on.” He dragged me along. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You have me.”
“Yeah…” Would that be enough if some homeless man had a knife? “That doesn’t mean I should walk blindly into danger like I’m invincible.”
“Chill, Pearl.” His hand remained tightly around mine, squeezing it until it was numb. We reached the large military ship and stared at it in awe. “Wow. This is so cool.”
“You know, we could come back during the day when you could see it better.” I couldn’t appreciate what I was looking at because I was too paranoid. I glanced over my shoulder in fear that someone was lurking around. It was a ridiculous fear, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us.
“I wonder if this is an active ship or if it’s retired.”
Something crunched behind me, like a heavy boot against plastic. I could have sworn I heard it. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me, my paranoia in charge of my thoughts. “Jacob, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he asked.
I looked over my shoulder but only saw blackness. “Let’s go. I don’t like—” A black sack covered my head and painfully tightened around my throat. I couldn’t see anything, and I immediately panicked. “Ahh!” I swung my arms around and tried to fight whoever attacked me. I felt a massive arm squeeze around my shoulders and hold me in place while the bag was tied around my throat. “Get off me!”
“Pearl!” Jacob’s frantic voice came from a distance away. He moaned when someone struck him, and I heard the sound of a heavy body collapsing on the wooden floorboard of the dock.
“Jacob!” Despite my own situation, I feared for his safety. “Jacob!”
A terrifying and foreign voice entered my ear. “Shut that cunt up.”
I kicked harder, slamming my heel onto the man’s shoe.
“Fuck!” He shook me aggressively then threw me hard on the ground. “Stupid bitch.”
I scrambled to my feet to run, but a heavy body slammed on top of me. “Let me go, asshole!” A needle suddenly slammed into my neck and something was injected.
Instantly, I couldn’t think. I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn’t respond. My head rested on the dock, my eyes growing heavy inside the hood. My legs were unresponsive as my body prepared to enter a deep sleep. “No…Jacob.” I fought the fog as hard as I could, but it swept me away, taking me to a place I was forced to go.
63
Pearl
My body shifted back and forth from the constant motion. I swayed toward my stomach then swayed back, rocking to a rhythmic beat. The distant slap of water against a hard surface came into my ears.
I was back at the hotel, listening to the waves crash onto the shore from my window. The sunlight was greeting me, telling me to rise and get ready for the glorious day. I could taste the margarita on my tongue without even taking a sip.
But then harsh reality set in.
The last thing I remembered was being facedown on the dock, Jacob’s limp body lying somewhere nearby. The hood was pulled over my head, and I was stuck in eternal darkness. Then the syringe was plunged into my neck, sedating me into a helpless mess on the floor.
Please be a nightmare.
I didn’t open my eyes because I wasn’t ready to accept the truth. If that’s what really happened, then my fate was worse than death. It had to be a nightmare, the result of too much sun and too much to drink.
But I still didn’t open my eyes.
What if I was wrong?
Finally, I did. I opened my eyes to see a porthole in the steel wall of a ship. Water covered the hole, and when a wave emerged, I saw the sky. The sight of blue stretched on forever until it was submerged once again.
What. The. Fuck.
I sat up with a jolt and examined my surroundings. My body kicked into survival mode. I was on a ship out to sea, and there was no one coming for me. All I had was myself. And I would figure out a way off this damn ship.
And then I remembered Jacob.
Fuck, please don’t let him be dead. Is he on this ship with me? Is he being held somewhere?
What did these people want with me? I had some money but not a lot. They couldn’t hold me for ransom because I had no family who would fight for me. The only person who cared about me was Jacob.