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“Is she on her way?”
Half of me wants to see her. That’ll never stop. The other half of me knows this dread. One I fight to avoid hurting Cade yet again.
I glare out the cabin window, watching that fucker Derek plod down the metal ramp of the dock next to the one this yacht is moored in. Silas stands behind me, watching too.
He’s behind me and way too close, and I like it.
“Yeah, she’s coming. Should we just go out there and jump his ass?”
“No.” I’ve been raised around cops, too. “We don’t know if he’s armed, and he’ll be long gone by the time we get to him.” Derek’s neck cranes, scanning this marina with over four dozen yachts and sailboats in slips. “Besides, if we interfere with Cade’s job, she’ll shoot us after she shoots him.”
I’m fighting every instinct to rush that man, to tear Derek limb from limb. I could smash his skull on a boat cleat and smile while doing it.
And if I didn’t have this drama before me, I could turn around and kiss Silas again. I could kiss and touch him; my God, he makes me feel better.
He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to be so kind and show me around the boat. He didn’t have to be professional and a gentleman trying to make me comfortable.
He does have to be good to Cade, or I’d fucking kill him, but he doesn’t have to be so warm about it.
It surprised me. What he told me about being outed at The Citadel? And how he was kicked out of his parents’ house? That had to have been rough as hell.
Men are supposed to be tough. We’re supposed to “be a man” and show no emotion unless it’s angry-as-fuck. I’m supposed to be a jealous, insecure dick, act like I own Cade, and beat the shit out of any man who “takes what’s mine.” And I was like that… when I was an emotionally immature drunk.
And women are supposed to love men like that?
What fucking bullshit.
Damn, can’t people see what a slippery slope that is? It ain’t romantic. It’s fucking violent and dangerous.
I know. I barely survived it. Many people don’t.
Those three men thought Cade was theirs because she’s so beautiful, because they wanted her, and men are raised “not to take no for an answer.”
Cade screamed, “No.” I remember barely being able to slur “No.” And those possessive men didn’t stop until Cade’s dad showed up with a gun.
So fuck you, World, for raising men to be its biggest problem. And thank you to other men who refuse to be.
Silas is one of them, one of the good ones.
His phone rings.
“Yeah,” he answers, “it’s the Sea Ray. White hard top. Thirty-five footer. Last slip off the third ramp.”
That’s Cade looking for us.
He ends the call, and we say nothing. In the meantime, Derek walks back up the ramp toward the sidewalk in front of the building of condos. He’s looking, but he can’t see me.
Goddamn, I thought my paranoia that someone was following me was from my guilty heart. But I was right. Derek’s been following me this whole time.
What does he want? Why is he so obsessed with me?
Then again, sociopaths don’t need a reason. They just need a target.
“Shit, I hope she’s careful.” Silas watches over my shoulder. “What if you’re right? What if he’s carrying?”
“She is, too.” Derek starts walking toward the patio bar, scanning the crowd. “And I can guarantee you she’s a better shot than him. That woman was raised with a baby rattle in one hand and 9mm in the other. Trust me.”
I’m not worried about Cade. In situations like this, she’s fine. It’s everything else I worry about. Derek and his stalking of my sister and nephew. Mama G and what she told me. That damn story getting leaked, and an innocent guy whose life may be ruined.
