Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Maverick
N ormies and Sinners alike crowd the upper deck as the helicopter rises from a higher plateau and shrinks before disappearing over the horizon. Everyone else came out to be nosy. I came out to say goodbye.
King was right. The only thing tying her so tightly to this lifestyle has been me.
I’d begun imagining her in our world, but she doesn’t belong here.
It would be like keeping a dolphin on dry land.
Sure, she can breathe oxygen, but she’ll eventually become a dry, screaming, miserable husk of what she once was.
Frankie is a fed. It’s in her blood. I am a killer. It’s in my blood. We were never meant to be.
Ice Pick stands nearby, a beer in his right hand as he leans over the railing and spits on the lower deck. If anyone can understand my heartbreak, it’s him, so I hurry to join him. Misery loves company, after all.
“How you holding up, buddy?” I ask as I slap my palm against his back. “Maybe we could go to the bar this evening and do a little prowling?” I have zero desire to prowl for anything, but playing wingman doesn’t sound so bad.
He takes a swig of beer and smacks his lips. “No can do, I’m afraid. You remember the brunette that was fighting for me on the beach?”
I nod.
“Turns out, she’s definitely not a fed. We’ve got a date tonight.” He laughs and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Looks like someone’s in for three inches of hard rain tonight.”
“Oh, wow...good for you, man.” I clap him on the back again and try to get the mental image of his hard “rain” out of my head.
He glances past me, then looks the other direction. “Where’s Frankie? She’s really good at judging people just by talking to them for a second, and I want her opinion.”
“She, uh...She went home, Ice. I don’t think we’ll be seeing her again.”
“Yeah, right. The way she looks at you? I don’t think wild horses will keep her away.”
Well, this definitely isn’t helping me feel any better.
Cat, Bennett, and Eve sit on the lounge chairs a few feet away. Eve gives me a wave when she spots me, and I leave Ice Pick in hopes of calmer waters. I head over to the trio and take a seat at the foot of Eve’s chair.
“How’d the jet ski rides go?” I ask.
Bennett kisses Cat’s shoulder and whispers something in her ear, seemingly oblivious to my question. Cat giggles and pushes his head away before turning to me.
“We had a good time. Bennett’s just being a perv now because watching me kill turns him on.” She giggles again and removes his hand, which was creeping up her thigh. “Where’s Frankie? We missed you guys.”
“We waited as long as we could before taking off,” Eve adds.
I squeeze the back of my neck. It seems I’ll have to answer this question everywhere I go. Luckily, Grim, Rose, and Kindra appear further down the deck, with Ezra hot on their heels. If I can get everyone in one place, maybe I can just say it once more and be done with it.
“There’s something you guys should know about Frankie,” I say, trying to stall a little to give everyone time to get here.
Eve flicks her hair over her shoulder, then straightens the crooked strap of her bikini top. “What, she’s a fed? Honey, we already knew that. I clocked her the moment I met her.”
“How did you . . . ?” I blink, completely taken aback.
Cat laughs. “How did you not know?”
“What, that Frankie was an agent?” Kindra says as they approach us. “We kind of figured.”
“Did everyone know?” I ask.
Rose nods and signs something to Grim, and he relays the message to the rest of us. “Yes, as Rose says, only a man without eyes would have missed it.”
The smile drops from Eve’s face. “Don’t tell me you broke it off when she told you.”
“No, I knew from the beginning. Jim set me up to protect her, so I’ve spent the entire time trying to keep her identity a secret.” I squeeze my neck again to relieve the tension trapped in my muscles. “I figured if you guys knew, you’d try to kill her. Or worse, you’d ostracize her.”
Ezra scoffs. “We let Bennett hang around. A federal agent can’t be worse than him .”
Everyone laughs at that, even Bennett. Everyone but me. Frankie feared the girls wouldn’t like her anymore once they knew the truth, and to be honest, I thought the same. Now I see that none of that mattered to them.
But this was for the best, and I know my friends will understand too.
“So where is she? Hopefully she isn’t hiding because she’s worried about what we’ll think, the poor dear,” Cat says. “Should we keep the jokes to a minimum? Is she sensitive about it? Gosh, I hope we haven’t fucked up and upset her in any way.”
I shake my head and take a deep breath. “No, I’m sure she had no hard feelings when she left.”
“Left?” the girls say in unison.
“What the fuck do you mean, when she left ?” Eve nearly shouts at me.
I explain what happened with King, how he showed up to take her home, complete with a shiny new promotion.
No detail is spared, including my feelings about how this is best for her and how much it’s hurting me.
The last part isn’t easy, especially since the guys are here.
Grim eventually wanders off, made too uncomfortable once the talk turns to feelings.
“But you told her how you feel about her, right?” Kindra asks. “I mean, you confessed all this to her and let her decide, and this is the choice she made, so there’s really no reason for you to feel bad.”
Ezra drops his hand to my shoulder and gives it a hard squeeze. “Bad business, that. But as Kindra said, you told her how you feel. If that wasn’t enough for her, good riddance.”
“Well, no,” I admit. “I worried if I told her how I felt, it might manipulate her into?—”
Hands smack me from all sides.
“Are you fucking stupid?” Cat shouts.
“Have our late-night talks taught you nothing?” Eve demands.
Kindra shakes her head. “I am so disappointed in you.”
Even Rosie speaks volumes with the scowl on her face.
“Really stupid move, kid,” Bennett says with a shake of his head. “Even I knew enough to pour out my heart when it really mattered.”
I scoot away from the group and turn to face them. I’m beginning to feel like a wounded wildebeest surrounded by a pride of hungry lions. They each take nips, but I’m already bleeding. I have no fight left.
“I’m glad to know each of you would have made better decisions, but these are the choices I made, and I’m happy with them.
If you knew how much her career meant to her, you’d understand.
” Emotions bubble beneath my skin, but I push them down.
“This was for the best. It wasn’t an easy call to make, but I fucking made it. ”
Eve shakes her head. “Honey, sometimes it’s best to let people make that call themselves. You might not regret keeping your feelings hidden right now, but you will.”
“Well, we’ll just have to fix this when we get back,” Kindra says with a flick of her wrist. “Ezra can find her. Then we’ll all tell her the truth. That Maverick is a massive idiot who self-sabotages because it’s easier to hurt himself than to allow someone else the opportunity.”
My jaw drops. “That’s not?—”
“I can back that up,” Eve says with a nod.
My eyes widen. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”
“Are there any feds still alive on this vessel?” Ezra asks. “We could grill them for more info about her. Might make it easier to track her down.”
Bennett nods. “Good idea. I’ll ask?—”
“Wait!” I hold up my hands in a physical attempt to stop the insanity.
Their heads turn to me, and I’m grateful when their mouths close.
“Guys, Frankie was the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. She showed me what I’m capable of having, but she also showed me why it’s best I don’t have it. This is better for her.”
Eve places a hand on my arm. “That’s why we want to help. We’ve seen how happy she makes you. You’re the sunshine in everyone else’s day, so it was nice to see you get blasted with the radioactive rays for once.”
“I appreciate it, more than you guys realize, but...let it go. For me.”
The group heaves a collective sigh, then murmurs their agreement. They’ll drop it.
Now I just have to figure out how to let it go myself.