“So is making her wait when she knows you have a ring,” Mandy pointed out. “Grady, I know you love her, but she’s starting to question your feelings. She actually said she’s been wondering if you took the ring back and changed your mind. How bad do you think her insecurity has gotten if she actually said that out loud?”
Grady’s heart sank as the truth behind Mandy’s words washed over him. “Bad,” he conceded. “I didn’t mean to do that, though. You have to know that.”
“I do know that,” Mandy said. “You need to get your head out of your butt and do the right thing, though. Sophie is ready and if you wait much longer she’s going to cry … or freak out. Trust me. That’s not what you want.”
“No, that’s not what I want,” Grady agreed, sighing. “I’m going to do it. I want to plan a special night where it’s just the two of us. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
“Do I look worried?”
Grady took the opportunity to flick her back, causing her to scorch him with a dangerous look. “Don’t open your big mouth about me bringing the ring,” he warned. “I’ll be ticked off if you do.”
“I would never do that because I don’t want to ruin the surprise for Sophie,” Mandy said, rubbing her index finger over the spot Grady flicked. “I’m going to help Ally shave your head while you sleep for doing that. You know that, right?”
“I’m not afraid of you either,” Grady said, smirking as James returned to join them. “Remember, I know your dirty little secret.”
“And if you open your mouth I’m going to fire you,” James warned, handing Mandy back her phone. “All of the dirty photos are gone. I have them. You can show everyone your shark photos without worrying.”
“I’m thrilled,” Mandy said, shoving the phone in her pocket. “Now, we have something to discuss.”
“Oh, man! What did you do?” James asked, focusing on Grady.
“It’s not about him,” Mandy said. “It’s about you.”
“What did I do?”
“How come you didn’t tell me Grady brought the ring and is planning on proposing?” Mandy asked. “As your wife, you promised to give me all the gossip as soon as you got it when we got married.”
“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in the vows, wife,” James said. “I would remember.”
“Yes, well, you’re going to have to pay for keeping me in the dark later,” Mandy said, turning back toward the line. “It’s going to be a heavy tariff, too.”
Instead of being upset by her words, James grinned widely. “Oh, is the sea wench going to make me worship the coral goddess again tonight?”
“You have no idea.”
Grady was absolutely disgusted when James risked a glance at him. “You guys need professional help. You know that, right?”
“Life is short,” James said. “We’ve decided to love hard. You’ll live with it.”
“HURRY up and finish your cake,” James whispered an hour later, brushing his lips against the ridge of Mandy’s ear as she licked frosting from her fingers. “I want to take you back to the room and show you something.”
Mandy giggled at the growly way he talked. In truth, their lovemaking this afternoon had been hot. No, it had been hotter than hot. While James never fell down on the job, the last few weeks had felt … different. That didn’t mean it was bad. It was more that James was so gentle, so worried about hurting her, that he held back. It wasn’t as if she wanted him to throw her across the room or anything, but she missed the urgency he had during the times he ripped off her panties because he was so excited he couldn’t wait two seconds for her to strip them off.
“Hold your horses,” Mandy teased. “You’re the one who said we had to get out of the room more often.”
“I was clearly confused.”
Mandy smiled. “Give me ten minutes.”
“You have five,” James said, extending his tongue into her ear and causing her to squirm.
“Oh, knock that off,” Grady said, throwing a dinner roll across the table and smacking James in the face. “You two have been so gross since we sat down that I want to lock you in a room and throw away the key.”
“You won’t hear any complaints from me,” James said, staring at the roll for a moment before biting into it. “That’s just what I was suggesting.”
“Pig,” Grady said.
“Coward,” James pointedly shot back.
“Stop being babies,” Ally ordered, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her stomach. “I think I ate too much. I feel fat.”
“You’re beautiful, angel,” Jake countered, resting his hand on top of hers. “If you’re feeling sick, though, I can take you back to the room and make you feel better.”
“You’re sick, too,” Grady said, extending a finger. “That’s our baby sister. James, don’t you want to beat him up for talking that way about Ally?”
“If I wasn’t so stuffed myself, I might play along with that game,” James said. “All I want to do is take my wife back to our room and … go to sleep.”
“Sleep?” Sophie made a face. “Please. You two are so jacked up from seeing that shark you’re going to have a sharknado right in your room.”
“Ooh, nice one,” Mandy intoned, scooping up some chocolate cake and frowning when James swooped in to eat it from her fork before she could shove it in her mouth. “Hey! That’s mine.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” James said. “I’m just helping you along. I’ve never seen you eat this slowly before.”
“Someone needs a cold shower,” Finn teased. “I … .” He didn’t get a chance to finish the statement because Will picked that moment to hurry in their direction. He had a worried look on his face. “This looks serious.”
James followed his gaze and frowned. He had a sickening sensation in the pit of his stomach that his shark plans were Mandy were about to go up in flames. “What’s wrong, Will?”
“I honestly don’t know that anything is wrong,” Will said, keeping his voice low as he rested his hands on the table. “It’s just … someone has gone missing. I thought you would want to know right away.”
James was instantly alert. “Who?”
