by Smoke, Lucy
"Harlow," Erika hissed, jerking her eyes from my face to Bernard's.
"Your name is Harlow?" He let his hand fall away, but the smile remained. "A pretty name for a pretty girl."
"I'm sure you've met girls prettier than me," I said coolly.
His smile widened. "The prettiest girls are the ones who understand politeness and respect of their elders," he said.
"Harlow," Bellamy called, shaking his head.
Even as the man behind him punched him in the side of the head again, causing me to flinch, Bernard kept his gaze on me. "Your friend over there seems to be warning you," he said casually. "You should listen to him."
"Or what?" I snapped, the anger boiling over. "You'll force me to sign one of your contracts too? Or you'll kill us, is that it?"
Bernard stared at me for a moment before stepping closer. "Our contracts protect our girls," he said quietly, "from any distasteful decisions they may make. If your friend here had had a keeper before she made the unlucky decision to get involved with the wrong Caruso brother, then maybe things would have turned out better for her. As it stands, she has a debt to settle. You, of course, can leave." He gestured to the side of the boat. "I'm just wondering, however, how you expect to get back when there's no other boat around for miles."
From behind Bernard, Bellamy's lips quirked, and his eyes told me to remain silent. They had no clue about Marv or Texas either. I didn't know how Texas had been able to cloak the Bowrider because even though I knew very little about boats—I knew Bernard was a man who probably covered all his bases. He probably thought that he knew, for sure, that we were stranded out here. Maybe he thought we had been stowaways without a plan or with a plan that had failed. Something else occurred to me though: Bernard had said "the wrong Caruso brother," meaning he knew about Grayson and, unless I was mistaken, Grayson and Josh were the only two Caruso brothers. If Josh was the wrong one, then Grayson was the right one.
"What if I could pay off that debt," I offered.
Bernard's eyebrows quirked, and he tilted his head down as he dropped his arms back to his sides. "Oh? And how would you do that?"
"What if I convinced the right Caruso brother to pay off his brother's debt?" I asked.
A shadow appeared in my peripheral vision, creeping across the deck, behind the backs of Bernard and his men. Seeing them, Erika gasped, squeezing my hand tight when Grayson lifted a finger and held it to his lips. Thankfully, Bernard's eyes never left my face.
"What would make the Golden Boy of the Vandersen-Caruso line do anything you asked? To my knowledge, Joshua Caruso has been outcast from his entire family. His brother dropped him off at one of my facilities and hasn't been seen since."
My lips lifted. "He hasn't been seen since because he's been with me," I said. "Or at least he was. I'm sure when I manage to get home safe and sound," I stressed the last bit, "my boyfriend would be more than happy to lend me...how much did you say Josh owed you?"
"That would be upwards of fifty grand, darling," Bernard said with a sly smile.
Erika's eyes widened. "B-but I thought it was just forty!" she cried. "You said if I worked off the forty-thousand-dollar debt, I could go home!"
Bernard scowled as he moved his gaze to her and I reached over holding her arm with my other hand. "There's interest, girl," he snapped, his true colors finally showing through. I was glad. It was really difficult to look at this man, who I pictured sitting in someone's living room with doilies and tweed furniture, and knowing he was responsible for coercing women like Erika into a life they didn't want, all for his gain.
He flipped his gaze back to me, effectively cutting off his interest in Erika in favor of me. "So, you're dating the heir to the Vandersen-Caruso line?"
Grayson ignored us and moved silently until he disappeared around the yacht's side. "Yes," I said. I had no clue what that meant. Heir? How rich was Grayson? More so than Marv? I thought his last name was just Caruso.
"Well," Bernard's eyes positively gleamed, "that does change quite a bit. Why don't you step into my office, young lady and we can talk."
His hand hovered over my arm and he gripped my wrist, removing it from Erika. I didn't know what to do. I knew for certain, however, that I did not want to go anywhere with this man alone. My breath caught in my throat as he half led, half dragged me away from Erika and Bellamy. My mind was racing so fast, I almost didn't hear Grayson until it was too late.
