Page 4 of Pirates in Calusa Cove (Everglades Overwatch #2)

CHAPTER 2

Trinity skidded to a stop, breathless. Her gaze locked with Keaton’s, and her heart dropped to her stomach, lurched back up, and lodged in her throat, pounding like a pulsating balloon.

She’d long gotten past being slightly fearful of Keaton. Not of him, but afraid of her feelings for the man. He wasn’t anything like Fenton. Not even close. She knew that, but she couldn’t trust herself around Keaton. The attraction was palpable.

Even if he didn’t share it.

Every time she saw him, it was the same thing.

You’re going to get yourself killed.

You’re reckless.

Or her favorite.

Don’t go alone. I’ll go with you.

Right. The man was always working, and it was worse since he’d been promoted to head of the Fish and Wildlife Department of Calusa Cove. When he wasn’t busy with that, he was running tours for the airboat company he owned with his buddies. A couple of times, she’d agreed to his help, but it had been on his terms, and she wasn’t one to sit around and wait.

She was an experienced scuba diver. Much to her mother’s dismay, she’d been doing it since she was fifteen. She knew the dangers. Prepared for them. It wasn’t unheard of for someone with her level of expertise to go on a solo adventure. It was actually quite a common practice.

Keaton was just being controlling and, well, Keaton.

She’d learned over the year she’d known him that he was a bit of a rules guy and a safety nut. Perhaps not totally strange for a man who had once been what most considered a thrill-seeker. But she would have expected that behavior more from Hayes, the firefighter, or Dawson, the cop.

“What’s got you all excited?” Keaton stood, reaching for the photograph in her hands.

Instinctively, she pulled it to her chest.

He arched a brow. “You don’t want me to see that?”

“Oh. No, I do. Well, I’d rather they all look at it first, tell me what they think, and then you can tell me I’m crazy and lecture me about scuba diving on my own like I’m a toddler and you’re my daddy.”

“Let the record show I did not start this argument.” Keaton snatched the picture right from her fingertips. “What am I looking at?”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a jerk?”

“Yeah, you, every time I see you.”

She planted a hand on her hip and resisted the urge to stick her tongue out. God, this man often brought out the worst in her, and that made her emotions even more confusing. She shouldn’t want a man so badly who made her this crazy.

He took out his cell and tapped the screen, turning on the flashlight, nearly blinding her. “I’m going to ask you again. What am I supposed to see in this murky image?”

“That. Right there.” She leaned over and tapped the image. “My tank was low, and it was getting late. But that’s a boat. I think it might be Jared’s.”

“I can’t tell anything from this picture.” Keaton brought the image closer. “It’s a big shadow. It could be almost anything.”

“Maybe that’s what it looks like on paper, but I know what I saw, and Mallary finally got her deep dive certification. We’re going out again tomorrow after lunch.”

“At least you won’t be going out there alone,” Keaton mumbled.

“Can I see that?” Dawson asked.

“Sure.” Trinity snatched it from Keaton and marched across the grass. “I get it’s hard to see, but that’s Jared’s boat. I know it.”

“Even if it is, what’s it going to tell you?” Keaton eased back into his chair and sipped his beer. “What kind of answers do you honestly think you’re going to find?” He held up his hand. “Because if the jewels from the Flying Victoria are down there and you bring them back up, it’s not going to do anything but make Jared look guilty.”

The blood in her veins boiled. “Why do you always have to do that? ”

“Do what?” Keaton glared. “Be realistic? Tell you the truth about your actions? Because sometimes, I swear that, for a smart woman, you simply don’t think.”

“Jeez, Keaton. You’re being a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Audra said. “Mallary and the rest of her family have been through hell. They want to clear Jared’s name, or at the very least, find the truth. I might know a little something about what that feels like.”

“Trust me, I get it.” Keaton set his beer on the ground, rested his forearms on his thighs, and leaned forward, holding Trinity’s gaze with a scrutinizing glare. She saw a hint of something else behind those intense, dark eyes.

