squeal in protest. I still couldn't believe this was ours.

"I'm sorry." He swiped his hand over his face. "So..." Ethan peeked into the bag Eric was now emptying. "You already intended to stay here tonight? What if I had said no?"

---