Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Everything came in flashes and sounds.

Crackling.

A flash of Joel flying backward.

Gunshot.

A flash of arms and legs on the ground, of smoke swirling, of fire.

A voice .

Theo’s worried eyes flicking between mine, his hands on my face, his words indiscernible.

Stay with me.

Was that what he said?

Sirens.

The night sky. Stars. Flashing lights. Smoke.

It all went black then, but for what felt like only a blink before I heard the faint sound of beeping.

It was soft at first, then louder, and louder, until it felt so loud I thought my head might split. I willed my eyes to open, but they wouldn’t for the longest time. My lids were too heavy. My response time was too slow.

When I finally cracked one eye open, a young woman stood above me, calling out something to someone. The words sounded like distorted music, a blurring of sounds and syllables.

“Theo,” I tried to say, but my throat was dry, raw, unable to make a sound.

The woman shined a flashlight into each of my eyes, and then she offered me a smile.

Rest , she said in a thick accent.

And I did.

With permission from that stranger, I slipped into a deep, almost coma-like sleep for what felt like years. I was haunted by fever dreams, but they came in the same flashes as before, disappearing just as soon as they came to fruition.

I came to with that same low beeping, only it was more tolerable this time. My eyes opened a little easier, too, and I blinked several times, taking in my surroundings.

I was in a hospital.

That much was easy to discern from the bed I was in, the tubes hooked up to various parts of my body, the thin gown I wore, the machines beeping and humming. There was a television hung directly across from me playing an old movie with Greek subtitles flashing in yellow along the bottom of the screen.

I blinked again, eyes trailing over the blanket that covered me, the IV in my arm, all across the room until I found Theo.

He was sleeping in one of the chairs by the window, his long legs stretched out in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, head back, mouth slightly parted. His eyebrows were furrowed like whatever he was dreaming about made him unbearably angry. And there was a thick bandage tied around the top of his left arm.

My heart surged in my chest, the need to touch him, to hold him and have him hold me so urgent that I couldn’t move fast enough. In fact, I could barely move at all , and when I tried, I groaned as my body protested with an aching stiffness and numbed sizzle of pain.

Theo’s eyes shot open, and when he saw me, he scurried to his feet and ran to the side of the bed.

“Aspen,” he said, his voice nearly a desperate cry as he reached me. I said his name in return, but it came out just a whisper.

He swept my hair away from my face and I leaned into the touch, tears flooding my eyes once we were connected. I didn’t miss the way his own eyes glossed over, which gave me permission to let the first tear free.

Theo thumbed it away, taking both my hands in his and kissing my knuckles as he let out a long exhale. His hair was dark and oily, mussed like he’d had his hands dragged through it for days. He wore the same thing he’d been wearing the morning he left the boat when we docked in Athens, but there was dried blood on the fabric of his polo and dress pants now.

“Are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” I croaked, trying to sit up.

Theo rushed to help me, holding me steady while he propped pillows up behind me. Once I was more upright, he dragged the chair he’d been sitting in over beside the bed, wrapping my hand in his once again.

“Do you need anything? Water?” He frowned. “Maybe I should call the nurse.”

“No,” I said quickly. “Not yet. I just want you.”

Theo nodded, his brows bending together as another long exhale left his chest. “God, Aspen, you scared me. I thought…”

He swallowed down his next words, and I squeezed his hand in mine. “I’m okay,” I assured him, and then my weak hand reached out to brush the bandage on his arm.

“It’s fine. Just a little bullet graze.”

My eyes shot open wide. “Bullet graze?! Theo!” The words felt like sandpaper against my sore throat.

“I’m okay,” he said again. “I promise. It’s you I was worried about.” He swallowed, brushing my hair back again as his eyes washed over me, over all the tubes and wires sticking this way and that. “You lost a lot of blood.”

My chest tightened at the look of pain on his face, and with that same breath my heart surged, because I’d never felt more loved — not ever before.

“What happened?” I asked after a moment. “Where are we?”

“It’s a long story. We can talk about it when you’re rested, okay?” He frowned again, looking at the door. “I think I really should call the nurse.”

“Theo,” I pleaded, squeezing his hand. “Please. Tell me.”

He sighed, but nodded, handing me a small cup of ice chips from the table next to him before he began. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was until the first chip touched my tongue, and I eagerly tipped the cup back for more.

“It’s hard to explain,” he started. “I’m still trying to understand it all myself. But long story short, Joel, Ace, and Ivy snuck onto the boat after the sun went down. They were there for the safe.”

“Celeste?”

Theo shook his head. “She wasn’t with them. Judging by the way she was acting the day we fired them, I don’t think she wanted any part of what they were doing. Not anymore.”

I nodded, sucking on another chip as he continued.

