Waves of Passion (Wild Women Trilogy Book #1) (9 page)

It wasn't long before everyone was back to working as a team but the clouds quickly descended and a morbid darkness filled the night sky. We quickly finished running through a number of safety precautions to prevent any unnecessary accidents. Sails and masts had to be brought in and reinforced, anything freestanding or loose was to be battened down and all windows and doors were to be closed and locked. When the storm arrived, we would be safe inside as long as water didn't infiltrate the seals. How we would survive holed up with Jack while a storm raged above us, I still wasn't certain. Perhaps Denna and I would be safer tied to one of the mainsails?

With every half hour, the weather deteriorated, and we finally retreated below deck. As I closed and bolted the door behind me, I couldn't help but wish to be anywhere else. 

In spite of Denna's hard exterior and her cool confidence, she sat at the bar nervously biting her nails. I tried to reassure her with a smile, but I was worried, more about the forced proximity with Jack than the storm brewing in the distance. I silently poured three tumblers of whiskey and handed one to Denna, motioning to Jack to come get his as I took my seat beside her at the bar.

My anger towards Jack was cooling. Since he'd realized something was going on between me and Denna and we started ignoring his childish barbs, he had backed off.

It was still going to be a very long night as we waited out the storm together, but Jack surprised us by disappearing into his cabin and shortly returning with a bottle of very expensive port. I knew this because my father had been a huge fan of port.

Without a word, he refilled our tumblers with the smooth liquor and we all sat in the galley drinking silently, waiting for the storm to pass.

The boat rocked in the choppy water and I thanked my good fortune for my steady sea legs. I'd never suffered from sea sickness and Denna and Jack seemed equally at ease; but as the hours passed and the storm showed no signs of blowing over, I began to worry. The storm wasn't passing, it was getting stronger. Howling winds were beating against the windows causing the equipment above to rattle and bang. It probably-- or should I say, hopefully-- sounded worse than it was but without being able to go up and check, my mind was creating all kinds of scenarios, none of which were very positive. I'd seen storm damage on other boats and not only did it cost a fortune to repair but sometimes the damage was irreparable. I hoped this wasn't going to be the case for The Amber Rose, she was all I had left of my father. Listening to the crashing and creaking, observing the nervous looks on Jack and Denna's faces, I wished I could fast forward time so that it would all be over.

"She'll be okay Seth," Denna murmured softly, correctly reading my anxiety.

"You've got insurance." Jack shrugged indifferently. "Odds are you'll get a new boat if anything bad happens."

"The Amber Rose was his father's," Denna said softly, shooting him a look of reproach.

"Too bad Captain, but I'm sure she'll weather the storm well," he said, knocking back another glass of port.

We were all making small talk, anticipating a sudden disaster at any moment. Denna and I had stopped drinking, realizing we need to remain sober, but Jack continued drinking at a steady clip. 

Rain was pelting against the windows and to compensate for the loud noise of the storm we had to speak louder to be heard. The wind was so strong, we were rocking quite frantically, several of the pots and pans had failed to remain in their rightful places causing us all at sporadic moments to jump up and save them from breaking. Jack's empty bottles of alcohol rolled around on the floor at every list of the boat in the water. 

Quite suddenly, a noise rent the silence and I realized we were scraping against something, but how could that be? We were anchored down. Had something crashed into us or had we drifted off into the rocks? The sound was unbearable and when it began to make a crunching noise and the boat trembled beneath my feet, I feared we were in grave danger. The only explanation was that we had somehow drifted into something, but I was almost afraid to look at how much damage my beloved Amber Rose had already sustained.

It wasn't the brightest idea to go running up on deck in the middle of a storm, but I had to know and both Jack and Denna followed me. I scrambled through the doors, the strength of the wind took the doors from my hands, smashing them open. I had to use all of my strength to hoist myself up the stairs against the gale. Jack and Denna were right behind me to shoulder their weight up against me and together we managed to climb the stairs. Icy cold rain beat down on my face, impairing my vision but I fought against it and as I tried to blink, all I could see was a menacing granite rock face looming before me in the night. It consumed the whole of my vision; we were beating against the huge rock with every surge of the ocean behind us.

“We've hit rock face!” I shouted out to Jack, it was hard to make myself heard against the grinding racket of my boat battling against the granite.

“What can we do Seth?" Denna asked, ready for action, Jack at her side waiting for my direction.

“Grab the oars; we need to push off these rocks if we can manage it. I need to check the anchors; both can't have been destroyed…" As I spoke I could see that the bow anchor had been ripped clean from the boat, its base was gnarled and bent beyond repair. Jack shouted over that the same had happened to the stern anchor, so, we were set adrift with no chance of bedding down until the storm passed. This wasn't such a fatal disaster; as long as we were away from the rock face we stood a good chance of the boat withstanding the conditions. How we were going to successfully manage a detachment was another thing. We were literally being hurled at the rocks, which meant the wind and pressure of the sea was behind us. I wasn't sure that a mere group of three people would be able to manage the feat.

The rain was unrelenting, beating us down into submission. We were all sodden, cold and tired, but there was no allowing this to overcome us. Taking a paddle from the boat rails, we attempted to maneuver the boat back out into the ocean. It didn't take us long to realize what a fruitless task we'd taken on, the wind was coming behind us, pushing us harder against the rocks, our only hope was that we were able to scrape along the rocks little by little, but this was causing further damage to the boat. With every crunch and split of timber and fiberglass, I wanted to weep; my beautiful Amber Rose, my home was being pulverized and ripped apart while I watched.

