Page 50 of Riding the Tide

Dinner went well, and, although they brought their swimming trunks, nobody seemed to be in a rush to get into the pool, even though they were sitting out by it. In Marcus’ opinion they were still too close.

Nisha sipped his bottled water then put it on the table. “So, Blair, do you think you’re going to stay this time, or are you planning to run again and break Marcus’ heart?”

Kannon choked on his drink and quickly set it on the table. “Dammit, Nisha—”

“Must you always be an ass?” Marcus demanded.

Brett rolled his eyes. “Does the word ‘tact’ mean anything to you?”

“No more so than the word ‘consent,’ apparently.” Kannon snapped, glaring at Nisha.

Marcus slammed his hand down on the table. “I’ll not have my mate talked to like—”

Kannon perked up. “Mate?”

Brett ran his hand through his hair. “Way to go. You just insulted Marcus’ mate.”

“It’s only the first bite. I know better than most you can do that and still walk away,” Nisha pointed out.

“Sure you do, seeing as that’s exactly what you did, Nisha,” Kannon added. “And let me tell you what fun for methatwas.”

Marcus growled, the sound low and mean.

Blair held up a hand. “Can I say something please?” Nisha, Kannon, and Brett stopped arguing, their heads snapping around to look at Blair. “Marcus? Calm down, please. I had a feeling this was coming.” Blair took a deep breath and let it out. “I did run, yes. I panicked and overreacted, but at the time it made sense. I’ve talked this out with Marcus, so I’m not going to go into my reasons. Quite frankly they’re none of your business.”

“Damn straight,” Marcus muttered. “If you want to leave, we’ll walk out of here right now.”

“No, I don’t want to leave,” Blair said. “I panicked and ran from you once. I’m not about to panic and run from yet another situation that scares me. Besides, these are your friends.”

“But you’re my mate. That’s the main thing,” Marcus said.

“While I do appreciate that, you have a long-standing history with them.” Blair reached out to Marcus. “Let’s see if we can work this out, okay?”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am.” Blair glanced at each person at the table until he finally came to Nisha. “As I said, it’s none of your business, but I don’t want to be a wedge that drives you and Marcus apart, so… When I got to New York, I realized what a horrible mistake I made, but I needed time to think. I returned with basically nothing more than the clothes on my back.”

“That’s true,” Brett added. “Fortunately for you I hadn’t tossed your clothes.”

“The first thing I did was ask Brett for help. He told me no one had seen Marcus and that the two of you were on vacation and unreachable. I scoured the beaches, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good, but I hoped that maybe he’d sense I was here. When that didn’t work, I rented a boat and went out to the open water.”

“He ran, but he came back. He tried to find me,” Marcus reminded everyone.

“I did, even though I knew it’d be like searching for a needle in a haystack. But I had to do something. I spent a lot of time hoping and praying.”

“How did you finally find each other?” Kannon asked.

“I was out in the open water. I planned to leave the area, but couldn’t. I was checking out this underwater cave when suddenly a boat showed up. Then there was a splash, and a body hit the water,” Marcus said.

Blair snorted. “I rented a small yacht and basically drifted aimlessly. Every day I went swimming. Instead of finding Marcus, a tiger shark found me.”

“Damn.” Nisha fingered his shark tooth necklace. “Fuckers are aggressive.”

“I attacked but also called for help. A couple of dolphins showed up, but they were nothing compared to the massive stingray that decided to help,” Marcus continued.

“Stingray?” Shock covered Nisha’s face. “That’s a rarity. They usually can’t bestir themselves to help much of anyone.”

“Yeah, so you can imagine my surprise. Between me, the stingray, and the dolphins, the shark decided he’d had enough and left,” Marcus said.

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