CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DEACON
There are about a million other places I’d rather be than a hospital, but Lux was right, Bo needs us all right now. To think I was trying to protect them from everything on land when the real danger was lurking in the water, not that I can blame the shark. It’s a predator, yes, but what it did wasn’t out of malice or hate. It was simply looking for a meal. Fuck, maybe it was just curious. In any case, Bo got off light considering what those creatures are capable of.
I look out the window of Bo’s suite, the harbor of Hobart crammed with boats and yachts.
I think about Lux and I smile, seeing my own stupid grin staring back at me in glass.
I have a lot to be thankful for, especially considering this. Maybe it’s the impending danger, but I’m taking stock and it ain’t so bad. Lux is back. She knows everything. It’s a big fucking weight off my shoulders.
“Are you listening to me, bro?”
I turn back to the bed. “Sorry?”
“Jesus, you’re spacing out and smiling over there like Captain fucking Picard. Here, have a look at this. That will put a smile on your dial.”
Bo shows me the weather section of a local newspaper. “Have you seen this, man? There’s a monster low building off the coast. Should bring a huge swell, maybe the biggest all century, they’re saying.”
I look out the window, the rain coming down but far from torrential yet. “Can’t say we’ve been following the weather much.”
It hurts to see him like this, his leg strung up and torso half-bandaged. The doctor told me he needed thirty-seven stiches. Given that, it’s a miracle he’s even this alert, but that’s Bo—tough as a two-dollar steak.
Bo can hardly contain his excitement. “I’d charge it for you, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m not going anywhere for a while, but you, you prick. You can do it, make history.”
In a way, the whole reason we came down here in the first place was to surf Shipstern during a big swell. “How big are we talking?” I ask.
Bo’s smile grows. “Fifty feet or more. I’m imagining fucking liquid buildings out there, bro.”
Big waves have never worried me. I’ve had a death wish for a long time, but now, with Lux…
“Do it for me,” he continues.
What the fuck? I supposed to say no to that? “We’ll see. We’ve got bigger problems with your story getting out.”
Bo puts his hands up. “I was asleep, man, knocked out. I didn’t even know that reporter was here. The prick just snuck in.” He looks to the window. “Anyhow, enough about that. How are things with Lux?”
“Better.”
“That’s all I’m going to get? Come on, bro. I’m sitting around here all day eating what tastes like recycled socks and watching daytime TV. Give me something.”
“Since when do you watch Oprah?”
He rolls his head around. “Hospitals, man. They fuck you up. I swear if I have to spend much longer in here I’m going to go Jack Nicholson madman on this shit.”
I hold his shoulder and squeeze. “We’ll get you out soon, okay? In the meantime, there’s a guy out there who’s going to be here twenty-four seven, a local we can trust, security. Your story’s bringing down a lot of heat. They’re going to come for me, but we need to be ready.”
“You’re posting a fucking security guard on me now? How much heat are we talking about?”
I shrug. “Who knows? They might send one like before or they might send a hundred. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. We always do.”
“Don’t you do anything stupid, you hear? I’m not going to be the one half-eaten by a shark only to have you or Razor taken out by a stray bullet. That is not how we go down.”
I smile back. “No, it sure as hell’s not.”
I meet Lux in the waiting room, funnily enough the only room in this whole hospital that doesn’t seem to have any windows or natural light. Shitty light or not, she looks fucking hot right now in her favorite jeans and sweater, hair pulled back into a tight ponytail I want to hang onto while I ram into her from behind, her pussy milking me of every last drop until I’m aching and empty.
I’m almost tempted to suggest we head down the hall to find an empty supply room, but the place is busy. The last thing I need is a public indecency charge and more heat.
I take a seat beside her. She reaches over and takes my hand. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I sent Razor in to listen to his rambling. I swear to god he’d be back in the water already if he could find a way.”
“He’ll get there.”
I nod. “He’s a Hunt.”
“That’s not your real surname, is it?”
I shake my head. “No, it is not.”
“Your real name. Don’t you miss it?”
I’ve never really thought about it before. My sole concern was flipping our identities completely, not looking back on that former life. “How’d you even work this all out? Through your friends in the force over there?”
“I went to Millertown.”
The vending machine in the corner is buzzing, driving me fucking insane. “You did what?”
She pulls up her phone. “That photo on your wall? I took a snap of it, showed it around to see if anyone recognized you.”
And here I was worried about the danger locally. If Lux showed my picture around Millertown…
“It’s okay,” she continues. “I only showed it to a guy at a gas station who didn’t recognize you, but he did direct me to someone who did.”
“Who was that?”
“Storm.”
My anger starts to dissipate. If anyone, I’m thankful it was him, one of the last decent guys left in that shithole. She’s watching me carefully. “What did he tell you?”
“He told me everything.”
I turn away, focus on a poster for mental illness awareness. “You going to call me in? Police duty and all?”
She places her hand on my shoulder, turns me to face her. “Of course not. I just wish you’d told me all of this earlier. I could have helped.”
“Help?” I laugh. “Do you know who these guys are? They’re fucking animals. One of the other guys who was with me, my deputy? They found him fucking scalped. I picture you like that and… fuck.”
“I get it, Deacon. I understand why you wanted to push me away, but I’m telling you I understand the risk and I still want to be with you, whatever it takes. I have contacts, people who can set you and your brothers up back home. Bo can get the surgeries he needs. We can do this.”
“In Witness Protection? We both knows that’s about as safe as a loaded gun. And what, pray tell, would I have to provide in turn? The money? Because you know what? I don’t have it. Never did.”
“You didn’t take it?”
“I’m not a criminal, Lux. You want to know what happened to that money, what really happened?”
She doesn’t reply.
“We burnt it.” My deputy thought we should take it, but I remained firm. I had no need for it, not with the inheritance from our parents. The other officer with us, Dean? He was old school, was behind me one-hundred-percent the only place for that dirty money was the fucking fire. We watched it burn to ash, all of it, and trust me, three-million doesn’t even look like they much when it’s all collected together like that, even less when it’s smoldering.
“The bikers? They’re not coming for their money. They’re coming for revenge. They’re coming to kill me and inflict as much pain in the process as possible for what I did. That’s why I couldn’t have you standing in their way, attached to me in any way. I can’t bear any more collateral damage from this. My deputy, the extra officer—that was enough. They didn’t deserve to die, not like that.”
Lux takes my hands. They look so small and tiny in my own. “I’ll say it again and this time I want you to listen, because you’re sure as hell thick as they come. I. Want. To. Be. With. You.”
I’m shaking my head. “There’s going to be trouble.”
“We’ll face it together.”
“Lives may be lost.”
“Not on my watch.”
I can’t help but laugh. “And who are you? Lara Croft?”
She smiles. “Nope, just a lean, mean, ass-kicking machine.”
I can only shake my head in return. “Easy there, Rambo.”CHAPTER NINETEEN