"Harlow! Duck!" Grayson had climbed atop the piece that led down into the cabin area and leaped from it. I didn't know what he was thinking, but I hit the deck hard. Bernard grunted as he landed behind me.
Whatever Knix and Bellamy had planned, it was happening now. I rolled away, rising to my knees and then to my feet. Knix rounded the corner and tossed his bag my way as he joined the fray. Grayson sucker punched one of the guys as a gun went off. Erika screamed, and I spun. She was unharmed but pale and trembling as she backed away from the fight. Grayson had managed to provoke the two guys holding guns to swing towards him with the firearms when he had jumped from the ledge of the cabin's roof. I hadn't seen it then, but he must have been aiming for them. Both guns were on the floor, strewn several feet away.
I saw what Erika was going to do just before she did it and I started cursing her before she even made it over the edge. "No!" I screamed, dropping the bag and diving for her as she rushed to the side of the yacht and flung herself into the ocean. Where the hell did she think she was going?
My abdomen slammed into the rail and I looked out at the water, only seeing a vague spot where ripples spanned and bubbles erupted from the depths. I cursed again, grabbing the rail and climbed up. My bare feet slipped against the wet surface. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pinched my nose shut, but before I could jump two hard arms wound around my middle and dragged me back.
"What are you doing?!" I screamed, spinning to look back at Bellamy.
"I'll go!" he said. "Stay here! Send the signal!" With that, Bellamy dropped me and then swung over the edge of the railing. I didn't even know what the hell 'the signal' was!
Chapter 19
Trusting that Bellamy would save Erika from her own stupid decision to dive into the ocean while wearing handcuffs, I scrambled across the deck, diving for Knix's discarded backpack. The teeth of the zipper scraped and caught as my fingers—wet from both the water spraying up and from my own sweat—slipped. I nearly tore the bag open.
"Signal. Signal. Signal." I repeated the mantra. Surely there'd be a giant box in here marked Signal, right? Wrong. Of course, there wasn't. That would be way too convenient.
My fingers closed over something long and cylindrical, though. Quickly I yanked it out and gasped in excitement. A flare! This was it. This was the signal. The cylinder I held in my hand was red and about a foot in length. It was just a handheld flare though. How far would it be seen? Why hadn't the guys packed one that actually shot out? There wasn't time to think of that now. I had to find a way to let Marv and Texas know that we needed help. Knix and Grayson were busy. Bellamy was rescuing Erika from herself. I looked up. The cabin roof was there, just exactly what I needed.
I took the flare and rushed to the side I had seen Grayson go to earlier. How had he gotten up? I couldn't find a ladder, but there were some extra stacks of yacht seat cushions. Climbing onto the railing alongside it, I leaped from the edge to the cushions, scrambling up to the roof. The yacht rocked back and forth. My nails bit into the sides of the roof as I tried to keep myself from rolling right off. How the hell had Grayson managed to do this? I wondered briefly as the yacht finally calmed enough for me to rip the cap off the flare. It blazed a bright red. I screamed, holding it up and waving it in triumph as smoke billowed from the end and the bright light emitted.
In the distance—what seemed much farther than we could have swum—Marv and Texas' Bowrider cranked to life. The sound of the engine echoed over the surface of the water.
I laughed, tears of relief rolling down my cheeks. Looking down over the edge
of the roof, I called to Knix. "They're coming!"
Knix lifted his head, punched a guy in the face, and called for Grayson to get out. My eyes traveled across the deck. Grayson didn't argue, he simply ran for the railing and threw himself over the ledge. Knix followed, stopping at the railing and turning back.
"Let's go!" he called.
"Go!" I yelled back. "I'm coming."
We had Erika. Bernard's security was demolished. Just as I was about to step back, to descend and follow them, a hand wrapped around my ankle and jerked. This time, I screamed for a different reason. My back hit the roof and the flare flew from my hand, rolling off the side and to somewhere unknown.
"You little bitch!" Bernard yelled.
My eyes widened as the grandfatherly old man climbed up, reaching for my neck as if to throttle me. I had no doubt that those dead eyes did, in fact, intend murder.
"Harlow!" I heard Knix call from the water, probably wondering where I was.
