11. Fallon

Fallon

T he green tint to Peyton's skin as he nervously hangs onto the sides of the small fishing boat shouldn't make me happy, but it does. For five months, I felt as sick as he looks right now.

"So where are you taking me? Somewhere where they won't find my body?" That boyish smile that I fell in love with crosses his face, causing my heart to flutter.

"If only," I mumble.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the deathly sound of the waves crashing around us." Peyton cups a hand around his ear, making me laugh at the absurdity of our situation.

He's right; we need to talk about what happened. "You're fine." I steer the handle of the little boat's engine to one of the secluded inlet beaches I usually go to when I need to be alone and think. "I come here all the time." I nod at the strip of land a few yards away, then cut the engine and let the waves push the boat to the shore.

My thoughts drift back to the gorgeous jerk in my boat. "Why did you come to Love Beach?" I hate how sad my voice sounds.

"For you. I'm so sorry, Fallon—I never meant to hurt you. My whole life, everyone has wanted something from me—everyone but my sister Everlee. Then, when I met you at the concert, it was love at first sight. I didn't care if your name was McKenna, Fallon, or even Bastar."

"How do you know about Bastar?" A giggle-hiccup escapes my lips.

"When your sister was bitching me out for being such an asshole, she told me the story of a little girl and her new friend Bastar. I think she was comparing him to me."

Tears start to stream down my face, and for the first time in months, I don't feel sad. The fact that Peyton would remember Bastar's story makes me realize he's sorry.

"He was kind of a dick too." I wipe away my tears with a laugh.

"Don't cry, Fallon." Peyton leaps out of his seat toward me.

"No, don't move!" I yell just as a wave hits our boat, tipping it over.

The boat capsizes, leaving Peyton and me stranded in the water about twenty yards from shore. It's not very far for a strong swimmer like me, but I'm not sure if Peyton swims. We didn't spend much time in the water when we were in Cabo.

"Peyton!" I call when I don't see him surface right away.

I swim to where I last saw him fall into the water. His head breaks the surface just as I swim next to him.

"Are you okay?" I ask, treading water.

"I might need mouth-to-mouth when we get to shore." He gives me a smug smile that I can't wait to wipe off.

"Sure, but we have to out-swim that shark over there."

He jerks his head toward the ocean, panic written all over his face. "Shark? Where?"

"I'm just kidding." He sighs in relief at my words, so I add, "The sharks usually don't swim into the inlets."

The look of panic returns to his face, causing me to giggle. "Seriously, I'm just kidding." He eyes me warily, so I say, "Come on, I'll race you to shore. You can swim, can't you?"

We take off stroke for stroke. I notice his movements are choppy, so I slow down a little to make sure he makes it to shore okay on his own.

Once we reach the beach, he flops down on the sand. "Now what? Do we just live here, or will someone come looking for us?" He sits up and takes my hand, "I was never a Boy Scout, but Everlee made me watch The Blue Lagoon over and over when we were teenagers."

"I don't think we'll be stuck out here for years. McKenna and Creed will come looking for us if I'm gone too long."

"What should we do until then? Make a hut out of tree leaves or…" He wiggles his eyebrows, and I know I should still be mad at him. But I want to move past that hurt and see where this goes.

"Actually, there's a fully furnished cabin through those trees." I point to a line of trees a few feet away. "I come here all the time because my grandfather owns this little piece of land. He built the cabin for McKenna and me to stay when the world got to be too much."

"So that's how McKenna will know where to look for you."

I nod.

"How much time do we have before the search party arrives?" he asks, brushing a wet strand of hair off my face.

"At least forty-eight hours." I lean in and place a kiss on his lips. "Do you want to check out the cabin, or do you want to stay out here and build a hut?"

"Cabin. Definitely the cabin." He says between kisses.