Chapter 79

I jumped as Jack turned on a flashlight, lighting himself up, and me. Without hesitation, I then grabbed my clothes again and pulled them on. He glanced my way but if he was going to object to me getting dressed again, he decided not to, and instead he found a second flashlight and turned it on as well.

"We should get the backup generator on and have it power this room. It can keep going for some time, but if we're down here for a while, we might need to run it in phases."

I had no intention of arguing with Jack. I was just grateful he appeared to know what he was doing. After taking the second flashlight, I helped him shine it around the small room so he could find the controls for the generator and get us lit up again.

It seemed to take several minutes as Jack checked a bunch of things first and went through a short checklist. He then powered it on.

Almost immediately, lights flicked back on again, although they were dimmer than before. I shivered, pretty sure it was getting colder in the room.

Jack came back to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Now, where were we?" he said, trying to press his lips against mine again.

I pulled back and out of his arms, almost tripping over the edge of the camp bed behind. He reached out and grabbed my arm, helping to steady me, and then came closer again. A moment later he lifted my chin with his finger.

"We'll be okay," he said. "I promise we'll be fine."

"Can you really promise that?" I asked, sounding angrier than I truly felt.

"Juno. This shelter was built with exactly this situation in mind. It's got everything in it experts could think of. It's designed to keep us alive no matter what."

I exhaled, knowing my fear was getting the better of me, but men had promised me things in the past, and we hadn't been fine. Jack wrapped his arms around me again, but this time, it was the hug of someone trying to comfort the other, not seduce them.

Not sure what else to do, I let him hold me, but I knew the damage was done. There was no way I could handle this. I'd grown up in a safe country where this kind of thing didn't happen. And I wanted to stay that way.

There were so many reasons not to be with Jack, and I knew I'd had enough of trying. I didn't have enough money, had already maxed out one of my credit cards just buying a few outfits. I'd been hit on by a sleazy bottom-feeder, and now I was stuck in a shelter in the middle of a tropical storm and terrified for my life.

No. Jack and his life aren't for me.

I sat down again, but I made sure Jack didn't get the impression that I was interested in anything else. I just wanted to survive, to get out of here and go home as soon as the boat came back.

If Jack realized how closed-off I was to him, he didn't say anything about it, instead grabbing one of the books on the shelf.

"Why don't I read this to both of us? See if it helps."

Nodding, I settled back a little and tried to get comfy. Maybe it would help.

Jack read for what felt like forever as we tried to ignore the hell outside. There was more noise, but Jack did his best to read through it, and I tried to focus on his voice.

Eventually, it seemed to grow quieter outside, and there was a long period without any loud noises or the crack and thwump of more trees breaking.

Even with the lack of noise, Jack didn't stop reading for some time longer, waiting until we couldn't hear much of anything. Although I couldn't be sure, it seemed as if it was quieter than when we'd first come into the shelter by the time Jack closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

"Stay here," he said as he got up.

There was no way I was venturing out of the shelter until I was completely sure it was safe, but Jack moved cautiously to the thick, heavy door he'd sealed shut and turned the handle to open it.

It took some effort on his part, but the weather stripping slowly came away, and then he shoved against the door. Almost immediately water rushed into the shelter, pushing him back and the door shut again.

"Shit," he said as I pulled my feet back up onto the bed, my heart racing again.

"All right. We're going to have to do this differently," Jack added, reaching for me.

At first, I didn't move, not sure I liked the idea of getting off the camp bed and into the water, but equally aware that if this room was going to flood, then I didn't want to stay in here either.

"It's okay, Juno. It's shallow up there, but we've got to get out. The pumps in here might not cope with this much water."

I gritted my teeth and forced my body to move and go to him, trusting him one last time. He took my hand and helped me through the water and toward the door.

He then encouraged me onto the steps and stood close behind me.

"Hold on as best you can when I open the door, and then we'll both try and get up the steps together. It will be easier on us, but we'll have to fight the water a little."

I nodded despite the tightness in my chest and the way my legs shook. My mind couldn't offer me a better solution, and I knew I didn't want to drown.

Jack paused for a moment, almost as if he was steeling himself for the challenge as well, before he reached past me, holding on with one hand near mine.

As the door came open this time, he kept his weight against it, letting the water rush in. Able to finally see out myself, I could tell that he was right. The water was less than a foot high inside the house, but it was enough to create some serious force against our legs.

I almost lost my footing, but Jack's weight behind me kept me from shifting too far. Putting all my strength into it, I managed to climb a step and Jack kept close behind, his body pressed up against my back and helping to push me forward as well.

Behind us, the room began to fill up until I heard a strange clunking noise, and some kind of machine kicked in.

"Pumps," Jack said as I hesitated and tried to glance back. "They won't save the room from filling up, but they'll clear all this water out better and quicker."

Not responding but aware I couldn't delay it any longer, I took another step and another, each one taking effort until the water caught up to us, the room filling up while I was still waist-deep.

It was only then that I remembered my laptop, phone, and everything else that was important to me were in the shelter, now underwater. Instantly, I stopped and tried to turn back.

"My notebooks," I said, my soul destroyed.

"They'll be okay," Jack replied, blocking my way and making it clear he intended to keep doing so. "They're in waterproof compartments. I made sure of that. And I can bring them up as soon as the water level is low enough to wade through."

I exhaled, still wanting to push past him and get them now. They were the most important thing in my life. All my ideas and thoughts. My publishing journey and all its ups and downs were in those notebooks.

"You can't get them now. You'll drown trying," he said, his voice hard and his gaze fixed on me.

Wanting to scream but somehow managing not to, I relented. Jack turned me back and encouraged me up the last of the steps and out of the door.