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I met Corey’s eyes, and for the first time, I felt the anxiety he must have been feeling since I came back on board. He shared my expression of concern and worry.
We had to find the bear before something bad happened to him.
Blackmail Bait
It bugged me that Colt Baker had directly asked Axel where I was. However, it made me realize he thought I was still on the ship, so he probably wasn’t the one who had thrown me overboard.
Corey, Ethan, and Avery left together ahead of us. Axel and I stayed in the conference room by the door, waiting a few minutes before exiting.
While waiting, I told Axel my opinion about Colt.
“He’s been asking about you all night,” he said.
He had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the corner of the conference table. He gazed at his shoes. “It was subtle until now. That’s the boldest he’s been just now, admitting he’d been by the room. I can’t decide if he’s got a crush on you or if this is something else.”
“A crush?” I asked. “He knows you as my boyfriend…or fiancé or something?” It felt like a million years had passed and already I had forgotten some details about my former alias as Kitty Lane.
“So far, around him, I look like the boyfriend who doesn’t give a damn about you.” Axel lifted his head, looking at my face. “He doesn’t know how wrong he is, but I let him think so.”
My heart leaped and started beating faster. I returned his determined stare, and I picked my words carefully. “I might have been nice to him, but I don’t think I gave him any indication I was interested.”
“I know,” he said, his dark eyes never wavering. He fell silent.
Heat rose through my neck and face. My attention drifted toward the slightest movement of skin in his neck: his pulse, a vein near the surface. It seemed as if it matched my own rapid heartbeats.
I wanted to say more, something, anything, but my brain was in panic mode over being back, and over the fact that we were about to run out into a hallway where danger was literally lurking around the corner.
I focused on Colt, deliberately changing the subject. “He’s dead set on finding his cell phone and my tablet before getting off the boat. He asked security repeatedly for updates before I left. Maybe he’s just really interested in finding his phone. Maybe we should give it to him.”
“We’ll give it back,” he said, “once we’ve duplicated it. Maybe then he’ll get off my back.”
It still bugged me that he was looking for me specifically. I wasn’t security. He hadn’t wanted to be on this boat in the first place, and when I’d stolen his phone, he stayed anyway. Whatever he might have thought of Kitty Lane, she was technically “dead” at this point. We wanted any suspects to assume she was, and we can check suspects for any reaction when possible. She would have disappeared after this trip, anyway.
Axel waited with me, listening to an earpiece. When we were cleared to leave the conference room, Axel led the way. I put the hoodie back on, covering my face. Axel couldn’t hold my hand, just in case we ran into people, so I just stayed as close as possible. I pretended I was just walking near, but not with him.
It had been determined by Avery that the safest place for me at the moment was with Fancy in her suite.
Fancy used to be known as Future when I’d first met her, when she’d worked for a bond office in Florida. Technically she was a he with surgically enhanced boobs, but she didn’t mind swinging around her danger noodle if the event called for it…or if she thought she’d shock someone for fun. She dressed more scantily than I would ever dare and wore more makeup and jewelry at a time than I’d ever owned in my life.
She could also be very scary and loud and carried a big gun.
Despite my feeble protests, I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed sleep and her suite was on a quiet floor and was the most likely place where I wouldn’t be disturbed and would be safe under Fancy’s watch.
We couldn’t risk my going back to the cabin I’d been sharing with the guys in case anyone went looking for Kitty.
We skirted around back hallways until we got to an elevator that would take us very close to Fancy’s suite. Once we were inside, Axel selected the right floor. I leaned against the wall, trying not to fall asleep where I stood.
“I’ve been trying to reach Fancy,” Axel said as the doors closed. “Or Doyle has. I think she hears us, but she’s preoccupied with flirting with someone.”
“Right now?” I asked. “What time is it?”
Axel took out a cell phone and turned it on. His expression was stoic. “Actually,” he said, “I don’t know, but I do know it isn’t five p.m.”
