Sink or Swim (Beach Kingdom 3)

He’d cupped her cheek. She’d closed her eyes.

That’s when the thunder cracked and the sky opened up.

For years, he’d worried that dating Jiya might ruin the best relationship in his life. Might change the friendship he treasured above all else. That had been the biggest worry in his life.

And then an hour later, he’d hit his father over the head with a brass horse and he’d ached to go back to that simple worry. When his greatest fear was kissing Jiya and her telling him she thought of him like a brother.

After last week, at least that fear was put solidly to rest.

Now, he ground the heel of his hand into his eye socket and laughed without humor. “You mind hitting the dimmer switch?” Andrew called.

“Oh, this one’s got jokes,” said one of the voices, cutting through the beams of light. “How about telling us who the hell you are first.”

“I’m Andrew. Handler sent me. Are you Marlin?”

The sound of scuffling feet on the concrete was followed by the three sets of high beams cutting off. Without the excessive lights to blind him, Andrew lowered his hand—and found a young guy standing a few feet away…pointing a gun at Andrew’s head.

He stared back impassively.

“Look, I’m unarmed. You want to search me or something?” He held up his hands. “I’m just here to pick up the packages. Feel free to call Handler.”

A figure came into focus in the distance—a bearded man slightly older than Andrew in a Patriots sweatshirt. Carrying a bat. “Well, I, uh…” the guy laughed tightly and smacked the bat off the closest front bumper. “I guess Handler didn’t mention he owes us money. That must be why he didn’t show up himself, like we planned.”

Why hadn’t Andrew seen something like this coming?

Maybe he wasn’t cut out for the criminal life after all.

Through the pinch of shock only came more numbness, though. What’s the worst that happened here? It couldn’t be worse than what was happening back on Long Island.

“You going to hit me with that fucking bat?” He rapped a fist against his chest and could actually feel the hollowness underneath. “Come on, man. Do it. Please.”

They men ahead of him exchanged glances. “Look. We’re going to let you leave with the products. We already got paid by the receiver. But Handler owes us a finder’s fee and I hope you don’t mind, we need to send a little message.”

“Just leave him able enough to drive,” someone cracked.

Laughter bounced off the concrete walls.

Andrew stepped closer to the man holding the gun and pressed his forehead to the muzzle. For a moment, he wondered if it would be so bad if the trigger got pulled. He wouldn’t have to think of Jiya with another man. He wouldn’t have to live knowing she was out there and he’d never touch her again. But his brothers would never know what happened to him and he wouldn’t leave them with that uncertainty. He loved them too much. So he used the other man’s shock to rip the weapon out of his hands and point it back in his direction. “Now you look. I don’t want a problem. Where is the truck I’m supposed to drive back to Long Island? Point it out and I’ll go.”

The guy who’d pulled the gun on him laughed and looked back over his shoulder at his friends. “The gun ain’t loaded.”

The sound of a bat being dragged on the ground scraped Andrew’s eardrums as the men cut out the final set of headlights and converged on him.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jiya probably should have skipped her flying lesson.

Her head was definitely not in the game. Life had become a swift current and the farther it carried her down the river, the harder it was becoming to see the reassuring shoreline. Plus, there was a churning sensation in her stomach warning her she was headed towards the falls.

She stretched her fingers on the steering wheel, letting the small diamond on her ring finger catch the light, only long enough to make her throat constrict, then she pushed out of her car and locked it, patting the roof in a silent thank you for not breaking down again. A blue-nosed Cessna buzzed past overhead and she leaned a hip against her car to watch it vanish and reappear in the low cloud cover. Another girl learning to fly, perhaps?

So much had changed since the last time she stood in this parking lot. The hand Andrew had held as he led her toward the office was now decorated in another man’s ring. And it was ludicrous how unfaithful that made her feel. She’d all but thrown herself at Andrew’s feet and begged him to keep her. She had nothing to feel guilty about.

Those reassurances rang hollow as Jiya made her way across the airfield toward hangar one. Her shadow stretched long and solitary across the pavement, making it difficult to stem the tide of loneliness. Making it impossible. She almost felt silly being there at all. Indulgent. Why had she even bothered showing up?