Page 38 of Cruel Tides

“Thanks for saving me, man,” I blurted, emotion straining my throat as I pulled him into an enormous hug. I meant to clap him on the back of his shoulders, but when my hands couldn’t reach, I settled for clapping on the sides of his back until he returned the gesture.

“You’re welcome,” he mumbled, his movements stiff as his palm tapped my back. With all the rumors swirling around about him, I knew he wasn’t used to contact, but I trusted my gut more than any rumors. I’d always thought Barren was a good dude. The fact that he risked his life for me proved it.

After giving him one last squeeze, I pulled away. “I mean it. I heard how you stayed behind to save me.” I hurried to get the words out before I got too choked up. “I’m honored, Barren. I’m glad to have you as a friend.”

Before I could get a response out of him, Claira and Leander’s bickering came into earshot. As they made their way back from the shore, Leander’s hands clenched and unclenched, and Claira nursed the sides of her temples like the ordeal had given her a colossal headache.

“The gull betrayed me,” Leander mumbled to Barren as he came up to the car.

“Mmh.” Barren didn’t look convinced. He passed Leander over for Claira, and she gave him a small smile of thanks when he reached out to help put her bag into the trunk. When the last of the car was packed, he went to go cram himself into the driver’s seat.

“Err—I’ll just…” Claira hesitated as she came around the car, looking at me, then at Leander, before ducking into the backseat. It took a few moments of Leander staring at me for me to realize why she’d hesitated.

There was only room for one of us beside her, and of course, like usual, it was going to be Leander.

The crazed look he’d had on the beach was mostly gone from his eyes. Still, his jaw flexed, and he took a step toward me in challenge.

“Wait!”a nearly breathless voice barked into my head as Laverne came around from the back of the hotel, her flippers kicking up in a race toward the car. Now that the fish bag wasn’t weighing her down, she moved twice as fast.“You guys weren’t going to leave without me again, were you?”

“You know I wouldn’t leave my best girl behind.” A smile spread across my face as I called back to her, enjoying the familiarity of falling back into our old routine. Then I realized I literally told her Iwouldleave her behind when I suggested she go back to the Pacific alone, and my smile quickly faded.

When Laverne reached the car, she nosed Leander in the legs, urging him toward the front seat.“Come on, come on. I can’t get in until you do.”

“Excuse me?” Leander backed away, causing Laverne to grumble in frustration. She changed tactics, snapping at his feet like she hadn’t just witnessed him eroding half the sand on the beach and using it to black out the sky. “The fuck—? Hey!”

Her teeth got him on the ankle. He jumped, bouncing on one leg to yank his foot out of her mouth.“Kai-Kai can’t sit with me while he’s injured!”she yapped, and part of me was relieved that, for once, she was thinking of my comfort.

“She has a point,” Claira called from inside the car. Leander’s eyebrows pulled tight as he focused on the empty seat beside her. After whatever had happened between them on the beach, I was sure he wanted to use the car ride as a chance to smooth things over.

Then his icy sharp gaze shot tome, likeIhad suggested this new seating arrangement, glaring with a deadly intent that had me gulping down my next breath. Then he took notice of how I was standing, one hand pressed to my back, and his eyes averted.

He scrubbed a hand over the underside of his jaw and mumbled, “Fuck,” before diving into the front seat. “Whatever. Get in.”

Laverne didn’t need any more encouragement than that. She leaped right onto his lap, the car rocking from the impact. He was still grunting from the weight of her when I got into the seat next to Claira.

She scooted over as far as she could to give me more room. But room wasn’t what I wanted. As soon as I had my car leash fastened and had checked to make sure she was leashed as well, I sank against Claira’s side, finding a comfortable place for my head to rest on her shoulder.

My gut told me Leander wouldn’t approve of the contact. Maybe he would come back here and rip me off her, demanding I get my hands off his mate.

But I was willing to risk it.

She was my mate, too, and one way or another, both Leander and Laverne would have to accept that. And honestly, I was too tired from all the movement to care about what anyone else thought.

“I like this new seating arrangement,” I whispered, reaching to take hold of her hand. I stopped when I realized that she was already holding something—Barren’s phone?

“Just a second.” Her fingers glided over the flat side of the phone. “Barren asked me to plug in my address before we leave.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I watched a box of letters and numbers pop up over the phone.Whoa.Her fingers moved over them so fast, writing out words even faster than a scribe could. When she stopped pressing the buttons, the picture on the phone changed, and she passed it back up to Barren. “That should do it.”

Barren grunted a thanks before turning on the car.

As soon as Claira leaned back, I took the opportunity to capture her hands before she found something else to hold. I loved that instead of holding hands like clamshells, she threaded her fingers with mine in a way I’d never seen before.

“So, does this mean Laverne is coming with us?” Claira glanced over to her. She was twisting and turning, her flippers kneading Leander like she was trying to find a comfortable spot on his lap. “She seems different—she let me hear everything she was saying just now.”

“Really?” Maybe my talk had gotten through to her. “I’m not sure?—”

“As much as I trust you not to get murdered without me, Big Brother,”Laverne interjected, her voice laced with sarcasm,“I’m still going with you.”

“Thanks, Laverne,” I said, relieved that she was sticking around. Claira gave my hand a reassuring squeeze when a loud voice came over Barren’s phone, telling him to turn the car left.

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