Chapter Twenty-Five

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“SOOOO...THAT WAS STRANGE.” Jealousy smiled, moving closer so her voice didn’t chase Sully as he disappeared. “I’m doing my best not to ask, but I’ve not seen him act like that around a goddess before. Who are you, Goddess Jinx?”

I side-stepped away. I wasn’t opposed to friends, and definitely wanted a network of people I could talk to and plot a way out of here, but I didn’t trust she wasn’t like the other girls. Brainwashed and infatuated with their liege and master.

With a name like Jealousy, I doubted her sweet smile and welcoming appearance was real. She was probably a master manipulator.

“You know he’s never let anyone get away with being rude to him, right?” she added, when I showed no sign of joining in her conversation. “But then again...I’m guessing you’re not just anyone...are you?”

I shivered, still staring down the empty path where Sully had gone.

What the hell was happening here? To me? To him? To my stable, simple world?

“My real name is Jess.” Jealousy waved almost shyly even though she stood right next to me. “I won’t bite...honest.”

Sighing, I turned to face her, ready to explore another odd relationship if it meant it could rescue me from the mess I’d found myself in. “I’m Eleanor.”

She beamed. “Pretty name.”

“Not pretty enough seeing as he changed it.”

“Ah, Jinx and Jealousy, they’re just masks for us to wear so the guests don’t know who we truly are.”

I crossed my arms. “But if they knew our real names, they could look us up, contact our families...help us escape.”

Jess frowned and nodded slowly. “That’s true. I suppose that would be bad for business.”

I scowled. “You don’t sound pissed off about the fact that we’re prisoners here.”

She shrugged. “I’m happy. This isn’t a prison to me.”

“Don’t you want to be free, though? Free to go where you want? Free to fly away and be with your family?”

Her pretty face cast in shadow. “My family isn’t worthy of my company.” Her voice hardened. “If anywhere in the world is a prison, it’s in that house with them.”

Goosebumps scattered up my arms at the sudden knowledge that this girl wasn’t like the others. She wasn’t like me. She’d already suffered abuse, and our versions of mistreatment were vastly different. Without knowing her full story, I had no right to complain.

Whatever reason she’d been called Jealousy, I didn’t think it was because of any pettiness or envy on her part. She might be short and blonde with a pixy smile, but there was a pillar of pure marble inside her.

“I’m sorry.” I apologised for jumping to conclusions about her and for what she’d lived through. I didn’t need to ask to guess. The brittle vulnerability in her voice painted a vibrant enough picture, but it also told me the truth. She was happy here. She was content to stay because it was a thousand times better than wherever she’d been taken from.

This was her adoptive home while it was still my unwanted cage.

Her blonde hair bounced with loose curls as she moved forward, expecting me to fall into step with her. “Don’t be. It was a while ago, and I don’t ever have to go back.”

I walked with her, intrigued despite myself. “But what about when Sully lets you go?”

She looked at the sugary sand coating our bare feet as we moved toward the beaming sunshine and beach up ahead. “I’ll deal with that in two years.” She flicked me a look. “I wouldn’t say that to the pack but you...” She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry to say, you will be an outcast here like me. So we might as well skip the stilted getting-to-know-each-other and slip straight into friendship. And...because we’re friends, I can tell you the truth.” She plucked an orchid from its long stem as we passed, stroking the bright purple petals. “Sully can barely stand the other goddesses because they all want something from him that he’s not prepared to give. But me...he knows I want something different.”

My heart picked up speed. “What do you want?”

“To stay.”

“That’s exactly what the other girls want.” I didn’t mention eavesdropping the other night, but I couldn’t imagine that was news to her.

“No, they want to stay and be an equal ruler with Sullivan. They think of this island as theirs. They think of Euphoria as their own personal creation and can’t imagine life without it.”

I squinted as the sun grew steadily brighter as we left the shady heliconias, banana plants, and orchids behind, trading it for sparkling sea and the brightest turquoise I’d ever seen. In front of us rested a row of pristine, gleaming kayaks, oars at their sides, ready to be used. Loungers waited with crisp rolled-up towels for a guest, umbrellas dotted the scalding hot sand, and the sun caused heat mirages to dance around the array of small cabanas serving nibbles, drinks, and anything else high-paying guests could ask for.

Beyond that rested the helipad where I’d arrived. Black basalt lined the area of the manmade bay while the bamboo jetty looked glued to the calm tide.

Memories of arriving, just a few short days ago, had already faded under the intensity of this place. A view wasn’t just a view here. It didn’t just complete a backdrop for life to exist; it demanded your full attention.

It swallowed you up with all five senses, engulfing you with bird song, gentle breezes, and vibrancy. I felt the soft hish-hish of the sea upon the sand. I tasted the fragrant flowers on the air. The part of me that was terrifyingly aware of its own mortality drank in the island with gratitude because nature was absolutely surreal and granted a gift.

A gift of being alive.

