Hooked (A Romance on the Edge Novel) (21 page)

Earl shook his head in disgust when Aidan stepped back and relaxed his fists. “Sissy boy,” he said, turning on his heel and slamming out of the cabin.

“Thank you, Aidan,” Lana said. She earmarked the place in her book and rose to her feet. “I really appreciate you holding back. I know it wasn’t easy.” She combed golden hair back behind her ears with nervous fingers. “Do you really think Uncle Earl and my dad had something to do with Sonya getting hurt?”

“I don’t know what to think.” Aidan picked up the cheese sandwich he no longer wanted and offered it to Lana. She shook her head. He took a bite, not willing to waste the food even though he wasn’t hungry anymore. The sandwich tasted stale with a hint of mold. Time to throw out the rest of the bread, if not the cheese.

“Why would our fathers do something like that?” Lana continued with her questions.

Aidan wished she’d stop. He didn’t have an answer for her and he didn’t want to think about what Earl and Roland were up to now. If their sick sense of amusement had targeted Sonya and her family, he needed to do more than think about it.

First, he had to see Sonya. “I’m going across the creek.”

“Can I go with you?” Lana asked.

“No. I want to talk to Sonya alone. Why don’t you see what you can fix for dinner?” He indicated the box of stuff on the table. “There should be something in there. You know how the parents get if they aren’t fed on a regular basis.” Roland and Earl weren’t much different from the wild animals roaming the area. Trouble when full, deadly when empty.

Aidan left Lana to start dinner and headed across the creek and up the bank to the Savonski’s cabin. He knocked and entered on Margaret’s hollered, “Come in.”

The cabin smelled like Christmas. Warm, inviting, sweet. So different from the cold, musty smell of his.

His gaze narrowed on Sonya as she sat at the table with her mug of tea and a stack of cookies. “Oh, Sonya.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat at the sight of her injured face.

Margaret was at the sink, finishing dishes. She wiped her hands on a towel and hung it to dry. “Why don’t I give you two a moment?”

“That’s not necessary,” Sonya was quick to interject.

“I’ve got to bring the laundry in from the line, anyway. I’ll just be a minute.” Margaret shared a look with Sonya that silenced her protests. Margaret liked to keep things neighborly, and Aidan knew her look had reminded Sonya of her manners.

“I appreciate that, Margaret,” Aidan replied, opening the door for her to exit. He was grateful Sonya hadn’t informed the Savonskis of what had transpired between them last summer. As far as they knew, Sonya and Aidan had had a tiff. He knew at least Nikolai still held out hope he and Sonya would kiss and make up.

Sonya frowned. “Gramps and the boys will be back any moment.”

He’d seen them at the cannery, talking with Chet about the engine that had been sunk. Aidan had plenty of time before they returned. Any time Nikolai got around the machine shop, it took a while to tear him away. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, Sonya. I won’t hurt you.”

“You did.”

“I know.” It had cost him the one person who’d meant the world to him. “I’ll never make that mistake again.”

She picked a cookie off the top of her stack and showed some of those manners Margaret had drilled into her. “Want one?”

It wasn’t an olive branch, but he’d take it. “Thanks.” Aidan sat across from her and bit into the cookie. The taste exploded in his mouth. “Oh, man.” He groaned. “Monster mug-ups?” Sonya nodded. “Damn, these are good. How do you have just one?”

She indicated the stack. “You can’t. This is my dinner.”

They ate in silence for a moment as Aidan cataloged her appearance. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” She shrugged and then winced as the motion caused her pain. “As long as I don’t move much.”

The anger he felt now was different than the explosive, out-of-control rage he usually dealt with. This slipped through his blood like oil, coating and smothering, and seemed a hell of a lot more dangerous. “Tell me what happened.”

She did, and it was all he could do to keep the knot tight on his temper.

“You think it was an accident?” he asked. Fishing was dangerous, accidents happened. Just the nature of the beast could bring out the worst in people. Limited time, limited catch, limited potential to make a lot of money. “This doesn’t sound like an accident.”

“That’s what Garrett said.”

Hunt again. He stuffed a cookie in his mouth to keep the biting words back. Of course, the fish cop
would
be involved. A crime had been committed. At least someone was looking out for her when he couldn’t. “Who was drifting by you?” She listed the boats, all the while acting as though the whole incident was no big deal. When she mentioned the
Albatross
,
Aidan knew he had a target. The son of a bitch deserved whatever mean Aidan could deliver his way.

“Kendrick makes the most sense,” Sonya said. “I don’t know who else had the opportunity. I don’t know anyone on board the
Intrepid
. The crew of the
Mary Jane
are usually too stoned to hit anything they aim at. Treat, on the
Miss Julie II,
would be shooting at Kendrick rather than at me. So that leaves Kendrick.”

Unless someone was a proficient marksman like Roland or Earl,
Aidan couldn’t help thinking.

If Kendrick was responsible that meant his father wasn’t. He knew Earl and Roland didn’t have a lot of boundaries when it came to mischief, but thinking that they could have targeted Sonya with their sick little games was more than uncomfortable.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a drift opening tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t tell me you plan on fishing? Cut up like you are.”

She tightened her lips and just stared at him.

