Chapter 11
“How are you doing? Getting your sea legs back easily enough?” Not that Will would mind if Julie got a little wobbly and had to reach for him.
In fact, there was nothing he wanted more than for her to reach for him, for their bodies to tumble together once again.
His body yearned for her physically, but it was the spiritual craving that had driven him toward her the most. She wasn’t just any woman, and he knew he still had a good chance of losing her.
“I’m okay,” she said with a small smile, pulling her eyes from the surrounding water to look at him.
“Good. I’m glad you decided to come out here with me again. I thought it might be nice for us to have a little time together without my entire family staring at us.” He said it with a bit of a laugh, though the thought was genuine.
“It does make things a bit difficult, although I think your family is wonderful,” she added quickly. “They’ve all been so kind to me, enough so that that exact thought keeps running through my head.”
“What do you mean?” Will made some minor adjustments to their direction.
They weren’t heading anywhere in particular.
He’d show her some of the places where he’d learned his trade, or where he’d spent time swimming, or maybe he’d show her some of his favorite views from the bay.
Mostly, he was just thrilled to have her on his boat, in his territory once again.
She lifted one shoulder. “Just that they’ve brought me into their home, even when they have every reason not to let someone like me be among them. They don’t know that they can trust me.”
“Sure, they do.” Will studied the profile of her face as she looked out over the water. “The only thing they’re worried about is your wellbeing, not whether or not you’re going to spill the beans.”
“I hope you’re right,” she replied, both her face and voice turning soft. “There’s no way I could ever tell anyone, no matter what I thought about it. I like your family regardless, but those children! I couldn’t let anything happen to them.”
“You’re already starting to sound like one of us,” he noted, picking up on that protective tone. She seemed to be coming around, but he was desperate to know her true feelings. “And what do you think about the whole thing?”
She turned away from him, but only to sit in a nearby chair.
“I’m not narrow-minded, Will. I’m not against who you are as a person.
No one can help the way they’re born, even though there have been entire wars fought over such things.
It just takes a lot of getting used to, although that feels selfish to say when I know it must come with plenty of difficulties for you. ”
“Life has always come with difficulties anyway,” he reasoned. “Working the job I do and living here on the boat comes with some complications, but it’s a tradeoff. I never have to pack when I want to hoist the anchor and take off for some new place.”
“Taking your home with you like a turtle,” she teased.
He slowed the engine and pointed. “Can you see that little point over there? Where the beach juts out a bit?”
She stood and squinted where he pointed. “Oh. I see it.”
“That was where I started my very first fishing operation.”
“On that tiny sliver of land?” Julie asked incredulously. “It’s hardly even wide enough to walk on!”
“But it is, especially when you’re about twelve years old or so.
The water gets deep really fast there, so either side of that spit of land is nearly vertical.
I’m sure I worried the hell out of my mother, but I found out really quickly that I could do some excellent fishing right there without even having a boat yet. ”
She was swiveling her head back and forth, looking from him to the fishing spot and back again. “Who did you sell them to?”
“Some family members to start with, then some of the other people in the neighborhood once word got out. I was one of those boys that parents warned their kids about, telling them not to play with me because I was a bad influence, but those same parents sure didn’t mind paying me a few bucks for a nice fresh fish for their Sunday dinner.
” He grinned as he remembered. It’d felt good to make them appreciate him, even if they did so begrudgingly.
“So, you’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” she said with an admiring smile.
She was finally relaxing. He could feel it, and his bear rumbled happily.
This was just what they needed. The pressure of being at home under the watchful eyes of the other Brighams had been making things harder, even though everyone only wanted what was best for them.
He and Julie just needed a bit of space to figure out exactly what was best.
“Will?” That relaxed air about her was suddenly gone as she pointed. “Is that boat going to hit us?”
“Shit.” He’d been paying so much attention to her that he’d let his guard down.
He’d been piloting boats for so long that he hardly had to think about it, but a wise captain was always on the lookout for things he couldn’t control.
That included weather and other boats, and one was racing toward them.
He recognized it instantly. “They’re not going to hit us, not unless they want to sink their own boat at the same time. ”
“But—” She gave another fearful glance to the approaching vessel.
Will killed the engine and felt he was also killing any chance of things ever working out with Julie at the same time. “It’s the Malones.”
Julie didn’t understand. “I thought you sank their boat.”
“One of them, and that was a fishing boat years ago. This one is just a small speed boat, something they use to get around the bay. I can’t outrun it.” His bear, which had been so content just a moment ago, was on the alert now.
“What do we do? Call the police or something?”
“No. I’m afraid that won’t help.” Nothing would.
