Page 55 of Shaken Knot Stirred

I pulled off my other sneaker and stuffed it with my socks. If Pay would pitch a fit over a juice box in the bay, I’d get an hour-long lecture about the toxic effects of miro-plastics. Pinnacle Yacht club sponsored all the Ceto Bay beautification programs, and he was psychotic about it.

He put his hand on the top of my head, pushing it down, making sure the boom would clear me without giving me a concussion as we came around to enter the marina. I dug my phone out of my pocket. It was bricked.

“Fucking A,” I muttered and stuffed it into my shoe with my ruined socks.

The wind died down. Pay headed for his private slip, not the public dock we’d sailed from. He took out his phone, made a call with one hand as he tacked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. No. It was Star, and yes, he’s fine. Pick him up a new phone and bring it to Paramour. Find him shoes, a change of clothes. I don’t know what’s in his suite.”

He tucked the phone back in his pocket. I tossed Win the line and he tied us to the cleat. Pay jumped out first and offered me his hand. I batted it away and swung myself up onto the dock like a big boy.

I looked down at my feet. Yup. Ten toes and not dead yet. I’d have to step carefully or a tetanus shot would be in my future.

“No. I’m not banning him from the premises. Paramour is a fortress. And I’m not setting a precedent where Beg will want to retaliate in kind.” Win crossed his arms over his chest so we’d know he meant business.

“This is the second time he’s gone after Star.”

“This is what I’m talking about. You sank his boat last year. That was his retaliation.”

“Big difference between a faulty patch job to a rowboat and explosive devices. What if this wasn’t about winning the race?”

Win and Pay were going at it, and I honestly didn’t know if I had the will to join the conversation.

“Just drop me in the parking lot. I’ll drive home,” I said absently. I pulled my phone out again and my stomach dropped. All my pictures were on there.

“Star, you just got blown up. You’re not driving anywhere.”

“You’re staying at the Paramour tonight.” Win said with all his big brother mob boss mojo.

“Oh, so you do think it was attempted murder?”

“Well, stop yakking like old biddies and let’s go,” I made my careful way towards Win’s boat, sleek and imperial-looking. I jumped down and wobbled on my feet. They might have been right about the not driving thing. My hands shook slightly. I squeezed them into fists as I sat behind the captain’s chair.

Win cranked the engine and effortlessly guided us out of the marina. Before we got into the bay proper, I shouted to him, “Can your IT guy pull my data off of this?” I waved the phone at him.

We got out of the speed restrictions of the marina, and Win opened the engine up. We bounced hard on the choppy waves. The way Win was piloting this boat, I was glad I hadn’t taken the life jacket off.

Chapter 31

Lana

The tension in thecrowd immediately broke as soon as the announcement came over the PA. The man overboard had been recovered safely.

“He won. He’s going to be insufferable, isn’t he?” Moxie said, pushing back from the edge of the dock.

“Nico?”

Something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell what. When the boat exploded, it was like someone pressed pause on his character while the rest of the game continued.

Without a word, Nico took off towards the parking lot. Moxie flashed her eyes at me as if I knew what was happening. I wanted to reach for Moxie’s hand, but I tucked mine in my back pocket instead.

Nico moved faster, setting an uncomfortable pace. Any faster and we’d have to jog to catch up.

Across the parking lot, we could see the dock where the boats tied up. Beg was easy to pick out. So was his brother, Win. The two didn’t look anything alike, but that was pretty common in birth packs. Win’s mother was the pack’s first omega. In the beginning, I would stay up till dawn reading about the Knightbridges. Almost every issue of OH-Hello magazine had some story about a member of the pack. But I gave up after a while. I was technically a Knightbridge, but I would never have their lives.

“Nico, I’m short. Stop running.” Moxie whined.

Once both brothers were on the dock, Win punched Beg in the chest with an open palm, sending him flying back five feet. Then they stepped up to each other, chest to chest. I could guess what the conversation was about. Beg had just tried to kill one of his brothers.

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