Page 90 of Wayward
“Bye, Em.”
“Bye, Jerk Face,” she says, half crying and laughing. Easton sets the phone down, and I sit in an empty chair on the side of the sofa. Five sets of eyes glare at me. But I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. I can’t let Rocky see how much I love my guys.
Dante stands and grabs my hand, and he pulls me over to the sofa and squeezes me in the six inches between him and Easton. Rocky’s brows furrow, and my pulse races. I stared at the ceiling of the treehouse more than one night with Calvin’s arm pinning me to the mattress while I was nestled into one of the other guys. He sleeps so poorly I never want to wake him up. So I’d lay there thinking of what it would be like to be back home. What I would eat—not that I obsessed about it, but I’d let my thoughts wander, and it would always come to a moment like this. Looking at the parent or relative of one of the guys as it slowly sinks in what we are to each other. How our relationship is more than friends.
My stomach flips, but I’m strong enough to do this. I’m strong enough to love them and push away what other people think. In Dante’s words,fuck them.I straighten my shoulders with as much space as I have. Because I’m comfortable here.
“There’s room over there,” Rocky says, pointing at the love seat on the other side of the room.
“She’s good here. Aren’t you, Haley?” Easton takes my hand and intertwines our fingers and rests them on his lap.
Rocky’s eyes trail from our joined hands to where Dante has a hand on my knee. He turns to Mike the PR person, who visibly swallows and nods at Rocky—like they’re telepathically linked in dealing with business issues.
“We have a lot to talk about, Dad. Some of it is going to be difficult for you to accept, but it’s my life. But the first?—”
“Why don’t you tell me what it is before you make me judge and jury? I doubt I’m going to care. You’re alive, and that’s all that matters. But you’ve got that look on your face. You want to ask me something?”
“You didn’t answer my question about the Zambranos.” His voice doesn't waver.
But me? I’m Jello inside. The PR guy is typing on his phone faster than a teenager with good gossip, and he keeps glancing at me. This place is putting me on edge. I’ve been to plenty of nice hotels before. A few of the yachts I’ve stewed on make a five-star hotel look like a roadside motel. But I’m climbing out of my skin. I don’t belong here. Only Dante’s hand on my leg and Easton’s interlocked fingers keep me from bolting.
“Sassy,” Dante whispers in my ear, and I’m pulled back from my racing thoughts.
I close my eyes. I can do this. I want to do this. I’m not that same little girl who was scared when her parents fought. I haven’t been her in a darn long time.
Dante squeezes my leg. I’d like to say that my insecurities vanish with a wave of a magic wand. But they’re in there. I know they’re going to come out again. I stare over at Rocky and at Sam, Zane, and Calvin.
Rocky’s staring at Easton. His chest rises and falls. His lips stretch into a thin line, and I’m not sure he’s going to admit to it. After a long while, he stands. “It’s complicated. It’s complicated in the most horrible kind of way. And . . . what are you saying? Where have you been?”
“Right, we’re going to need more than that,” Sam says, standing too. “I don’t have any right to know what’s going on in your business. But your dealings with the Zambrano family put my crew and the vessel I was in command of in peril.”
“How—”
“What happened with theRock Candywasn’t an accident. A deckhand, Trent Mitchell, sabotaged the boat. He was blackmailed into doing it. We believe the Zambrano family took Mitch’s cousin.”
Rocky walks the length of the room and back. “No. I . . . How did you find out? And how did Sam end up with the rest of you?”
“TheRock Candydrifted on the same current as their raft. I arrived on another part of the island weeks after they did.”
“So you fixed the ship and?—”
“No, Dad. It’s not as simple as that. Pirates stole theRock Candywhen we had her tied up. They came back to kill us months later. That’s when it takes a twist. We fought back, and Thayer Zambrano came in on his yacht.”
“And he brought you back?”
“Sort of. He went back on his father’s orders to kill us. Instead, he held us captive,” Zane says.
PR Mike sinks to the empty sofa. His eyes are even wider than Rocky’s.
“Why . . . why would he want to kill us? He’s been using . . .” Rocky glances at where we came in. “Is she over there?” he asks Mike.
“Ms. Blanche?” Mike asks, and Rocky nods. “I believe so.”
“Susan kept her maiden name,” Easton says to us. “And why the hell is she here?”
“She never left the company. You know she has too big of a stake in Rockwell-Harding.” Rocky wrings his hands in front of him.
“Honestly Dad, is she the one who brought the Zambranos into the fray?”
