Page 74 of Stay Toxic

“I could have, yes,” he agreed as he wiped his mouth with the napkin next to his plate. “But I didn’t want to.”

“Do you always do what you want?” I asked.

“Sure do.” He leaned back in his chair. “Once you stop caring what everyone thinks about you, the second half of your life begins.”

I studied him for a long second before saying, “I’m sure that this is how you’ve always been.”

“And why would you think that?” he asked.

Our food came and I didn’t have to answer.

It was excellent, and I now knew why the line extended out the door and around the block.

When I was finished, I reluctantly stood up and said, “I have to go.”

He didn’t stand up with me, indicating he had no intention of walking me back.

I felt a small pang in my heart, but chose not to study it too closely, and headed out of the restaurant.

When I got back to the hotel, it was to find everyone settling in for the second half of the day.

I went back to my original seat with the teachers I’d come with and then slugged through four more hours of useless information that could’ve been an email.

Oh, the joys of continuing education.

There should be confetti in tires so when there’s a blow-out, it’s still kind of okay.

—Brecken to Shasha

SHASHA

I managed to stay the hell away from her for a total of seven hours.

In those seven hours, I was working, which was how I managed it for so long.

“The ship’s been located in the Pacific,” Daniil, my security expert, said without preamble. “I have ten of our own men and a hired army to land on them the moment they port. Or follow whatever boat comes out. We’re not breaching the ship as you instructed, though.”

“Good,” I said. “Call me with any updates you have.”

“Will do,” Daniil said and hung up.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket and stared at the woman at the front desk, thinking about my instructions toDaniil in order not to think about why I was standing in a subpar hotel lobby.

I’d instructed Daniil not to breach the ship because of just how vast it was. There were so many places to hide and even more places to hole up and wait to ambush someone.

I was not interested in having any of my men die today because of something stupid I’d asked them to do.

No, the best strategy was to hope that Cayden was still okay and wasn’t being tortured, and they had an ulterior motive in taking him, not to just kill him.

The woman behind the desk looked at her watch, and I knew that she was about to head outside for her smoke break, leaving her station unattended for at least the next fifteen minutes.

I’d watched her do it four times now, and I knew that I should probably leave. But I couldn’t.

My body craved the woman with a ferocity that I was damn tired of fighting.

After today, having her in that office that Cayden used to clean his money, I realized that fighting this was futile.

That wasn’t going to stop me from trying, though.

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