6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Brooks
Rafi answered on the second ring. “This better be to update me on all the surfing time you’re getting. Where did you go? The Carolinas? California? Anywhere but Sunbreak Harbor?”
“Nope. Best surfing I ever found was right here in Sunbreak. You know that. Why would I leave?”
“Fun, Callahan. You still remember what that is, right?”
“Seems like fun always leads to trouble,” I shot back.
Rafi was immediately all business. “What happened?”
“I just stopped an attempted abduction along the boardwalk near The Salty Spoon.”
“And your involvement ended there?”
“She had nowhere else to go. And I’m on vacation, so…”
“So you thought you’d help her?” Rafi’s deep voice asked dryly.
“It is what we do.”
“When we’re paid to do it.” His sigh came across loud and clear. “Was she injured?”
“No, just shaken. Guy thought she was her sister.”
“So the sister is with you too?”
“No. We don’t know where she is.”
I could hear the tap, tap, tap of his pencil against the hard wood of his desk.
“So no sister and a near kidnapping. If this is what you consider a vacation, no wonder you don’t take them.
” He paused, and the tapping stopped. Finally he spoke again.
“My hands are tied here, Callahan. Don’t make me explain to Sloane why one of his best operators is freelancing when he’s supposed to be on vacation. ”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Better than that.”
“Understood.”
I ended the call and stayed outside for another minute, letting the roar of the surf roll through me.
The need to keep her safe was all that mattered.
It was unnerving. I was swimming outside the ropes, something that was completely unlike me.
I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I also didn’t think I could stop it even if I wanted to.
When I stepped back inside, Aria lifted her head. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Ready?”
She jumped up off the sofa, bumping the table. The water left in her glass sloshed dangerously close to the edge. “When you are.”
We drove to her sister’s house in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
“When we go in, stick close to me,” I said. “Where I go, you go. Got it?”
“Want me to pinky promise?”
I narrowed my gaze, confusion knitting my brow. “What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, Brooks. I promise. I’ll stick to you like peanut butter on bread.”
Stifling a laugh, I shook my head. “Okay. Let’s go.”