I heard the ominous rumble of thunder beckoning in the distance. The sound sent a chill of fear through my soul. Every fisherman at sea feared a storm with thunder and lightning. Being so exposed with tall masts, it was inevitable that lightning would find you. A major factor to consider while on a boat in a storm is where is the safest place to be? If you stay down below, a fire could break out and your escape is hindered, but if you stay above, you risk being struck or injured from falling debris. We couldn't escape the threat of lightning if we were still being dashed against the rocks. We had to free ourselves now.

Denna and Jack were still fighting with everything they had in them to push us to some kind of safety, but I was trying to decide what we would do in the event of lightning. It was possible the lightning would never reach us, the thunder sounded close but that could mean several miles away, in which case it could pass without incident. However, as the weather had changed so rapidly and its anger was so fevered, we could well end up in the eye of the storm. I didn't even have time to radio contact with anyone to gauge any further outcome.

I couldn't let the others know, but I was beginning to panic. This was a crisis and I was afraid we had no means of escape. Wielding screams of boat versus rock was unsettling me and I was nervously starting to lose confidence in my ability to get us out of the mess we were in. Had we not been battling against the elements, I would have stood half a chance of solving our dilemma, but the weather is a powerful thing to combat, it either allows you to win or it doesn't.

“Captain, we can see the side of the rock face, help us push,” Denna called out, as she turned back to use her paddle it suddenly snapped, the break caused her to lunge forward into the boat railing. On impact, her body flipped over and she found herself trapped between the rock and the boat. She screamed as the boat dashed against the hard stone and I flung myself after her, terrified I might lose her before I truly had her. 

I immediately sprang into action, draping her over my shoulder, I was just able to hoist her up, a second later and the rolling waves would have taken her. We collapsed in a heap on the waterlogged deck. 

Denna seemed without injury as she sat up, “Where's Jack?” she questioned.

Jack was nowhere to be seen, in all the panic of the last five minutes we couldn't have taken any notice of what else was going on. I feared he may also have gone overboard, but then I noticed his paddle was on the deck. He couldn't have gone far but we had to get free of the rocks immediately. Taking Jack's oar and passing Denna mine we continued to edge our way along the rocks. It was taking all of my energy to work against the conditions, and I knew Denna was in pain as she pushed on her paddle.

Finally, with one last strenuous shove off we were once more set adrift, but no closer to safety. The thunder continued and sadly, I realized it was getting closer. I could now see the faint hint of lightning catching the horizon, by my reckoning we were floating into it and it would be above us in the next hour. 

“Denna, we need to pray real hard that storm passes over by the time we get to it, I don't think Amber Rose can take much more abuse,” I informed her.

As Denna turned her body to look into the distance, she winced in pain. There was blood along her arms where the rock scraped her lovely skin. “I think I may have some broken ribs, but I'm bleeding pretty bad from these scrapes, do you have any bandages down below?”

“Yes, of course, in the galley above the refrigerator, help yourself. I'm going to access the damage. Be careful Denna," I cautioned as she left me.

It wasn't going to be easy, most of the repair work needed specialist tools but I needed to try. As Denna went to find the First Aid box, I battled alone with the splintered wood. It was heart breaking to see what had happened and I wasn't sure I would be able to fix her in time for the lightning and further treacherous abuse that was coming our way.

Jack still hadn't surfaced, but then suddenly I heard Denna shouting at him down below. As if I didn't have enough problems I was going to have to deal with these two arguing at each other’s throats again. Unfortunately, it would have to wait as I had more pressing things to deal with. I knew Denna could take care of herself and surely, Jack had better things to do than give her a hard time.

The thunder was looming and the rain seemed to be getting heavier, God knows where we were drifting off to but every time I seemed to be getting somewhere with the debris, further damage was occurring, I was fighting a losing battle, my beloved ship was breaking apart and we were heading straight into the storm. What annoyed me the most was that while I was struggling with the storm, Denna and Jack were consumed in their childish combat without a thought of the risks I was taking up above.

There was only one thing for it, we would have to break off the dinghy and row back to shore. There were three of us, well, two and a half with Denna's broken ribs, surely we would be better off retreating while we had the chance, than sailing into a storm and risking ourselves on the wreck that was my beloved boat.

It wasn't a decision I took lightly. This boat was my life and my livelihood, the last thing I wanted to do was leave her out at sea, abandon her alone to weather the storm, not knowing where she would end up and in what condition, but I had to think of my life and my family as well as the lives of Denna and Jack. It would break my heart because I could lose her forever, but it didn't bear thinking about the alternative. Material possessions paled in significance to the loss of human life.

There may have been a violent, thunderous storm waiting to attack us from above, but there was just as much torment going on below. First Jack was shouting and then Denna was shouting, banging noises and broken glass crashed as they raged at one another. Was the frantic shaking of the boat a result of the storm, or was it a result of these two fighting at the worst possible time?

I suddenly heard Denna cry out in desperate fear followed by a crash of furniture. I dropped what I was doing and frantically made my way down below. What I was met with, left me with bile rising in my throat, I should have come sooner.

Jack was stark naked, and had Denna pinned down by her throat, his body covering hers.