Jess, or Jealousy—whichever name she preferred—pressed her shoulder to mine as we skipped over the hot sand and sighed in relief the moment we entered the shallows. Her touch drenched me in a sensation of kinship. Of belonging. I missed my friends from school. Ever since starting the travelling adventure with Scott, we hadn’t been in one place long enough to evolve single night acquaintances into long-term friends.

But there, standing in the warm, licking tide on the picture-perfect beach with our shoulders touching, I didn’t feel so trapped. So lost. So confused.

“I can understand why you wouldn’t want to say goodbye to this place,” I murmured, unable to tear my eyes off the horizon as a pod of dolphins broke the glassy surface, gliding past like ballerinas of the ocean.

The water was so clear, the reef around the island danced and refracted, one moment glowing in sunshine and anemones, the next dressed in shadow from a passing shoal of fish.

It was hard to focus on the underwater universe. Hazy and hidden beneath the surface, it was so different to ours, governed by totally foreign laws where even gravity wasn’t welcome. Yet just because we weren’t adapted to live there didn’t mean others didn’t find their purpose and place within the towers of coral and carpets of sand.

Maybe there was wisdom in that.

Wisdom to know that while I didn’t feel as if I could survive on this island—that I was totally a fish out of water—somehow others flourished and found solitude.

Jess sighed, shielding her eyes from the intensity of the sunshine. “It truly is magical. But it’s not just the island that makes me want to stay. It’s not just the ability of learning to grow your own food or the simplicity of living in the tropics...I want to stay because—”

I looked at her, doing my best not to seem overly eager. “Because...?”

I wanted to know.

I wanted to know why she’d stopped.

She caught my gaze and smiled lopsidedly. “I can tell you...can’t I?” Her eyes narrowed, searching mine as if rifling through my soul for answers. Answers she approved of before she nodded. “I want to stay because Sullivan isn’t what you think. He’s a workaholic. He’s a genius for what he’s created. Yet...instead of enjoying his own creations, he just keeps working.” Her voice quietened to a whisper. “He needs someone who isn’t after his drugs, his body, or his legacy. For a while now...that was me. All I ask of him is that I can stay. I’ll clean the villas or cook in the restaurant if he doesn’t want me as a goddess anymore. I’ll take any job he needs me to do. But most of all...I want to stay, because eventually, he’s going to break, and someone he can trust should be there to pick up the pieces.”

“Break?”

She nodded. “He’s been on a path that isn’t sustainable ever since I met him...and it’s getting worse.” She sighed, turning to face the sea again. “Before, he used to laugh. Now, he barely ever smiles. Before, he seemed human. Now...I’m not so sure.”

Giving me a quick nudge, she sighed again, “I guess I just don’t want him to crash and burn, that’s all. We all have limits.”

“And why do you think he’s reaching his?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She ran fingers through her hair, cupping her curls so muggy air could lick away the glistening sweat on her nape. “Just a feeling.” Dropping her hair, she turned to me. “Anyway, that’s a dark topic for another day. Let’s talk about you. Anything you want to know? Anything you want help with?”

I wanted to talk more about Sully, but I refused to come across as those other girls—fascinated and fanciful, hanging onto every word about him. My concerns about Sully stemmed entirely from self-preservation.

Glancing down the beach, left and right, I stiffened as two men appeared from the pathway. Dark sunglasses shielded their eyes while one wore a baseball hat over salt and pepper hair and the other let his floppy blond mess stick to his heat-damp forehead.

“Oh, no.” Jealousy grabbed my hand, linking her fingers with mine. “Guests.”

“Are they not allowed to see us?” My stomach churned as the men waved and started toward us. One shorter than the other, both wearing board-shorts and t-shirts ready to be peeled off for a swim. Perhaps they would be more interested in water sports than two stranded goddesses.

“They are. Some nights we have mingles and mixers. But usually, Sullivan likes to keep us away, purely to ramp up the anticipation of Euphoria...for both parties.”

“What is Euphoria?” I asked quickly, aware our time of privacy was quickly depleting with each of the men’s flip-flopped steps. “I’ve heard about it so often but still have no idea.”

Jess smiled, a knowing almost patronizing gleam in her gaze. “Euphoria is...euphoria.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means it’s a place created entirely by Sullivan. I told you he was a genius. He can take a fantasy and turn it into a reality. Everything you think you know...is gone. Everything you think is impossible is suddenly the only thing that makes sense.” She let my hand go after a tight squeeze. “Honestly, the only way to know is to try it.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

She gave me an understanding look. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Do you really have sex with four men a month?” The guests were drawing closer, making me rush.

“Yes.” She nodded with no shame or hardship. “Once a week in Euphoria is more than enough. Sullivan looks after us in that respect.”

“Looks after you?” My eyebrows soared into my hair. “He forces you to sleep with—”

“Elixir makes it anything but forced, Jinx.” She smiled a secret smile. “You’ll know what I mean when you try it. Nothing about your time with a guest will be anything but sheer, insurmountable bliss.”