“Wayland told me on our way back to the boat that you’d given the crew the night off. What neither of us realized was that while we’d discovered four of the rats involved in that grand theft, we’d left one onboard.”

I frowned.

“Eric,” he clarified. “Our bosun.”

“No!”

Theo nodded. “Apparently, he was the head of the whole thing. He befriended Joel early on in our trip, told him about his successful thefts from yachts in the past, and before the end of the night, he had him and Ace in on the deed. Ivy and Celeste weren’t a hard sell, especially not once they started formulating a plan.”

I chewed my cheek, trying to understand through the fog in my head. I wondered what kind of pain relievers they had pumped into my system. “So… Eric was with them?”

“No, actually. He went to shore with everyone else, so as not to look suspicious. But apparently, he’d been feeding Joel, Ace, and Ivy information ever since we left. He’d even hooked them up with some of his guys to get them to Greece once we left Italy. Those same guys were the ones who provided the guns they had.” He swallowed at that. “They were just waiting for the right time to strike. And when you sent the crew to shore for a night off…”

“I gave them the perfect opportunity,” I finished for him with a groan.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault, all right?” Theo assured me, bringing my knuckles to his lips. He kissed all four of them before resting our hands on the bed again. “But yes. I was off the boat, Wayland was waiting to bring me back, the crew was gone.” He shrugged. “No one but Captain Chuck.”

“And me.”

“And you,” Theo agreed. “Which, from what I can gather, Eric left that part of the equation out. When questioned about the whole night, he told the Athens authorities that he hoped you would just stay out of the way and the three thieves could get on, get what they wanted from the safe, and get off without you being any the wiser.”

“What was in that safe that they wanted so badly?”

“Cash. I had a pretty good amount of it in there, just in case. Wayland thinks they might have been trying to steal my identity, too, or at least utilize it long enough to open up a few cards. I had all my travel documents in the safe — passport, business visa, even my Social Security card. I also had a few credit cards in there, so they could have been trying to rack those up before they were found out. Or open new ones. It’s hard to really say.”

I shook my head. “How did they think they’d get away with any of this?”

“Well, if there wouldn’t have been a fire, and if Joel wouldn’t have gotten caught up in… in…” Theo couldn’t even say the words. “If things would have just been a little different, they might have gotten away with a large amount of cash and enough cards to do some damage to my credit line.”

My heart lurched into my throat with another thought. “Oh, God. Captain Chuck? Is he okay?”

“Ace knocked him out with a blow to the head. He lost quite a bit of blood, too, but yes, he’s okay.”

“I heard him,” I said. “I heard this loud thump, and then voices, and then…” Tears flooded my eyes again as I recalled the memory. “And then Joel was there, and it all happened so quickly. He… I think he was on something. He looked… evil .”

“Cocaine,” Theo explained with a heavy sigh. “Among other things, we think, but they found a baggie of cocaine in his pocket. If he was mixing it with anything else, or taking a lot of it, well… it doesn’t surprise me he didn’t seem himself.”

I swallowed, remembering how cold and lifeless his eyes were. “He… he hit me,” I whispered, touching the back of my head. My eyes widened when I felt thick stitches, and I winced at the feeling of my fingertips against the raw skin there. “I was trying to get to the knife, but I couldn’t reach it. I fell and hit my head again,” I remembered, touching the crown of my head next. Another batch of stitches was there. My eyes caught Theo’s. “He had the gun pointed at me,” I whispered. “He was going to kill me.”

Theo’s nose flared, and he shook his head, pulling me into his arms. It was awkward, the way I was hooked up to the various machines and bags of fluid, but Theo held me, anyway, pressing a kiss to my hair, my forehead, and finally, my lips.

He kissed me long and slow, both of us inhaling and exhaling together like we hadn’t taken a real full breath until that very moment.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” Theo whispered against my lips. “I’m so sorry he hurt you, that I didn’t stop him in time.”

I shook my head, emotion strangling my throat. “I thought… I thought I saw you.”

“I must have gotten there moments after you passed out,” he explained. “Wayland and I knew something was off as soon as we pulled up. There was smoke billowing out from the lower deck, from the galley, where you two were. But we ran into Captain Chuck first, and he was badly injured. Wayland helped him into the tender and then we went looking for you.” He paused. “We found Ace first.”

“Oh, God. What happened?”

Theo shook his head. “Hard to really say. It was all so fast. He fired a few shots, but Wayland wrangled the gun free.” Theo covered his bandaged arm. “I got a little graze, but nothing serious. Wayland knocked Ace over the head with one of the vases on deck, and when Ivy saw us, she fled — along with a duffle bag full of cash. We think she took the jet ski, but we couldn’t be sure because we knew we had to find you and get you off the boat.”

“So she’s gone? She never got caught?”

“She did, by the Greek police. Wayland called them as soon as we saw the smoke coming from the boat. By the time we were down getting you, they had already pulled up, along with the firefighters.”

