“You’re still weak, sweetheart.” He scooped her off her feet. He bit down the pain and ran toward the animal. He put her down a few moments later beside the horse and then helped her into the saddle using his good arm. “Ever ride before?”
“No.”
Jaden secured the reins, and then jumped onto the horse’s back behind Lauren. He wrapped his good arm around her waist and squeezed his heels.
They weren’t far from food. Shelter. If his calculations were correct, they were on the east side of the island. A safe house was close by. Gregory should be waiting. There, she would find a place to rest and he could regroup.
Navigating down the road, careful to avoid flying debris, Jaden was sure they’d come across someone along the way, but there was no one. The storm had everyone battening down the hatches.
Or worse, evacuating.
The gnawing ache in his shoulder threatened to blind him, but at least the pain kept him feeling. He was alive.
And his heart was awakened.
The winds picked up speed again, forcing pelting rain and sand into Lauren’s face. The combination blistered the skin on her cheeks. Tears began to fall, mixed with the salty taste of rain, before finding their way to chapped, stinging lips. Hope blew away with Mother Nature’s pounding fury. Every part of her body ached worse than if she’d been dropped a hundred feet into a wall of water.
She was soaked and hungry. Jaden’s thick, muscled arms encircled her waist, pulling her back flat against his chest. His warmth blanketed her shivering frame.
Lauren hadn’t needed anyone since her childhood when Max was there for her. Needing Jaden was a foreign feeling at best. Could she trust it?
The sight of a large building snapped her mind to the present.
“Look there. Do you see it?” Was it real or a figment of her delusional mind? She couldn’t be sure.
Jaden’s arms tightened around her waist. “Hold on.”
The horse galloped faster as a building came into focus. Beachside condos. Good. There’d be people. Warmth. Shelter. Food. Water. Help.
Lauren felt herself fading, wanting to crumple over from exhaustion after all that swimming. Jaden guided the horse to the nearest door, jumped down, and tied off the reins to a sign that read: Seascape.
“This is a temporary safe house. I need to make sure it’ll be safe. Wait here,” he barked. A beat later, he banged on the door.
No one answered, and she had no plans to hang around out there like a sitting duck in a tidal wave.
Lauren dismounted. Her legs gave out, and she landed hard on the pavement. She scrambled to her feet as Jaden rounded the corner where the building faced the sea and a wall of windows would be the standard issue to take advantage of the endless water views.
Lauren ran to the second door and banged. The sound bounced around her, unable to cut through the harsh wind. Her arms burned. It was taking over all of her strength to go this far.
“Help!” She pounded on the door, repeating the word, and then twisted the knob.
The door was locked, and there was no sound except for the howling wind. Come on. Somebody.
Turning to scan the small parking lot, it took only a second to register there were no cars. That sent a lead fireball swirling down her throat. Maybe Jaden was having better luck on the other side.
Gale force-like slammed her back a step as she rounded the corner.
Shimmying onto a balcony, she tried the first slider. Nothing. She pressed her face to the glass. Easy enough to see right through the living room and kitchenette straight to the back door. Typical island getaway.
No Jaden. Or anyone else for that matter.
Lights were on. Cabinets were open. It looked as if the place had been left in a hurry.
That couldn’t be good.
Moving onto the next balcony, she pressed her face against the glass. Being met with a similar scene caused her stomach to drop.
This time, the slider opened when she tried it.
“Jaden?”
She ran through checking each room, slamming doors in her path.
The wind howled as it shook the windows. Violent seas outside raged against anything in their path. It was getting harder and harder to move her legs.
The back door blasted open. Lauren jumped. Jaden. Thank God.
“I went outside to check on you. I thought I told you to stay put.” His angry voice cracked. His face, red and chaffed, was lined with worry and fatigue.
Stay put?
“I’m a little tired of being told what to do.” She stomped past him, but was halted quickly by the strong hand on her arm.
“Look, I wasn’t saying—”
“What?” she snapped. “First you rescue me, and then you accuse me of being one of them. Now you want to tell me where to stand and what to do?”
“All I was trying to do was secure the area,” he said with his hands in the surrender position.
It wasn’t fair to take out all her frustration on him. She owed him. “Sorry. My life was normal yesterday and suddenly I’m being chased by horrible men. In a hurricane. While dodging bullets. I’m not used to dealing with this. My world is simple, uncomplicated. I own my own shop, which was doing pretty well until I mortgaged the hell out of it to save my brother, who will most likely die anyway.”
Jaden’s lips clamped shut. Exhaustion deepened the lines around his eyes. “You’ve been brave today. For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you.”
Now she really felt bad for snapping at him. “Thanks,” was all she could manage to say.
“We’re set up next door. We’ll be safe for now.”
She followed him to the condo.
A man who looked to be in his early twenties was there, setting up a machine the size of a small dishwasher.
“This is Gregory,” Jaden said.
Lauren introduced herself. She pointed to the hunk of metal in the middle of the dining room. “What is that?”
“A generator,” Gregory said. “This place belongs to my cousin.