“It’s the singer for the main dining room band,” Will replied. “Her name is Zoe Walters. She’s … .”
“A brunette with big … lungs,” Grady filled in, cringing when Sophie glared in his direction. “That was a guess, sugar.”
“She was the one singing last night before the disc jockey took over,” Mandy said. “I saw her, too. She was wearing a really pretty purple dress.”
“I don’t remember her, but I’ll take your word for it,” James said. “When was the last time anyone saw her, Will?”
“As far as I can tell, the last time she was seen was in this room last night,” Will said. “No one realized she was missing because she often spends the entire day in her room reading. She likes a break from all the people. The band just informed me that they can’t find her.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” James said, wiping his hands on his napkin and dropping it on the table before kissing Mandy’s cheek. “Baby, I’ve got to check this out. Can you get back to the room on your own?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“We’re going to get a drink on the deck before going down,” Ally interjected. “You’ll probably find us there when you get back.”
“Is that really necessary?” James asked. “It’s dark.”
“And there’s four of us and we’re fine,” Ally shot back.
“Fine.” James rested his hand on Mandy’s shoulder. “Call me on your phone if you need me.”
“I’ll be okay,” Mandy said, her eyes filled with mirth. “Do your job.”
“I love you,” James said, kissing her on the mouth before moving away from the table. “Don’t get in any trouble, Ally.”
Ally was affronted. “Why are you directing that at me?”
“Because I’ve met you.”
WILL LED the four m
en down a narrow hallway and into a part of the ship they’d yet to visit. It was the workers’ floor, and the accommodations were much more sparse than in other parts of the ship. James opted not to comment on it.
“Where is the other security?” he asked. “Do you have them out looking for her?”
“Yes,” Will replied. “They’re scouring every floor to make sure she didn’t fall down or get lost.”
James didn’t know why, but he was pretty sure that neither of those were legitimate scenarios. “Can you open her room?”
“It’s right here,” Will said, using a keycard to override the door system. “You might want to knock in case … .”
“I’m on it,” James said, rapping his knuckles against the door. “Zoe? Zoe Walters? It’s James Hardy. I’m with ship security. I’m making entrance into your room because we’re worried and want to do a welfare check.”
James pushed open the door, his face twisting when he got a gander at the ransacked contents inside. Someone had clearly tossed the room, and it was clear that Zoe Walters wasn’t present given the tiny size of the abode.
“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Jake said. “Someone’s definitely been in here.”
“And she’s not in here,” James said. “I think we might have our victim.”
Will fanned himself with the key card. “Oh, dear.”
11
Eleven
“These are good,” Ally said, sipping from her fruity mixed drink and sitting on one of the deck loungers that was close to the hallway that led to their rooms. “I like any drink that makes my mouth blue.” She stuck out her tongue, causing Mandy to giggle.
“Yes, that is nice,” Mandy said, leaning back so she could stare at the stars. The night was warm and breezy, no clouds in the sky. She felt utterly relaxed after seeing the shark. “Whenever I do it James says I remind him of a horny blue Smurf.”
Ally snorted. “You guys seem more relaxed tonight,” she said, sipping. “I guess the shark was good for multiple reasons, huh?”
Mandy shifted her gaze to Ally, surprised. “I … what do you mean?”
“She doesn’t mean anything,” Sophie said hurriedly. She wasn’t in the mood for a potential argument. “Ignore her. You know how she gets when she’s been drinking.”
“I’m not drunk,” Ally argued. “I’m just pointing out that Mandy and James seemed more like their old selves tonight. I like it.”
Mandy pressed her lips together as she glanced down at her drink. She internally debated how to respond for a few moments, and then decided to take Ally head-on instead of tiptoeing around her best friend. “We’re not trying to shut everyone out.”
“I know you’re not,” Ally said. “That’s simply a byproduct of what’s happening. No one blames you. After everything that happened … .”
“It’s not just what happened to me,” Mandy said. “I’m pretty much over it. Er, well, I’m pretty much over Clint. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over what happened to Heidi.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that,” Emma said, her expression serious as she leaned forward. “I spent years blaming myself for what my father did. I thought if I would’ve done something sooner, I might’ve been able to save a few kids from being terrorized by him.
“That’s still true,” she continued. “I feel a certain amount of guilt when I think about it. You can’t go back in time, though, and I didn’t ask my father to do the things that he did. You have to let it go, because you didn’t ask for Clint to be a sick jerk and kill Heidi.”
“No, but … if I hadn’t pushed them together, Heidi would still be alive,” Mandy said. “I can’t ignore that simple fact. It’s impossible.”
“Yes, but you’re stuck with what happened,” Ally said. “Clint was messed up. He built up a relationship with you in his mind that simply wasn’t there in the real world. He might’ve always gone after Heidi to send you a message. You’ll never know.”
“That doesn’t really make me feel better,” Mandy said, scratching her cheek.
“No, probably not,” Sophie conceded. She had no idea how to comfort Mandy because she was fairly certain she would feel the exact same way if she stepped in the blonde’s shoes. Guilt – real or imagined – can paralyze people. Sophie was convinced she wouldn’t be doing nearly as well if she switched places with Mandy.
