Illusion (Swept Away #1)(13)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way,” I said, and I smiled to myself at his goofiness. “However, those aren’t the answers to any of the questions I was going to ask you.”

“Yes, okay, I admit it. I have smoked weed. Once, or twenty times,” he responded again, and I shook my head.

“I guess you experimented in college, huh?” I got into his banter easily and then frowned at myself for getting distracted. “That’s not my question either though. I’m trying to figure out why we’re here. We have to have something in common. I can’t believe that we were randomly kidnapped together.”

“Aside from the fact that the man you said was following you came up to me and asked me what we’d been talking about? Aside from the fact that I told him to mind his own business, and he told me to be very careful what I said and to who? I thought I was being punked in the coffee shop. Now, I realize I wasn’t. But, hey, yeah, we can see if we have anything else in common. Feel free to ask me anything you want.”

“Okay, I’m thinking.” I stared at the ocean, hoping it would give me insightful questions to ask, but all I could keep thinking about was the fact that he was single.

We sat there in silence as he attempted to get the blindfold off and I thought about questions to ask him that wouldn’t give too much of my own story away. I tried to take in my scenery more thoroughly so that I could ignore him as much as possible. We were on a beach—that I was sure of. The sand beneath me was a light white-yellow, with few shells. It was the kind of beach I’d want to vacation on if I’d been given the opportunity. The water was a gorgeous transparent blue, with calm waves. The sky was a soft light blue, with luscious, fluffy white clouds, and I could see the sun in the horizon, mocking me.

Even though our section of beach was partially shaded, it was still frighteningly hot. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and I was thirsty. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and took a couple of deep breaths.

“Where were you when you were kidnapped?” I asked him, the first question that came to mind.

“I was leaving work, walking to my car, when two men approached me.” His answer sounded logical enough. “They asked me for directions, I responded, then I felt a prick in my arm. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the back of a car.”

“With me?”

“No.” His tone changed. “They picked you up after I was already in the car.”

“So that means that there were other people in on it.” I bit down on my lower lip, gnawing hard as I thought. “I think that guy from the coffee shop was watching me that night. I think that he must have been in on it with Billy and the other guy.”

“I suppose that makes sense. I doubt those two numbskulls could have put this together by themselves. They didn’t seem very bright.”

“I agree.” Something suddenly occurred to me, and I gasped out loud. “It makes me wonder why our kidnapper chose them to do the job—it’s almost as if it wasn’t very well planned out.”

“Maybe they figured the gun was enough?”

“Yeah, that’s true.” I shivered as I remembered the gun. I could feel that I was about to start panicking again as my brain was five steps ahead of my body. My only consolation lay in the fact that if our kidnappers had wanted us dead, they could have just shot us. Unless they thought that was too easy. Maybe they were testing us to see how deeply into despair we’d go. Maybe this was a test to see how depraved human beings could be? Get it together, Bianca. I knew that this was not the time for my overactive imagination to kick into high gear.

All of a sudden my stomach growled, and I felt hunger gnawing at me from inside. I tried to ignore the pangs and cravings that had suddenly emerged inside me. How were we going to eat and drink? I thought back to a movie I’d watched as a teenager called Alive. It had been about a plane crashing in the Andes, and one of the men had eaten the flesh of his dead friend to survive. The movie had been based on a true story, and I could still remember the documentary I’d seen about the man who’d eaten his friend’s flesh as he was interviewed. His eyes had a haunted look as he spoke about what he’d done, but he’d had to do it for survival. My eyes popped open, and I shuddered as I thought about the possibilities of what could happen. What would Jakob and I have to do to survive?

“Take a chill pill, Bianca,” I muttered to myself as my brain ran away with all the craziest scenarios it could think of.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Jakob asked as he continued moving.

“Nothing,” I whispered back, feeling tears coming to my eyes.

“Oh no, are you okay?” His voice changed, and he sounded concerned. “Don’t cry. They didn’t shoot us. We’re okay. I think I nearly have the blindfold off. Once I do, we can work on getting these ropes off and figuring out what’s going on.”

“No, I’m not okay.” I gulped. A seagull flew past then and dove into the ocean. I scowled as it ascended with a fish in its mouth. “Go ahead and mock me, why don’t you,” I shouted at the bird, jealousy in my stomach as I thought longingly of the fish in its mouth, and Jakob’s body stilled.

“Are you losing it?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Just remain calm, Bianca.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m surprised my charm hasn’t won you over yet,” he said softly.

“What are you talking about?” I frowned at his words. Something he’d said had made bells go off in my head, but I wasn’t sure what.

“I’m just trying to make small talk.”

“Well, don’t,” I snapped. “Just work on the blindfold.”

“I’m trying,” he snapped back, and fell silent again.

I moved my head to the left and the right as much as I could, but all I could see was sand and ocean and some trees in the distance. I tried not to think about who or what was lying in wait for us while we struggled with the ropes.

“I think it’s moving!” he gasped excitedly, and he started moving more and more energetically. His back rubbed against mine, and I kept my mouth shut, even though I wanted to tell him that moving his whole body around wasn’t going to help shift the blindfold on his face. “So, Bianca, are you in the habit of wearing blindfolds?”

“Are you asking about my sexual proclivities, Jakob?” I answered him, my body on high alert as he rubbed back against me.