He’d been trying so hard to turn his life around, to make up for past mistakes, to get himself back on the right track.
Julie was part of that, but it was all fucked now.
No matter how hard he tried, karma wanted to make him pay over and over again. “I just need to go talk to them.”
Not that he thought it would do any good. Will stepped out onto the deck as the other boat pulled to a quick stop next to them.
Aaron was at the helm, but Tony was right there at the railing. “Will Brigham. First we see you in P-town, haunting the old pizza joint. I told you I didn’t want to see you again. Now you’re out here getting awfully close to our domain. Bold move for someone who says he’s not looking for a fight.”
Will folded his arms in front of his chest. “Last I checked, you don’t own the ocean. I don’t think anything has changed since then.”
“No, it sure hasn’t. Not when you still don’t have any respect for the other families who’ve been making their living here for generations,” Tony retorted. “Still the same old Will, huh? Thinking you can just push everyone around and get whatever you want.”
His bear urged him to argue back, to bring up every little dispute he’d ever had with the Malones. That wasn’t who he was anymore, though, and it wasn’t who he wanted to be. “Do you see any nets hanging off my trawler, Tony? I’m just out for a cruise while I’m home. Not a big deal.”
“No? Just like it was no big deal that you sank our boat and put our business in debt for years while we tried to recover? You’re a Grade-A asshole, Will.”
Will gripped the railing. “I was young and dumb, and it was an accident.”
Tony narrowed his eyes. “Then maybe I should ‘accidentally’ sink your boat and we’ll call it even. Wouldn’t take much to do, not with that old tub.”
“Oh, ho! Look there, Tony! He’s got his girlfriend with him again,” Dan said as he stepped up next to his older brother.
Tony’s smile was slow and wicked, and his dark eyes shone with evil intention. “How romantic. Tell me, Will, does your little plaything know the truth about you?”
Will didn’t have to turn around to sense that Julie had stepped into the doorway of the bridge.
He cursed himself for not telling her to go below deck to the cabin where she wouldn’t be seen.
But she was there, and he would only make more trouble if he made the Malones think they could get one over on him by revealing themselves. “She knows.”
Aaron, the youngest, abandoned the helm and elbowed his brother Dan. “She’s a human.”
“No shit.” Dan gave his brother a shove.
Tony laughed dryly. “You’ve got the same woman with you twice in a row? Maybe a few things have changed, Will, but nothing I give a shit about.”
Dan lifted his chin at Julie. “Hey there, sweetheart. You’re wasting your time with the wrong guy. Come over here and I can show you a really good time.”
“Leave her out of this,” Will commanded. His bear had always been hot-blooded, and now it was boiling. “If you’ve still got beef with me, we can meet up later and settle it like men.”
“Like men, or like bears?” In a flash, Tony shifted. Where there had stood an angry man now stood an angry bear. His fur bristled. Saliva trickled down his teeth as he bared them, dripping into the ocean.
Julie screamed and jumped back.
The other Malones howled with laughter, but only for a minute before they joined in the fun. First Dan and then Aaron took on their bear forms, leaping toward the side railing as if they would cross the small gap between the boats to come and get her.
Which Will knew they could easily do. He kept himself between the Malones and the door to the bridge, trying not to calculate the odds.
The whimpers of fear coming from behind him weren’t helping matters at all.
It would be so easy to leap across that gap himself and show these guys just what he was capable of doing, but that would leave Julie vulnerable.
It was impossible to teach them a lesson and keep her safe at the same time.
Considering the fact that the Malones hadn’t tried to board his trawler yet, Will figured he was in the clear for the moment.
He couldn’t outrun them, but he could still retreat.
He backed through the door, shutting and locking it behind him before he hurried to the console and fired up the engines.
“I’m sorry,” he said once they were underway, slowly increasing the distance between his trawler and the other boat.
Julie was huddled on the floor with her knees pulled up and her arms around them. Her face was pale and her eyes wide. Tears flowed unhindered down her cheeks, dripping steadily on her sleeves. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
He brought her a small trash can, unsurprised when she flinched at his approach. “I had no idea they’d be out here. I should’ve known.” Will had been too interested in spending time with Julie to think about any dangers.
It took effort for her to pull in lungfuls of air. “What I saw…what they did…that wasn’t like on the beach at all.”
“No, it wasn’t.” He’d shown her his other side, but with calmness and preparation. That wasn’t the same as a vengeful, angry shifter who was amused by scaring the shit out of a human. “We’ll get back to the house and you can lie down.”
He guided the boat back to the Brigham clanhouse. Every time he made progress with Julie, something came up and bit him in the ass. He had to find some way to clear things up with the Malones, or they’d be haunting him for the rest of his life.