I shook my head, trying to take it all in. “And Joel?”

Theo’s jaw ticked. “I walked in on him standing over you with the gun pointed at your head, and I swear, Aspen, I just… I blacked out. All I could think about was getting you to safety.” He swallowed. “I’m ashamed to say I beat him to a bloody pulp first, though.”

Theo really did look ashamed of himself, and I squeezed his hand to encourage him to continue.

“I lunged so fast he didn’t see me coming, he was too focused on you. The gun went flying out of his hand and I had him pinned and I just… lost it. Wayland had to tear me off him, and then he threw Joel on his shoulder like a bag of potatoes while I carried you up the stairs.” He scoffed then. “Part of me wanted to tell Wayland to just leave Joel to burn.”

I shook my head. “You did the right thing.”

Theo shrugged. “I don’t know. Regardless, by that time, the police were already on board. They took Ace and Joel to shore while another boat searched for Ivy, and Wayland and I took you and Chuck in the tender.” He smiled a little then. “There was an ambulance waiting for us at the dock. And then…” He gestured to our surroundings. “I’m sure you can infer the rest.”

I leaned back into the pillows. “Jesus… what a nightmare.”

Theo nodded, sighing again as he leaned in to kiss me. “The worst one of my life.”

We pressed our foreheads together, resting for a while before my eyes shot open again. “Emma? The rest of the crew?”

“They’re fine. No one was harmed.”

“And what happened to Joel and Ace and Ivy?”

At that, Theo shrugged. “Not sure. They’re in custody now, I’m sure we’ll have an update sooner or later. But for now, just know they’re somewhere where they can’t hurt you. Or anyone else.”

My heart heaved a relieved sigh at that. “I just can’t believe this all happened.” Suddenly, my stomach bottomed out again. “Oh God, Theo. Your boat! Philautia! ”

“It’s okay,” Theo said on a chuckle. “The fire spread pretty quickly, and with all the commotion on board, it was first priority to vacate it before anything else.” He shrugged. “She suffered too much damage to salvage.”

“No!”

He laughed again. “It’s okay , Aspen. It’s just a boat.”

I scoffed. “I don’t think anyone else on this planet would agree with you that it was just a boat .”

“What I mean is, it’s not important. It’s material, something that can be replaced. You, on the other hand,” he said, his brows bending together as he pulled my knuckles to his lips again. He kissed them softly. “Are not.”

I tried to smile, but my stomach was still so tied up in knots I barely managed it.

Theo swallowed. “I thought I lost you.”

My face twisted with emotion, and I pulled him into me, awkward as it was over the bars of the hospital bed, until his lips met mine. I held that kiss for as long as he’d let me, and then Theo pulled back, taking my hand in his again and watching me with tears in his eyes.

We stayed like that for a long while, Theo holding my hand in his and kissing my skin with soft, featherlight touches as his eyes flicked between mine. The more we were silent, the more at ease I felt. I savored every warm touch of Theo’s hand, thankfulness filling me like helium in a balloon.

We were alive.

We were okay.

Nothing else mattered. Not right now.

I let my eyes close, let the relief flood me like the warm water of a bath after a long day. Theo kept his hold on my hand, and then I felt his fingertips brush against my face, and I leaned into his palm with a smile.

“Aspen?”

“Hmm?”

“Marry me.”

I nearly choked on my own spit as I sat up, eyes flying open again. I stared at Theo like he’d just confessed an addiction to watching foot fetish porn, and it only made him grin.

“What did you just say?”

“I said, marry me ,” he repeated, and he laughed when my eyes got even wider. “I don’t care if it’s crazy. I don’t care if no one else understands it. I love you,” he said, and he emphasized each word of that last sentence with his eyes searching mine. “I love you, and I don’t want to — no, I can’t lose you.”

I bit my lip against the emotion crawling up my throat, watching Theo with tears blurring my vision.

“Say you’ll be mine forever,” he pleaded. “Say it, and I’ll be yours forever, too.”

I choked on a mixture of a sob and a laugh, nodding as more tears flooded my eyes until they started pouring over my hot cheeks.

“Yes?” Theo asked, his eyes widening.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m yours.”

His next exhale was on the wings of the biggest smile I’d ever seen spanning his face, and he pulled me into his arms so quickly and so completely that it set off more than one of the machines I was hooked to. Alarms rang and still he held me, and kissed me, and I laughed and kissed him back until two nurses ran in yelling at us in Greek first and then in English to let go of each other.

Theo finally released me but held my hand tight even as the nurses fixed the wires and tubes. They started checking my vitals then, asking me questions about pain level and asking me to perform various tasks.

All the while, Theo was there at my side, holding my hand and smiling at me like an absolute loon.

He was crazy. We both were.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.