Page 63 of Revenge Honeymoon

From a distance, Emily saw the familiar perfect wavy dark hair of Max. Butterflies dive bombed her stomach.

Why did she have to find him so horridly attractive? How could he have betrayed them so? Since she didn’t want the Weird Twins to pressure Ruby again, it was time to get the show on the road despite her worries.

“Does everyone have a paddle?” Carson asked.

“Ya mon,” Emily yelled with a little too much enthusiasm.

Daniela and Tony gave her strange looks.

“My buddy and I will help you into the raft.” Carson took the hand of the nearest newlywed and helped her into the big yellow inflatable raft. “We will need to balance the load, so please have patience while we seat you.”

Within moments Emily found herself seated in the middle of the raft with Ruby in front of her. Probably better her best friend, who loved these kinds of adventures, didn’t see how panicked she was.

Carson’s colleague shoved the raft out into the water and away from the shoreline.

Last chance to fake a heart attack or something.

“Paddle!” Carson called out from his position at the back of the raft. “Both sides. Let’s go!”

The water at this point on the river was calm, so Emily didn’t mind leaning over the bulbous edge of the raft to dip her paddle in and help their forward movement. In fact, after a few strokes, she liked the sensation of gliding down the river in the quiet beauty of the Jamaican jungle.

“Great job, folks. We’ll be coming up on our first rapid just around this bend.” Carson doubled up his efforts and navigated them toward the open water between two large boulders on either side of the river. “It starts off with a bang. Class three rapids right around the corner.”

Oh, crap.

Why didn’t she think about writing out her will before she’d left for Florida? Oh, right, she didn’t know she’d be white water rafting. She thought she was attending a safe, both feet on the ground, wedding. Who in their right mind would climb in a raft with a bunch of strangers and float right into death?

They rounded the bend.

White water churned all around.

Emily’s adrenaline spiked. “Oh, my God!”

Chapter17

Max Has It Bad

As they hit the beginning of the class three rapids, the rubber boat dipped, then rose high into the air and crashed down. Emily almost bit her tongue at the impact. A massive wave of water slammed into her body and obscured her vision.

Was this the end? Was she about to drown in a Jamaican river rafting accident?

Emily imagined the headlines:

Honeymoon Cruisers, and Two Fakers, Die in Most Horrific Way Imaginable

Two Women, Masquerading as Lesbians, Drown Like Rats in Jamaica

A Possible Model and her Chubby Friend Kick the Bucket in Paradise

She sputtered and rubbed at her eyes to clear the water. Why, she did not know. Was she really looking forward to seeing every moment of her last days on earth?

“Right side: paddle!” Carson yelled above the crashing water all around them.

Ruby’s bubbling laughter could be heard above it all.

Was she insane? Who laughed at such a time? Death everywhere. More rapids ahead. No seatbelt.

But despite her terror Emily found herself paddling with all her might. She’d rather paddle and be focused on that than be reminded of how little time she had left to live.

---