Surviving Raine 01 (25 page)

Raine giggled and placed a few more fronds over the top.  I pulled one back and showed her how to lace the top layer together to make a more watertight roof.

“It might not look like much,” I said, “but it will give us what we need for now.  I will build you something better in time.”

“I was only joking,” Raine said, looking down at the ground for a moment before glancing back up at me through her lashes.  I took a step forward and lifted her chin with my forefinger.

“I know,” I told her.  “I’ll still make you something better.”

I placed my lips against hers for a moment and was rewarded with her glorious smile when I pulled back.  I toyed with the idea of turning the kiss into something more, but irrespective of my protesting cock, I needed to get her basic needs taken care of before I could consider indulging my baser ones.

“Now we find water,” I said.  “I’m going to climb up there.  You are going to start digging.”

“Digging?”

“Yeah, you can use the paddle from the raft to dig in the sand.  It should make things go pretty fast.  We need a hole about three feet across and two feet deep.  Find a place on the beach that will be in the sun most of the day.”

“O…kay…”

I winked at her and then walked over to the first of the coconut trees.  I took a deep breath, hoping I could remember how to do this.  I placed one hand on the far side of the trunk and the other one right in front of me at the same level as my chest. I found my center of balance and then jumped, placing my feet on either side of the tree.  I pushed up with my legs, allowing my hands to rise up with me, then held on and jumped with my legs again.  Using this method, I quickly leap-frogged my way to the top and started throwing green coconuts down to the ground.

By the time I had cleaned out three trees, Raine had a pretty good start on the hole for the still.  I went to the raft and pulled the top part of the collection canopy off the roof.  It was clear plastic and exactly what I needed.  I collected as much greenery as I could from the edge of the jungle area and brought it back to Raine.  Once we had the hole finished, I placed one of the water containers at the bottom of the hole and placed the greenery all around it.  Then the plastic sheet went over the top, and I anchored it down with a few rocks. Finally, the last, smaller rock went in the center of the plastic – right above the water container.

“The green plants are full of water,” I told Raine.  “Once the sun reacts with it, it will form condensation on the plastic which will then run into the water container.  It won’t be a lot, but between this and the coconuts, it will be enough until we find a better source.”

“You really are incredible,” Raine said as she wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her lips to mine.

“And you have been in the sun too long,” I said, forcing myself to pull away from her.  I ran my finger over her warm cheeks.  “Let’s get you under the shelter.  You need to drink, and eat, too.”

Raine protested, but I reminded her she had already appointed me boss, so she had to do what I said.  I cracked open two of the coconuts, and we shared the water inside before eating the nutmeat.  After our snack, I decided to see what I could find on the reef while Raine rested out of the sun.

There was a decent-sized outcropping of rocks on the south side of the beach, which served as a home to a variety of potential meals – including crabs and mussels.  The mussels were easy – I just pulled them off the rocks and tossed them into one of the plastic bags that previously held part of the raft’s survival kit.  When I leaned over to pull some out from in one of the tidal pools created between rocks, the sun hit the water so I could see my reflection.  Damn, I looked rough.

Once I had a decent number of mussels, I sat back and looked into the water again while running my hand over the full beard I seemed to be sporting.  I released my jackknife from my belt, ran water over my face, and started shaving it off.  It took a while since it was pretty long, but I managed to get it done without cutting myself, thanks to the sharpness of my knife.  I looked back into the pool, turning my head so I could see different angles.  I checked my face with my fingers, found a bit I missed and corrected it.  I ran my hands over my cheeks and neck, pretty impressed that I could get such a close shave under these circumstances.  My reflection informed me I was at least passable, so I kissed the edge of the blade, folded the knife up, and put it away.

I grabbed two crabs off the rocks and smashed them open before adding them to the bag.  I ended up being pinched by one in the process, but it didn’t break the skin.  I would have to be careful about that – the lack of antibiotics was probably the biggest concern we would have now.  I picked up dinner and started into the green area at the edge of the beach, picking up pieces of wood that would burn well for a cooking fire before heading back.  Raine wasn’t at the lean-to shelter when I got back, which pissed me off until I saw where she was.

