Page 9 of Endless Depths

“I should be self-sufficient by now,” Seb says.

“Youareself-sufficient. You’re a single parent, and we’re your village.”

Cole and I split all theBriar’sbills with Seb, and already paid for our half of the twenty-grand in prop repairs, but we have plenty to spare. Crab fishing is lucrative. If you don’t have kids, expensive hobbies, or a drug problem, there’s only so much you can spend.

“How much money are we talking about?” I ask.

“Twenty-nine grand.” Seb winces. “Give or take. That’s just the medical bills, but if I don’t catch up on my mortgage, I could lose the house.” He scrubs his face with his hands.

“How far behind are you?”

“Twelve K.”

I pull out my phone and transfer the money over. “There’s twelve grand. I’ll talk to Cole, but we should be able to float you the rest until you can pay us back.”

“That’s toomuch.”

“Nah. You’re not going anywhere. I know you’re good for it.” I pocket my phone. “If anything catastrophic happens withBriar, we can always sell Cole’s truck. He hates driving anyway.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and blinks up at the fluorescent lights. “Thank you. It’s been really hard lately.”

“I know, Seb.” I climb to my feet and clap him on the shoulder. “Life hasn’t been fair to you, but we’re here for you. We love Finn and we love you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cole says with a yawn, leaning against the doorframe in nothing but my gray sweatpants hanging low on his hips. “I love Finn. That’s all I’m gonna say.” He winks at me, and grins like he knows exactly what his little outfit is doing to me.

I drag my head out of the gutter of Cole’s abs before I get another awkward boner in front of Seb, and busy myself clearing the table. The hull groans as we careen over another wave. Saltwater splashes against the round window over the sink. Lawrence rolls off the bench and hits the floor with a thump.

“Shit. Sorry, Lawrence. I forgot you were there.”

“’s okay,” Lawrence slurs, sits up, and bumps his head on the underside of the table. “Ouch.”

Cole’s confused grin turns to glee as he looks under the table. “Lawless, what are you doing down there?”

“No clue.” Lawrence climbs out, blinking blearily. “Where’s Javi?”

“Probably asleep in the bunk over yours,” I say. “He didn’t want to wake you up.”

Lawrence braces himself on the table, then staggers toward the hall. Silence falls, or as much silence as can be found surrounded by violent seas.

“Hey. I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier,” Seb tells Cole.

Cole shrugs. “It’s okay. I screwed up.”

“You didn’t.” He looks at the waves roiling outside the window, then back. “I’m too hard on you, but I don’t want to be like Dad.”

Cole does that puppy dog eye thing again. “I’m sorry.”

Seb whacks the top of Cole’s head with a half-used paper towel roll. “How do you listen to all of that and blame yourself?I’msorry.” He pulls Cole into a side hug. “You get the worst of my moods because you’re the only person I feel safe to vent them to.”

Cole’s brow wrinkles. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not, but I’ll do better. I promise. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks for saying that.” Cole hugs him fully. “You’re nothing like Dad,” he adds when they part. “And don’t worry about the cash. We’ll sell Morgan’s truck. It’s worth twice as much as mine.”

“Haha,” I deadpan.

Briartakes another rough wave.