Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ezra

I wake the next morning, blessedly sore in all the right places. My limbs sing with utter relaxation as I stretch them and open my eyes. Light peeks over the horizon as the sun begins to rise on another glorious day.

Turning onto my side, I look for Kindra, but her spot on the bed lies empty. The ruffled sheets and the errant come stain tell me last night wasn't a dream, but where has my little minx got off to?

I sit up and swipe my hand down my face, then reach for my glasses on the bedside table. Once I have them on, I look toward the bathroom. The door is ajar and the light is off, so she isn't in there.

Then the scent of fresh coffee slips under the door and finds my nose, followed by the sound of something sizzling on the tiny stove. Is she making breakfast?

With a smile, I rise from the bed and hurry to the bathroom to make sure I'm presentable. I can't exactly greet the love of my life with a puff of dragon's breath.

To be fair, the morning after is a new experience for me. Most of my conquests don't stay the night, or if they do, they're gone before I wake. They understood the assignment. Now, the assignment has changed. I want this to be one morning of many that we spend together.

My breath fresh and my dark hair shaped into something manageable, I dress in a thin button up and a pair of khaki shorts. As I fasten the last button, my good mood falls.

No. It doesn't just fall. It plummets, collides with the ground, then disintegrates on impact.

Because it's time to come clean.

I've toyed with keeping this a secret forever. I've come up with plans and schemes, and I'm certain they'd work, but our foundation would be built on a lie. Losing her forever is better than lying to her forever. She deserves nothing less than my honesty.

Plus, there's still a chance I could salvage this. If I'm the one who comes clean to her, she has to see the merit in that. Maybe not right away, but eventually.

I'll wait forever.

With a steeling breath, I open the bedroom door and step into the main living area. It takes a moment for my brain to register what I see because it varies so greatly from my expectation.

Instead of Kindra swaying her hips in front of the stove, it's Maverick. Instead of Kindra holding a warm mug of coffee toward me, it's Bennett.

"Drink this now," Bennett says. "You're going to need it."

I push the mug away. "What are you on about? Where's Kindra?"

Maverick's hand stalls mid-flip, and the eggs land on the stovetop. Then I spot the gleaming meat hooks on the counter.

"What the fuck did you do?" I bellow as I launch myself at Bennett.

Because this is all his fault. He's wanted to split us apart since the moment he realized this was more than a fling.

Gripping his shirt collar in my fists, I sling him against a wall and begin choking him. Incredibly, he puts up an abysmal fight, merely clutching my wrists as his face shifts from red to purple.

Arms wrap around my torso, and a lean body presses against my back. Maverick might be nearly twenty years my junior, but he lacks my unmitigated rage at the moment. With a quick turn, he's off me.

"This isn't your battle to fight!" I shout at him before I turn back to Bennett and press my forearm to his chest, pinning him against the wall again. "What the fuck did you do?"

"I didn't do shit," Bennett wheezes. "You should have told her. None of this would have happened if you'd listened to me."

"Why are my meat hooks on the fucking counter, then?" I press my arm into his sternum a bit more, and he winces.

"Ezra, it was my fault," Maverick says behind me.

I release Bennett and turn to face the traitor. "Why? What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I didn't know you were keeping your identity a secret!" He rushes back to the pan on the stove, which has produced an impressive cloud of thick smoke.

Cue the fire prevention system.

The lights cut off, and the villa becomes a concert of shrill beeps and flashing exit lights. Seconds later, the sprinklers come on, drenching us in a cold spray of iron-scented water.

Maverick rushes the pan toward the sink, and though he douses the charred eggs under a running tap, the sprinklers and alarms rage on. The damage is done.

In more ways than this.

We file from the villa and drip onto the boardwalk in silence. It seems no one knows what to say, least of all me. Because all of this is my doing. I can try to pin blame on everyone else, but I'm the lynchpin holding this flaming fiasco together.

I want to cry, but no tears will come. I want to rage and break something, and the boardwalk railing looks mighty tempting.

Instead, I ask a single question.

"Maverick, what happened?"

He explains everything. Jim handed him the keys to the villa. Upon discovering the meat hooks, he thought I left it as a sign to come see me as soon as he got here. Being none the wiser, he told Kindra the truth about my identity.

"Where did she go?" I ask. Some small piece of me still hopes I can fix this mess.

"I don't know, man. She grabbed her bag and said she needed to get back to her place, so I can only assume she meant her villa." Maverick covers his face and groans. "Bennett explained how bad I fucked up. I'm sorry."

I sigh and look out at the horizon. "No, you didn't fuck up. And neither did you, Bennett. You were right. The blame rests squarely on my shoulders."

"So what do you plan to do now?" Bennett asks. "The hunt is in an hour, and as much as I'd love to sit around and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's while we commiserate, I'm not missing my chance to end Gary."

"I'm not going on the hunt," I say. "I need to pick up the pieces and try to put this back together. There's always next year's hunt, but there will never be another Kindra."

Bennett nods his head and slaps his hand on my shoulder. "I figured you might say that. Go get your girl."

Shocked, I can only blink and stare at him. Hasn't he been against this the entire time?

"I know what you're thinking," he says. "It wasn't that I didn't like the girl, though. I just didn't like the lying. Why do you think I haven't gotten into a relationship? You have to tell chicks everything, and I am not an open book."

"Neither was I," I say.

"Yeah, she ripped your cover wide open." Bennett laughs and shakes his head. "I'll miss having you as my wingman, but I won't stand in the way of your happiness. So go get her. You have my blessing."

"Sorry again!" Maverick shouts at my retreating back as I race toward Kindra's villa.

I pass the entrance to the jungle path just as a line of Cattle disappears into the greenery. Jim brings up the procession's rear. The Cattle wear masks to cover their eyes so they don't know where they are, and their wrists are shackled around their waists. An old-school chain connects their ankles to the Cattle in front of and behind them.