I leaned over to see the screen of his cell phone. It said five. “Did you break it?”
“No.” He tapped a few buttons. “But it’s looking out for cell tower signals to determine the time.”
“So?”
“So it’ll pick up cell towers on ships if we’re too far from shore. We might have passed a ship from Europe or somewhere else and it’s telling my phone it’s five in the afternoon.” He sighed and then tucked it into his pocket. “I’ll have to fix it later, or get Corey to help me with it.” He put it away, and then looked at the elevator lights and then to me. “How are you?”
“I’m worried about Corey,” I said. “And Raven, too. Corey seemed upset when I said we needed to get proof of where everyone was. I didn’t know about Raven.”
“Corey’s known Raven longer than anyone else,” Axel said. “I can’t control Raven; Corey’s usually the only one who can keep him in line. If anyone can pull Raven back, it’s him.” He sighed and relaxed his shoulders. “We’re all tired and stressed. If we manage to get off this boat in one piece, that’ll be enough for me.”
“You don’t think we’ll find out who is behind me and Blake going overboard?”
“We only have a few days to see. If all we do is prove Raven innocent, we can wait for the rest, as far as I’m concerned.” He shook his head and sighed. “Kayli. Seriously. Are you hurt at all?”
I reached up to my head, tenderly checking it. “I bumped my head a little earlier and I’ve got a splitting headache.”
Axel reached out gingerly for my face. “Should I check it for you?”
I let him take my head in his hands. His palms cupped my cheeks, and he gently urged me to tilt my head so he could scan my scalp.
My tongue locked up against the roof of my mouth. My cheeks warmed under his touch. As he held me, his thumbs massaged my skin. My heart raced, and I wished my head would stop stinging.
I wished I could read his thoughts, too. Did he still care about me like before?
Would he once he learned what I’d done with Blake?
“I don’t see anything,” he said. His hands smoothed down my neck. He massaged my shoulders as he looked at my face. “I can’t see much with the way your hair is. I don’t want to go trying to find where you bumped it if it hurts.”
Axel’s touch was more than soothing; it was welcoming. It made me even more nervous to tell him anything. “I just banged it a little,” I said. “On the boat coming back here. It probably feels worse
than it is. It’s fine.”
“There’s no blood, as far as I can tell.” He held my shoulders. “I’m sorry. And I’m sorry about Raven. I want to believe he’s doing something undercover. We should trust our team members, but none of us are saints, either.” His face was strained, his lips scrunched up tight.
I sighed. To reassure him, I reached for his face to place a palm against his cheek. He was caught between friends, and it wasn’t fair. He was defending Raven, helping me, and at the same time, trying desperately to protect the rest of his team. My heart melted, knowing he must be exhausted trying to keep everything together.
“I’m fine,” I said in a calm voice. He had so much to worry about, and I wanted him to relax about me. “Really. Just a little tired. I have a headache. I’d like to shower and go to sleep. And then we need to find who threw me overboard and kick their butt.”
His tense face still seemed troubled. “Kayli,” he whispered. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back. Not just to the ship, but even after I heard you were alive, I wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”
My eyes widened. “Why wouldn’t I come back?”
The ding of the elevator sounded as we reached our floor and a second later, the doors opened.
The floor was empty, and we got out, but he paused just outside the elevator doors. The hallway had much nicer decor, fancy sconces, and an intricate blue-and-beige pattern in the woven carpet.
Axel turned back to me. His hands returned to my shoulders, and he held me like that for several long moments. I wondered if he remembered what I’d asked.
His hands on my shoulders were firm, and it felt good to be held by him. I quietly admired his collarbone under the open shirt. His hair was pulled back and showed off his Native features and dark complexion. Those brown eyes seemed to soak me in, from forehead to feet.
Finally, he pulled away and said, “After arguing with the others, and the stress you must have been under, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to stay away.”