She always saw a twinge of kindness. A softness. Deep down, she knew the man had a heart. She saw it in the way he was with his team. He had their backs and not just with his brawn. He would die for those three men because he loved them with every ounce of his heart. He’d welcomed Audra into his fold. He’d do anything for her, and the same went for Baily. But for whatever reason, he often treated her as if she had some sort of death wish.

Or worse, that she wasn’t capable.

“Why don’t you let me and the guys go and poke around down there, and if there’s a wreck, we’ll investigate,” Keaton said. “We can go the next time Dawson has a day off. I’m sure we can all manage to work out our schedules to fit that.”

“While I appreciate that you want to help,” she muttered, managing to let those words roll off her tongue without choking on them. “Mallary doesn’t want to wait. She’s worked hard to get her deep dive certification, and even if I hadn’t seen anything—or that doesn’t turn out to be Jared’s boat—she wants to look. She needs to search for answers. To do something other than sit on her thumbs and listen to people whisper as she walks through town. Her family needs peace.”

Slowly, methodically, Keaton rose. He inched closer.

The air in her lungs was trapped, caught somewhere between an inhale and an exhale.

He palmed her cheek, his touch so tender. So soft.

She blinked.

“I can understand how truly painful this has been for them.” His thumb rubbed across her cheek, and it was as if time had stopped. As if the crackle of the fire had been put on pause and her friends weren’t sitting around the pit, staring at her and Keaton sharing an odd moment of… she had no idea. “Dawson has spent countless hours looking into this. Every single one of us has taken our free time searching for clues, trying to figure out what could’ve really happened out there and why so many people were so quick to judge and turn on Jared.” He dropped his hand. “It’s frustrating that you can’t see that and constantly have to go it alone. You’re a stubborn woman, and you’re going to wind up getting yourself or Mallary hurt.”

“Do not start that crap with me again.” She poked him in the chest. “Do you have any idea how many years I’ve been scuba diving? How many solo dives I’ve done? I understand the dangers better than most. I’m not reckless, and I resent you constantly telling me that I am. ”

Keaton cocked his head. “The fact that this is personal—and you’re trying to prove yourself to God only knows who—makes you reckless.”

“You don’t have a clue regarding anything about me.” She lowered her chin and dug her wedges into the ground. “You’re a misogynistic pig who?—”

“That’s enough, children,” Dawson said.

“You would think that,” Keaton mumbled, tossing his empty beer in the recycling bin. “It’s time to call it a night. I’ll catch everyone later.” He turned, took three steps, and glanced over his shoulder. “Be careful out there.”

“I always am.” She let out a big sigh and plopped herself in one of the chairs.

“Hey, man, don’t go.” Fletcher chased Keaton across the lawn and into the gravel driveway.

“You shouldn’t have called him that,” Dawson said. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Seriously?” Trinity’s eyes narrowed. “Then why is he always being a jerk about the things I do? All starting back on the night Jared died. I mean, I could rattle off a dozen comments over the last year. Hell, he got bent out of shape about me changing a flat by myself. As if my being a woman meant I couldn’t do it.”

Hayes smacked his forehead. “You were on the side of a highway. Alone. During rush hour.”

“I had hazard cones set up.” She folded her arms.

“It was getting dark. You should’ve had flares, and when Keaton drove by, he saw cars zooming way too close,” Dawson said. “You have AAA. You should’ve called them, or hell, called me. I would’ve come and changed the damn thing for you.”

“And if I were a man?” Trinity asked.

“Yeah, babe.” Audra patted Dawson’s cheek. “What’s your response to that one?”

“Chivalry is different than misogyny,” Hayes chimed in.

“If I didn’t have flares, I wouldn’t have done it alone, either. Not on that highway. I’ve seen too many people die like that,” Dawson said. “Being a man has nothing to do with it. I would’ve called a buddy to have my back. That’s what friends do.”

