Page 6 of Stone Cold Bad
Hunter pulled out the emergency kit.“I think we’ve got one of those weird foil blankets in here.Supposed to be good for keeping people warm.Or at least that’s what I’ve seen in movies.”He pulled out a cellophane package and ripped it open.
“I’ve got to get her out of these wet clothes.”I lowered her onto the bench running along the back wall of the pilot house.Her heavy lids opened, and she stared at me.With the exception of her pink cheeks, her skin was much paler than it had been when I’d had her warm and in my arms back in the bar.
I crouched down in front of her.“What’s your name, darlin’?”
She blinked slowly as if she was trying to figure out the answer to my question.The hypothermia had really worked a number on her.“Jade,” she said.It seemed to take all her energy.
“Jade?Pretty name.I’ve got to take your wet clothes off, Jade, so we can wrap you in our special foil wrapper.”I unlaced her boots and slid them off her feet.
She stared down at my hand as I unzipped her sweatshirt.“How did you find me?”she asked.
“I didn’t.You found me.”I slipped the sweatshirt off her shoulders.Hunter started the engine.The dim bulbs of the pilot house flickered overhead but didn’t give much light.Still, it would have been impossible not to notice the red lines on her neck.
She winced as I reached up and touched her neck.“That bookie, the one who sent the thugs to find you, did he do this?”
Her throat moved with a swallow, and her eyes shut with the pain.She didn’t answer me, and it wasn’t my business.Of course, that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t fucking kill the guy the next time we crossed paths.
I reached for the t-shirt she was wearing.She pulled back from my touch.“I don’t want to be fifty-four too.Please.I just don’t want to feel anything for the rest of the night.”Tears pooled in her eyes.
I stroked her cheek.“I need to get you warm.That’s all.I promise.”She lifted her arms as if there were heavy weights hanging from the ends of them.I pulled her shirt off but left the lacy pink bra.“Let’s shimmy this skirt off of you.Panties can stay.”I unbuttoned her skirt.She leaned against me for support as I slid off the wet fabric.
Hunter helped me wrap her in the foil blanket.A faint smile crossed her face as she watched us.“I feel like a roast going into an oven.”She looked at me.“An oven, damn, that sounds so darn good right now.I’d just slather myself in butter and crawl inside.”
I touched her bottom lip.“At least your teeth aren’t chattering anymore.”
Slade came up to the pilot house and grinned as he held up a bottle of whiskey.“Nothing like a swig of liquid fire to heat up the blood.”
He unscrewed the top and held it out.Jade lifted her arm out of the blanket and took hold of it.Her face scrunched up as she drank the whiskey.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone look so damn cute drinking whiskey,” Slade said.
She pressed her hand against her mouth and concentrated on swallowing.Then she took a deep breath.“That’s really awful.”She leaned back in her foil wrap.“But thank you.I feel better already.”
She held up the bottle, but Slade put out his palm.“Keep it.You might need more.”
The engine rumbled and the boat vibrated as we got to open water.I glanced through the windows.Chalky gray fog clouded the view.The light on the bow looked like a ball of fire in the thick, cold mist.
Jade took another few drinks of whiskey and handed me the bottle.I took a few swallows and put it down on the ground.The thin foil crinkled around our saltwater drenched stowaway.Even cold, shivering and miserable she was incredible.
She scooted closer to me.“I don’t want to sound greedy, seeing as how you guys shared your giant burrito wrapper with me and everything, but can I have some more of your body heat?”
“I think I’ve got some to spare.”
She crawled onto my lap and pressed her face against my chest.It made my throat tighten as if someone had clamped fingers around it.I couldn’t remember the last time something had produced a lump in my throat.Emotion, feelings and, hell, even love had been turned off in all of us Stone brothers long ago.You couldn’t grow up with our father and have emotions.There was just way too much pain.We stopped feeling and life got easier.But holding this girl, a girl who seemed to have a pretty fucked up life too, made my throat ache.I tightened my arms around her.
She clamped the silver blanket shut with her hand and adjusted her bottom in my lap.“So, what was she like?”
I looked down at her.“What was who like?”
“Lucky number one.”She yawned, closed her eyes and rested her head against me.Instinctively, my arms tightened their hold, and all I could think was that I wanted to protect her.“Fifty-three sucks.I want to be lucky number one.”Her body stopped trembling.She relaxed in my arms and fell fast asleep.
FIVE
JADE
The evening had been a blur, the nightmarish events swirled in with a green eyed stranger who was anything but a nightmare.The same man was stretched out next to me under the blanket.The drop in body temperature and shots of whiskey had knocked me nearly senseless.I’d slept soundly in his arms as the fishing trawler crept back to their hometown marina.I vaguely remembered lifting my head to look around, only to be met with the same thick fog we’d traveled through.But the town smelled different.It smelled lighter, less oppressive, but I was sure that was only because I was now a good distance away from Ray.
I stared over at the man.I still hadn’t even learned his name.He had a beautiful profile to go with the rest of his beautiful self.The night before, he had carried me all the way from the marina to their truck as if I weighed nothing more than the crinkly silver blanket I was wrapped in.After I’d nearly frozen to death in the ocean, his body heat had felt like the greatest, most luxurious blanket, and I couldn’t bear to part with it.I’d clung to him like a barnacle on a ship hull.And after he lowered me onto his bed, in the shadows of his room, I watched him strip down to his boxer briefs.Heat had swirled through my body then too, but a different kind of heat, like the kind that had washed over me in the utility closet when he’d boldly pressed his hand between my legs.His finely chiseled arms, shoulders and stomach had become part of my dreams.I had been weak and out of it, but he hadn’t tried anything.Instead, he’d stretched out under the cover and wrapped me in that same delicious body heat, making me feel as if I’d never be cold again.
