The Wild

-14- Motels

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I leapt from the boat in a shallow dive. I was glad that swimming was one of the sports I loved, because that dive took me faster to the buoys than floundering on the surface would have. The air was bitter cold when I resurfaced, and it bit at my cheeks and my already stuffy nose while my hair matted down over my shoulders. Shuddering, I coasted over and ducked under the buoys to reach Tyler, Brian, and Bennet. He was staring at me like I'd grown a third eye, but at least he stopped fighting.

"D-Don't hurt him," I stuttered, droplets of water dripping from my bangs and into my eyelashes. Brian exchanged a look with Tyler, but he was too busy watching me with wide, surprised eyes. He dropped his hands to his sides, and Bennet shook free from Brian and glared at me.

"What the hell're you doing?" he hissed as I folded my arms over my chest and frowned at him.

"You're the one with a testosterone level way above average right now," I retorted. He gave me his best flat look, at least, as much as he could under the critical gazes of Tyler and Brian's guys.

"Let's get on shore," Brian suggested.

I didn't have much fight left in me, so I just nodded and trudged through the water next to Bennet. "Going to the pub was a bad idea," he muttered under his breath, and I gave a hollow laugh that was sadder than anything else at that moment. I glanced over my shoulder to the boat, which was already dissolving into the clouds that rolled lower and lower into a thick, rolling fog that folded over the water.

We got to the sand, which only succeeded in getting loads of sand to stick itself between my toes. Bennet and I didn't even try to make a run for it, since I didn't need to look up to know that we were surrounded two to approximately ten. The heat of everyone's eyes was burning me from the inside out, and I hesitantly shuffled closer to Bennet's side where his warmth radiated into my shivering skin.

"We have to tell Niki what happened," Brian said, and I looked up to find him watching Tyler as he scooped up his jacket from the ground, having discarded it there in his haste. He unzipped one of the pockets and fished out his phone. I looked away before he could catch me observing.

"No, she'll come out here and we can't have that happen," he responded. The leathery fabric was suddenly dangling in front of me, and I glanced briefly up to find him holding out his jacket to me. I was tempted to decline, but I knew that wouldn't help anyone here so I accepted it and wriggled my arms through the holes and felt instantly warmer, even if the coat itself was no longer warm. "Rick, search them for the keys to the truck," he ordered as he walked off to call someone on his phone. Brian followed after him like the loyal dog he was. A man stepped forward, and I could only assume this was the Rick fellow Tyler mentioned. He had a buzz cut that split into stripes on the sides of his head behind his ears, which were pierced and flecked with the tip of a tattoo that encased his entire neck.

He stepped up to Bennet first. Bennet sized him up, and ended with having to tilt his head up to see Rick's face. "Arms out, spread your feet," he ordered. I felt like choking when I heard his voice. I was expecting what anyone would expect-a deep, burly voice, but definitely not something so feminine. Awkwardly, Bennet complied and looked at me with large doe eyes that I couldn't help but respond back with. Rick padded Bennet down and didn't even need to move onto me, considering he found the keys in the breast pocket of Bennet's jacket.

He clapped a hand on our shoulders and walked off with Amaya's truck keys. "Hey, you can't just take them from us-they aren't even mine!" Bennet argued, but instantly swallowed his breath when Rick turned back around to stare him down. That kept us both quiet as we watched him leave with a buddy of his to fetch the truck.