I shook my head in the dark and looked down at my small chest. Men and boobs. What was up with that?
“Why?” Gabriel asked, and I could hear the ice creep into his voice.
“Shit, man. Why do you think? Me and the boys are breaking her in before Indigo gets his hands on her.”
“You are, huh?” Charlie was just too wasted to realize the danger in Gabriel’s voice.
“Hell, yeah. You know what Indigo will do. Once he figures out the whole wave deal, he’ll ruin her, man. I mean, he’ll keep her alive and shit so we’re the only ones who know where the waves are, but it’s not like he won’t screw her every chance he gets.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Nah,” Gabriel said clearly trying to soft-pedal the subject, probably for my benefit. “He’ll want to make sure his precious forecaster is well cared for.”
“Come on, Black. You dense? Shit, you of all people should know. Indio’s a sick bastard and you know it.”
“Shut up, Charlie, and have a drink. Nothing you said matters. We don’t have Tsunami Blue. And even if we did, I heard she’s old and deformed and ugly as hell.”
Ugly as hell? Thanks, Gabriel. You couldn’t have just stopped at old and deformed?
“So if that’s the kind of woman you’re into,” he continued, “be my guest.”
“No, you shut up, Black.”
Oops. The absinthe was kicking in. I could hear it in Charlie’s voice. Be careful, Gabriel.
“Relax, Charlie. I’m just saying no one knows for sure. Just have another drink, okay, buddy?”
Gabriel was now using his reassuring voice. The one that didn’t work on me either.
“Black, you’re a bastard, ya know it? You want her for yourself. And she’s not ugly.”
Thank you, Charlie.
“And she’s mine,” he went on to say.
Ah, no thank you, Charlie.
Charlie was up on his feet; I could tell by the listing of the boat as he moved on deck. He stumbled but gained momentum. And that concerned me. But what exactly was I gonna do? Having two men fight over me was something new. Not that I enjoyed it. One was Runner scum who would pass me around like a bottle of absinthe after he was finished, and the other was…was what? A Runner, certainly, but what? Why couldn’t I just toss Gabriel Black into the category where he belonged? Also Runner scum.
“Charlie, sit down before you fall down,” Gabriel said.
I heard the thump-thump of footsteps as Charlie charged, and then a crash as both men hit the deck. Not what Gabriel had in mind, I’m sure.
“Damn it, Charlie. Don’t make me kill you. I’ve already had enough blood on my boat today.”
I thought of the severed hand still in the corner hidden under my sweater and I couldn’t have agreed more.
The noise from up above was deafening as the men fought and rolled. Clearly, Charlie the Incredible Hulk disagreed. Not that Charlie was green. But I was sure his teeth at least were. The boat rocked wildly.
“You’re dead, Black.”
“Whatever you say, Charlie.”
“Not just dead but sliced open and your heart used as bait.”
Gabriel groaned.
Was that in pain? Had he been cut? I thought of how hard Max and I had fought to get his heart working again. The idea of Charlie slicing and dicing his way toward it sat wrong with me on so many levels.
Now I was concerned. And pissed. To hell with staying below.
I lifted the heavy teak door above my head and had a new appreciation for the strength of the Runner Snake and Gabriel. Man, was the door heavy. My biceps burned as I lifted the door and swung it back, where it crashed on the floor.
“What the hell was that?”
Damn it. Charlie. But subtlety was never my nature. And besides, I didn’t hear anything from Gabriel. So to hell with the element of surprise. I had no knife, no weapon of any kind. But I thought I had figured how to get his attention and get in close for the kill. With my bare hands, if that was what it took.
I picked through debris that looked like pick-up sticks, clambered up the wood ladder, jumped into the cockpit, and made my way to the bow.
I was greeted by a winter chill and soft mist rising from the sea. The air smelled fresh and pure, so different from the mingling odors below of drying blood and Runner stench. I glanced at the midnight sky, glad to see my old friends the stars winking at me.
I only hoped I’d live to see them another night.
