Page 80 of Four Times Saved

I pushed a laugh out of my belly, hoping it was a convincing one, and the act inspired a chuckle, proving the 'fake it till you make it' adage successful. "If you keep doing that, we're never going to make it there before sundown."

And we were all going to be stuck here in the dead of night, among the trees. I didn't know how we were going to manage to keep up the pretense that everything was hunky-dory.

It had taken a few hours to drive from Durham to get to the boat which took us across, you'll never guess it, the lake, to where our new beginning awaited. Okay, I wasn't sure if it was the same lake. It might not have been, but it was close enough a resemblance for us guys to resort to blaming our reactions on some level of "sea sickness" despite the lack of sea, Eric's surfing prowess and the many pictures Lily had seen of us out on a yacht, living our best lives.

There was no way she believed us, but she didn't dwell on it. She was more concerned with how we were going to get her mother here, handle grocery shopping and get furniture delivered. To be fair, I hadn't visited the place before, I'd just seen the pictures, met with the real estate agent, took his word for it and let my imagination run wild.

In my anxiety to get here and focus on anything other than Terry's and Carter's dead bodies or the mental imprint of the knife in my palm which I could still feel the weight of, I'd used my GPS to get us as close as possible, before learning that the next course of action was to charter a boat.

Of course, it was only after touching foot on the solid ground of the island, and bringing up Lily's concern to the realtor, that I found out about the causeway which would be a far simpler option in the future.

"Are you sure there's a house here?" Eric asked as the walk went on longer than any of us appreciated.

Matt regarded me with a look that said, 'I hope you didn't get us scammed out of millions!'

"Yes! I'm sure," I growled.

"Okay, Ethan. I'm sure it'll show up soon," Lily attempted to reassure me. It didn't help and I shut my mouth against a curt response.

The trees were many, running wild and free as trees do. Don't be so literal, you know what I mean. Here was the problem. The natural terrain was uncanny. We had spent this morning in a forest, doing unspeakable things that I would take with me to my grave. We were in a forest again.

We had spent our afternoon on a lake, and I had the stupid idea to take Lily to the house on the lake that I bought before I knew we'd be dumping bodies in one.

You get how that adds up, what that can do to a person, right?

Instead of jumping with glee at the real estate agent's call and running over here like it was some sort of saving grace, I should have had the good sense to withdraw my offer and find us a house on the whole other side of the world, preferably without lakes or any body of water, and no trees.

My intelligence only allowed for financial investment strategies and luck, I didn't have any luck with strategies in any other area of my life. And if buying this island was any indicator, I wasn't doing so well on the financial investment front either, since I'd invested in what would now be my own personal hell. Great. I wondered if the guys felt the same way about this as I did, if their lives here would be as nightmarish as mine would be.

My irritation hit a wall, however, when I spotted the house winking at us through the trees. My heart expanded and I stopped dead in my tracks, allowing the others to catch up to me. Palatial island was what I asked for, and it was what I got.

"We're here!" I almost said that like an exaggerated cartoon character clicking their heels together and waving their hands around in jubilation.

After a while, as they all grew frustrated, Ryan had dropped his hands from Lily's face, the surprise losing its appeal. But his beaming gaze followed mine, and as Lily searched for the gem, Ryan blindfolded her again, causing her to groan and grin all at once, resuming the spirit of play.

As we drew closer to the large, spanking new pale gray gates, I started to breathe easier. All our initials were held within a circle between the metal rods, a special touch I had requested, marking it as ours. I was pleased to see that it was already there.

Everything was so much better than the pictures. Modern, sharp, gray stones created a fence around the whole property. More trees were contained within the fence, but these were trimmed, nothing like the wild forest-like appearance of before. These were welcoming, communicating something different: comfort, luxury, easy breathing, a sense of being wrapped in a hug.

A cobblestone path continued beyond the gates and from where we were standing, the large glass and brick mansion was nestled behind lush flora and palms.

"Damn, this is ours?" Ryan remarks.

Lily grabbed his hands away from her face to get a breathtaking peek.

"Well, damn. Thanks, Daddies," Eric cracked, forgetting our problems for a moment.

Matt grinned. "This was all Ethan. I just contributed some money. You did good, bro." He pounded my fist.

I had never owned an island before, never would have thought of owning one if it wasn't for Lily. Watching her run up to the gate and trace her fingers over the L.T. had me exploding with joy. I was wrong before; I think this is paradise.

"Is that...?" Tears came to her eyes.

I nodded, smiling. "That's your name. All our names are on this. You guys just have to make it official on your end and sign off on the documents. But this is our home. From now on, we're a unit."

When I said those words, you know what, it had me thinking that this new beginning was everything we needed to wipe away all the shit we'd been through. Even the forest grew on me. Kind of. I wouldn't be taking walks in it anytime soon. The causeway would be my way on and off this island. But I liked the way it was hidden and took a long time for us to find; hopefully, we could keep our ownership private for as long as possible. From Tyler.

I wondered if there was any way we could persuade Lily not to invite Ann-Marie and Tyler over? Tough luck with that. We were bound by more than secrets for the rest of our lives. Yeah, the other side of the world was looking more appealing. Whether or not he could still find us would have to be proven, and I'd have rather had my chances there. But, what's done is done.

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