"It's too early to head in just now," Jim says as I race past him.

I raise a hand to acknowledge him, then keep running. The hunt is the furthest thing from my mind. Hell, if Kindra commanded me to never kill again, I would give it up without a second thought. I will pay whatever price I must to earn her forgiveness.

Her villa appears around the next bend. I'm out of breath as I nearly fall up the stairs and rap my knuckles against the wooden door.

"Kindra, please let me speak to you! There's more to the story than what you believe!" I open my fist and slam my palm against the door. "Just let me tell my side. If you never want to speak to me again, I'll respect that."

I say this last to myself more than her. Because it's futile. If anything, she probably needs more time to come to terms with things before she'll be open to hearing anything I have to say.

Then, just as I'm turning to leave, I spot something fluttering against the porch banister. It's a piece of paper, held against the wood by the tip of a knife.

Kindra's knife.

I pluck the blade from the paper and set it on the railing, then grip the note before the summer breeze can blow it away. As I read, each word taps a stake through my soul.

AA,

Thanks for ruining my fucking life, you absolute sack of dog shit. If Cat can go home early, so can I. Do not contact me. Ever. If you see me on the street, keep walking.

Also, fuck you.

HBK

So that's it, then.

She's left the island, and I'll never see her again.

With my head hung low, I start back toward my villa. This is the end of something magical, and fuck, it hurts. I love her. With every fiber of my being, I love Kindra. So I have to let her go. I must respect her wishes and leave her alone.

I'll just wait for her for the rest of my life. No woman has ever come close to making me feel this way, and no one ever will.

Bennett and Maverick are still standing outside when I return. They see everything on my face. The despair. The heartache. The loss of a will to live.

"Didn't go well, I take it?" Bennett asks, and I appreciate that he doesn't have any snark in his tone.

I produce the scathing letter from my pocket and hand it to the guys. They huddle over it like two schoolgirls with a note from a crush. Maverick even uses his finger to trace each line. I don't mind. As long as I don't have to relive the words myself, I'll be okay.

Bennett clears his throat and hands the letter back to me. "Absolute sack of dog shit? Damn, that's harsh."

Okay, as long as I don't have to relive my failures, I'll be okay.

"I mean, you did lie to her for damn near a week about her brother's killer, though," Bennett adds. "You also had an elaborate setup for keeping her fooled. So I get it."

"You're not helping," Maverick whispers.

"Okay, okay," Bennett says as he turns his attention to me. "I don't know why you're here, though. The pilot refuses to fly before he's had his lunch. If she's down at the airstrip, then..."

His face pales, and the letter drops from his hand. I scramble to grab it before the wind can snap it up.

"Fuck," he breathes.

"What?" Maverick and I say in unison.

"Oh, I fucked up." Bennett grips the boardwalk railing and leans into it. "I fucked up bad, Ezra. You have to get to the hunting grounds."

I shake my head and stuff the letter into my pocket. "No fucking way. I'm not going on?—"

"No, you don't get it. The entire reason I was at your villa this morning was because Kindra knocked on my door and asked which way to the airstrip. I jokingly pointed toward the hunting grounds and said I took Cat that way. I figured she was just asking a question, and me, being my asshole self, decided to make a joke."

"And she took you seriously," I say. "If she's in that jungle..."

Bennett covers his face with his hands. "Fuck. I didn't even think anything of it. Then I came to your place, and Maverick filled me in on what happened, and I filled him in on what actually happened. I forgot all about seeing her this morning."

"Meanwhile, Kindra is out there in a jungle filled with nonces! Bennett, what have you done ?"

Maverick holds up his hands and steps between us. "Before another brotherly brawl breaks out, let's use our logical minds. Kindra is a serial killer. She can take care of herself out there."

Yes, maybe against one or two, but I saw the conga line headed into the jungle. Most of their suits were red or pink. The child abusers might not go for her because she's aged out of their sick perversions, but the reds...

"Don't do anything crazy," Maverick says. "Just find Jim and have him hold off until she's found."

"It's too late. I saw them heading into the jungle moments ago when I went to Kindra's villa."

Bennett shrugs. "Then I guess we go on the hunt and if we see her, we'll send her to the correct airstrip instead of the imaginary one."

I'm glad he can be so nonchalant about all of this. I may be responsible for the majority of my woes, but this one? This one falls squarely on my brother's shoulders.

"I have to go after her," I say.

Before they can argue, I'm already headed toward the jungle.

Grim and Ice Pick stand at the trailhead when I reach it. I stop running and plant my hands on my knees while I try to catch my breath. There's no use asking if they've seen Kindra. She went into the jungle at least an hour ago, maybe longer.

"There are plenty of Cattle to go around," Ice Pick says through a chuckle. "No need to run. Maudlin Rose hasn't even gotten here yet, and we can't start without her."

I wave my palm at him and shake my head. "No . . . I'm not here . . . for the hunt." I point into the dense vegetation. "Kindra . . . out there."

Much to my surprise, they get the immediacy of my plight with so little information. Their eyes go wide, and they look at each other before turning back to me.

"Let us help you find her," Ice Pick says. "She's a good girl, and I wouldn't want to see anything happen to her."

I give him a thumbs up. I'll take all the help I can get.

We aren't supposed to step into the jungle until Jim fires a pistol from Mount Jim—yes, he named a small mountain after himself, but he owns it, so I guess it's his right—but I don't have time to stand around and wait. I'll have to risk his wrath.

"I'm heading in," I say. "You all can wait until Jim fires his pistol, but I can't."

"We understand," Grim says with a nod. He holds out his hand, and I shake it. I let the gravity of that handshake settle in.

Then I head into the jungle.