“You said that it wasn’t just about what happened to you,” Ally prodded, resting her hand on Mandy’s wrist. “You said that you and James weren’t retreating into your own world merely because you were kidnapped. What did you mean?”
“It’s James,” Mandy admitted. “I feel one sort of guilt and he feels another. He’s … wrecked … over what happened to me. He blames himself.”
“Well, that’s silly,” Emma said. “How was he supposed to know that Clint was sick in the head?”
“There’s no way he could, but he keeps saying little things – like he should’ve gone to the storage room with me because Clint never would’ve dared attack if he was around, or he should’ve killed Clint the day he met him so none of this happened – and it’s eating him up,” Mandy replied. “I think his guilt is even worse than mine.”
“Well, you tell him that Clint was mental enough to attack and kill him in that storage room and still take you,” Ally said. “I’m pretty sure that would’ve been worse. I’m not minimizing how terrible it must’ve been for you in that cabin, but in the grand scheme of things, I feel we got really lucky.”
“Lucky?” Emma was dumbfounded. “She was tied to a chair and smacked around.”
“Yes, but she wasn’t raped and she got out alive,” Ally said, opting for honesty. “She could’ve died if she misread the situation and Clint lost it. She also could’ve been raped because he was determined to prove she loved him.” It was hard for Ally to say the words given the fact that Emma’s father repeatedly raped her when she was a child, but she refused to back down. “Mandy got off relatively lucky in a lot of respects.”
“I agree with Ally on that,” Mandy said. “The kidnapping honestly doesn’t bother me. I still have a few nightmares here and there – and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night I gulp down water because I think I’m dehydrated again – but those things will fade. Heidi won’t fade. James’ guilt doesn’t seem to be fading either.”
“James has always taken things to heart,” Ally said. “He’s got this hero complex that I don’t know how to explain. While you were gone, though, he was … a mess.”
“That bothers him, too,” Mandy admitted. “He’s mentioned it so many times I’ve lost count. I tried to get him to talk about it the other night, but I approached it in the wrong manner. I mentioned I wanted him to be happy and marry someone else if something happened to me and he completely shut down the conversation.”
“Yes, well, perhaps your kidnapping made you stupid or something,” Ally teased, shaking her head. “Why would you think that he would be okay with that?”
“Because I want him to be happy.”
“He can’t be happy without you,” Sophie said. “Sorry. That’s just the way of the world. You got lucky and found a man who loves you with his entire heart and soul. That means that he can never love anyone else. It’s a double-edged sword.”
“The idea of him being sad and alone breaks my heart,” Mandy said. “I want him to always be happy.”
“Then stay alive and safe,” Ally suggested. “You can’t control the world. You really can’t control my brother. I know he’s struggling, but at some point he’s going to break out of this. I have faith.”
“I hope so,” Mandy said, her expression thoughtful. “It hurts my heart to imagine him unhappy.”
“And it hurts his heart to imagine you being hurt by Clint,” Ally said. “Do you want to know what your real problem is?”
“Probably not,” Mandy said dryly.
“I’m going to tell you anyway,” Ally said. “Your real problem is that you both have martyr co
mplexes. You want to give everything you have to make the other happy. You’re both willing to fall on your swords, so to speak.
“The truth is, you don’t need to even have swords,” she continued. “The swords in your head are imaginary. If you focused on working together to be happy instead of one person sacrificing everything for the other, you’d be a lot happier.”
Mandy wanted to scoff at the notion, but it held some merit. “I need another drink.”
“And the night is looking up,” Ally said, grinning. “Blue tongues all around!”
“HELLO, ladies. You all look delightful on this fine and balmy evening.”
Mandy frowned when she caught sight of Jon Peterson ambling in their direction an hour later. They were four drinks into their night and most of them were a little tipsy (and yet no one thought they were tipsy, they only recognized the condition in others). They were fine on their own but conversing with someone else was an entirely different matter.
“Mr. Peterson,” Mandy said, licking the blue sugar off the rim of her cup. It wasn’t very ladylike, but her head was full of liquor instead of manners. “What are you doing out here?”
“I’m about to retire for the evening,” Peterson answered. “I heard voices down the deck and thought I would check and see that no one is in distress. You guys don’t look to be in distress, but I have to make sure.”
“We’re not in distress,” Ally said. “We have blue tongues so everything is good in our world.”
Peterson barked out a laugh. “I see. Well, that sounds fun.” He turned his attention to Sophie. “Do you have a blue tongue, too?”
Sophie nodded. “Yup. They’re terrible enablers. I wanted one drink and now I’ve had three.”
“Four,” Emma corrected.
“Really?”
“I’ve been counting,” Emma said. “I can’t drink when I’m around the baby because I’m breastfeeding, but now I’m officially hammered. I think I’m going to have a hangover tomorrow.”
“Yes, well, I don’t care if I have a hangover,” Ally said, waving her empty glass. “I need another.”
“You’re done,” Mandy said, her expression thoughtful as she watched Peterson stare at Sophie. “You’ll thank me tomorrow because you’ll be able to enjoy the sun without a headache.”
Deadly Waves (Hardy Brothers Security Book 23) Page 9