Charlie’s giant form loomed ahead, highlighted in the night by torches and moonlight. Luckily the other boats were a distance away, too far to see my silhouette. Still, my breath caught and for a few seconds I lost my nerve.
There were hundreds of ships.
Ahead of us. Behind us. To each side. What was it Gabriel had said? We might have company? Couldn’t he have mentioned it might be an entire Runner armada? If he wasn’t already dead, I was gonna kill him.
Charlie grunted and I jolted back to the project at hand. The kill-Charlie one.
He had Gabriel pinned, a knee to the throat and a wicked bowie in hand. His leather pants sagged, unable to cinch around the waist due to a huge belly. His plumber’s crack looked like a plumber’s Grand Canyon. I wanted to look away. Unfortunately, that was not an option. Some girls just had all the luck.
“Hey,” I yelled. “Charlie boy. Over here.”
Foggy from the absinthe, he looked my way, then back to Gabriel. The knife threatened.
“Hold your horses, fella. I’ll get to you in a minute. I have a face to rearrange.” Getting back to business, he bent over Gabriel.
Fella? Had he just called me fella? Did he have no clue who I was? I was his Wave Girl. His— Wait. Did he say rearrange a face? I thought of Gabriel, the flawless golden skin, the perfect cheekbones, the straight nose and even straighter teeth. And how about those twin dimples? Rearrange his face? No.
I stripped off Gabriel’s thermal and pulled my long hair out of my ponytail. I stood in the moonlight naked from the waist up with long hair blowing this way and that in the night breeze. The chill surrounded me, and my nipples hardened against the cold. My snug new jeans were low-rise and hugged my hips, leaving no doubt what was under them. I was all girl.
And I might not have the size double-D breasts Charlie-the-horn-dog-Hulk was fantasizing about, but it was my guess they’d be good enough. I mean, come on, how many women could a man like Charlie get? At least willing ones.
“Oh, Charlie, over here, baby.”
I willed my voice to be like the girls of the old days who worked the 1-900 phone lines. That kind of quality. I knew what they sounded like only because I had listened in on some of Uncle Seamus’s calls. I had just turned six. I had been with Seamus a year and thought it might be my mother. Boy, was I wrong. Seamus had been furious, and that was the first time he’d hit me hard. I still had the scar by my temple to prove it. That was the last 1-900 phone call Seamus had made. Shortly afterwards the waves came and took the phone lines with them. So, yeah, I knew what the girls sounded like, and hey, I was used to being on the airwaves. Fake the voice of Bambi the pole dancer? Damn right.
It worked.
Charlie, in his absinthe-induced haze, froze, staring and staring some more. He couldn’t lift his gaze from my breasts. So. I guess they were big enough. The thought pleased me. Gave a girl a little more confidence going in for the kill. He rose slowly to his feet.
“Just call me Wave Girl, baby.”
“I’ll call you any damn thing I want to, bitch.”
“Now, see,” I said, gathering my hair and tossing it over my shoulder, “just when I thought we could be friends, you’ve gone and hurt my feelings.”
“Oh, I’ll hurt something, all right,” he said, grinning in the moonlight. I was right: His teeth were foul. At least, the ones he had. “You can count on it, girly.”
At least all thoughts of Gabriel Black had left his mind. I could tell, because he dropped his knife, which was go
od for me. On the other hand, he pulled down his pants. So not good for me.
Still, thank you, God, for underwear.
Ratty and torn, Charlie’s Hanes were a marketing nightmare. But at least he wore them. So many didn’t bother anymore.
He had trouble lifting his legs out of the leathers. His cumbersome boots caught and snagged. The man lost his balance, teetered, and I chose that moment to rush him.
My mistake.
I had misjudged and he freed himself of his pants just before I reached him. Like a lightning strike, he grabbed a fistful of hair, snapping my neck back and slamming me into him. Unlike Gabriel, his body was soft and jellylike. Impact wasn’t so bad. Except for the smell.
I had a jolting flash of pain and hoped the huge clump of hair in his fist was still attached to my head. I should have been more worried about my neck, but sometimes I was such a girl. I just couldn’t see myself walking around half-bald. If I lived to walk around.
