Agony

18

"I swear to god, Hayley, if you don't stop chewing with your mouth open I'm going to throw you overboard." Ace hissed.

"Amen to that," I grumbled.

We'd been sailing for almost an hour now. It was the next day, just past six in the morning. We'd left the apartment in a new car of Ace's and headed for the lakeshore. There we asked around about Sapphire Island. No one seemed to have heard about it. So, we decided to use our good friend, the internet, and mapped out a route to the island.

The half-brothers were always full of surprises. Ace rented out a mini-ship and Dallas was able to steer it with ease. The ship had two floors, it was supposed to be able to hold a little over twenty passengers. I'd suggested we get a speed boat to draw less attention but Ace argued that it was safer to use a larger boat, we wouldn't need to fill it up with fuel.

Hayley had already begun to attack our stash of food, beginning with some chips. Luckily we'd kept most of it hidden from her. 

My hope was that we'd land on the island by the afternoon

"Not my fault Dallas can make the boat move any faster," Hayley huffed. "I need something to do so that I don't bore myself to death."

Ellie scoffed, whispering to me. "I hope you know I despise her." Before turning to ask Ace a question. "Why don't we just tell the cops about everything?"

"There are cops that work for Venom." He responded grimly.

"How about the FBI?" Ellie asked hopefully.

Ace shook his head. "Same deal. We're in this alone."

"Not alone, we have each other." I offered a small smile, which both of them returned.

Ignoring Hayley's continuous disgusting chews, I went to check up on Dallas who was on the second floor, steering away.

"Hey, Cherry." He greeted as I approached him sitting before the steering wheel.

"Hi, everything okay here?" I asked, taking a seat beside him on the co-captain's chair.

Dallas smiled softly. "Yes. How about down below? Your sister still being a pain?"

I frowned. "I don't know why she turned out so different that I wanted her to be. She was supposed to be just like me, funny and responsible."

He nodded, "Maybe it's because she didn't meet me before."

I nudged his ribs with my elbow.

"Whoa, you may want to avoid doing that unless you plan to take this ship on a one-eighty." He scolded, though I knew it was playful.

"I was funny and responsible before I met you. Hell, it's you who's changed after we met."

Dallas shrugged, "Perhaps."

The wind blew against our faces, making my hair flow in dark wisps behind me. 

"What's next?" 

"Huh?"

"You going to go ginger on me?" Dallas laughed.

I shook my head. "I want to go back to blonde. Hopefully, this whole thing comes to an end soon."

He sighed. "I really hope so. My father hasn't spoken to me since I came to see you again. I'm sure he and Ace's are well aware that we're helping you."

"Would they hurt Bella because of that?" I realized, guilt beginning to eat me.

Dallas shook his head. "No, they love Bella way too much. They only used her as a threat against Ace, but they hadn't done anything to her. She'd been safe and happy at home the whole time."