Chapter Fourteen: A Shack
1110 Words
He didn’t even flinch. “You’re Sabrina Isabelle Monteverde?”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“I’m looking for you.”
Oh.
I glanced at the paper in my hand. “You’re Zed?”
“Yes.”
My jaw dropped. “Well, finally!” I threw my hands in the air. “You do know you made me look like an i***t out here, right? I have been asking random strangers for you. I’ve been sweating for fifteen minutes. You should’ve been here waiting for me since you knew I’d be arriving today!”
He didn’t look even remotely guilty. In fact, he didn’t look like he cared at all.
“Follow me,” he said flatly.
I blinked. “That’s it? ‘Follow me’? No ‘sorry I’m late,’ no ‘let me help you with your suitcases’? Wow. Hospitality here is just top tier.”
He didn’t respond. He just turned around and started walking.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath.
I grabbed my suitcase handles and started dragging them through the sand again, cursing under my breath every time the wheels got stuck. Zed didn’t even glance back to check if I was keeping up.
“Hey!” I called after him, panting slightly. “In case you didn’t notice, I’m not exactly dressed for a hike in the desert. These sandals cost more than your monthly salary!”
Still no reaction.
Was he mute?
“Do you always ignore people, or am I just special?” I tried again, hoping to get some kind of rise out of him.
Nothing.
God, this man was infuriating.
The sun was beating down so harshly that I had to stop to reapply my sunscreen, and of course, that made me fall behind. Zed didn’t slow down, didn’t wait, didn’t even look over his shoulder.
“You know,” I said when I finally caught up to him, “most gentlemen would at least offer to carry a lady’s bag.”
He shot me a single look — calm, unreadable — before turning away again.
I gasped dramatically. “Wow. Chivalry really is dead.”
The path he was taking led away from the beach and into a narrow dirt trail shaded by palm trees. I struggled to keep my balance, my heels sinking into the ground with every step.
“Can we stop for, like, five minutes?” I called out, but Zed kept walking.
Of course he did.
I groaned and dragged my suitcases faster, determined not to let him see me struggle. The air was thick with humidity, my perfume was probably gone by now, and my hair? Forget it. I could already feel it frizzing.
Finally, after what felt like a century, we reached a small clearing where a wooden hut stood.
“This is where you’ll stay,” Zed said, nodding toward it.
I blinked at the hut. “Excuse me? That? That is not a house. That is barely a shack!”
“It’s a house,” he said simply.
“It doesn’t even have air-conditioning!”
He shrugged. “You’ll live.”
I stared at him, incredulous. “You really don’t care about me, do you?”
He finally turned to face me, his expression calm but firm. “My job is to make sure you stay here. Not to make you comfortable.”
My mouth fell open.
Wow.
I had officially met the most annoying man alive.
“Fine,” I said, yanking my suitcases toward the hut. “But for the record, this is cruel and unusual punishment. And when I get back to the city, I’m telling everyone about this.”
“Do what you want,” Zed said, already turning to leave.
“Oh no you don’t!” I called after him. “You’re not just going to leave me here alone!”
He glanced back once. “I’ll be nearby. Don’t wander.”
And then he walked away, leaving me standing in front of my so-called “house,” surrounded by bugs, heat, and the smell of the sea.
I threw my head back and screamed into the sky. This was going to be hell.
I stepped inside, and the first thing I noticed was the smell. Not exactly bad, but not exactly good either — just that weird mix of wood, salt, and dust that made my nose wrinkle.
I looked around inside this nut house and immediately felt tears sting my eyes.
This was it?
This was where I was going to live?
No way. No freaking way.
I dropped my suitcases onto the wooden floor with a loud thud, and of course, the floor creaked. The sound echoed in the silence, making me jump like I had just stepped into a horror movie set.
I can’t believe this.
I can’t believe Dad would send me here and make me stay in this. I thought maybe — just maybe — he would at least give me a place that was nice enough to stay in, something cozy, maybe with a big soft bed, a working AC, and a decent bathroom.
But no.
This wasn’t just basic. This was cruel.
“This is too much,” I muttered under my breath, pacing across the tiny living space. The more I moved, the more the wooden planks creaked under my heels, and honestly, it was starting to creep me out.
I glanced out the small window. There were no houses nearby. No neighbors. No shops. No cafés where I could grab a decent iced latte.
Just trees.
And the sea somewhere in the distance.
Was Dad serious? Was he trying to break me?
I took a deep breath and walked to the only door in sight, which I assumed led to the bedroom. When I pushed it open, my jaw practically dropped.
Inside was a wooden bed.
Just a plain wooden bed frame with a thin mattress that looked like it belonged in a history museum. There were a single pillow and a folded blanket on top of it.
“Wow,” I said sarcastically. “Five-star living, huh?”
I walked closer and poked the mattress with my finger. It felt stiff. Like it might give me back pain if I actually slept on it.
“Nope,” I muttered, stepping back. “Absolutely not.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed anyway because my feet were killing me from dragging my suitcases all the way here. The mattress creaked ominously under my weight, like it might collapse.
“Oh, this is just perfect,” I groaned, flopping back dramatically.
***
- Writer
