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I strained, willing him to believe in me and understand why I felt the need to stay. “Please,” I said quietly, begging. “Marc. I’m already here. Let’s just look in on this.”
He shifted on his feet, looking at the sofas, the lights above our heads. His eyes shifted back and forth, thinking. He was considering his options. I realized he might be trying to find a way to get around the Academy’s request to not get involved.
Then I realized his saying no wasn’t his personal decision. If this Academy could tell him no, he’d have to walk away. He may not have a choice but to let me do this on my own and couldn’t get involved at all. I may have no chance at all, no need to convince them if the Academy controlled their actions like this. Blake and I might be on our own here.
I wasn’t so sure we could do it without them.
Raven stepped forward, putting his hands on his hips. The action caused his shoulders to round out more and his chest to swell. “Little Thief,” he said. “You are in trouble.” He said it so clearly, so sure.
“I’m fine,” I said, confused. “I’m not in trouble.”
“Shut up,” Raven said. “You’re in dumb shit.”
“In deep shit,” Marc said. “It’s in deep shit.”
“Same.”
Marc looked at me, and then at Raven and back at me. His eyes brightened and he smiled. “Raven, you’re so brilliant. I love the shit out of you.”
Raven beamed. “You should call the others in.”
Marc put my phone in his pocket and when I opened my mouth to protest, he held up a palm to quiet me, then pulled out his own. He held it in his hands and looked at me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I realized he might just be putting my phone down just so he could use his and didn’t mean to really keep it. I glanced at his phone. “Do what?” I asked. “What are you all talking about?”
Marc wiggled his phone at me. “We can’t get involved with Murdock’s problems, but there’s nothing to stop us following you around when you’re in trouble and need help.”
This must be some Academy logic he was following. “Won’t you get into trouble if I’m getting involved with Murdock?”
“Not if you’re going off on your own,” he said. “Not if you’re insisting on doing something dangerous.”
“It’s not that dangerous,” I said. “Right now it’s just information gathering.”
Marc shook his head. “With the possibility of an escaped crazy old man out there, not to mention his partners who tried to kill you before and might try again.” He dialed the phone. “Like it or not, we’re your babysitters.”
I sighed, not liking how he rationalized getting involved, but if it meant they could work around Academy rules, then that was their choice.
Marc stepped away to talk on the phone. Raven walked over, standing close. He smirked at me and shook his head. “Dumb shit,” he said in an almost loving tone.
I shared a small smile with him. “You’ll stay?”
“Always,” he said. “Even if he didn’t, I would have.”
That made me feel better. Hashing it out with Marc had hurt a lot. It was the truth on both sides, but it stung. I hadn’t understood that he’d been waiting to catch me up and he didn’t understand that he should have at least warned me about what was going on.
He did stay, though. He was trying. I had to give him credit.
“Do you think the others will come along?” I asked Raven.
“Corey will,” he said. “If I’m here and you’re here, he will. Brandon will come if Corey comes along. Axel will come if all of us are here. Kevin will show up, too.” He looked over at Marc on the phone and then nodded toward the stairs. “Let’s go outside.”
I followed him, curious as to what he wanted out on the deck, but was relieved to get a break from fighting.
I wasn’t sure yet if this was a victory, though. Raven seemed confident the guys would follow, but I wasn’t so sure.
MONEY CHANGES YOU
I followed Raven out onto the deck where I’d first come in. The bar was now clean, which meant in the time I’d been in the lounge, someone had cleared it. I wondered how many people work on the ship. I hadn’t spotted anyone I didn’t know yet and wondered if Avery had done it.
Raven went to the rail at the side of the ship and leaned over it, looking down at the water, even though it was dark. I joined him, touching the cool metal. I’d forgotten the jacket inside, and while I was chilly, it felt good; it cooled my temper.
Raven gazed out into the black for a long time. I thought maybe he just wanted some air or to get outside for a few minutes. “I almost punched Marc in there,” he finally said.
My mouth popped open. I looked at him, but he was gripping the rail and staring out. Only then did I realize the tension in his hands and body. He’d been silent in there, but he had been holding back his own anger—restraining the wild bear.
“Raven,” I said in a soft tone, unsure if I should speak at all. Would he punch me, too? I had been pa
rt of the argument.
“You were sick,” he said. “They told me to not talk to you because of that. I didn’t think about it until now that you might want to know what was going on.”
I sighed. He was taking it personally. “It’s not totally your fault, or his. I was sick. I was in the hospital. I probably would have said not now if they had called, and would have agreed with you about not talking to them then, but I wish you’d given me a chance to say no.”
He broke his stare into the darkness, looking down at my face. His brown eyes were now black in the shadows, and I couldn’t read his mood. “Don’t take the money.”
“What?” I asked. “You don’t want me to help?”
“You can do what you want,” he said. “Just don’t do it for money.”
“Why? You make money from the Academy.”
“No,” he said. “We don’t make money from that.”
He wasn’t telling me they worked for free, was he? No one does. “Don’t they...I mean they pay for...”
He looked down at the floor. He sucked in a breath and blew it through his thick lips toward the ground. “Not like that. Maybe Corey can explain it better.” He lifted his head, meeting my eyes again. “It changes you, when you do it for money. You look to get the reward, and that’s not always the best result. Trust me.”
I drummed my fingers against the cool rail. “Ethan offered. And I don’t have any money.”
“You don’t need it,” he said. “If you take this job, everything else will be taken care of. Let him pay for necessities if you want. Food, clothing, whatever you need. Anything else? I’ll pay for it.”
“I don’t want other people to pay things for me,” I said. “I want to earn it. I can’t live off of you guys forever.”
Raven rubbed at his cheek and then wiped his fingers across his lips. “Thief,” he said. “I’ll figure it out, but for now, don’t take any money. It’ll change how you do things. If you can promise me you won’t take the money, things will go a lot smoother. Axel and the others will help.”