I slammed my heel on his instep, and even through the rubber boots the impact connected. I’d be bruised. And Charlie would have some broken bones in his foot.
He howled in pain, but gripped my hair even tighter. I jabbed my elbow deep into his gut, trying like hell to get him to release me. He had to let go. I needed to be facing him when I gouged out his eyes.
It worked.
He freed me, and as I turned, my instincts told me to duck, but I caught a glimpse of Gabriel from the corner of my eye. He too was moving, and I was so relieved to see his beautiful face unmarked and not bleeding, I didn’t see the blow coming.
And damn, Charlie boy packed a punch. Catching the full force of it, I flew back on the deck more mad at Gabriel for distracting me than at Charlie for punching me. After all, with Charlie, I was trying to take out an eye. Or two.
My head smacked on the teak deck and once more I saw stars. This was getting really old. I turned my head and was relieved to see that my hair wasn’t lying in a clump.
But something else was. I took a deep breath and tried like hell not to go down for the count.
Charlie’s severed hand was tangled in my long locks, his crimson blood mingling with my midnight hair.
I gave up, closed my eyes, and let the darkness take over. My last words I whispered before I passed out?
“Long sleeve, Charlie boy, long sleeve.”
Chapter Fourteen
I saw Gabriel the moment I opened my eyes. I was confused, and the first words out of my mouth were, “Am I naked again?”
“Only half,” he said, smiling, his dimples making his features soft and inviting and—okay, I admit it—amazingly sexy.
“You should do that more often,” I said.
“What?”
“Smile.”
He frowned and there it was: that familiar scowl of disapproval. So here we go again.
“You scared me half out of my mind, Blue.”
“Only half?”
“Not funny.”
“Where’s Charlie?” I asked, trying to see past Gabriel.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Oh.”
I tried to sit up and encountered a wave of nausea. The stars, always friendly and inviting, now spun in vicious circles. I gasped and Gabriel caught me in his arms, holding me up like I was made of handblown Chihuly glass.
“I’m small, not breakable,” I said. If I weren’t so weary and sore, I might have launched into that whole tirade about being able to take care of myself, about not being his personal damsel in distress, and not needing anyone. But tonight my heart just wasn’t in it. I had been captured by a Runner. I was now surrounded by them. I didn’t think I’d be convincing with that argument anymore. And how I hated that I was starting to doubt myself.
“You have a concussion,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think you understand yet what a blow you took to your head. Shit. Why in the hell did you come up here?”
Why? Why? Was he kidding?
“To save your sorry ass, that’s why. But if you don’t want to thank me, fine. I should know better than to think a Runner might have manners.”
Holding me with one arm, he rubbed a temple. “I had it under control.”
“Charlie had a knee in your throat and a knife in the air. Don’t know how to break it to you, but you weren’t winning, tough guy.”
“Ever hear of playing dead? About the element of surprise?”
That did it. I jerked out of his arms. If I could get up, he wouldn’t have to worry about playing dead. He would be dead. The condescending ass. I tried to sit up. My world swam and faded to gray.
He was saying something about my head. But I was so sick from the motion as he picked me up, I couldn’t focus.
“I’ll be with you, Blue. You have to wake up every hour on the hour. The checkpoints will last all night.”
All night. He was saying something about lasting all night. That was good, right? Most women wanted a man who could last all night. I remember that from Uncle Seamus’s 1-900 hot-girls line.
He wrapped me in sailcloth to disguise me from prying Runner eyes and took me down the stairs, slowly picking his way through scattered debris and splintered wood. He headed straight back into the V-berth and put me down like a china doll.
My head throbbed, and my cheek and eye, which had taken the brunt of Charlie’s punch, were tight with swelling. I didn’t need a mirror to know I’d have one hell of a shiner.
Gabriel covered me with a soft flannel camping blanket, which reminded me of the old threadbare blanket I’d used to cover myself the morning I had woken up with him beside me; which reminded me of my little cabin on the beach; which reminded me of Max; which reminded me that I wasn’t going to cry anymore. At least, that had been the plan.
