CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 277 NIGHT ON THE ISLAND

My palms dampened with sweat, though my body had been chilled moments before. Irritation welled up, wave after wave.

He was silent, but his mind was clearly turning. Was he thinking the same thing? That he was stranded here because of me? Was he regretting following me?

But I hadn’t asked him to come. Why should he blame me? If we were handing out blame, wasn’t it him who had ruined my peaceful cruise, him who had paraded a new girlfriend in front of me?

The emotions twisted tighter and tighter until they strangled my reason.

I snatched the bundle of branches from his hands. ‘Why won’t you say anything? Do you think I’m useless? A burden? That I can’t do anything? Why should you keep watch alone? I can do it too! These branches, whatever you’re trying to make, I can do it! Why won’t you let me? Why do you always decide for me?’

Sweat rolled down my forehead as I glared at him, face burning red, eyes wild. I didn’t know if I was trying to prove something or to hold on to something slipping away.

Faced with my outburst, Ashton was unnervingly calm. He didn’t answer.

My temper flared hotter at his silence. I opened my mouth, ready to unleash more, when suddenly his hand shot out, knocking the branches from my grip. In the same instant, he seized both my wrists, holding them tight.

His face came close. He gave me no room. He pressed forward, forcing me down.

With a thud, I landed on the bed of leaves.

He loomed over me, leaving no space to breathe. His body brushed mine, the strength of his thigh against the softness of mine for a fleeting moment.

My lips parted, a question forming, but no sound escaped.

His face hovered above mine, his eyes alight as if the fire within them could burn through the night.

‘It’s just the two of us here. Do you really want to fight with me now?’

The fire rising in me faltered.

The chill crept across my back, the damp leaves beneath me cold with dew, and I shivered. I refused to admit defeat, though, and bit my lower lip to keep quiet.

Ashton’s hold on my thigh loosened. He rose swiftly and let me go. His eyes skimmed coolly over my head as he stooped to pick up the branches I had dropped, then turned away and went back to arranging them.

The moment he stood, I yanked the leaf dress higher until it covered me up to my collarbone.

My temper eased, and reason returned. Watching him work, guilt swept over me in place of anger.

‘Ashton, do you think we’ll ever get out of here?’

His hands stilled for a beat. ‘...I don’t know.’

Ashton never made promises he couldn’t keep.

I understood that, yet I had only wanted reassurance.

But Ashton was even more rational than I was. Rational enough not to grant us even the luxury of dreaming.

I rested my head on my knees. He had told me to sleep, but after everything that had happened, I couldn’t.

If I couldn’t sleep, I might as well keep talking. But not about the cruise, or the tsunami, or Lea.

‘Have you ever done survival training before?’ I didn’t even know why I asked. Maybe it was the way he cleaned and stripped the branches with such skill, arranging them in a neat pile ready for a fire. It reminded me, not for the first time, how little I actually knew about his past.

Ashton paused, then gave a slight nod.

I glanced into the darkness around us, the forest on one side and the sea on the other. ‘I wonder if it’s possible to make a bow and arrows here. It’d be useful for hunting.’

Ashton didn’t answer. He kept working, focused on the branches as though they were more fascinating than the human sitting right beside him.

Disappointment pricked at me. My throat felt dry from talking too much.

He still didn’t respond, and irritation crept into my voice.

‘Ashton, why are you like this? You weren’t this cold to me before. You—’

My words broke off when I met his gaze.

‘You said it yourself. That was before.’

His words struck me dumb.

Before, he and I had been husband and wife, even if only in a contract marriage. Later, we had been lovers, an engaged couple. But now... now we were nothing at all.

I shot him a glare, annoyed, and rolled over to face away from him. I refused to give him another glance.

***

I was woken by a tickling at my nose.

When I opened my eyes, a tiny snail was staring straight at me.

I pushed myself halfway up, careful not to crush it, and gently lifted the snail onto a damp patch of sand. Soon it began to crawl off happily, full of life, and somehow its energy cheered me as well.

I had expected sleep to evade me after such a terrifying day. Yet the moment I had laid my head on the bed of leaves, I had fallen into a deep, dreamless rest.

I wasn’t sure if it was pure exhaustion or something else.

I turned my head and looked behind me at the man who hadn’t moved an inch all night.

I couldn’t deny it. Ashton might have been harsh with his words, but his presence alone filled me with a sense of safety.

The early morning air by the sea was far from warm. As I stood, a sudden chill wind cut across me, and I instinctively pulled my shoulders in. Then I paused.

I hadn’t felt cold at all during the night.

My eyes drifted to Ashton. His position had perfectly shielded me from the wind.

He sat up bare-chested.

He looked at me, his eyes calm and distant, the deep blue like glass, emptied of even the faint emotion I’d seen the night before.

It was as if he were looking at a stranger.

That thought irked me, but before I could speak, Ashton stretched out his hand towards me. His expression was cold. ‘Give me your clothes.’