Page 57 of Sinners Retreat

“He’s asking for an update, and I have nothing to give him,” Kindra says. “I’ve been too busy riding your dick to focus on the two reasons why I’m here.”

“I didn’t know how secretive she’d have to be when I set this up,” Cat says. “It’s all my fault.”

Unlike Bennett, I won’t kick the blonde when she’s down, though she had to have reached max-level ignorance to believe Kindra could write a story about anything on this island.

Then again, maybe Eighties is the solution to every problem.

“I might have an answer for you. I’ll be right back,” I say.

I hurry to the wheelhouse as a plan takes shape in my brain. It could work, but it would rely heavily on Bennett’s help, and I’m not certain he’ll offer any assistance after my little jab on deck.

Grim is fast asleep behind the wheel, his hands resting in his lap and his chin pressed against his chest. Soft snores burble from his thin lips every few seconds. Bennett glances up from a gun magazine as I enter the cabin.

“We ready to head back, or do you need to bring up more of my past first?” he asks.

I motion for him to keep it down, then sit next to him. “Actually, I need to ask a favor.”

“Mighty bold of you, all things considered. You also have no bargaining chip. I already get to kill Gary.”

“Just hear me out,” I say. “I need you to take the meat hooks from my room and hide them in Eighties’ villa.”

He already knows where I’m going with this, and his head begins to shake before I can finish. “No, absolutely not. You’re thinking with the wrong fucking head, Ezra. You plan to lie to this girl, and she doesn’t deserve that. I’d help you fuck over theblonde all day, but I like Kindra, so I won’t help you deceive her more than you already have.”

“I still plan to tell her on the last day. That hasn’t changed. But I just want a little more?—”

“Time to dick her down? I get it. But the answer is still no.”

“No, that’s not what I was about to say. I want to know why I killed her brother, and I need more time to figure that out. This will buy that time for me, and it will help Kindra.”

I explain her situation with her boss and how Eighties’ death can be a solution to that problem. We just need Jim to sign off on revealing Eighties’ identity, and Bennett has more opportunity to get that approval.

Bennett sighs, and his head drops to his hands. “Fucking fine,” he says through a groan. He pulls his hands away and looks into my eyes. “But I’m doing this on one condition. No matter what happens, you’ll tell her the truth before the hunt on the final day.”

“Why before the hunt? Can’t I do it at the airport right before we part ways?”

A smile slides onto his face. “No, you can’t. If you want me to help you dig the hole, I want you to fight your way out of it. You have to do it the right way for her, not the easy way for you. She needs time to cuss you up one side and down the other, and I want to see it.”

“So your payment will be my public humiliation?”

“Yes.”

“That means I’ll probably be too distraught to go on the hunt.”

He claps his hand on my back. “I thought of that too. That’s when I plan to kill Gary, and with you out of the way, there’s no risk of you ‘accidentally’ taking my kill.”

“It happened one time, Bennett. One time.”

“And that’s one time too many.” He gets to his feet and stretches. “Go spin your little web of lies. I’ll place the fly in the trap once it’s dark.”

I hurry back to the girls, but I’m happy to see they didn’t need me around to get a fish on the line. Kindra holds the rod’s tip in the air, moving it up and down as she and Cat laugh. But as I draw closer, I realize it’s not a fish at all. It’s one of the Cattle from below deck.

“Kindra rammed a hook through his scalp and cut off his feet to draw sharks,” Cat says. Her blue eyes gleam with childish mischief.

I peer over the side of the boat as Kindra brings the man’s head above water. He gasps through his nose before sinking into the red water again.

“The line isn’t rated for something as hefty as a man. Or a shark,” I say. “It’ll probably snap soon.”

As if I willed it to happen, the line breaks, and the wriggling body begins to sink to the depths.

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