Page 15 of Landry (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #7)

Camille lifted Ava up onto her lap. “Sweetie, stand on my legs.”

Ava pushed to a standing position with Camille holding her around her hips.

Landry hooked his hands beneath her arms and swung her onto the dock. “Stay right there while I get your mother out.”

“Yes, sir.” Ava, in her pajamas, looking so small and a little scared, stood exactly where he’d placed her.

Camille’s heart swelled with pride and love for her little girl.

“You’re next.” Landry held out his hand.

Camille handed him the flashlight, then laid her palm in his and stood. The zap of electricity shooting through her made her shift her feet too soon. The boat tipped.

Landry pulled her up onto the dock and into his arms. He held her for several long seconds, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

Her heart raced, not so much because she almost fell into the water, but because she was pressed against Landry’s chest. She could smell his cologne and feel the solid muscles beneath his T-shirt. She didn’t want to move.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, his breath stirring tendrils of her hair against her ear.

Camille nodded, reached deep inside and pulled herself together. When she leaned back, she gave him a shaky grimace. “Sorry. That was clumsy of me.”

His smile and the feel of his arms around her waist sent warm shivers throughout her body. “It’s okay.” He stepped back, releasing his arms from around her body. He turned to Ava. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I didn’t move at all.”

“Good girl,” he said and ruffled her hair. He took her hand in his and walked with her along the short dock to the shack. Camille followed, willing her pulse to slow and her breathing to return to normal. She shouldn’t be having such intense reactions to a man helping her onto a dock.

Landry let go of Ava’s hand, twisted the doorknob, pushed the door inward and shined the flashlight into the small room.

“Billy Ray?” Ava called out. “Are you in there?”

No one answered.

Camille reached for Ava’s hand.

“Stay here,” Landry said and stepped inside the shack.

From where Camille stood, she couldn’t see much of what the beam of light revealed.

“It’s okay, you can come in,” Landry said and set the flashlight on the table, pointing upward. As small as the room was, the light reflecting off the ceiling provided enough illumination for Camille to see what she needed to see.

The shack contained a small table, a wooden chair and a narrow bed in the corner with a thin mattress. On the bed was a pillow and a pink fleece blanket with a pattern of unicorns and rainbows.

Camille frowned. “That blanket looks like...”

Ava ran to the bed, lifted the blanket and held it to her cheeks. “It’s mine. I gave it to Billy Ray.”

Landry stood by the table. He lifted an empty can. “If this is where Billy Ray is living, he’s been living on canned food.” He set the can down among others, some of which were still unopened. Then he lifted a hammer and held it to the light.

“That’s my hammer.” Camille reached for it. “I bought a small tool kit that had powder-blue handles on the screwdrivers and hammer.”

“I let Billy Ray borrow it to fix the roof,” Ava said.

Camille turned to Ava. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You weren’t using it. Billy Ray needed one. He said he would bring it back when he was done.” Ava looked around the shack and sighed. “He’s not here.”

“No, he’s not,” Camille said. “And we need to get you home and to bed.”

Ava’s eyes filled. “But what about Billy Ray? He could be lost in the bayou.”

“If he’s been living out here for a while, I doubt that he’s lost,” Landry said. “He might be hiding.”

Ava’s brow pinched into a serious expression for such a small child. “He doesn’t like to be around grown-ups.”

Camille knelt beside Ava. “Why?”

“They will take him away and make him live with people he doesn’t like.” Ava looked up at her mother, tears welling in her eyes. “I told him he would like you, but he won’t listen. I’m his only friend. What if he’s afraid to come back?”

“Oh, sweetie.” Camille pulled her daughter into her arms. “We’ll do what we can to find him and make sure he doesn’t go to people he doesn’t like. But if he’s afraid of grown-ups, I don’t think he’ll come here tonight. Not with us here.”

“I could stay,” Ava offered. “He’s not afraid of me.”

Camille shook her head. “I can’t leave you alone in the bayou. Billy Ray wouldn’t want us to. He’s your friend, which means he cares about you. He’d want you to be safe at your home. And that’s where he’d expect to find you.”

