Badass: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (16 page)

We took down the tents and he packed everything back on the bike. He was basically ignoring his wounds today, now that the bandages had been changed. I hoped that would be okay. It still scared me to think he might be hurting.

He got the engine going and I climbed on behind him. The bike was making clattering sounds that it hadn’t made before. This increased as he sped up and took us into the desert, along the border of the fissure the earthquake had left in the earth. When we rocked and bucked, I wasn’t sure if it was the terrain or another aftershock. I just hung on as hard as I could and hoped for the best.

When the fissure jagged to a close, we were able to cross to the far side and arc back in the direction of the road. I’d thought the dirt road was rough, but it was nothing to jolting over the scrubby earth. Several times he had to swerve to avoid rocks and cacti, and once we almost got stuck in the sand. I was hot, sweating and wired with adrenaline by the time we reached the road again.

We rode for a while, our progress slow. The engine was making loud sputtering noises, and I could hear Shane muttering curses. From the sound of things, this vehicle was not going to get us all the way to Cabo without some major repairs. Or even to the next town.

The road was climbing the hills between us and the coast now. Eventually we had ascended enough that I caught a glimpse of the ocean in the distance.

Thank goodness. The sea would at least cool us, right? Even though we couldn’t drink its salty water. The sun was high now and the temperature felt as if it was going to be even hotter than yesterday.

When the road crossed a dry and narrow wash, Shane turned off into the scrub again and gunned it toward some small trees. They looked bushier than the other vegetation, and the terrain along the wash was rocky. I didn’t see any water in the wash, but I did see a lot more greenery. Where there was abundant vegetation, surely there would also be fresh water?

The engine whined and coughed. We rolled to a slow stop.

“Good place to look for water,” Shane said cheerfully as he stood and steadied the bike. “These broad-leafed trees might be trapping water in their root systems. If we’re really lucky, there might be a creek or a stream. See the birds? They hang out at water sources, same as humans.”

We set up shelter, doing everything together. At one point, he nodded and complimented me. “You learn fast.”

I smiled at him, grateful for his praise. “Thanks.”

When we were finished with that, he insisted we sit down in the shade, rest and drink some water. We were going through our supply fast. I wasn’t super thirsty, yet, but I would be soon.

Thirst would be bad. If we were thirsty, we were already dehydrated.

Chapter 35
—
Cassie

“Now that we’ve rested a bit,” Shane said, “I’m going to look for water.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No. There’s no point in both of us wasting energy. You stay here in the shade and conserve your strength.”

“Let me go while you conserve energy. We might need your strength later, since you have more survival skills.”

I thought this was a reasonable suggestion, but Shane didn’t agree. “Don’t argue with everything I say.”

I bit back a retort. I hadn’t been arguing with him much at all since the earthquake had hit. But if I argued now, he’d claim it proved his point. “Well, please be careful.”

“Aw. You worried about me?”

This was sarcastic, so I rolled my eyes.

“You’ll be okay,” he said, as if he realized I was apprehensive about being alone. “I won’t be gone long.” He handed me a couple of items from his survival kit. One was a whistle. There were a couple of chemical light sticks. The third item was a knife. “If there is any trouble, blow the whistle three times. Break the light tubes to start them glowing and wave them in the air. I’ll be able to see that.”

“And the knife?”

“That’s just to make you feel kick-ass,” he said with a grin.

I laughed. “You’d better keep it then, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

“I have another. You’ll be fine and I’ll be back soon. I am not going far, I promise. Just to the top of that rise. You okay?”

“Yup.”

“Be careful where you step and keep your pants legs rolled down. There might be spiders or even snakes. We have a snakebite kit with the first aid stuff. You know what to do if you see a snake?”

“Run screaming in the other direction?”

“Cassie. This isn’t funny. Stop clowning around.”

Dammit. “If I don’t find something to clown about, I’m afraid I’ll break down.”

Wow, that was honest. I wasn’t sure what had induced me to admit that.

He laid one hand on my shoulder. “Repeat after me: we are going to be okay.”

“How can I repeat that when we don’t know what’s going to happen? We don’t even know how bad this is. How many cities and towns have been destroyed. We don’t know where our parents are, or if they’re safe.” I squeezed my eyes together. I was not going to cry.

“Repeat it.”

I blew out a shaky breath. “We are going to be okay.”

He leaned down and kissed my lips lightly. Despite everything, lust spiked through me. I coiled my arms around his neck and kissed him back, hard. When his tongue slid into my mouth, my body started yearning for him.

“Stop that,” I said softly.

He raised his eyebrows.

“I’m talking to my vagina, not to you.”

A grin slip his face. “What are you saying to your vagina? Or is that too personal a question?”

“I’m telling it not to get all gushy. Because I don’t want to waste body fluids!”

“We’ll find water,” he promised, “And then we can let your vagina have some fun.”

Chapter 36
—
Shane

I tramped up the wash, which sloped at a gentle uphill angle toward a rocky outcropping and some higher hills. The land here was greener than the flatter area where we had camped last night, but so far I hadn’t found any moist ground.

I grasped my small folded shovel, a tool I’d nearly left at home. But I knew from long experience that it was unwise to take a road trip without a few basic tools. It wasn’t just my SEAL training that had taught me this. My mom and I had camped in the Montana wilderness frequently when I’d been a boy.

She was a skilled outdoorswoman, and she had taught me to love and respect nature. We’d always spent considerable time planning our hikes, and she’d always insisted on having a well-stocked emergency kit. SEAL training had taught me to survive in all climates and all terrains. But when you were running low on water, the need to find it trumped everything else. Not even a highly trained Navy corpsman could keep people alive without adequate hydration.

