Loan Shark Love

“Yeah, that’s so weird,” I agree with her, nodding as if she’s saying something very important to me. “The tour was great, though. Ten out of ten will do.”

Natalie lets out a snort of laughter.

Grey has a basket in the kitchenette that his cook had put together back at the house, and he brings it to the thick blanket, sitting it down with us there. I pull Grey’s sweatshirt over my bikini and sit down heavily on the blanket, entirely sated and spent. Grey winks at me from across the blanket, grinning widely.

I admire the long, thin lines of Natalie’s body in her bikini, but I no longer feel any jealousy as I might have at an earlier time in my life.

Before Grey, I would always compare myself to other women and feel envy when I saw them in a better light than what I saw myself in. I can appreciate that his sister is beautiful, but I don’t see her as a competition or as someone to make fun of me. Before, I would always assume that all women were talking behind my back because of my weight. Now, if they are, I really couldn’t care less about them. Grey has unintentionally built me up to this glowing, confident version of myself, and I never want to let it go.

I’m a new and better version of myself and who I am.

I revel in the sun as the boat bobs peacefully on the water, laid out across Grey’s strong thighs after our yummy lunch is mostly over. Natalie tips her head back, letting the sun’s rays warm her face as she pops a grape in her mouth and then finishes off her lobster roll with a smack of her lips.

“So,” she says brightly, dusting off her hands. “When are you two getting married then?”

I have to sit up when I nearly choke on the swallow of lemon water I had been trying to drink before Natalie said anything. Grey pats my back gently.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Nat,” he says, shaking his head.

The familial ribbing that goes on constantly between them is hard not to envy. I have never had someone like how Natalie has Grey, but I always wanted it.

“Oh, my dear brother,” Natalie laughs, smoothing her long red hair over her thin, pale shoulder. “Your business is my business. Where will it be then? Will it be in Italy? You do love Italy. Anderson, will you be my date to their wedding?”

The burly, tawny-haired security guard raises an eyebrow, and I see his lips twitch, but he doesn’t say anything. I’m glad he’s on board the boat, whether he’s Natalie’s date to our imaginary wedding or not. I feel safer with him here with us.

“When we get married,” Grey says, looking sternly at his sister. “I’m going to make sure there are no lobster rolls on the menu.”

Grey cracks a smile at his own joke, and I see Nat make a face. Truthfully, I’m just absurdly happy to know that Grey can see himself as my husband, just as I want to be his wife so very badly. He sees a future with me, and it means a lot to me to know.

“Maybe I want them too,” I say cheekily in response, shooting Natalie a wink.

“See?” Natalie says, grinning widely.

“You two are going to be a problem, I can already tell,” Grey says, shaking his head. He’s grinning, though, and I know he’s pleased.

He leaves to go talk to the captain, and I stand, looking out over the water.

Suddenly, gunshots ring out across the lake.

CHAPTER TEN

Grey

There are men on the shore, and in that moment I know where the Goblins are.

A storm has started to move in, and soft rain begins to flood across the surface of the lake. Of course, I would need to go and speak with the captain of our vessel at the precise moment Rosie needs me most.

She screams, and I lunge over the edge of the railing from the top deck, landing on my feet on the polished surface.

The boat hits a hard wave in the otherwise calm water as the captain responds to the urgent sound of bullets over the water, and I look at Rose reflexively. In the span of less than a full minute, my heart is in my throat as I watch her arms windmill for a moment by the railing where she had been looking out, and her pretty, pink mouth forms a perfect O in her terrifying surprise.

The world stops on its axis, and a cry wrenches itself from my throat. The captain is scrambling to get us back on course, but rain lashes across our faces, and it’s hard to see. Thunder rumbles, and we need to get off the water.

Bullets continue to spray across the lake. The men on the lake’s bank are aiming to kill. There’s a scream from Natalie, and I spin around at that moment to look at her, turning back only when she points at me to turn. I catch the sight of flailing hands and strawberry blonde hair slipping over the side of the boat and into the dark water of the lake.