Landry dropped to his haunches beside Camille. “You need to be where he can find you, in your house.”

“But the trellis is broken,” Ava said. “How will he get to my room?”

“I’ll fix it in the morning,” Landry said. “I promise. But for now, we need to go home.”

Ava’s gaze shifted from Landry to Camille and back to Landry. She nodded. “Let’s go home.”

Landry straightened, held out a hand to Camille and helped her to her feet. Then he swung Ava up into his arms.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I feel bad.”

“Why?” Landry asked.

“We didn’t find Billy Ray,” Ava said. “I hope he’s okay.”

“You are a good friend,” Camille said. “You wanted to help him.”

“And we wouldn’t have found where he lives if it wasn’t for you,” Landry pointed out. “A good friend listens and remembers.” He followed Camille through the door and waited while she closed it securely.

“It’s hard to believe a ten-year-old has been living here alone, and no one knew,” she said.

“He’s a smart kid,” Landry said. “And he chose his friend wisely.”

Camille’s heart went out to the boy with no parents, living in the bayou alone. She was disturbed that she hadn’t known he was real, assuming Ava had an imaginary friend. Her daughter had a big heart and had only wanted to help the boy.

They walked back out to the boat.

As before, Landry got in first, then settled Ava on the bench across from him and assisted Camille in last. She freed the line from the dock and tucked it into the boat.

The little motor started on the first pull.

Soon, they were chugging through the bayou, heading back to the little cottage.

The rocking motion of the boat had Ava yawning and rubbing her eyes.

Camille turned sideways and eased Ava onto her side with her head lying across Camille’s lap. She was asleep in seconds.

Camille glanced toward Landry. “What are we going to do about Billy Ray?”

“I’ll get Remy to help us find him. He’s probably been out there for weeks and has been doing fine until now.”

“Sounds like he’s a flight risk,” Camille said. “I don’t want to scare him into leaving the area.”

“I’ll make sure Remy understands. He can also do some investigation into missing boys around ten years old. Sounds like he might be a runaway from a foster home.”

Camille nodded. “It’s bad enough to lose your parents, but to be stuck in a home where you’re unhappy...”

“Running away might have been his only choice,” Landry said.

The little engine coughed, sputtered and quit.

Landry immediately tried to restart it. No matter how many times he pulled the cord, the engine refused to start. “Hand me the flashlight,” he said.

Camille passed it to him.

Landry unscrewed the gas cap and shined the light down into the tank. “It’s empty. I didn’t even think to check before we left.”

“Me either. I never take the skiff very far, and my neighbor is usually kind enough to fill the tank for me,” Camille said.

Landry pulled his cell phone from his pocket and stared down as the screen blinked to life. A moment later, he slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“No service?” she guessed.

He shook his head. “None.”

“Reception is spotty out here.” Camille turned carefully so as not to disturb Ava and grabbed the oar hooked to the inside of the boat. “Thankfully, my neighbor was also kind enough to make sure I had a paddle in case the engine didn’t work.”

“Remind me to thank your neighbor.” Landry took the paddle from her and dug it into the water, sending the little skiff forward.

“It took us a long time to get to the hut with the motor,” she noted.

“It’ll take even longer to get back,” Landry said, digging the paddle into the water again and again.

“I can row when you get tired,” Camille offered.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

For the next twenty minutes, Landry rowed, switching sides to keep the skiff moving forward.

At one point, they rounded a bend. Before Landry would paddle on the other side, the bow of the skiff slid into a patch of reeds with a mound of sticks rising out of it.

When Landry raised the paddle and pushed against the stack of sticks, something launched out of the shadows.

Starlight glinted off sharp teeth as a massive alligator clamped onto the end of the paddle.

Camille gasped and leaned away, pulling Ava with her.

Landry shoved the paddle hard, trying to move the alligator away from the skiff. The boat rocked violently, water splashing over the edge.

The alligator refused to release its hold on the paddle.

Landry pulled, pushed and shook the paddle, but only managed to rock the boat even more.

