All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (51 page)

She trails off again and I say,
“Whatever happens I want to help you.”

“
Anna, I may begin
forgetting that I’m in this room and there is a huge possibility
that I will forget every person that I know.” Her voice fills with
sadness, but she straightens her back up and lifts her head before
adding, “I need you to learn some things about me in case that does
happen. I’ll need you to remind me again. Will you do that for
me?”

Accepting that fate brought us into
this mess together, I nod my head and she begins sharing memories
with me. Even through her exhaustion, Waverly excitedly starts with
the names of her seven brothers and includes sweet characteristics
of each of them. She talks about how hard they all work and how
protective they are over her. I smile with her as she relives
broken bits of memories that include them and her parents.
Waverly’s family is exactly the family I always dreamed of having.
A part of my heart squeezes with empathy for her possibly losing
these touching moments. Tristan is in almost every one of my good
memories too. I don’t think I can survive without him in my life
either.

Please God, let someone
find us
, I pray silently.

Waverly jumps her time line to high
school and rambles through heavy lidded eyes for a while about
hating on jocks and cheerleaders. I take offense at first, since I
was a cheerleader throughout my middle and high school years, but
after another twenty minutes, to my surprise she bashes every
click. She even trash talks those groups that she was part of, who
swore they were nothing like the popular clicks.

“
Why is it necessary to
remember this bad stuff?” I ask.

“
Because, the bad shit made
up Waverly Collins just as much as the good stuff.”

Getting sleepier, she curls onto her
side and shares about her dashed hopes of going off to college.
After internally fighting through a few moments of embarrassment
she reluctantly tells me that her family couldn’t afford to send
her until after her oldest brother Bry finished medical school.
Apparently, the Collins family consists of mostly blue collar
workers, but Bry was the one son who wanted more and was determined
to provide his family with some of the luxuries that I take for
granted on a daily basis.

However, when the time came Waverly
passed on her free ride at her brother’s expense and picked up a
waitressing job, which eventually turned into a bartender position
at Club Toxic. Apparently, she loves it, and hopes that one day
she’ll have a club just like it.

Finally, Waverly becomes somber when
she starts talking about Morgan. The girl is so in love with that
big dummy that I begin crying thinking about how horrible I was to
Tristan. As she recounts the last time she saw Morgan she starts
with their verbal attack on each other that signified the end of
their relationship. Before long she recedes through telling me
about feeling unworthy because of her family’s status on the
island, their special arrangements and she finally tells me about
the night she met Morgan.

“
When Morgan showed up at
Toxic for the first time, he strolled into the place like he was
god’s gift to everything,” she chuckles softly. “His attitude about
being front and center was like staring into the sun, it was
positively blinding. I watched him walk past me while I was working
the downstairs tables and followed him with my eyes as he took a
seat next to my brothers, Ian and Jack at the VIP bar.” She smiles
and a strange butterfly sensation blossoms in my stomach at the
pining look in her eyes.

“
I couldn’t focus on my
tables for shit. After an hour of screwing up Tox made me clock out
and go home. Instead, I went upstairs.”

Shaking her head slowly, she glances
up at me with moist eyes and whispers, “Anna, I can’t forget
Morgan. I just…” Thick tears flow down her cheeks and she wipes
them away with her fingertips. “Please don’t let me forget him,”
she begs through the final drips of her emotions.

My heart cries out for
Tristan once again. “I won’t. Just tell me everything and I promise
that
if
that time
comes I will be there reminding you of every last
detail.”

She takes a few minutes to compose
herself before starting again and I mentally shake myself out of
the torment she is facing with losing all of these precious
memories.

“
A couple of really
beautiful and rich women walked over and joined them before I
finally found the nerve to cross the area over to the bar. My
hesitation wasn’t from them or Morgan, it was from seeing my
ex-boyfriend, Tyle working the bar. See, he is the reason I know so
much about Ryske and
it
is the reason we broke up. The side effects the
drug had on him were bad.”

She shivers like the memory makes her
physically ill. “He became a different person. One second he was
sweet, loving and would be singing along with some silly song stuck
in his head. But then the very next second he switched to pure
evil. His words were cruel, and it was like his body would
instantly repel those good things away because he would become
violently ill.”

That explains her reaction
before sharing
, I note
.
“What the heck?” I ask.

“
Yeah, I thought that maybe
he had some type of psychosomatic disorder. It was freaky as hell.
The drug was killing him slowly, but he refused to quit it and I
couldn’t stand by supporting a habit that was stealing him away
from me. Apparently our break up was a wakeup call for him because
he finally got off the shit. Unfortunately, it still rules his
world.”

She looks away into the dark room and
sighs heavily before starting again, “Anyway, I forced down my
apprehension and joined Tyle behind the bar. He smiled at me sadly,
but kept his mouth shut for the most part. While I was helping him
clean up, I kept my eye on the ladies and Morgan. After a few
stolen glances, I noticed he was watching me too. I have never been
more enthralled by any one person in my life. He was magnetic and
provocative. But above all his charm was why the women latched onto
him. My brothers were definitely playing second fiddle to him and
it was beginning to rub me the wrong way. I know that sounds
strange, but I was kind of bothered by the fact that this stranger
swooped in and had these tourists eating out of the palm of his
hands. All the while my big goofy brothers were practically
standing on top of their heads begging for some attention,” she
laughs weakly.

“
So, was it the fact that
he charmed them that led you to wanting him?” I ask. Considering
the source of the charm was Morgan Walker I couldn’t stop the
automatic eye roll.