I put my arm over my eyes and squeezed them shut, fighting off the pain and loneliness and heartbreak. Still, as hard as I tried, one lone, hot tear streamed down my swollen cheek. A gentle thumb brushed it away.
“I’m sorry, Blue. I put us in the thick of things, but I can get us out of this.”
I heard him unwrapping something and I dropped my arm to focus. “My eyes are watering from the dizziness,” I lied.
“Of course,” he said, clearly not believing me.
I hated seeing the pity in his eyes, so I closed mine once more. Something cold and soft touched my cheek and my eyes opened to see Gabriel trying to adjust a raw steak against the side of my face.
“Please tell me that is not prime rib.”
“It’s not.”
“New York?”
“Underwater, I hear.”
“Don’t try to be funny. Comedy is so not your thing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously. Do not waste a steak on me.”
“I don’t consider it a waste.”
“It is if you don’t eat it.”
“Not hungry.”
I thought of all the salmon I had consumed in the last, oh, say, million years, and the thought of a perfectly good steak going to waste…“Damn it, Gabriel.” I made the mistake of trying to sit up again. The moment I pushed up from the bunk the tiny cabin swirled and the cold steak slipped from my cheek and eye, the throbbing flaring to a new level.
I dropped back on the bunk. I reached for the raw meat and placed it on my face again. The relief was immediate.
“Let’s not eat the steak and say we did,” I said. “Okay?”
I heard a chuckle and then, “Okay.”
I thought of Snake and Charlie. I chewed my bottom lip. “Um, Gabriel?”
“Yeah.”
“Not that there’s anyone around to tell. Right?”
“Yes, for now. Although I can’t be sure they won’t send another babysitter around for me.”
“They might reconsider. You seem to go through babysitters pretty fast.”
Gabriel laughed, and I couldn’t help smiling as his face softened and the twin dimples danced to the surface. I reached up and traced the dimples, resting my hand on the side
of his face. He looked amazing when he smiled, and yeah, he always looked amazing, but when he opened up like this, so warm, so inviting, I almost believed he was so much more than a Runner. Who was this man, really?
Indigo’s favorite.
I jerked my hand away, suddenly afraid.
He grabbed my hand back, pulling it to his lips so he could kiss my palm. He placed my hand on his chest. I felt his heartbeat, a beat I’d worked so hard to bring back to life. I wondered again, and not for the first time, whether, knowing what I did now, if I had to do it over, could I let him die? I didn’t want to know. Not really. I didn’t want to know that all my humanity may have slipped away that night.
“This belongs to you now,” Gabriel whispered.
“What?” I whispered back.
“My heart. You saved it. You saved me.”
I looked at him and pulled my hand from his. Not in anger, not in haste. I just couldn’t bear to touch him, this dark angel of mine, not knowing if he was my savior in the midst of all this evil or the root of the evil itself.
Below, the shortwave radio crackled to life. Runners had the best equipment around, and Gabriel’s was no exception. They went to great lengths to tweak and detail and trick out their equipment. It was such a Runner thing. But they also went to great lengths to hide and camouflage their babies from would-be thieves, and, if truth be told, from each other. Paranoid didn’t begin to cover it.
“Gabriel Black, answer or we board. Your decision.”
Gabriel sighed and looked intently at me. “I’ll buy us some time. For tonight it’s the best I can do.”
“What if your best isn’t good enough?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer, just got up, ran his hand through his thick, dark hair, and made his way down to the hold, where his shortwave radio spun static and noise.
I lay unmoving, listening intently, knowing how shortwave broadcasts were prone to serious interference from the atmosphere, from the season, from the time of day even.
Shortwave signals skipped and bounced in the atmosphere, so the sound was variable. Therefore, when the Runner voice faded and cracked, I wasn’t surprised; still, desperate to hear my fate, I risked the nausea and spinning and sat up on the bunk, straining to hear.
Tsunami Blue Page 11
