But It Isn't Right (Duskwood Fanfic)

Adrift

I woke with a pounding head, wrapped up in warm arms. For a moment in my disorientation, I thought I was with Jake at home. But the naked man wrapped around my also-naked body wasn't Jake. It was Richy.

I gasped, pushing myself from his embrace and scooting away, snatching a blanket to wrap around me. When Richy didn't stir, I moved back to him, touching his shoulder. "Richy?" I shook him gently, and he still didn't wake. I started to panic and took in my surroundings. We weren't at the barn or his apartment. We weren't anyplace I'd ever been for sure, because the room, or the entire structure, rather, was rocking gently on waves. We were on a boat or ship of some kind.

I checked Richy for injuries. He didn't have any lumps on his head, no cuts or bruises on his face or shoulders. Wincing, I pulled the covers down further. It felt like I was violating his privacy by doing this, even though I'd seen most of his body before. But since he was unconscious and might be hurt...after visually checking every part of him that wasn't pressed to the mattress, I quickly pulled the blankets back up. I didn't see anything that would cause him to keep sleeping.

I tried to think, but my brain felt like it was pulsating inside my skull, and I had no memories past knowing that he and I had gone to another therapy appointment. Given my headache, I wondered if we'd both been drugged. Richy was still breathing and had a steady pulse, so at least there was that. I tried again to talk to him and wake him, but he slept on.

I started to look around for clothes and found none, so I wrapped the blanket around me tighter and started inspecting the space we were in. It was a small room, barely larger than the double bed I'd woken up in, plus a narrow dresser, which was empty, two bedside tables, also empty, and a single lamp. A tiny, round window let in a small amount of sunlight; I peered out and saw only the water in every direction. Not good.

There were two doors. The first led to a tiny bathroom, each fixture slotted efficiently into the space. Other than an extra roll of toilet paper and a single towel, the bathroom was empty. Not even a bar of soap.

The second door was probably to the rest of the boat, ship, or whatever this was, but it was locked. I pounded on the door, yelling for help, pleading for someone to come and look at Richy. There was no response, and the banging and sound of my own voice made my head worse. I went back into the bathroom and drank some water from the faucet. I searched again everywhere, trying to find something that I could use to bring Richy some water, but still nothing.

I felt dizzy and realized I didn't know how long I'd been without my medicine. Splashing some water on my face, I realized my engagement ring was missing from my left ring finger. Not only that but Richy's ring had been moved to its place. I checked everywhere--the floor, bed, but the ring was definitely gone. It couldn't be a coincidence that I'd lost it and the other ring had migrated to its place, either.  My smartwatch was also gone, and our phones were not with us. That meant Jake had no way to trace our location. 

Puzzle pieces were falling into place, though for the life of me, I couldn't think why this would get anyone what they wanted. The whole situation reeked of Phil, but he would hate the idea of me being with Richy--he'd rather have him killed.

I went back to the bed, running my fingers through Richy's hair. "Richy, please wake up." I did this for what seemed like hours, returning to the bathroom to drink more water every so often, until finally he groaned and popped his eyes open. They widened in surprise as he realized we were in bed together, neither of us wearing anything other than sheets.

"What--oww," he winced, clutching his head. "What happened?"

"Nothing good, I'll tell you that," I replied grimly. "The only water is in the bathroom. Try to drink some, it'll help a bit with the headache, then we'll talk." I pointed him to the door.