I was pretty impressed, actually, with the way Cassie had behaved so far in this mess. She hadn’t bitched or complained, at least not out loud. If clowning was her way of coping, that was a helluva lot better than tears.

I tried to imagine one of the girls I occasionally fucked marooned in the desert. Those women would be useless. Nothing but a burden. But Cassie had drunk what water I’d ordered her to drink and she hadn’t complained when I’d offered her little in the way of food. She understood what we were doing and why. She obviously knew the dangers, too, but she was keeping it together.

In a way, she reminded me of my mom.

At the base of a broad-leafed tree, I unfolded the shovel and dug a hole, trying not to expend too much energy. The earth was moist a few inches down, so I dug a little deeper. Water didn’t start rising in the hole, but it might if I waited a bit. Promising, but not great. I left the hole open and moved on.

I examined rocks and crevasses, looking for hollows where rainwater might have collected. But it must not have rained for a while. Frequently, I looked back in Cassie’s direction and listened in case she was calling or whistling for me. I could no longer see the camp because of the twists and turns of the wash and the outcroppings of rock.

A rock cliff rose around the next bed, falling from a large outcropping of granite. I stood still, listening. Overhead I saw a dove, and I thought I could hear the buzzing of bees.

I scanned the rock surface. Pigeons and doves required a water source. Bees built their hives within reach of one. The cliff wall was sheer, but I could scale it with some effort. I hadn’t brought climbing rope, and doing it without Cassie nearby would be foolish, because if I fell and hurt myself, she’d be left alone out here without water. That wasn’t an option.

I prowled around the side of the outcropping, noting the greenery and listening for the sound of flowing water. An aftershock shook the earth, and stones crumbled from overhead. I ducked out of the way as a rock the size of a baseball just missed hitting me.

Fuck. I hoped Cassie was okay. That had been a big damn aftershock. I listened for her when the earth gods quieted again.

I was listening so hard for any trickle of water that I was startled when I heard a different sound. It sounded like an engine. It was coming from the other side of the ridge, off to the north. I recalled from the map that there was a large peninsula up that way that was pretty undeveloped.

I wasn’t sure if there were any roads there. Well, more dirt roads, probably. Those weren’t all on the map. Could we be near someone who could help us? If I didn’t find some water soon, we were truly fucked.

I climbed a little higher, but except for the cries of the birds and the buzz of insects, all seemed quiet. Then I heard it again, far in the distance. The revving of an engine—a car, or maybe a motorcycle. Sounded like it was headed in the opposite direction from us, though.

I remembered those two hulking motorcycle club dudes we’d seen a couple times. Those guys had been bad news. I wouldn’t want to run into them again while Cassie and I were strung out like this.

There could be other bad guys around, too, especially on these less touristy shores. Baja was a popular place for bikers, both the good and the bad kind. I wished I’d stayed on the highway. In a disaster, there would be military vehicles on the roads and planes overflying the area, assessing the damage.

That’s what comes of trying to do Cassie a favor and taking her to visit her damn whale-watcher dude. I couldn’t believe I’d been such a sap.

And we would’ve been better off driving down in my truck, but there was no way I could have anticipated this disaster.

There were no more engine sounds. But when I walked a little farther, what I heard was a trickle. It took me a few moments to locate it—it was around yet another granite outcropping: a small flow of water was sliding down over the rock face from ledge a few yards above. It wasn’t much, but it was water. I propped one of the canteens under the flow and waited for it to fill. Then I bathed my hands and face in the moisture.

I leaned against the cliff in the shade while the canteen filled. It took about twenty minutes to fill my 40-ounce container. I also had a gallon container that I decided to leave here to catch the flow. There was a risk that animals would knock it over, but I propped it up as well as I could.

I needed to get back to Cassie. The water was cool, so it was probably coming from a spring, especially since I didn’t see any other sources of rain run-off. If it were a spring, it would probably keep producing.

I’d hoped for a creek or a stream, but this was good. We could survive with this, as long as the spring kept flowing. But we were in the middle of nowhere, and we couldn’t count on being rescued out here. Unless cellular came back or I could repair that satellite phone.

Feeling tired and hot but reassured, I headed back to Cassie. Like I promised her, we were going to be okay. Nothing was going to happen to Cassie, not on my watch.

Chapter 37
—
Cassie

Shane came back before I got too antsy, thank goodness. It was nerve-wracking, but apart from a couple more aftershocks, nothing horrible happened while he was gone. I hated that I felt so dependent upon him.

He smiled as he handed over a full canteen. “Oh my God! You found some!” I jumped up and hugged him hard. He hugged back, and then pulled away.

“A small spring. It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing. I left the gallon container there to fill. In the meantime, we have to purify this.”

Right. We couldn’t just drink it.

Shane removed a small plastic bottle from his emergency pack. “Bleach. A few drops will do the trick. I’m going to strain it first, though. Give me that other empty container.”

He used his bandana to strain the water. He then added the chlorine and let it sit. We’d be drinking water that tasted like a swimming pool, but at least it would be free of pathogens.

“You rock.”

We both drank, and I felt a whole lot cheerier. Dying of dehydration a couple days before my father’s wedding had really seemed an unpleasant fate.

“We should probably move closer to the sea. If we cross that ridge, it’ll be downhill to the ocean.”

“Cool. We can catch fish and suck fresh water from their eyes and spines.”

He looked at me. “Have you ever done that?”

“No, but my dad and I took a survival course once.”

“I’m trying to imagine you sucking on a fish eye.”

I gave him a big grin. Finding water had made me feel a whole lot better. “I can think of things I’d rather suck on.”

He laughed. He hadn’t laughed that often since the earthquake and it lit up his face. “So you’re game for setting out for the sea?”