"You're not going anywhere!" Bernard seethed as I tried to roll away. I didn't care if I broke something at this point. I just wanted to get as far from him as possible. "You think you can get away from me?" Bernard reached for me as I rolled. I didn't have anything to cushion me when I fell, so when my side hit the hard deck, I cried out as all the breath in my body rushed out. My back hurt. My side hurt. My damn hands hurt and...was that smoke?
Bernard crawled down from the roof and advanced on me. Clambering to my feet, I backed up to the railing. A strong wind whipped against my face as Bernard approached, rosy-cheeked, anger broiling in those snake-like eyes of his.
I coughed as the wind blew smoke into my face. Where was it coming from? I glanced over, my eyes catching on the cushions several feet away engulfed in flames. The flare must have landed on them when it went over the side of the roof. I watched, slack-jawed, as the fire from the cushions spread up the wall they were stacked against. Bernard didn't even notice as he came for me, hands outstretched. I ducked and moved away again.
"Harlow!" This time Grayson's voice rose above the wind and fire and ocean. I would have given anything to follow it. The entire front end of The Hold was on fire. I needed off this ship now!
The thing about danger was, it surprised you. It was never anything you expected it to be. I hadn’t expected that the man behind Erika's kidnapping, and Josh's debt and selling drugs to addicts in rehab facilities to appear as he did—old, weathered, now a dirty, refined man with wild eyes. That was the thing about monsters, too. They were not always who you expected them to be. Marv thought Grayson was a monster. But the truth was that most people were a little monstrous inside. So, when Bernard dove for me, screaming in a sharp, shrill voice, I bent down, stretching my arms out as I rolled forward, slipping under him and popping back to my feet. He slammed into the railing, going over the side, opposite the others. I flinched at the sound of the splash his body made when it hit the water—loud, echoing. The monstrous part of me liked it and wished that terrible man a hell of a lot more pain.
I turned back to dive off the other side, but heat hit my face and I stared, in horror, as the fire swept across the floorboards, blocking the side of the boat where the others were waiting for me. I looked over my shoulder as Bernard popped up above the surface of the water. There was no way, I’d jump anywhere close to him.
"Harlow! Jump!" I heard Knix yell—he sounded more than worried now. He sounded terrified. I looked around and reached for the lip of the cabin roof. Using my tired arm muscles, I pulled myself up. I kicked my feet against the wall and scrambled over the edge, crawling back to my feet. At least there, I could see over the fire, down below where Knix was the only one left bobbing in the water. Flames danced around me and fear shot up my spine. What if I jumped and missed and landed in the blaze? What if I broke my leg and then burned to death on a boat surrounded by water?
Knix's eyes met mine. "Jump, Little Bit!" he called. "I promise I'll catch you."
Emotion clogged my throat. My nickname. He hadn't called me Little Bit once since Marv and I had—it hadn't been that long ago, not even 24 hours. But the absence of that nickname—the lack of that acceptance from him—had been tangible. Just hearing it made me feel better. I took a step towards the edge, my eyes seeking him out in the water. My fear ratcheted higher, my heart thundering in my ears, galloping in my chest. I found Knix's face again and he nodded. I remembered what I told Marv. To love, to trust, and to do anything worthwhile in this world, you needed to have faith. I had faith in Knix. I had faith in all of my guys.
When I closed my eyes, despite my racing heart and the fear that echoed in my ears, I still trusted Knix to catch me like he promised. I took a literal leap of faith. I lifted up and my toes left the edge of the roof and I was airborne. I could feel the fire sear close to the soles of my feet right before I landed into the cool depths of the ocean. Water closed over my head just as two strong arms gripped me and jerked me back above the surface.
I coughed, reaching up to wipe the water from my face as Knix's deep blue eyes met mine. "Little Bit," his rough tone was broken, torn to shreds as he looked down at me.
I bit my lip, unsure what to say, but I didn't need to say anything because his lips said it all for me as they came down on mine.
If Knix thought it was difficult to kiss while treading water in the middle of the ocean—both of our heads just above the surface—he didn’t show it. His mouth swallowed any protest I might have made, and his hands gripped me impossibly tight. I was the one who had to pull away and warn him.