I looked out over the water and saw her out there up to her shoulders but not out far.  She must have been sitting down in the sand in what would have been water up to her thighs if she was standing.  She was running her hands all over herself with water and a glob of sand apparently trying to take a bath.

I kept my eye on her as I placed the wood into the fire pit I had constructed earlier, just a few feet from the shelter.  Raine was now running her hands through her hair, trying to remove sand with her fingers.  When she held her arms up to pull each strand out straight, I could easily see the curve of one of her breasts from the back.  That’s when my eyes registered her clothes lying in a pile on the sand not too far from the water’s edge and realized she was out there completely naked.  Not surprisingly, my cock was very appreciative of this bit of information, and he jumped up to attention, trying to get a better look as the waves splashed around her.

Lucky waves.

I should have averted my eyes as soon as I figured all this out, but there wasn’t any way in hell I was going to do so.  Ultimately, I was still an asshole.  Instead of acting the part of a gentleman, I made sure the fire was going well and walked onto the beach, trying to be as quiet as possible.  It wasn’t difficult to come up to the edge of the water without being heard since the surf was pretty loud.  She was still mostly covered by the water, unfortunately, but she had to come out sometime, so I sat on the sand just a foot from her discarded clothing and watched.  After about five more minutes, Raine seemed to finish her task and started to get up, turning as she did.  I got a pretty decent glimpse of a beautiful pair of breasts before she saw me.

“Oh my God!” she screamed, dropping back into the water on her stomach.

I knew I was being an ass, but I couldn’t help it.  I laughed out loud.

“Need some help?” I offered with a cocky grin.

“You scared the crap out of me!” she yelled back.  “Go away!”

“You were supposed to stay out of the sun,” I reminded her.

“I wanted to try to…clean up a little.”  She looked up at me with narrowed eyes, and then cocked her head to one side.  “You shaved.”

“I figured I was overdue,” I said.

“I didn’t recognize you,” she said.

“There isn’t anybody here but me, babe.” I laughed again, but the look on her face silenced me fairly quickly.  She was biting into her lower lip, but not in the inquisitive, shy way I was used to seeing.  She blinked her eyes a few times.

“I wasn’t sure…I mean…” She stopped talking and tilted her head down towards the water.  Her breathing was faster.  I had the feeling her heart rate was probably up, too.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said, and it was sort of true.  Startle with the hopes of maybe getting a better look at her naked body, yes, but not actually scare.  “Who did you think I was?”

“I didn’t know at first,” she said, and tears suddenly burst out.

“Shit, Raine,” I said as I stood up, but then I didn’t know what to do.  If I went out to her…well, she was still naked and obviously a little upset about that, too.  If I took her clothes out to her, they’d get wet, which also wasn’t a good idea, and now that she was crying, all I wanted to do was hug her.  I growled at myself, took a few steps away, and then turned my back to the water.

“Get out of the water and put your clothes on,” I told her.  I heard the water splash as she hurried out, still crying.  Finally, she said
okay
, and I figured I was good to turn around.  I took half a dozen steps to reach her and wrapped my arms around her waist.  “Why are you crying?”

“I really didn’t know who you were at first,” she sniffled.  “Just for a second, but I was…naked...and then I thought I didn’t know where you were.  What would I do if you weren’t close by?  And I got scared…and then I realized it was you…”

She sobbed again, and I held her tighter, not knowing what else to do.

“Come on back to the shelter,” I said softly.  “You really need to be out of the sun.”

She didn’t move, so I picked her up, held her up to my chest, and walked back up the dune to the shelter.  Raine wrapped her arms around my neck and held on to me tightly, still crying and getting my shoulder all wet.  I wanted to be pissed off about it, but I wasn’t.  I just didn’t want her to be so upset.

“Raine, please stop,” I said when I reached the lean-to.  I didn’t know if I should put her down or not, so I just held on to her and stood there like an idiot.  “I don’t know why the fuck you’re crying anyway!”

“I don’t know either!” she sobbed.

