37. Chapter 37
Chapter thirty-seven
Benji
Gina takes the first gun, drops the magazine, and ejects the round from the chamber. She hands it back and does the same to the second one. The magazines, along with the two bullets on the ground, she pockets.
“How?” I ask. I don’t even know what I’m asking her. Just…how? I should be mad at her for following me out here and putting herself in the danger I was trying to protect her from, but she saved my ass. And how she showed up out of nowhere, all ‘leave my husband alone’? That was hot.
Gina grabs the first aid box from the bucket strapped to the front of the four-wheeler and brings it over.
“Cheryl and Diana sometimes shoot at the firing range in Pine Point. I spent a winter shooting with them, but when Mr. Barsage shot his own thumb off, I decided I liked my thumbs. Come help me,” she says, crouching in front of Gus, rubbing hand sanitizer onto her hands and passing it to me before she turns toward him. “Got a credit card or an ID?”
Gus reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet, and hands it to her. She pulls out a card at random, giving it to me along with an alcohol wipe from the first aid kit. “You’re going to see a little watery blood. Can you do it?”
I nod and crouch next to her, copying her as she wipes the card clean with the alcohol wipe.
“Look for the sucker end. Here,” she shows me on Gus’s leg. “Use one hand to stretch the skin around it tight.” Gus groans, closing his eyes tight. “Scrape the card under the sucker, like so…and quickly flick the leech away.” She rips open a new wipe and swipes it over the pink wound. “Easy.”
A trickle of blood drips from the freshly de-leeched skin, and I take a deep breath.
“Benji?” Gina asks softly.
“I can do it,” I say. I will do this for her.
“Hurry up,” Sam says in a strained voice as I squat in front of him, card in one hand, alcohol wipe in the other.
“The good thing about leeches,” Gina says as I choose one on Sam’s leg and look for the sucker, “is that they don’t carry diseases like ticks or mosquitoes.
Just don’t try to pull them off, because squeezing their stomach contents into a wound is a good way to get an infection.
Also wash your hands before you scratch if the bites itch.
One thing about leeches is that they fall off once they’re full of your blood.
So you don’t actually need to remove them. They also use a blood thinner to—”
“Please,” Gus says, swallowing hard. “Talk about something else. Anything else.”
“Good idea,” I say. I don’t want to agree with Gus, but I need her to stop talking about blood while I’m doing this.
Gina shifts to small talk, asking them innocuous questions about their stay at Happy Lake, and neither make it a secret that this trip has been hell.
My wife presses her lips together like she’s offended they didn’t fall immediately in love with the lodge.
I pull the last leech off Sam, then sit to take off my socks and shoes. Only two bloodsuckers have latched onto me, but I wasn’t in the water nearly as much as Sam and Gus. I prize both off quickly and shudder as blood trickles down my leg.
“So here’s what’s going to happen,” Gina says, returning the cards to Gus. “We’ll give you a ride back to your cabin. I’ll give you the ring when we get there. You’ll get in your car and never come back. Deal?”
Sam scratches a mosquito bite on his arm. “Deal.”
Gina eyes him thoughtfully. “You’ve been walking through long grass, so be sure to do a thorough tick check.”
Gus closes his eyes briefly, looking nauseous again. “I hate this place,” he mutters.
My ears perk up at the sound of a motor in the distance, growing louder. Relief washes over Gina’s face.
“Someone’s coming,” Sam says abruptly, looking suspiciously at Gina. “Police?”
“Your ride,” Gina says as Milo comes into view. He’s on another four-wheeler, a trailer bumping furiously behind as he speeds toward us. “No broken laws here. You boys just went on a nature hike, right? And I’m returning lost property.”
Gus and Sam look at each other and nod. They don’t look so dangerous anymore. More defeated than anything as they bend to scoop up their wet socks and shoes.
Milo stops a short distance away but leaves the four-wheeler running.
“Our new friends here need a ride back to their cabin,” Gina says. “They’re checking out early.”
He nods curtly and begins turning the four-wheeler and trailer around.