“You are, aren’t you?” His temper flared and a few flames got away from him. “Damn it, Sonya. Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what, Aidan?” She dropped her cookie and sat back on the bench. “Fishing?”

“Look at you? Have you seen your face?”

“Yes.” Her eyes wavered and he knew he’d touched a nerve. She wasn’t as cool and collected as she appeared.

“You need to take care of yourself. Scars aren’t worth catching some damn fish for.”

“The permit is in my name. I have to be on the boat.”

Aidan took a breath. He understood that there was no calling in sick during fishing. You either fished or lost out. The idea of Sonya out there working, in her condition, more than bothered him.

She flicked him a glance. He hated that look in her eyes. He’d caused that. Only he could fix it. So he swallowed his temper with another bite of cookie. “Be careful tomorrow. I don’t want anything else to happen to you.” Her eyes widened and he realized she’d expected his normal dressing down. “You matter to me, Sonya.”

That was twice in two days that a man had told her she mattered. What was going on? Sonya stared at Aidan who looked so sincere. She knew he cared about her, but she also didn’t wanted to be with a man who “cared about a woman” the way he did.

The cookies were making her sick. She probably shouldn’t have gorged herself on them. They’d tasted so good, comforting, like the loving hugs her mother used to give her when she was younger.

“Aidan, I appreciate you coming to check on me, but I’m tired.” She let all her worry and exhaustion show through. She’d done her best to hide it all day. She didn’t want Grams to report to Gramps that she wasn’t up to fishing tomorrow. She had something to prove. Not only to herself, but to the other fishermen who might be under the guise that she wasn’t cut out to fish. She especially had something to prove to the asshole who’d decided to pick on her. If what happened to her had happened to a man, there would be no question if he’d be fishing tomorrow. There’d be plenty of time to rest and heal after the season was over.

She needed to get rid of Aidan. She didn’t like seeing him this way, gazing at her like a kicked puppy. It messed with her resolutions. They’d always been friends, until they’d decided to take that friendship to the next level. How she wished they hadn’t. She could use a friend right now. Someone who wasn’t looking at her to be captain and call the shots or family members wanting to smother her with concern. Someone who could be a sounding board, where she could vent, get angry, or cry.

Aidan got to his feet. “Get some sleep. But, Sonya, promise me that if you need anything, you’ll let me know.”

“Thanks, Aidan,” she said, wishing, more than she liked, that she could take him up on his offer.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN

Frustration ate at Garrett like maggots on a dead fish. They’d yet to find Kendrick. It hadn’t helped matters that they’d been called away on a search and rescue that had turned search and recovery because some idiot had gotten drunk and fallen overboard. The Coast Guard had been sent in from Kodiak, but they still hadn’t found a body. It had been over twenty-four hours. With the way the Bristol Bay tides tore in and out, they weren’t going to find one. Just another statistic added to alcohol related deaths in Bristol Bay.

“Garrett,” Skip hollered from the cabin to where he stood at the bow, scanning the unusually calm waters of the incoming tide. “Just got a transmission from Miller.” Miller was one of the troopers stationed as a spotter on land. “He caught sight of the
Albatross
headed for the line.”

Garrett gave Skip a smile full of satisfaction. He glanced at his watch. Drifting was scheduled to open in just under an hour. Kendrick was out early, obviously to claim a choice fishing spot.

“Do you want to intercept?” Skip took one look at Garrett. “Right. Setting a course. But you get to be the one who wakes Judd.”

Judd had headed below to catch a few winks before the opening. He wouldn’t get many. They were all operating on no sleep and too much caffeine. Garrett knew he was probably not in the best shape to interrogate Kendrick. Not that it would stop him. The man had proved elusive and Garrett wasn’t letting the opportunity pass him by.

He managed to get a grumbling Judd out of bed and an energy drink down him just as Skip pulled alongside the
Albatross
.

“
Albatross
, prepare to be boarded,” Garrett yelled over the loud speaker. Never had the words been so satisfying to say.

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Skip asked not needing an answer. He regarded Garrett and frowned. “Maybe I should question Kendrick in your place.”

“Kendrick’s mine.”

Skip shared a look with Judd that Garrett didn’t even pretend not to see.

“You boys have a problem?”

Judd slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

“You aren’t in your right head,” Skip added.

“Let me do my job.”

“Good enough for me,” Judd said, stretching his arms above his head. “Let’s go catch us a bird.” His comment had the desired effect of cutting the tension.

“Just keep it by the book,” Skip said.

Garrett nodded, itching to get aboard the
Albatross
and make Kendrick squirm like the worm he was.

Kendrick stood on deck, his beefy hands fisted on hips that were overshadowed by a robust belly. A scraggly beard mottled his face in calico colors. What hair remained on his head blew like tufts of goose down in the biting breeze. His sharp gray eyes screamed mean. They told Garrett Kendrick had long since buried his soul somewhere in the dark, deep ocean.

“What the hell do you want with me now?” Kendrick hollered as Garrett swung over the rail onto his deck.

“I want answers.” Garret stood in front of Kendrick, not intimidated by his size as Kendrick loomed over him. Garrett had taken down bigger men. Judd followed and stood quietly behind him to the left.

“Answers?” Kendrick asked. “Did you have to board my boat for that? We’re getting ready to fish.” Kendrick’s Brutus-arms swung wide, indicating his crew.