Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
MIC
W e spend the day underwater repairing another section of the ship. Everything is running smoothly until we swim back up to the surface.
Waiting for us, a few miles from the Omega, is a small boat full of men looking for trouble. Cassandra, the smallest and the only woman, is their obvious target. They shout back and forth in a language I don’t understand. Panic grips my throat as my men all swim faster to reach her. A man in a red t-shirt and cut-off jeans is trying to offer her help into his boat, but he’s not taking no for an answer, and I watch in horror as he jumps into the water to swim after her.
“Fuck,” I sputter in the diving mask. Ripping it off my face, I curse the weight of my welding gear as I struggle to swim faster. My heart beats fast, and fear rises as the man reaches her. Cooper is close, but the boatful of pirates are closer, and one of the other men throws in a floating ring for his partner, who is dragging Cassandra too fucking close to the boat for my liking.
“No! Stop!” I shout.
Fuck! I’m too far away, and Karl and Brian are farther behind me. The waves move us up and down, and I can see the Omega and someone lowering a small lifeboat into the water, but I’m afraid they’re going to be too late.
The men pull Cassandra into the boat, and although she’s kicking and screaming, her small frame is no match for the five men holding her. I swim as fast as I can, but I’m still a good half mile from the small boat when the man in the cutoff jeans pulls himself into the craft.
“Cassandra!” I scream, but it’s useless. Not only is she under my lead, but she’s become like family to me, and my gut twists with the thought of losing her. I promised her mother I wouldn’t let anything like this happen to her, and I’m failing.
Suddenly, the boat flips over, sending the men and Casandra into the water. The boat from the Omega comes into view, and so does Mallory, and she’s furious with a face so red it almost matches her hair. She gets to her feet when the boat stops, and before my eyes, the tiny woman jumps into the raging ocean armed with a spear gun.
I finally make it close enough to see Cassandra and the man dragging her underwater, but she swings her fist, hitting him square in the nose. The fucker finally gives up and swims over to join the other men who got their boat flipped back over, and they climb in.
“Hey, are you okay?” I sputter, out of breath.
Cassandra, also missing her mask, looks just as dazed as I feel, and she simply nods.
“Are you guys okay?” Mallory calls from nearby, and when we yell back, yes, she takes aim with her spear gun and shocks the shit out of me by letting the trigger go, sending a spear through the air and straight into the shoulder of the man in a red shirt. The fucker who tried to get Cassandra.
I thought Cassandra was wiped out, but she hoots and hollers her appreciation.
Mallory smiles at her, and I can’t help but think it’s the first time I’ve seen it since she’s been back in my life. My heart is still pumping hard from the adrenaline as Brian, Cooper and Karl join us.
“Holy shit. You hit him!”
“Damn right I did,” Mallory shouts back to Cooper, who gives me the side eye.
The young buck looks proud of her, but I can’t help the fear still clogging my throat.
The guys check in with Cassandra as we board Mallory’s small boat, and the guys pat her on the back for the save. I stay quiet, not feeling the same pride. Instead, I’m filled with the what ifs. What if they got away with Casandra? What if they grabbed Mallory, too? She was a sitting duck in the water below them. They could have jumped into the boat and taken both the girls before I even got close. As we make it back to the boat, I’m simmering in anger I can’t seem to shake. I’m pissed at myself, mad at the pirates for daring to try anything with my team, but worst of all, I’m livid with Mallory for risking her life. It makes no sense, so I keep my thoughts to myself.
Back on the Omega, everyone greets us with cheers and celebration. I think someone even pops champagne, but I storm off, needing to be alone with my confusing feelings. With a tight crew like mine, keeping shit to myself is harder than it ought to be, and as my bad luck would have it, Cooper follows me to my room.
“Hey boss, you alright? That was sure somethin’,” he says, taking the only chair in my small steel cabin.
“Yeah, somethin’. Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
“Nope. I heard dinner is gonna take a while yet, so as I see it, I got a minute. You look like shit, and as your best friend, I thought I’d come to comfort you. Feel free to confide in me.”
“Cooper, you are not my best friend, and I don’t need comfort from anyone.”
He touches his chest in mock hurt as his wet suit drips onto my floor. “That’s hurtful, but maybe you’d rather have Montgomery come help with all that pint up hurt. I bet she’d come runnin’ with the way she came barreling into the water to rescue us.”
“She was reckless and stupid is what she was, and she’s the last person who had any business barreling in like that,” I say, anger at an all-time high as I feel that familiar uselessness I struggled with as I watched her risk her life, my voice growing louder with each word.
Cooper suddenly sits straight up and coughs.
“Is that right? Maybe I should remember that the next time you need help,” Mallory’s voice is the last thing I want to hear, and I spin around to find her standing in my doorway, an angry look on her face and a stubborn hand on her hip.
Regret twists in my stomach as guilt joins in the swirling fear, and my adrenaline finally starts to disappear.
“Talk to you later, boss, Cooper says, walking past Mallory.
Coward.
“Now I thought somethin’ might be wrong, considering you bolted for your room still in your gear, not a single word to anyone, but I honestly didn’t think it was because you were like the rest of them,” she says with a sober look before turning and leaving me to stew in my guilt.
I’ve noticed how hard it is for her to control the rowdy crew. A lot of the men snicker at her small appearance and say she’s not fit to hold the position she does, which will probably get them killed one of these days. Others sing her praises and tell stories of her success, but all of them question her orders on a daily basis. Now she thinks I don’t respect her, and it eats me.
I do respect her. Hell, I think she’s competent and sexy as fuck, and I’ll gladly follow every order with a ‘yes, ma’am’, but she doesn’t know that. I just planted myself in the shitbag category after she risked her life to save my crew and successfully freed Cassandra.
I have to make this right somehow. Mallory may not want to acknowledge our night together, but I can get over it and give respect where it’s due.
I’ll find a way to make this up to her. Just hope she’s up late again so I can get her alone. Because she may want to forget about that night, but I never will, and if I have to live with it, she’s going to get a reminder at the very least.