Page 115 of Mark

I twist the knobs in front of me, my wrists flexing to get the right amount of power. “You are going down, Hayden,” I cry.

“Ohh, shit talking, are we,” she bites out. “Don’t worry, Liam has the tissues ready for you when you lose.”

“I won’t be the one needing them,” I remark.

“Repeat that later when Freya is consoling your sorry arse.”

“Says the daughter of a criminal.”

Max has been taken to the local police station. None of us know yet what happened, but he doesn’t have long before the boat is due to leave.

“It’s just foosball,” Freya remarks.

“No, it’s not!” Hayden and I yell simultaneously.

“Guys, come quick. Max and Maverick are on the pier,” Maddox yells.

Freya lets go of the handles first. “No, what are you doing, Freya? We’ve got this.”

Clay lets go too as Freya replies, “I’m going to go see what’s happening.”

I glance at Hayden. “What about you?”

“I’ll let go if you do,” she swears.

“On three?”

“On three,” she agrees.

“One, two…” We both let go.

Freya’s shoulders drop. “Thank God. My arms are killing me.”

“We are having a rematch when we get back,” Hayden warns.

“No!” Clay cries. “No more competitive games for the rest of the day.”

Hayden pouts. “But I was winning.”

“You wish,” I mutter as we make our way to the top deck.

It takes us five minutes to get there, and we aren’t the only ones. Passengers are all leaning over the side, glancing down at the pier.

Charlotte glances back. “He’s had a T-Shirt made,” she tells us as we get closer.

“A T-shirt?” Hayden questions.

We glance over the side of the boat and see Max with his arms up, yelling, “I’m a free man!” It’s the same saying written on his T-shirt in bright red lettering. I snort.

Cheers ring out on the ship as people begin to clap. I take Freya’s hand. “Let’s go meet them at the entrance and see what happened.”

“We’re coming,” Charlotte tells me, then glances at Hayden. “Your poor dad must have been scared out of his mind.”

“Charlotte, I love you, but my dad doesn’t have the capacity in his brain to be scared of the police. Just ask our local police officers,” Hayden replies.

“She isn’t wrong. There’s a reason his face is on a warning poster throughout the station. Old timers already have him burnt into their minds. It’s mostly for the new recruits,” Beau replies.

“Still. He’s in a foreign country. He doesn’t know them,” Charlotte stresses, biting her lower lip.

---