Page 81 of Reluctantly His

I didn’t remember most of the trip getting to the harbor.

There were definitely a few times I avoided traffic by hopping on the sidewalk, making people dive out of my way. There was also a strong possibility I may have clipped a little old lady. I’m sure she was fine. I was even more sure I didn’t give a fuck.

Two cops tried to pull me over, but they just simply couldn’t keep up with my speed.

I doubted any of them were even able to get my license number, and if they did, fuck it.

I would deal with whatever bullshit they threw at me once I knew Charlotte was safe, and the men that put her in danger, and probably her fiancé, were burning in hell.

I made it to the harbor in less than fifteen minutes.

My face stung from the chill and the wind, but it didn’t matter.

There were a ton of people milling around, but no urgency.

No one seemed panicked or like they were doing anything important.

I could see the yacht off in the distance, but it looked perfectly normal from the shore.

No one knew my girl was in trouble.

I quickly looked around for something that could get me out to that yacht. Everything was huge and slow, meant for luxury sailing.

How could so many people have this much fucking money and no taste for adventure?

The longer it took to find something that could get me to that yacht quickly, the more frantic I was becoming. I was ten seconds from diving into that icy water and swimming when I saw a giant lime-green monstrosity. The lime green boat had yellow eyes and jagged teeth painted on the front, and across the side were the words the beast.

It was huge, gaudy, and would stick out like a sore thumb. But it would fucking move.

It looked like another fucking tourist trap that was put away for the season, probably only at the harbor to be cleaned or serviced.

It would have to do.

I looked around to make sure no one was watching me, and aside from a little five-year-old kid hanging onto his mom’s arm while she spoke to somebody else, no one gave a damn.

I pressed my fingers to my lips to tell the kid to be quiet as I snuck down to the boardwalk next to the beast and quickly unhooked it from the pier.

Then it only took me a few minutes to hotwire the speedboat, and I was in business.

The twin jet engines were extremely loud, but as I got to the helm and started maneuvering the boat out of its resting spot, no one really even looked over. Just the same kid was watching. The mom did look over once and shoot me a dirty look as she let go of the child’s hands and covered her ears.

Really, was there no security?

Did rich New Yorkers just think people didn’t have the audacity to steal boats, or that they were somehow above common theft?

Had they never seen a pirate movie?

I was going to use their ignorance to my advantage.

I pushed the engine as hard as I could until I was about a hundred yards out, and then I cut it completely. If the assailants knew that I was coming, I would lose my edge. I used the momentum from the engine and carefully maneuvered the beast to coast alongside the edge of the yacht.

The closest I could get was six feet away. That would have to be enough.

As carefully and quietly as I could, I stood on the edge of the beast, balancing with the waves as I waited for the boat to line up with the ladder on the side of the yacht.

I could hear the assailants screaming on the deck.

Some nonsense about big oil destroying the planet for everybody, blah blah blah, hug a tree, blah blah blah.

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