Ravenous

   Apparently Bret had decided to take all of his anger out on Cade, instead of me. Cade lifted a dark eyebrow; wry amusement flitted over his handsome features. Under the amusement though was a seething mass of tension and anger. This was a situation that was going to have to be resolved, soon, or it was going to get ugly. It never should have gotten to this point to begin with.

   And it was entirely my fault.

   “You know what I want, or at least who,” Cade drawled.

   My mouth dropped, my hands clenched tightly on my arms as I stared at him in utter disbelief. I couldn’t believe he had just said that. “Son of a bitch!” Bret snarled.

   I seized hold of Bret’s arm as he took an angry step forward. He looked about ready to beat the crap out of Cade, but Cade remained standing nonchalantly in the doorway. He didn’t appear at all fazed by Bret’s anger though Bret was a good thirty pounds heavier, and two inches taller. “I just thought that all the cards should be on the table, so there is no confusion about what my intentions are.” I could only stand there and continue to gape at Cade as his gaze burned over me. “I know what I want, and now you do too.”

   Bret was shaking in my grip, his hands fisted at his sides. I was trembling from the effects of Cade’s sizzling look, and from the words he had just uttered. I was frightened, heartbroken, and torn. “Don’t do this now,” I managed to whisper. Bret didn’t relax in my grasp, but his gaze did come slowly toward me. The betrayal and anger in his eyes made me want to cry. “Bret, I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t mean for this to happen, I never meant to hurt you, it’s the last thing in the world I ever…”

   I gasped in surprise as he knocked my hand aside and jerked his arm from my gasp. Cade’s casual demeanor vanished as he came away from the door. Anger darkened his features; his eyes were ice cold with fury. My heart leapt into my throat, I darted in between them, throwing up my hands to halt Cade’s approach.

   “You want to take this out on someone then take it out on me!” Cade snarled. His rage was so volatile, so intense, that it caused the hair on the nape of my neck to stand up. It didn’t matter if Bret was bigger; in that moment I was certain that Cade might just kill him. “Not her, me.”

   Before I knew what Cade intended he seized hold of my hand with surprising tenderness, considering the enraged look on his face, and began to rub it. “Its fine, I’m fine,” I managed to stammer out. His eyes came slowly toward me; they crinkled at the edges as his gaze softened slightly. My hand clenched around his, I could not stop the immediate physical and emotional reaction that surged through me.

   “What’s going on?” I had been so caught up in everything that I hadn’t noticed Aiden’s appearance in the room. His hair was rumpled from sleep, his eyes were slightly swollen, but there was a keen edge in his gaze that was slightly u

   “I’m fine. Everything’s fine,” I managed to reassure him.

   He glanced at Bret, then at Cade, before finally settling on me again. Cade had been his friend once, but that had been years ago. Bret was his best friend now; I knew where Aiden’s loyalties would lie. I didn’t want him put in the middle of this. “Better be,” he said softly. “Abby, Molly, and Je

   “Good, we need to figure out what we are going to do.”

   “Didn’t Bret tell you?”

   I glanced back at Bret, but he wouldn’t look at me, his gaze was focused on the far wall. His jaw was locked tight, his arms folded over his broad chest. I ached for the hurt I saw in him. Swallowing heavily I turned my attention back to Aiden.  “No,” I said softly.

   “The rental store down the road does have scuba gear.”

   I frowned in confusion. “But you said that was a bad idea.”

   “It’s the only one we have now. The fact that we have to get to the mainland has not changed Bethany. We can’t stay on this side. They’ll find us.” My hand tightened around Cade’s, I needed his strength. I knew I should let go of him, knew that I was only hurting Bret more, but I couldn’t bring myself to release him. I was a truly awful person. Cade’s hands wrapped around my arms, he pulled me a small step closer to him, his attention still half on Bret as he listened to Aiden. “We have to do something Bethany.”

   Though Aiden was trying to keep his face expressionless, confusion and shock blazed from the eyes rapidly flickering back and forth between the three of us. He focused on me, shook his head, opened his mouth to say something, and then clamped it shut again. He hissed something under his breath, it was so low that I couldn’t make it out, but Cade pulled me even closer to him.

   “I know we do,” I muttered.

   “It’s getting dark now, we should be going soon.”

   I couldn’t wait to get out of this apartment, and to put some space between Cade and Bret. But the thought of being outside again, of being completely exposed to those creatures once more, caused a cold chill to run down my spine.

CHAPTER 16

   I turned the scuba tank over in my hands. I had no idea what the hell we were going to do with these damn things. What the hell were we thinking to even attempt this incredibly crazy idea, even if it had been mycrazy idea? Drowning was not one of the ways I wanted to go out, but then again neither was getting my blood drained by some crazy freaking spider/tick/octopus/jellyfish like monster.

   Both options sucked, but I preferred to give my body over to nature than the aliens any day. “There might be some kind of manual or something around here,” Aiden muttered, biting on his bottom lip as he wandered behind the counter. “A video even.”

   “A video?” I inquired dryly.

   “DVD maybe.”

   I rolled my eyes as I shook my head. Only Aiden would think that he could play a DVD and know what to do, or that there even was a DVD on the basics of scuba diving. But then again, for all I knew, there actually might be one. Abby was holding up a set of flippers, studying them carefully as she flapped them in the air. We had lived on Cape Cod our entire lives, but strangely enough my siblings and I had never do

   “We do have Molly,” I reminded him.

   Aiden shrugged absently. “Would still like to learn as much as possible beforehand.”

   I followed Aiden behind the counter, holding the flashlight for him as he rummaged through the shelves. I didn’t think he had a shot in hell of finding a video, but I didn’t say that to him. I figured he simply needed something to distract him from what we were going to do. “Here’s something.”

   “What?” I asked in surprise.

   He pulled out a stack of papers and fluttered them in the air. “It’s a manual.” Well that might be helpful, I thought silently. Though, I was pretty sure that reading about scuba diving wasn’t the best way to learn how to do it. It was better than nothing though, that was for sure. He sat back on his heels, flipping through the pages. “It will help.”

   He put it on top of the counter as he stood up. Cade and Molly came around from where they had been exploring the back of the store. “There’s a room back there, but it has windows. We either leave tonight for the mainland, or we go back to the apartment,” Cade informed us briskly.