Page 43 of Wrecked
Especially a woman in a vulnerable situation.
He stepped onto the plank that dropped at a moderate angle to the dock. Tranquility surrounded him. Water had always been a balm to his soul.
His sister loved swimming as a kid and would have liked this place. She should be here. Not in a cold grave. One thought and he had a hard time breathing. Failing to save her and his mother had torn him to pieces like an out-of-control car skidding into a brick wall.
He was not fixable.
That’s why his need to protect a woman overrode anything else in a dangerous situation. He had to be able to face that man in the mirror every morning.
To tell himself he could do better than he had for his mom and sister.
Enough of dark thoughts. This week would never end if he dredged up every bad memory. He got moving again to reach the end of the dock before twilight turned into dark.
Salt air filled the breath he pulled through his nose. His dock shoes slapped the boards as he walked along the hundred-foot dock with galvanized iron cleats for tie-downs. Pilings with black caps had just begun to weather. Water faucets and shore power were well-placed.
Narrow docks jutted out between the boat slips.
His boat sat alongside the last section of dock where it teed off to the right with rubber bumpers hanging between the dock and the hull.
His boat.
He hadn’t owned anything he cared about since buying it. He took a moment to appreciate the look of his baby floating in the water. The eighteen-foot boat still needed some topside work, but the craft was clean. He stepped down, grinning like an idiot. Out of habit, he ducked into the cabin and opened the small refrigerator where he used to stash cheap beer.
The refrigerator worked and had a six-pack cooling.
His eyes burned. Angie had been the only person to ever treat him well and make him feel welcome before he met Logan and the HAMR Brotherhood. She’d encouraged him to get this boat and to name it something that was all his.
Opening the beer, he stepped out and walked around to the bow where he stretched out and leaned against the slant of the cabin. Nothing obscured his view falling into twilight with the sun setting behind him.
It would be pitch-dark soon.
He’d too quickly dismissed the joy of watching a day end quietly.
As he took a second swig of his beer, the cold tip of a gun barrel touched his temple.
Chapter 12
