Forget about me

Chapter twenty-three

Alexandra

The raft bobs on the water swaying back and forth. I huddle deeper into myself as the wind grows colder and the skies open up. Rain drenches me in seconds and I silently curse my luck. The minutes slowly pass as I wait. And wait. And wait. I'm surrounded by total darkness and water on all sides. Ryder and the others hate the plan, but the rules are clear. I have to do this on my own. They were allowed to help me plan and get everything I need to pull it off but aren't allowed to aid me in the heist.

The Pride, a rival pack that resides in Queens cove only a twenty-minute drive from here, set fire to the Packs shipment about a week ago. It caused a lot of trouble for the gang and whoever it is Mr. Rux is working with got pissed off. They even threatened to take their business elsewhere.

So, here I am, on a tiny raft in the middle of nowhere waiting for the container ship that carries a load of drugs from the Packs business partners rivals to the Pride. My job is to get on the boat, take over the boat and bring the shipment to Kings cove for the Pack to transport to our business partner. Apparently, we have enough of a moral compass not to sell the drugs, we only transport, aka smuggle, them. Since, the Pack has Kings coves police station in their pocket no one will stop or check these shipments which means that we can easily receive and then move them.

I've been here for nearly two hours. I started yawning a while ago and I fear I might fall asleep on the job. Which would be bad since I could miss the boat. The sound of breaking waves jolts me out of my boredom. In the distance I can see the lights from the ship steadily grow closer. I wait until its close enough before shooting a flare into the sky. A booming noise sounds from the vessel letting me know they've seen it. A bright light searches the water and comes to a stop on me and my little raft.

I'm wet, cold and shivering when a rope is thrown overboard and I attach it to the wooden raft. A ladder quickly follows and it takes longer than it should for me to climb it. My limbs are stiff and frozen to the bone from sittings still for so long in the cold spray of the ocean. A group of men wait for me at the top. Two of them carry shotguns, holding them ready to fire. As their eyes land on little old me, the weapons are instinctively lowered.

"Who are you?" one of them barks loudly to be heard over the wind and sea.

"A-Alexand-d-dra." I don't even have to fake the stutter or the chattering of my teeth. Wrapping my arms around myself I try to preserve some heat.

"What are you doing out here, girl?" the same guy speaks and I figure he's some sort of leader. Hes not the captain but he carries some sort of rank on this boat. Their eyes are hungrily gliding up and down my body. My ass looks amazing in these white bikini bottoms and I just know it'll come in handy when it distracts them later. Otherwise, I must look like a drowned rat. Wet hair plastered to my face and mascara running down my face. There's a scarf tied around my forearm, hiding the tattoo there. It matches the bikini and looks like a fashion choice, but I don't think they've even noticed it.

This is important, but to be honest I've always been a good liar. I'm slightly thankful to the rain right now since it saves me from having to fake cry. I pitch my voice high and whiny as I start speaking. "Th-The guys said the c-current wasn't that s-s-strong. That i-it would b-be f-f-fun. We all s-swam to it b-but then it cut l-loose." I take a shuddering breath and let the shivers take over to make me look more distressed. "I-I tried to swim b-back. I d-did, but the w-water was too strong I h-h-had to t-turn back. I t-thought I'd d-die o-out here."

Their eyes and postures soften. All they see is a poor cold half-naked girl who was stupid enough to trust some guys and go for a swim in this weather. There's no way I have any weapon concealed on me in this skimpy bikini. I made sure to put on bikini bottoms that have that little pocket right between your legs so that I could hide a mini taser there. It's adorable, shaped like a lipstick and made to look like one too. It's even pink and it could drop anything smaller than a rhinoceros. I just hope the rain hasn't affected it too much. It hasn't malfunctioned at least or I wouldn't be standing, I'd be flopping around on the ground drooling. Believe me, I know, I tested it on Hunter yesterday. Oh, and since I bought two, I also woke Ryder up with the other one this morning. He'll think twice about throwing me over his shoulder and tying my wrist to his bedframe during the entire night in the future. He'll also improve his knots. It may have taken me half the night to wriggle my hands free and I scraped my wrists red and raw doing so but it was so worth it.