She laughs again. “Yeah, I guess, but
there were other things. Particularly, it was the fact that even
though he had their undivided attention, they didn’t have his. Once
he made eye contact with me he didn’t release me from his hypnotic
gaze. Not until Tyle bumped into me and caused me to drop an eighty
year old bottle of Scotch. I started cussing and flopped down on my
knees to clean it up. While clearing away the broken glass, I heard
a catty comment followed by an irritating cackle, coming from those
two bitches.”

My eyes grow wide at the thought of
feisty Waverly being taunted.

“
Yeah, so I cleaned up the
mess and sauntered my happy ass right up to them. I got in the
bigger bitch’s face and told her to get the hell away from my
brother or I would take her ass outside and sling-blade her. She
didn’t know that I made up the term sling-blade just to scare her.
The threat was enough to scare her friend shitless and within
fifteen seconds they vanished down the stairs.”

My mouth hangs open and I blink
several times while she looks at me with an amused expression.
“Dang, remind me not to cross you. Whether or not there really is a
sling-blade, you might just be crazy enough to invent
one.”

Waverly laughs and says, “I’m so
sleepy Anna, but back to the night I met Morgan. Once the women
were out of the picture, I took the open seat next to him. Without
Ian and Jack catching on I carefully flirted my ass off all night.
It really wasn’t all that difficult to keep it on the down low.
There was some stupid dart competition going on that captivated
almost everyone in the VIP area.” We smirk at each other, knowing
how weird the local boys get with their unofficial greatest
pastime. “By the end of the night my flirting paid off. Morgan gave
me his phone number and as they say the rest is
history.”

“
Oh no, you, Waverly
Collins you do not get to stop there. Remember you wanted me to
know all the details so that I can remind you later on when…” I
freeze realizing that I am being cruel, insinuating that she will
forget Morgan.

Waverly averts her eyes and says,
“Some other time okay Anna? I’m completely wiped out. I don’t think
I can keep my eyes open another moment.”

“
Yes,” I nod, touch her
elbow and say, “Waverly, I’m sorry this is happening. But I’m glad
you shared it all with me.”

She doesn’t respond for a long time
and I think that maybe she is already sleeping, but finally she
clears her throat and whispers, “When we get out of here, please
don’t let anything stop me from finding Morgan and telling him all
of it too.”

Whether it is from the emotional dump
or just plain exhaustion, we stop talking. Sometime later not
realizing that I had curled up with my back pressed against
Waverly’s, I wake up to the sound of approaching footsteps. Fear of
who could be walking down the long corridor, flagrantly takes the
driver’s seat of what feels like an emotional high stakes Indy
race. Panicking I twist around and cling tightly to Waverly. We sit
up together and remain completely silent as the door slowly cracks
open with a thick, metal groan announcing our captor.

From the other side of the small
flickering torch, a man steps in and I recognize him instantly. He
stands in front of us in strange attire with his handsome face
covered by a thick, murky cover-up. His odd eyes initially latch
onto mine before roaming down my body and then they slowly move to
scan Waverly. I sneak a glance at her and the recognition isn’t
showing on her face. Through furrowed eyebrows, she glares at him
and rises to her feet. Not wanting to be the only one sitting on
the ground I follow suit.

Slightly lethargic, Waverly stumbles
toward him and places both hands on her hips to steady herself
before saying in a sleepy voice, “I don’t know who the hell you
think you are, but we are not some damn pawns for you to use. You
better let us go now or I promise you that when I get out of here I
will make your life a living hell.”

He stares at her briefly and I notice
several emotions quickly play through his features, ranging from
sadness, shock, and defiance.

Finally settling on boredom
he returns his eyes to me locking gazes once again. Never taking
his eyes off me, he says, “Waverly,
if
you even remember what happened
after the amount of drugs you’ve had, I would fully expect for you
to do just that.”

“
So you know who we are?
Great!” She says agitatedly. “Now, how about you give us the same
respect? Who the fuck are you and what do you want with us?” She
demands, noticing the way he’s glaring at me she steps between us,
completely blocking his view.

“
What you need to know is
that no one is going to find you here and that I very well could be
the last person you ever see.”

That shut her up and causes a woozy
feeling to possess my stomach. I turn away and pray that I can keep
from being sick. Shocking me out of my mind entirely, he rushes
over to me and gently helps me sit down. A few moments of sitting
helps quell the nausea, but seeing him up close confirms that I do
know him.

His mouth tips up at the corners
before asking, “Are you alright Anna?”

I nod and my voice cracks as I say,
“What’s going on? Why are you doing this to us?”

He flinches at my words like I just
stabbed him. Wordlessly, he stands and walks back toward the door.
Pulling it closed and locking it again, he hesitates at the small
window staring down the long passageway.

Clearing his throat he says, “Ladies,
I’m sure this will sound farfetched after everything that has
happened, but I actually saved your life.”

He walks away without an explanation
and Waverly begins screeching for him to prove that he really wants
to save us by letting us out of this hell hole.

Several minutes pass before she
finally calms and returns to her position beside me against the
wall. She lets out a long, slow breath and then follows that up
with a cuss under it.

I turn to her and ask, “Waverly, did
you recognize him?”

She glances at me completely confused
and says, “No. Why did you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Well?”

“
That was one of the guys
who took us,” I answer.

“
Well, no shit Sherlock. I
thought maybe you meant that you’ve seen him before he abducted us
from the hospital.”

I nod, “I have and so have
you.”