How the fuck was I supposed to deal with that?  I turned around and ducked through the entrance backwards, and then sat with Raine in my lap.  I moved my hand to the back of her head and held her against my shoulder.  It’s not like it could get any wetter at this point.

“Please stop,” I said softly.  “We may have more water here, but that doesn’t mean you should waste it on crying.”

“I c-c-can’t hel-help it!”

“Take a deep breath,” I told her.  I felt her chest rise and fall a couple of times.  Slowly, she began to relax against me, the shock wearing off.  “Better?”

“A little,” she confirmed.  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

As if I was really trying to frighten her.  What the fuck?  Did she think I would really do that?  Well, yeah, she might.  It’s not like I’d shown her anything other than the jackass I could be.  I took a deep breath and huffed it right back out.

“I was only playing with you,” I finally said under my breath.  “I didn’t know you were going to get scared.  I kind of forgot I shaved at all when I realized you were out there in the buff.”

“You could at least say you’re sorry,” Raine grumbled.

“I never say ‘sorry,’” I reminded her.  “It’s completely meaningless, and it doesn’t change anything.”

“It would mean something to me,” I heard her whisper under her breath.

I started to shake my head and considered telling her the five thousand reasons apologies were completely pointless.  Those words didn’t change anything.  You can’t take back something you’ve said or done, and throwing a couple more words onto the end of it didn’t erase what had occurred.  I could tell her I was sorry, but it wouldn’t change the fact that I had scared her and made her cry.  I couldn’t stop that from happening now because time just didn’t flow that way.

In my mind, I heard the sound of shattered glass.

“You stupid, stupid fuck!”  The tall man with dark hair on his face screamed, and I tried to get out of the kitchen chair faster than he could reach me.  I failed and he grabbed me by my ankle, pulling me off the chair and letting me fall to the floor.  A piece of shattered glass embedded itself in the palm of my hand.

“Stop your little girl crying!” he screamed.

“I’-I’m-I’m s-s-sorry!”

“Shut up, you stupid little shit.  Sorry doesn’t change anything!  Sorry is fucking pointless!  Sorry doesn’t make that glass magically fix itself!  It ain’t gonna make the money to replace it fucking appear out of the air!  Don’t you ever fucking say sorry again, you stupid, stupid…”

Memories I don’t think my conscious mind had ever revealed to me flowed through my head.  I wasn’t sure who he was…my father?  A foster parent?  I didn’t know who he was, only that he terrified me, he hurt me, and I hated him.  What I
did
know was that anything that was meaningful to Raine mattered more to me than anything I may have believed before.  I didn’t give a fuck about what anyone else might have said or cared about.  Raine’s thoughts and opinions meant more, and whatever Raine wanted – if it was within my power – I was going to give to her.

“I’m sorry, Raine.”

I guess I didn’t need to be such a dick after all.

Chapter 12 - Food

A few feet from the lean-to, Raine and I sat on large palm leaves around a fire, popping bits of the first cooked food we had consumed in weeks.  The cooking fire was nothing but hot red coals now, and since we were done with the actual cooking, I threw a couple of green palm fronds on top of it, creating a column of smoke.

“Why did you do that?” Raine asked.  She had finally calmed down enough that she was no longer sniffing, and her breathing was steady again.  I still didn’t understand why she freaked out on me, but at least she seemed okay now.

“It will help keep the bugs away,” I told her.  “It’s good for keeping other animals away as well, though I don’t think there is much here besides those tiny little lizards.  They aren’t even big enough to eat.  We should still always keep the fire going, especially at night.”

“I thought I’d never eat cooked food again,” Raine said with her mouth full.  “I can’t believe how much better it tastes!”

She was right; it did taste a thousand times better.  It would be easier to digest, and maybe she’d get a little weight back.  I didn’t like how thin she was and wished I knew how to cook better so she would eat more.  After we made some progress with shelter and water, I’d have to find something more carbohydrate-rich for her to consume.

“I’m a pretty shitty cook,” I said with a shrug.  “Too bad Alejandro didn’t get stranded with us.  He could make most anything taste good.”