“Let it go,” Camille cried.

“We need that paddle.”

“Its teeth are buried in it. Let it go,” she pleaded as she held onto the fiercely rocking boat and her daughter.

The decision was literally taken from Landry’s hands. The alligator jerked its head to the side, wrenching the paddle free of Landry’s grip. Immediately, the creature sank beneath the surface, paddle and all.

Her heart thundering in her chest, Camille held a sleepy Ava in her arms while looking all around the skiff, expecting the alligator to return and take a bite out of the boat.

Landry sat with his back ramrod straight, his head swiveling on his neck. After several tense minutes, his gaze met Camille’s in the starlight. “I think it’s gone.”

“Thank God,” Camille whispered, glad Ava had been too tired to fully waken in the middle of the drama. Had she been fully aware of what was going on, an alligator attack would have plagued her dreams for the rest of her childhood.

For a few more minutes, they sat still, waiting to see if the alligator would return.

When it didn’t, Camille looked to Landry. “Now what?”

“I can paddle with my hands,” Landry leaned toward the side of the boat and extended his hand toward the water.

Camille’s heart leaped into her throat. “No!”

He jerked his hand back and gave her a tight smile. “We have no other way of propelling this boat forward. Maybe if I can get to a tree, I can break off a branch and try poling us through the bayou. But we have to get to a tree first.”

Camille looked around the little boat. There was nothing they could use as a paddle. Finally, she kicked off her shoe, retrieved it and handed it to Landry. “Use this.”

He shook his head. “It’s not going to move us any faster.”

“At least it gives you something to lose besides your hand if another alligator decides it wants to attack.”

When he hesitated, she sighed. “Please.”

He leaned over the side and used her tennis shoe to push through the water.

The boat moved so slowly, it was excruciating.

At that rate, they wouldn’t make it back to the cottage before sunup.

“I should’ve come out alone,” Landry said.

“We wouldn’t have let you,” Camille said. “And second-guessing isn’t going to change the situation. We’ll be okay.”

“I’m not much of a protector if I’ve managed to get us stranded in the bayou.” Using the shoe, he cleaved the water faster, sending the little skiff toward a tree whose branches hung over the water.

As they neared, Camille could see that the branches were just out of reach.

Landry eased to his feet and stretched his arms as high as he could, snagging a long, narrow branch. He immediately sat, bringing the branch down with him.

The boat tipped to the starboard.

Camille leaned the other way. Slowly, the rocking stilled.

Landry pulled them along the limb several feet and then broke it off. He quickly stripped the leaves and smaller branches until he had a pole approximately seven feet long.

“Let’s hope this works,” he said as he stuck the flimsy pole into the water. It sank deeper and deeper until only a foot of the pole could be seen.

Afraid of the answer, Camille asked anyway, “Did it hit bottom?”

Landry pushed hard on the pole, sending the little skiff sliding through the water. “It did.”

Camille released the breath she’d been holding and looked forward. It would have been better if the engine worked, but the poling was moving them along as fast, if not faster, than when they’d had the paddle the alligator ate.

“You know, someday we’re going to look back at our night in the bayou and laugh,” he said softly.

The night’s events scrolled through Camille’s mind. The rush to get to Ava’s imaginary friend, finding the Later Gator Fishing Hut, running out of gas and having an alligator abscond with the only paddle...

A chuckle bubbled up in her throat.

Camille clapped a hand over her mouth, but it didn’t stop another chuckle from escaping. Soon, she was laughing so hard that tears streamed from her eyes.

Landry laughed with her. “You have to stop. My sides hurt.”

Camille nodded, her laughter slowing to a few guffaws. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and stared ahead. Her eyes narrowed. “Is that a light coming this way?” She glanced back at Landry.

He’d stopped poling, all humor gone from his face. “It is.”

Camille reached for the flashlight. “We need to wave them down. They can tow us in.” She had the flashlight in her hand and was just pushing the button when Landry touched her shoulder.

“Don’t.”

Too late.

The light blinked on.