Sam and Gus grumble but eventually climb into the trailer, sitting over the axle at Gina’s suggestion. I toss my wet socks and shoes in alongside theirs then return to Gina’s side.
Milo joins us by Gina’s four-wheeler.
“Go first,” Gina says to Milo. “I’ll keep an eye on them from the back.”
Milo steps close to Gina and discretely passes her a small handgun. “If they try anything…”
She takes it, checks that the safety is engaged, and turns to tuck it into the first aid kit, all while Milo blocks her from the men’s view.
“It’s Diana’s,” she whispers as Milo gets on his four-wheeler. “Shit, I understand why he brought it, but I wish he hadn’t. The last thing we need is more guns. Does he honestly think I could hit either of those guys from a moving four-wheeler without hitting him?”
I agree that more guns is not the answer, but I kinda think she could do it.
It’s a slow trip back to the lodge. Milo takes it relatively easy over the rough patches. Gus and Sam cling to the sides, but they’re jostled anyway.
I wrap my arms tight around Gina’s middle. “My wife is a badass,” I say next to her ear.
Gina laughs. “I was so scared, Benji. Don’t ever do something like that again.”
I nuzzle against her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. “I haven’t given you any other jewelry belonging to a mob boss, so we should be good.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I still had the rings.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the mafia was looking for one of them,” I say. “That makes us even.”
She takes one hand from the handle to briefly cover mine.
We emerge from the trail, and Milo steers toward cabin thirteen.
A large group has formed outside Pamela and Joelle’s cabin, huddled together around a picnic table. They look up as we approach, clapping and shouting as we pass.
“They were organizing a search party,” Gina says, stopping behind the trailer.
I climb off first, turning a little to adjust myself. It’s not just the vibration. It’s being so close to my wife.
Sam and Gus achingly lift themselves from the trailer. The assembled guests stream over to join us, expressing their concern and eyeing the two men suspiciously.
There will be a lot of witnesses for whatever happens next. Although I don’t think either of these guys is in a hurry to do a murder.
“Here,” Gina says, handing the ring to Gus. The men compare the ring to some pictures on Gus’s phone, decide it’s the same one, and thank Gina for her help. They don’t thank me, but I guess I did take them into a bog.
They go into the cabin, followed by Milo and Wade, and are escorted out with their things a few minutes later. Gina returns their ammo, tells them to make better choices, and the crowd parts to allow them to reverse out of the driveway.
Everyone watches in silence as Sam and Gus drive off. The moment the sedan disappears, they all start talking at once, wanting to know what happened and if we’re okay.
I slip my arm around Gina, and when she leans into me—that feels good, too. Holding her in the open, no fear of getting caught, is the best.
“I like this,” I say softly to her, planting a light kiss on her forehead, even though it means interrupting her as she tells the knot of people around us what happened.
Her arm tightens around me. She looks up and smiles. “Me too.”
Habit has us both jumping when Diana breaks through the crowd, but we don’t spring apart this time.
“Now what’s going on?” Diana asks, sounding thoroughly exasperated.
“Oh, some mob guys were after the engagement ring Benji gave Gina,” Pamela says, like it’s any other bit of camp gossip. “They have it back now, and they’ve left.”
Diana blinks, sighs like she’s disappointed with everyone, and returns to the lodge.
“Might need to send her back to the day spa,” I whisper. Gina nods.
“Potluck tonight down by the lake,” Pamela calls out as the group starts to break up.
“Might as well use the marquee since the boys did such a good job putting it up.” She grins at me.
I shake my head at her sabotage attempts in mock disappointment as I take Gina’s hand, and we start walking back toward the lodge and the path that will take us home.
“I wonder if Diana canceled the caterers,” Gina says absently.
An idea hits me so hard that I gasp. It’s perfect. “I need to talk to Milo,” I say, following the man quickly disappearing into the distance. But I stop, turn around, and rush back to sweep her into my arms and kiss the shit out of her. “Meet me at home in an hour?”
She nods, her fingers brushing her lips as they turn up into a dazed smile.