Page 95 of Austen

Yeah, what an idiot he’d been.

“Dec!”

He didn’t believe it at first, the voice in the wind.Surely he’d dreamed it.Or hoped it.Still, he grabbed the flashlight stored in the small survival kit.Flicked it on over the water.

Nothing.

“Stone!”

He shot the light toward the voice.

There.A large orange fender floated in the water, and clinging to it—“Steinbeck!”

The man’s face illuminated in the glow.

The life raft came with a flare gun and flare cartridges, an EPIRB (which he’d activated), and a couple of foldable paddles.Declan grabbed one and started to paddle to him, the flashlight in his mouth.

Steinbeck kicked toward him, finally grabbing the line that Declan threw to him.

He pulled himself to the flimsy ladder, clutched the edge of the raft, climbed up, and rolled onto the bottom.

He lay there, breathing hard, his hands on his chest.Only then did Declan see the wound in his arm.

“You get shot?”

Stein nodded.“Slowed me down a little.You’re a hard man to keep up with.”He looked over at him.“Good thing you left that fender garage open—it shot out all sorts of floating debris.”

Huh.

“I am so tired of getting shot.”Steinbeck pushed himself up, took a look at the jagged skin on his upper right arm.“Sorry about your yacht.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure insurance is gonna cover the ‘attacked by Russian pirates’ claim,” Declan said, but he smiled.Seriously?Steinbeck, alive?

Maybe God had heard him.

He chose to believe that.Even as the night faded to morning, the sunrise burning across the water.

Steinbeck had fallen asleep like the former SEAL he was—able to crash even in the midst of a tossing sea.

Maybe that was a twin thing too, because Steinbeck radiated the same hope Austen had, the kind that put Declan’s soul at rest.

He slept for most of the day, and woke when Declan pulled out the sea rations.Food tablets the size of small bars of soap.He gave one of the wrapped squares to Steinbeck.

“Great.Steak and eggs for breakfast.”But Stein opened the bar.

Declan found a pouch of drinking water and took a sip before handing it to Stein.

“There’s enough for a week at sea, so if you need it?—”

“I’m good,” Steinbeck said after taking a sip.He passed the pouch back to him.“Seal it well.”

He did and set it back in the accessories box.He also grabbed out a flare, just in case.

“I turned on the EPIRB last night, so...”He considered Steinbeck.“Why didn’t you go with Austen?”

Steinbeck’s mouth twitched.“Alosha.”

Declan raised an eyebrow.

---