Page 13 of Wrath

“I can’t say that I blame you, Bowie. I felt the same way about joining the Pride and Envy families when my sister and I came back from the dead.” Carter laughed and Eden looked a bit confused.

“Carter and his sister share the head of household title. They were thought to be dead, along with the parents,” Bowie explained.

“Right, the Gluttony family killed my parents, but my sister and I were lucky to get out alive. When we resurfaced, my sister met Damion Pride and they ended up getting married. That’s when we got the idea to start an alliance against the Gluttony family. We just never thought that so many other families would want to join in our crazy scheme.”

“Of course they did,” Bowie said. “We all wanted the old ways to go away you all helped that to happen. I just never thought that me wanting to bring the Wrath family into the current century would end up getting my father killed.”

“His death isn’t your fault,” Eden insisted. “You were trying to change things in a good way, and the other families didn’t like it.”

“I know, but maybe I should have filled my father in on my plans. Maybe he would have been able to protect himself better if he had known,” Bowie insisted.

“Or, he would have tried to stop you from joining the rest of us,” Carter countered. “You couldn’t have protected him from the Gluttony family. Trust me, I know that from experience.” Carter was right, but it didn’t make him feel any better about the whole situation.

“Now that you know who killed your father, what are you going to do about it?” Carter asked.

That was a very good question, but Bowie had already figured out his next move. “I’m going to request a meeting with Bruno Gluttony,” he said. “I’ve heard that he’s next in line for head of household for the family. I think that he and I need to make a truce. I won’t let him come after me or my sister and her family. Hopefully, he’ll be more understanding than the other members of the gluttony family.”

“You can’t meet with Gluttony,” Eden almost shouted at him. “He just killed your father.”

“I don’t know that Bruno was the one calling for my father’s death. I think that had to do with his old man. In fact, if I had to guess, I’d bet that Bruno doesn’t agree with a lot of his father’s decisions. I just need to see him, face to face, to make sure that I’m right.”

“And if you are right?” Carter asked.

“Then, I say we help him get the head of household title from his old man sooner than he’s willing to give it up,” Bowie said.

“How will you do that?” Eden asked. “Please tell me that you’re not going to do to his father what was done to your own.” The thought had crossed his mind, but he wanted a new way—a better way and killing the head of the Gluttony Syndicate wasn’t the way to go about things anymore. He was going to have to figure out another way if he wanted peace.

“I’m actually friends with Bruno’s second in command. How about I reach out to Gino and set up a meeting for you? I’ll even tag along if you’d like. You know—have your back and all that stuff,” Carter said. There were rumors that Bruno and Gino were more than just co-workers, but Bowie was never close to any of the Gluttony family members to find out for sure. That would kill Bruno’s father if it was more than just a rumor. His father was as old school as they came and there would be no way he’d accept his son being gay—no matter how backward that sounded to the rest of the world.

“I’d appreciate that,” Bowie said. “I can make it any time.”

“All right,” Carter said, “I’ll set it up and text you the details.”

“Thanks, man,” Bowie said. He grabbed Eden’s hand into his own and felt some hope for the first time since hearing that his father was gone. He couldn’t promise her that things were going to be all right, but he was going to try like hell to make sure it happened.

Eden

Eden contacted her father to let him know about the change of plans and having to return to the states earlier than Bowie wanted. He had a funeral to plan and a head of household seat to claim. She just worried that meant that their time together was going to be cut short and they hadn’t talked about anything past today. Would he even want to see her once they got back to the states, or would their time together be something that she remembered fondly, and Bowie would always be the one who got away?

She was back in her uniform, and they were about to leave port. Her father poked his head in the galley and smiled at her. “Can I get some coffee brought up to the bridge?” he asked.

“Of course, Captain,” Eden said. She always called her father “Captain” while they were working. “But you could have just radioed me and asked me to bring you up coffee. Why did you make the trip down to the galley?” she asked.

“Busted,” he breathed, “I wanted to see you, to make sure that you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, Dad,” she said.

“Did you enjoy your time on the mainland?” he asked.

“I did, and so you don’t ask and make this incredibly uncomfortable, Bowie was a perfect gentleman.” She left out the part where she slept in his bed every night that they were in town. She liked him, but that wasn’t something that she’d share with her father. He knew that she was a grown woman and hopefully would respect her decision to spend her private time off with Bowie Wrath.

“Good to know. But now that you’re back on the boat, you’ll abide by the rules, right?” he asked.

“You mean, I can’t sleep with Bowie in his cabin tonight?” she teased.

“I’d rather you don’t, but if you choose to disobey my orders, at least wait until the crew is asleep before you sneak out of your bunk,” he grumbled.

“Right, sneak around and don’t let on that I’m sleeping with the charter guest,” she teased. “Got it.”

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