Page 12 of Cruel Tides

“Wait. You’re really okay with me staying here with him?” I asked as soon as he pulled away. My eyes searched his face for even a shred of doubt. “Are you sure it won’t… bother you?”

He rubbed a thoughtful hand through his hair. “My mother was never happy to return to my father. Or to me,” he said slowly. “But you’re different. I can feel it, down deep in my bones. I know you mean it when you say you love me.”

He took my hand in his, squeezing it lightly. “So as long as you promise you’ll never push me away,” he continued, a hopeful smile forming on his lips. “And that you’ll always come back to me. Then I think that when Kai wakes up, the three of us can work this out.”

Work this out. Could it really be possible?

“It will be hard, won’t it?” I asked, feeling uncertain.

“Did you think loving me was going to be easy?” His thumb came up to smooth between my brows. Apparently, I looked as worried as I felt. “Love is a fucking mess. But it still feels nice sometimes, right?”

I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, it does feel nice. I promise I won’t push you away, Lee,” I said, meaning every word. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the feeling of my skin soaking up the heat from his hand. “At least not on purpose. You might eventually get tired of me, though.”

He let out a chuckle. “That’s the last thing you should be worried about.” He went to pull away, but paused as his eyes fell back on Kai. “It helps that I can trust him to protect you. If anything ever happens to me, he’ll still be here.”

“Nothing will happen to you,” I said, and his lips curled as he turned for the door. Oh—hello there. I realized then that he was leaving dressed in only a pair of boxer-briefs. Ones that were barely clinging to his waist.

Barren’s car keys jingled as he fished them out of his front pocket. He waited until Leander was out the door before turning back to me. “I’ll come check on you tonight,” he said firmly, then he went for the door.

“Oh, uh—okay,” I stammered, barely able to get the words out before he was out of the room. Barren was coming back to check on me? A blush crept up my face as the hotel room door shut behind him.

4

Claira

Iglanced back at the bed where Kai was resting. He looked so relaxed, but I knew better than to think he was just taking a nap. It would be impossible for anyone to sleep with Laverne blowing noisy huffs of fish breath across their face.

On second thought—as tired as I was, maybe I could. Now that Leander and Barren were gone, it was like my exhaustion had finally caught up with me. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and let my body recover, too.

Rolling out my shoulders, I sighed. My senses were still on high alert, but now that our lives weren’t in danger, I knew I should get some rest.

“Guess I need a pillow,” I mumbled as I scanned the room. Kai had mentioned the hotel staff stashing pillows away, so the closet seemed like a good place to start. Maybe I’d get lucky and find a blanket in there, too—though I doubted the housekeepers would willingly provide more material for Kai and Laverne to use for their pillow forts.

Ha. The thought of them building forts and hiding pillows for the housekeepers to find every morning brought a curl to my lips as I eased open the closet. Just as I thought, someone had piled two stark white pillows on the top shelf inside it.Score. They looked nice and fluffy—way better than the sorry lump Leander slept with.

I pulled them down, then moved back over to the bed, pausing to weigh whether or not I was brave enough to climb in it. My eyes fell on Laverne, and I winced. There was no telling what she’d do if she woke up to find me in bed with them.

Okay, I hadsome idea. One that involved her nose nudging me off the side of the mattress, and me waking up when I faceplanted on the floor.

Picturing it made me snort. Yeah, that was exactly what she’d do. The couch it was, then.

Hugging tightly to my pillows, I made my way over to it. The fabric was still damp from where Leander had laid out on it earlier, but I took a seat anyway. It might have been a little sticky, but the lingering scent of salt water was a welcomed reminder of home.

My heart twisted in my chest—I missed Dad and Gram so much.

Pulling my legs up onto the couch, I found a comfortable position and shut my eyes.

An image of Gram, her hands working over the tangled weave of a net, was waiting for me behind my eyelids. I let the tune she always hummed play in my mind like a lullaby as I waited to drift off to sleep.

I’d go back to them soon. As soon as I could.

A sudden thought almost shook me back upright, but I took in a slow breath as my mind raced with questions.

Sure, I wanted to go home, but what about Leander? Kai and Barren? Would returning home mean never seeing them again?

My life had gotten complicated, and for once, I couldn’t clearly see what I needed to do next.

The one thing I did know was that a huge part of me didn’t want to leave. I wasn’t even sure if Icouldleave them. But Dad and Gram…

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