I chewed on my tongue, unwilling to tell her Sully had already fed me the nasty, noxious drug. That I’d found it an invasion of everything I stood for. That it was perverse and putrid and every other foul word I could use to describe something that shouldn’t exist.

“If it’s so good, why aren’t you expected to serve more than once a week?”

My question dripped with accusation, but Jess just smiled her contented smile and said, “Because you need the week to recover. Your body is unbelievably sore. Your immune system depleted. Your energy levels non-existent. You live more vibrantly and more freely in the hours you’re in Euphoria than you do in a year of your life outside.” She wrapped an arm around me, hugging me quickly. “You just have to trust. Trust that it won’t be terrible.”

Letting me go, she slipped from honest confidant into sensual madam, welcoming the guests as they arrived in the shallows where we stood. “Hello, Mr. Grammer. Hello, Mr. Wordworth. I hope you’re enjoying your stay so far.”

One man grinned, carefree and handsome, making me wonder why he’d pay for sex when he’d receive it willingly from most. His salt and pepper hair made him distinguished while his trim body kept him attractive. “Hello, goddesses. How are you two beautiful creatures on this stunning day?” His face split into a broad smile as if he had a secret he couldn’t wait to spill.

My hackles shot up. All I wanted to do was run in the opposite direction.

Jess bowed her head politely, smiling with invitation. “We’re fine. How are you?”

“Never been better.”

The man with the floppy blond hair couldn’t take his eyes off me. He stripped me bare with his gaze. He pinned me to the sand with intensity.

I immediately disliked him.

Instantly disgusted that he thought he had any right to look at me like I was some highly expensive dessert to a main course he’d already devoured.

“Hello, Jinx.” He smiled with smug satisfaction. “Pleasure to see you’re looking well recovered.”

“Were you ill?” Jess asked, true concern painting her tone.

“She was weak from her arrival, I believe,” the man replied on my behalf. “But back to full fitness now.” He looked me up and down. His sunglasses couldn’t hide the lust or hunger on his face. “At least...I hope.”

Why the hell was he so interested in my well-being? And how did he know I hadn’t been feeling well?

When I didn’t speak, he reached out and took my hand.

My skin crawled as he bowed over my knuckles and kissed them gently. He bowed low, lower still. The move wasn’t mocking like when Sully did it. His bow was full of worship. The authenticity of his awe made me shiver with foreboding.

No.

Not him.

Don’t let it be him.

Letting me go, he confirmed my worst suspicion. “I’ve been counting the hours for our date tomorrow night, Jinx. I wish it was tonight, I must admit.” He whistled quietly, drinking in my black bikini and lacy kimono. “You are the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

Never again would I wear such revealing clothes, even in the unbearable humidity and heat of this place. I would find the sack jumper I’d arrived in and never take it off.

The other man cleared his throat. “I might have to extend my stay, Goddess Jinx, and request your company a week from now...seeing as I lost the bidding war this time around.”

“Bidding war?” The startled question squeaked out before I could stop myself.

“Yes.” The salt and pepper gentleman purred. “We both requested the honour of sharing your first night in Euphoria. I was too slow to lock in the price that Sinclair offered.”

A flurry of snowflakes landed on my shoulders, melting instantly and oozing icy fingers down my back. “What price?”

How much was my honour worth to that monster who’d bought me?

The blond man shook his head. “Money and pleasure are two separate things. We don’t need to cheapen the enjoyment we’ll find together by naming a number.”

I backed away. “There won’t be any enjoyment from my end. I assure you.”

The guy grinned, flashing perfect white teeth. “That isn’t the understanding I have. You will be under the influence of Sinclair’s elixir, and he assured me that whatever we indulge in will be...mutually satisfying.”

I wanted to be sick.

This couldn’t be happening.

I should’ve been using every waking moment to find a way off this heinous place. Instead, I’d allowed Sully to fog my mind with wonderings about him. Permitted the beauty of this place to suck me deeper into its web.

How stupid could I be?

How could I forget my role here?

I stumbled in the sand.

The man’s hand lashed out, locking around my elbow and giving me balance. I appreciated his help, but I couldn’t stand him touching me.

Ripping out of his control, I swayed and looked at both of them with disbelief. I looked at Jess too. Unable to believe the puzzle that this girl and these men weren’t enemies but...somehow symbiotic friends.

I wanted nothing to do with it.

I want to go home.

“Ex-excuse me.” Swallowing back a wash of stomach acid, I bolted up the beach.

The bottoms of my soles burned from the hot sand. My breath caught in my tight chest. The air was too syrupy and heavy to stop my light-headedness.

By the time I got to my villa, tears plummeted down my cheeks, and I collapsed behind my door, blocking it with my body, creating a lock that didn’t have a key so I couldn’t be fetched, couldn’t be taken, couldn’t be used in Euphoria.