Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews Read Free Book Online Page B

bare feet in the jungle wasn’t appealing. At least the temperature hadn’t dropped much. “I think there are bats here, but that’s good for us since they eat insects. Maybe there could be wild pigs, but I don’t think so? We’ll have to see how far we can walk around the island. It didn’t look big.”
    “ How small?”
    Brian tried to imagine it, but all he could see was gray driving rain and the red and yellow of the flashing dashboard. Paula gripping the yoke as he calculated their landing speed. “I’m not sure. Our attention was on the beach. We could barely make out the sand.”
    “ Right, of course.” Troy was silent for a few moments, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “I’m so sorry about the other pilot. Did I say that before? She seemed really nice.”
    Flexing his wet toes in his shoes, Brian’s throat was so tight it burned. “Thank you.”
    Nice . A pathetically inadequate word. Paula had made such an effort to be friendly and welcoming. The other pilots hadn’t seemed to know what to make of him. They’d been polite and professional, but he knew they couldn’t understand why he’d only fly as first officer now, and how he could give up a career flying commercial.
    And how had Brian thanked her? By turning down her invitations to the pub, or a BBQ on the beach when her parents were in town from Auckland. God, what were their names? He’d met them at the terminal one day. Her dad was…a mechanic?
    I should know this.
    Troy muttered miserably, “If I’d stayed, she’d be fine. We wouldn’t be stuck here. Fuck. I wanted to fix it, but I made everything a million times worse.”
    “ You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t blame yourself.”
    “ Did she… That side of the plane was gone.” Troy swallowed audibly. “Do you think she felt it?”
    “ No. It was too fast.” Bile rose in Brian’s throat, prickly and hot. It was true, at least. There would have only been a second or two before oblivion. The rest came out before he could stop it. “It should have been me.”
    Troy’s voice rose sharply. “What? But it was an accident.”
    He pushed the words past his throat. “Captain usually sits on the left. First officer on the right. But Paula liked it the other way. I never argued. Controls are the same on both sides. Figured it didn’t matter.”
    “ It’s not your fault. That was luck. You didn’t know this was going to happen.”
    It was true, but Brian still wanted to vomit.
    “ If it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t yours either. I’m sorry. I know she was your friend.”
    She was, and he’d been too shut off and stuck in his own world to be any kind of real friend back. Brian’s eyes burned. That he could never thank her or tell her he was sorry was one more regret to lock away.
    After a few minutes of silence, Troy asked, “Are there snakes here?”
    Brian was grateful for the change of topic, even if thinking about snakes while sitting in a pitch-black jungle made him shiver restlessly. “Probably.”
    “ Poisonous ones?”
    “ In all likelihood. And maybe pythons, I imagine. I think we should just assume that all snakes and spiders and various insects are dangerous and to be avoided.”
    Troy shuddered. “Ugh, spiders.” Brian could hear Troy’s nails scratch over his skin. “I don’t like creepy crawly things.”
    “ I confess I’m not a huge fan myself. Let’s hope we can set up camp on the beach and avoid them. Although we’ll have to be careful in the ocean. Sea snakes are deadly.”
    “ Sea snakes? Jesus.”
    “ Not to mention eels and jellyfish and God knows what.”
    “ Okay, so the jungle and ocean are a shitshow. But the beach should be okay?”
    “ Definitely.” He didn’t mention that insects surely lived in the sand as well.
    Leaves rustled nearby, and they both froze. Troy hissed, “Maybe we should go out there now.”
    “ We could get turned around,” Brian whispered. “Even with the flashlight, it’s damn