Page 96 of Ship Happens
“Turns out, she’s definitely not a fed. We’ve got a date tonight.” He laughs and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Looks like someone’s in for three inches ofhardrain tonight.”
“Oh, wow...good for you, man.” I clap him on the back again and try to get the mental image of his hard “rain” out of my head.
He glances past me, then looks the other direction. “Where’s Frankie? She’s really good at judging people just by talking to them for a second, and I want her opinion.”
“She, uh...She went home, Ice. I don’t think we’ll be seeing her again.”
“Yeah, right. The way she looks at you? I don’t think wild horses will keep her away.”
Well, this definitely isn’t helping me feel any better.
Cat, Bennett, and Eve sit on the lounge chairs a few feet away. Eve gives me a wave when she spots me, and I leave Ice Pick in hopes of calmer waters. I head over to the trio and take a seat at the foot of Eve’s chair.
“How’d the jet ski rides go?” I ask.
Bennett kisses Cat’s shoulder and whispers something in her ear, seemingly oblivious to my question. Cat giggles and pushes his head away before turning to me.
“We had a good time. Bennett’s just being a perv now because watching me kill turns him on.” She giggles again and removes his hand, which was creeping up her thigh. “Where’s Frankie? We missed you guys.”
“We waited as long as we could before taking off,” Eve adds.
I squeeze the back of my neck. It seems I’ll have to answer this question everywhere I go. Luckily, Grim, Rose, and Kindra appear further down the deck, with Ezra hot on their heels. If I can get everyone in one place, maybe I can just say it once more and be done with it.
“There’s something you guys should know about Frankie,” I say, trying to stall a little to give everyone time to get here.
Eve flicks her hair over her shoulder, then straightens the crooked strap of her bikini top. “What, she’s a fed? Honey, we already knew that. I clocked her the moment I met her.”
“How did you . . . ?” I blink, completely taken aback.
Cat laughs. “How did younotknow?”
“What, that Frankie was an agent?” Kindra says as they approach us. “We kind of figured.”
“Did everyone know?” I ask.
Rose nods and signs something to Grim, and he relays the message to the rest of us. “Yes, as Rose says, only a man without eyes would have missed it.”
The smile drops from Eve’s face. “Don’t tell me you broke it off when she told you.”
“No, I knew from the beginning. Jim set me up to protect her, so I’ve spent the entire time trying to keep her identity a secret.” I squeeze my neck again to relieve the tension trapped in my muscles. “I figured if you guys knew, you’d try to kill her. Or worse, you’d ostracize her.”
Ezra scoffs. “We let Bennett hang around. A federal agent can’t be worse thanhim.”
Everyone laughs at that, even Bennett. Everyone but me. Frankie feared the girls wouldn’t like her anymore once they knew the truth, and to be honest, I thought the same. Now I see that none of that mattered to them.
But this was for the best, and I know my friends will understand too.
“So where is she? Hopefully she isn’t hiding because she’s worried about what we’ll think, the poor dear,” Cat says. “Should we keep the jokes to a minimum? Is she sensitive about it? Gosh, I hope we haven’t fucked up and upset her in any way.”
I shake my head and take a deep breath. “No, I’m sure she had no hard feelings when she left.”
“Left?” the girls say in unison.
“What the fuck do you mean, when sheleft?” Eve nearly shouts at me.
I explain what happened with King, how he showed up to take her home, complete with a shiny new promotion. No detail is spared, including my feelings about how this is best for her and how much it’s hurting me. The last part isn’t easy, especially since the guys are here. Grim eventually wanders off, made too uncomfortable once the talk turns to feelings.
“But you told her how you feel about her, right?” Kindra asks. “I mean, you confessed all this to her and let her decide, and this is the choice she made, so there’s really no reason for you to feel bad.”
