Page 20 of Shielding Lexi (Temptation)

“What’s the plan when we get back? I mean, I know you’re not going to be cool with Lexi staying with us, but where should she go?”

“Home,” I say blankly.

“But she doesn’t know where home is.”

“Then we figure it out and we take her there,” I say flatly as though he’s dumb for asking the question.

“Reap, Brick could be after her. He could still be trying to find her.”

“And what do you think is going to happen when the Devil’s Daggers find outwehave her? You think they’re just going to knock on our door with a basket of jam and biscuits to ask for her back?”

He stays motionless, staring back at me as though he doesn’t know how to respond.

“Look, my plan is to contact their Prez and see if we can get a meeting. We can find out what kind of crazy bullshit this girl got herself into with them, and we’ll go from there.”

“And what if she’s with him, then what? We just give her back? She doesn’t want to go back there, Reap. And if they know she’s okay, they’re going to want her—”

“You think I’m going to let someone hurt her?” I ask. “Fuck, Hawk. You’ve known me how long now?”

He pauses again, studying me as though that’s not the answer he thought he was going to get.

“But you’ve been so…”

“Hawk… who do you take me for? I’m not trying to hurt the girl. I just don’t trust her. If she doesn’t want to go back to Brick, we’re going to keep her safe.”

He quiets again, then stands from the bench and moves toward me, throwing his arm up on my shoulder to squeeze. “I know you’re working through a lot, man. We’re all here for you.”

I nod my head, but keep my eye on the horizon. I appreciate the sentiment, and I never doubt their willingness to help, but grieving is just going to take time. And it’ll move a lot faster once I know Brick has paid for what he’s done.

“So what’s the first thing you’re going to eat when you get back to Miami? I’ve had a baked cubano on my mind since Wednesday.” Hawk says, sitting back on the bench as he tries to lighten the mood.

I play along. “Yeah, from that place on Eighth. They have the best fried plantains too.”

He nods and smiles, the wind whipping his hair back. “Guess we weren’t starving out here, but I was getting pretty sick of clams.”

“Yeah, I guess we’re due for a good ham and cheese on sweetbread. Hopefully the place is open when we get to town.” I look down at the navigation. “We still have a few hundred nautical miles to go. That’ll probably get us in around six a.m.”

“Guess we’ll have to go to breakfast then. There’s Roberto’s with the empanadas.”

I nod, my mouth watering at the thought of crispy bacon and eggs fried into a sweet dough.

“It’ll be nice to get home. I like being out here, but there’s something about the lights of Miami that just does it for me.”

“The lights, huh?” I repeat, throwing him a grin. “Is it the lights or all the tiny bikinis and big asses bouncing up and down the beach all day?”

He laughs and looks away. “Nah, it’s the lights.”

“Sure it is,” I say, forgetting for a second that Lexi is below deck. Of course he’d never admit to a good bikini watch with her nearby.

For a second, we genuinely enjoy each other’s company, and it feels like it used to—before I wanted to murder Brick.

“Lexi is sick,” Kane says from the cabin of the boat, his face white.

“What, like seasick? Get her ass up here. Don’t let her toss her cookies all over my interior.”

Kane rolls his eyes. “No, she’s shaking. I felt her head. She’s burning up.”

“Fuck. There’s some Tylenol in the first aid kit, grab some.”

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