“Which you took, if I remember correctly.”
The captain shrugged. “Made more off that one little run than I’d brought home my previous season of fishing.” His face turned introspective. “I miss the men, but they had families to take care of and I didn’t want any of this shit to wash over onto them. Frank here,” he nudged the first mate with his elbow, “wouldn’t leave the boat, so he came along. Hell, we’re old with ex-wives and no kids, perfect for this kind of life.”
Picturing Lucas in bright waders, handling fish guts, proved impossible for my brain to fathom. He saw me watching him and gave me that trademark smirk. “What,” he asked, “don’t think I can handle myself with the big boys?”
I was saved from having to answer when a muffled bang came from below. Matthews immediately swiveled around in his chair and grabbed the wheel, giving it a few steers, then checked his instruments. “I’ve lost the engines,” he said, amusement gone. “Rudder’s still there, but we’ve got no power.”
“Can I help?” I asked as Lucas hustled me down the stairs.
“Sure. Do you know much about diesel mechanics?”
Disappointment stabbed through me. “No,” I muttered as we quickly moved to the stairs leading down to our room. The unfairness of my situation was getting to me: not only was I a prisoner, I was a useless prisoner.
Some of my frustration must have shown because when we got to the room, Lucas paused. “I need to keep you here for now. All my focus has to be on this, but I’ll keep you updated on whatever we find. Will that work?”
Slightly mollified I nodded, and Lucas flashed me a smile that made my insides suddenly melt a little. “Don’t forget to lock the door behind me,” he said, stepping out of the room.
“Yes sir,” I said, saluting smartly. My lips twitched into a smile as I slammed the door in his face. I locked it, true to my word, then went and sat down on the bed.
My eyes ran across the narrow confines of the room. Wouldn’t it be funny if I ended up dying here? The morbid thought shook me, and I lay on the thin mattress, staring at the back wall.
I wished I could trace back what had caused me to become twisted up in this situation. Lucas was the easiest one to blame. He’d brought me onto this ship. My parents’ deaths had kicked me off my college path, but I couldn’t bear to blame them. Even now, several years later, their deaths stung too much to linger on. My life had been spiraling downwards for so long, and just as I thought my luck had changed…
Why ruin what we have with platitudes?
The memory of Jeremiah’s words, spoken to me only a few days before, dashed across my heart like a scalding acid. I closed my eyes tight, fighting against tears that had already spilled too many times. His response to my accidental slip had made me leave the mansion, driving me into my current situation. I hadn’t meant to say the words aloud; they just came out. I love you.
Like a slap to the face, he’d rejected the words, told me not to say them again, and then left the house.
Was I really so wrong to speak my feeling? The question bugged me more than anything. I hadn’t expected to hear him say the words back. I was a rational girl: we’d been together less than a month, and that wasn’t long enough for everyone. There had been no stipulations that the word was off limits; if I’d known he preferred those emotions left unsaid, I would have stayed silent.
The whole situation had blindsided me, but to blame him for my current situation? That would be so nice, to lay all the blame at his feet. I sighed. Sometimes I wished I were less rational.
There was a knock at the door. I sat up, then got to my feet and slowly padded to it. “Who is it?” I asked.
“Lucas.”
The voice was muffled by the door but I grinned. “Figure out something for me to do?” I asked loudly, unbolting the latch and swinging the door open.
Yellow teeth grinned at me. “Hello, love.”
I tried to slam the door shut but suddenly there was a large body blocking my way. Abandoning the door, I raced for the bed, Niall only inches behind me. He grabbed at my hair but I managed to wrest myself free, running across the room only to be trapped by the far corner. Niall paused, seeming to glory in my helplessness, but when he rounded the corner of the bed I leapt atop the thin mattress, sprinting for the door.
I was in the open doorway, almost free, when a large hand grabbed around my midsection and hauled me back. “Lucas!” I screamed, and then I was knocked sideways into the bathroom doorframe, and the door slammed shut.
“Loverboy’s on the other end of the ship.” He grinned, teeth glinting in the low light. “I’d like to hear you scream my name.”
He pressed me backwards and I rolled sideways off the doorframe, my hip slamming hard against the edge of the low dresser. The picture frame, previously stuck to the wood surface, broke free. As Niall leaned in, presumably for a kiss, I grabbed the frame up with one hand and brought it across my assailant’s face. My grip on the item was flimsy and the blow glancing at best, but he still pulled back far enough for me to dart into the bathroom.
There was a pause as he surveyed the damage, then a roar of outrage. I tried to close the door but had no leverage, and Niall barged into the narrow room. The Australian’s earlier amusement was gone; one hand gripped my throat and he slammed me hard against the back wall of the shower. Off balance and held up by one meaty arm, I scrabbled at his hand and he repeated the move twice more until stars danced across my vision. With his free hand, he wiped the side of his head, then snarled and showed me the blood on his fingers. “You little bitch.”
He dragged me out of the bathroom and pushed me back toward the bed. Groggy, struggling to breathe, I fell backward across it and tried to pull myself away from him. He grabbed my legs, holding me to the edge of the mattress, then backhanded me across the face when I tried to sit up. I lay there, pain radiating through my body, as I heard the jingle of a belt being loosened. No, please…
What happened next was a blur. There was a crash and a bang, then Niall collapsed sideways, squealing like a pig. He crashed to the ground at the end of the bed, and I looked over to see Lucas advancing on him, gun drawn.
“You shot me!”
“Yes I did, and now you have three seconds to give me a reason not to do it again.”
Reeling, I struggled upright to watch the entire scene. Behind Lucas, the Scotsman backed into the room with his hands up. Frank followed, holding the shotgun on the bodyguard. Captain Matthews stood beside them, his eyes focused on Lucas.