"We should probably get on the boat with the guys," I said, panting.
Knix gazed down at me, brushing the wet strands of my hair back behind my ears. His lips touched my forehead. "I'm so glad you're okay, Little Bit."
"Are we okay then?" I asked.
Knix pulled away, but before he could answer, the Bowrider's engine revved and Marv pulled up alongside the burning yacht. Bellamy reached over the side and hauled me up and away from Knix.
"Are you okay?" Bellamy checked me over, shifting my hair to the side and touching every available surface of my skin. When he determined that I was actually alive and well, Bellamy squeezed me close. It made the fabric of my wetsuit feel impossibly tighter. I gasped. "Jesus, you scared the shit out of me, Sweetheart."
Marv rushed around the driver's console and dove for me. Pulling me away from Bellamy, Marv did the same once-over before he slammed his lips on mine—taking my mouth in a fiery kiss. It was over almost as quickly as it started, and he gripped me in shaking hands. "Don't ever fucking do that to me again, Harlow." His eyes leveled on me. "Never again," he repeated. I found myself nodding and then pressing a quick kiss back to his lips again to reassure him.
From there, Marv passed me to Texas, who squeezed me tight for the longest time. He didn't say anything, which was strange for him. Texas always had something to say. Something stupid, something witty, something ridiculous—he had the words. But at that moment, he didn't. Instead, he held me against him. I touched my nose to the column of his neck and I returned his hug, inhaling his vanilla scent. Even when the boat dipped as Knix climbed aboard, Texas held on—a fine tremble in his entire body.
"I'm okay," I whispered in his ear.
In response, Texas' arms tightened around me. When he finally released me, he took my hand and sat as close as he possibly could. Across the way, Grayson sat next to a wide-eyed Erika, who stared at me. She flicked her gaze between me and Texas before her eyes traveled to Knix, Marv, and Bellamy. I noticed her handcuffs were gone, and as the Bowrider’s driver, Marv, kicked the engine up another notch and we began to speed away from the inferno of The Hold, I noticed that her nails bit into the cushions under her the way mine had. I was safe now. My hand was in Texas' hand and that was all the anchor I needed in that moment.
"Hey!" Grayson called over the wind. "Look!"
Marv slowed as black plumes of smoke lifted into the sky. Several of the security guys that Knix and Grayson had taken out had w
oken up and were leaping from the yacht to get away from the fire. Above, a chopper lowered down and dropped ropes for them to climb aboard.
"They're getting away!" I yelled.
Texas shook his head. "It's Iris," he said. "I called them." The sounds of more engines speeding close in the distance had Grayson, Erika, and I twisting our heads. Two speedboats raced past. "They'll survive. Though if they can't handle prison, they may wish they hadn't."
"They're going to jail?" Erika asked shakily. Hope flared in her eyes.
Knix stood and moved to the center of our Bowrider as we all watched the scene. "Yes, they are," he said.
Surprisingly, it was Erika who responded. "Good," she said.
My head tilted towards her as the saltwater and wind bit at my skin. I shivered in my wetsuit and Texas let me scoot closer, drawing his body heat into me. Marv pressed the gas again and we sped away, leaving Iris and other authorities to finish their job.
Or so I thought...
Officers raced down the docks—heading straight towards us as Marv pulled up. Knix leaped from the boat to the boards, quickly tying us into place before he began helping us unload. Moving in front, Knix and Bellamy met the officers halfway.
"What's going to happen?" Erika whispered to me as we stood next to Texas while Marv and Grayson finished docking and tucking everything else neatly away.
I shook my head. "I don't know."
"You may need to make a statement," Texas answered, looking down at the both of us. His eyes moved over Erika. "Can you handle that?"
Erika bit her lip and nodded, her eyes sharpening. "Yeah," she said. "If it'll put them all away for a long time, I can tell the fucking world."
Reaching over, I let my free hand touch hers. She turned and grasped it without looking up. When Marv and Grayson finished, they jumped on the docks and waited with us while Knix and Bellamy spoke with the police. Soon enough, I figured they would want to speak with all of us. Then it was back to the real world.
