Chapter 53
HATCH
The engines turn over one by one. The boats pull away from the dock, and Castle stands at the end of the pier, growing smaller and swallowed by darkness as the distance opens up between us and Old Stone Church.
I have no doubt he’ll figure a way off the island. Men like Castle always do. But not tonight, and not on my terms.
When the fire on the island looks more like a star at the edge of the world than a barrel full of dying flames, I turn away.
“Yeah, I know. I owe you. The jokes are over I swear. I do not want to be on your bad side.” Hatton pauses, then scoffs.
“How was I supposed to know all that secretive wartime-bullshit was, in fact, not bullshit?” Hatton winks at me as he smiles into the phone.
“Well, two-hundred-and-twenty yards might be a piece of cake, but I, for one, am glad you didn’t do it blindfolded. I might’ve lost an arm.”
We’re on Fancy’s flybridge, and though I can’t hear what Harry’s saying, Hatton is close enough that I can feel the heat coming off him in the cool night air.
Harry’s insistent grumbling, however, is loud and clear, and Hatton just laughs before his face goes soft.
“Seriously, Harry, thanks, man.” His eyes drift to me. “I wouldn’t be here with my girl without you.” He smiles. “Yeah… yeah, you too. And, hey, I promise to put in a good word for you with Fan—”
He glares at the phone and mutters, “Ol’ bastard hung up on me.” Then Hatton scoffs. “He’s seriously gonna need to confront his feelings before he sees her at the wedding.”
Then Hatton’s gaze settles back on me as he stuffs his phone into his pocket, his eyes gentle.
“You okay?”
“No.” I lean into him, and his arm comes around me carefully, mindful of my aches and bruises. “But I will be.”
Behind us, Harry’s skiff trails close enough that I can make out the red and green sidelights and the shape of X bent protectively around Duchess.
Ahead of us, Dad’s boat cuts clean through the channel, not fast enough to throw us into a nasty wake, but not quite no-wake-zone approved either.
He’s still mad, just in a more restrained way now.
“He’s just as unforgiving as Chessy sometimes,” I snort. But then my eyes widen. “Oh my God, Chessy! Is he okay? Is Dinah?”
Hatton kisses my temple with a smile. “Yeah, actually. Dinah was with Harry when everything went down. And Chessy’s the one that tipped us off on you being in trouble.”
My lip curls in surprise. “Really?”
He nods. “Yup. He was meaner than usual, if you can believe it.”
A weak laugh slips out of me, but it’s welcome after the freaking day I’ve had. “How curious. Well, thanks Chessy. That deserves a can of sardines for sure.”
Hatton chuckles. “He’s staying with Harry if he gets sardines. I ain’t tolerating that kind of stench anywhere near my nose.”
“And speaking of ‘tolerating’ shit…” He hooks a finger beneath my chin and turns my face toward him. Then his voice drops to something low and serious.
“Never even think about putting yourself in front of a gun again, bunny. Especially not for me.” His pierced brow lifts. “Understand?”
Do I understand? I understand that my lower belly instantly flipped at the command in his voice, and that I shall be doing absolutely no such thing.
“I’m going to protect you if I can, Hatton.”
He huffs. “Fuck that. If it’s me or you, let me go. Because if it’s me without you, I wanna be gone.”
I snort. “Well that’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Not when I love you.”
I still. “What?”
He turns fully toward me then, one hand cradling the back of my head while the other slides slowly up my hip like he’s handling something that might run if he grips too tightly. But I don’t think I’m that girl anymore.
“I was trying to be good,” he mutters, almost to himself.
“Trying to give you room. Trying not to be one more man in your life who decided things for you before you were ready. But Lucy…” He exhales.
“I’m not good, and I’m sure as hell not patient when it comes to you.
This is fast for you. I know that. But for me?
” He shakes his head. “It’s been a goddamn eternity. ”
My heart pounds so hard it feels like I’ve done something reckless, like jumping off a dock into winter water. As reckless as falling for a mad Hatter.
His thumb settles under my chin and his voice drops lower. Warmer.
“I think I loved you before I knew you. Getting to know you through a screen and all the little pieces of yourself you couldn’t help but leave behind everywhere you went…” He huffs a laugh. “Yeah, it’s unconventional.”
It’s stalking. I almost tease, but the seriousness settled between his brows keeps me quiet.
“But I think it taught me something real. It taught me how to read you when you thought no one was watching, without a mask, without expectation. And then I got you for real, and that made everything all the more intense. Because it stopped being some deal between families or some fate-written bullshit.” His hand tightens at my waist. “It was you. Your sassy mouth. Your smart brain. Your kind heart. Your brave, sacrificial little self running when you shouldn’t have had to.
” His gaze searches mine. “It was just you, Lucy. Just you.”
I can’t speak. I can barely even freaking breathe.
He leans in until his forehead rests against mine, and his voice roughens around the edges.
“I know this is a mess. I know I’m a mess.
And loving a Fury ain’t exactly a peaceful life choice.
” His lips twitch without humor. “But you became my peace before I ever even knew you, Lucy McKennon, and whatever comes next, I want my life filled with it. Filled with you.” His eyes close for half a beat before he opens them again and makes himself say it plain.
“I love you. You don’t have to say it back tonight, a month from now, or ever. But you deserve to know.”
Then, quick and tender, he cups my cheek fully and kisses me, scorching and slow, like he’s sealing the confession right into my mouth until I’m dizzy and weak and have to brace myself on the wheel when he steps back.
Before I can decide whether to laugh, cry, say it back, or kiss him again, he fishes his phone from his pocket, scrolls, and holds it out to me. The screen is cracked, there’s blood on the case, and at the top of his recent calls is one contact.
Queen of Diamonds.
“Call her, baby. She needs to know you’re okay.”
It’s almost whiplash, where his mind went, but mine is buzzing with his confession, too giddy and dizzy to do anything else but listen to him.
So I sigh and take the phone, fighting the dueling nerves in my chest. Happiness, hopefulness, guilt, and anxiety. One heck of a combo.
“Do you want to be here for this?” I ask Hatton.
Hatton laughs. “I think your parents have had enough of me for one evening.” He kisses the top of my head before tapping the screen. “Call her. I’ll man the helm.”
I nod and step away to sit on the bench at the back of the flybridge, then look down at the cracked screen glowing in the dark.
I’m not running. I’m not hiding. I’m sitting on the deck of a houseboat named after a woman who loved a man she couldn’t have, with a man who gave up the right to marry me but loves me enough to kill every person who tries to take me away.
My father is somewhere ahead in the dark, probably pretending not to look back, and on a tiny island behind us our enemy is likely already figuring out how to bargain his way into his next move after I just made either the bravest or stupidest decision in my life.
If my life were really a story in a book, the description on the back cover would be quite the riddle.
I press the call button. It rings once, twi—
“Hello? Hatton? Is she—”
“Mom, it’s me.” It just takes those three words, and my voice fractures to pieces. “I missed you.”
The stifled sob that escapes my mom is filled with six months of fear, uncertainty, and anxiety leaving her body all at once, and the relief in it wraps around my chest so tightly I close my eyes and rest in it.
“Lucy, oh my God. I’ve been so worried.”
“I know, Mom. I know, I’m so sorry.”
Hatton turns the wheel as we reach the slip for Fancy’s Haven and carefully eases her back where she belongs. Then he gives himself a little fist pump at a parking job well done, and I can’t help my smile.
“Are you coming home?” my mom asks.
He glances back at me and stills when he sees the look on my face. His expression softens.
I grin as I answer her.
“I think I already am.”