Salt air hit her face as Adria stepped outside. She leaned against the railing, enjoying the sight of the sun hitting the water. Bryson was the first to stand next to her. Putting both arms on the railing, jaw working silently as he stared out into the sea.
Something was bothering him today.
“Hey, you,” she said, moving her hand on the railing to touch his. He moved his gaze from the ocean to her face.
“You okay?” she asked, giving his hand a squeeze.
Something flickered behind his eyes, but Bryson gave her a warm smile. “I’m perfect, gorgeous.”
Adria wanted to push, wanted to ask more questions. She opened her mouth, but the metal door clanged behind them and Bryson’s gaze snapped back to the water.
“I am going to miss this view every morning,” Kaydon said, steam rising from his coffee mug. Seth appeared silently at her other side, pressing a warm mug into her palm.
Bryson’s shoulders tensed with each breath. The same way hers did when she was swallowing words. She needed to talk to him. He wanted to pretend that everything was fine, but Adria was an expert at hiding pain, and she saw right through him.
The sea stretched before the four of them, deceptively calm after days of pitching and rolling beneath their feet. They had been through three storms, four nights of raging sea sickness and many mornings of watching the sun paint the water gold. Now, dark smudges of land interrupted the clean line where sky met ocean.
Adria’s tea slowly cooled from the wind, the lukewarm contents going untouched in her hands. She watched the colors dance off the water below. It was a beautiful morning. Except Adria couldn’t help fixating on the shadows beyond. And she couldn’t help but feel like everything was about to change.
CHAPTER 39
PORT OF SANTOS
Eric eased the battered Ford pickup onto a narrow side street lined with crumbling storefronts and cracked pavement. He hoisted his duffel bag, its straps frayed and dust-caked, and set off on foot toward the distant roar of activity at the Port of Santos. Elena’s husband had outfitted him like a seasoned traveler—stainless-steel canteen, spare water filter, vacuum-sealed rations, a threadbare tarp that could double as shelter—and Eric was quietly grateful for each unexpected provision.
It had been a long road and while Eric didn’t mind the solitude, he was ready for some familiar faces.
He had checked in on X’s house a few days prior. X wasn’t home, and Eric hadn’t been allowed up, but the place was a fortress. Now he stood in the harbor’s loading yard, the air thick with salt spray and the stench of diesel exhaust. Days without a shower meant that his khaki shorts bore smudges of grease, and his white shirt was stained yellow at the collar. He leaned against a weathered warehouse door, surveying the horizon.
Ships.
So many ships, as far as his eyes could see. Any number of them could be the S.S. Dominion.
Eric knew she was safe. Adria had sent him texts multiple times a day since their departure.
What are you going to do now that she has them?Eric remembered Elena asking as they drove away three weeks ago.
He had just stared out the window. Adria wouldn’t need him anymore. His mind was already running through options about what his future would look like when they got back home.
He could take some private security jobs from Sage.
He could retire?
No, that didn’t sound fun.
You could go pick up Daniela, throw her over your shoulder and carry her away with you.
Eric bit down on his cheek, hard. Why was he having those types of thoughts?
Adria thought he was feeling left out, and that was why he was pulling away. And maybe that was some of it, but maybe seeing her gain the connections she never thought she would have had him thinking about himself. Whatever the reason, it seemed, he couldn’t get that dark-haired beauty out of his head.
Her sassy mouth was just waiting to be fucked.
Eric adjusted his pants.
He needed to focus on the now. Adria was still in very real, very serious danger. Until they could get the Triune to rescind the bounty, they would never be safe.
If they kept running, they would always be looking over their shoulders. Eric knew he could keep them alive, keep them one step ahead. Except there was one giant problem with that plan.
