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Hud shook his head, holding the water bottle to his cheek. “Shite. We’re earning enough money that we won’t have to work again if we don’t want to.”
Pyke snorted and smirked. “I don’t know if I’d go that far—can’t imagine not living the life. But I sure could use a vacation after all of this.”
Hud grinned. “The moment that money hits my account I know what I’m doing with it. I’m buying that damn pub where Ma works, and I’m doing it all secretly. Then, when she walks in one day to start her shift, the manager’s going to walk up to her, hand her the keys, and tell her it’s all hers. She can run it if she wants, or she can spend the rest of her life taking cruises. Either way, she’s set.” He folded his hands behind his head and sat back, a pleased smile on his face.
“I’m finally buying a house,” I said. “A place of my very own. Not sure where…maybe in Florida.” I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of it. “Yeah, that sounds nice. A place near the beach, maybe at a marina where I can get a little boat, take it out on the water and watch the sunrise whenever I want.”
“If you’re going to be getting a boat,” Ajax said. “You’d better get one big enough for all of us to come out for fishing trips.”
“You got it, A,” I said. It was impossible not to get lost in the dreamy mental picture of the sun rising over the Gulf of Mexico, the sky filled with gorgeous oranges and pinks and reds. After a childhood of living in poverty, it was damn near the closest thing to heaven I could imagine.
It wouldn’t really be heaven, however, without the princess. Hopefully, I could talk her into going there with me.
“What about you, Ajax?” Hud asked. “What’re you going to spend your payday on?”
He laughed. “First, I’ve got a kitchen back in Boston that needs replacing. Once that’s done…I don’t know. Definitely setting a trust up for my niece or nephew. After that, who knows? Maybe a trip around the world? Either way…” He glanced over toward the princess. It was easy to tell how that sentence was going to end by the way he looked at her.
“Pyke? How about you?”
His expression was serious. “Not sure. But what I do know is that I’m tired of running. Life’s been hard these last few years, but I know now that it’s time to stop pushing away what’s still good about my life and start embracing it.”
It was damn good to hear. The more we spoke, the more it was clear that there’d been something about this mission that had changed all of us, gotten us to look at life in a new way. I couldn’t wait to see where it was going to take our group.
“Alright, Father. I love you too.” Vic walked back over to us, hung up the phone, and sat down with a big smile on her face.
“What’s the word?” I asked.
“Father’s relieved, of course. He wanted me to pass on his sincerest gratitude to all of you for saving me. Oh, and two other things. He said not to worry about any evidence that may be leftover at the estate, he’ll make sure there’s no blowback for what happened.”
“Nice,” Hud said. “What’s the other thing?”
She smiled. “He said that he really wants to show you how thankful he is. So, first, he’s going to add a bonus to the original agreed-upon payment—an extra twenty percent, per person.”
Damn. I didn’t even know what to say to that. He was already paying a hefty amount.
“Looks like my boat just got about ten feet longer,” I said with a grin, Hud reaching over and giving me a playful shove.
“And” she went on. “He wants all of you to come to the palace for a feast in honor of your hard work and sacrifice.”
“Dinner at the palace,” Hud said, scratching his beard. “Got to say, it’s been a while since I’ve worn a tux.”
She came over and wrapped her arms around Hud from behind, planting a kiss on his cheek.
“Something tells me you’ll all look very, very handsome in your outfits. But I should say, no matter what you end up wearing, they need to have sleeves.”
The guys and I groaned in a joking way.
“Hey.” She raised her palms. “If it were up to me, you’d all show up wearing nothing at all. But apparently, that’s against royal decorum.”
We laughed. When the laughter died down, the guys and I shared a look.
There was an elephant in the room, one that needed to be pointed out. It was no secret by that point we’d all developed feelings for Vic over the course of the mission. The only question now was, what the hell were we going to do about it?
“I gotta ask, Vic,” Ajax said. “What about…us?”
There it was.
Vic pursed her lips. “Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know exactly what the answer is, but something tells me we’re going to need to spend some decent, quality time together to figure out what exactly is going on between all of us.”