“But you have no problem with me python hunting alone,” Audra said with a sarcastic tone.

“I’d rather you didn’t, but you don’t like me doing it alone either. Sex has nothing to do with it. That’s called caring about one another.” Dawson lifted Audra’s chin and gave her a kiss.

Trinity groaned. “Yeah, well, Keaton doesn’t give a crap about me. The man hates me.”

Everyone around the fire burst out laughing. Hard.

“I don’t see why that’s funny,” Trinity mumbled.

“He wouldn’t bother getting in your face if he didn’t care,” Dawson said with a more serious tone.

“Well, he’s not coming back.” Fletcher appeared. He snagged a beer and eased into a chair. “Of all the things you could’ve called him, you had to pick the one that pisses him off the most.” He turned and pointed his finger. “And don’t say the truth hurts.”

“If it’s not true, why does it bother him so much?” Trinity asked .

The three men glanced at each other.

“That’s not our story to tell,” Hayes said. “But I know that if any one of us was doing something he thought was reckless—and the key word is reckless, not dangerous—and for all the wrong reasons, he’d be up in our faces.”

“Do you remember the fight he got into with me over crossing to the Bahamas a few months ago?” Hayes asked. “Thing was, he was right. It wasn’t so much that I was being reckless. Just stupid. He was so pissed when he had to come out and save my sorry ass.”

“We all were.” Dawson cocked his head. “However, Keaton was over the top about it. But only because he cares.”

“My brother could be a Class A misogynistic jerk,” Baily said. She’d been incredibly quiet, but she often was around this crew. It seemed Dawson was the only one she’d begun opening up to, and that was only because of Audra. “He would push and push for me to leave Calusa Cove. He’d tell me the marina was no place for me. No place for the future wife of a Navy man.”

Fletcher coughed, pounding his chest. “Damn, that was a thought from a long time ago, and I can’t believe Ken said that to you. I mean, the plan wasn’t for me to stay in the military forever. I hadn’t thought about becoming a SEAL until four years in.”

“Ken said a lot of weird stuff back then,” Baily muttered. “It started with what went down the day Audra and her dad fought in town.” She swiped at her cheeks. “I still can’t believe he was involved at all with Benson and his dad, but his sudden departure and the way he left make more sense. However, I still don’t understand why he was so hell-bent on me getting out. I get that he had this weird thing about the four of us—me, Fletcher, him, and Audra—being together forever. But in my mind, the plan was always for Fletch to get his education and to come home. When it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen, and Ken moved on, got married, and our dad died, he pushed harder for me to sell. Once, he even spoke to an interested party on my behalf. I was so pissed at him that?—”

“Wait. What?” Fletcher sat up taller. “I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We had broken up and hadn’t gotten back to friendly terms just yet,” Baily said. “Ken kept telling me that I needed to get my act together and get out of Calusa Cove—out of the marina business. That it was no place for a woman.”

“I had no idea,” Fletcher whispered. “Besides that not being true, it wasn’t his decision to make.”

“No, it wasn’t. But he also wanted me to make things right with you.” She shook her head. “The worst part about that conversation was that Ken told me no man wanted a chick who was as self-reliant, independent, and as stubborn as me, and that you …” She pointed to Fletcher. “…would only wait so long for me to change my ways.”

“That was a dick thing to say,” Fletcher muttered. “And that couldn’t be further from the truth. Those qualities are a few of the many that made me fall in love with you.” He leaned back, sipped his beer, and stared at the starry night .

All the men lifted their gazes, and quiet overtook the campfire as everyone absorbed that information.

Trinity resisted the urge to stand and run. She was still an outsider in this group—still an outsider in Calusa Cove. No matter how hard she tried, she’d probably never be in the inner circle, even though she was their friend.

It had been mostly her own fault. She’d always had her father’s love. Her dad had adored her, cherished her, and showered her with love every day of his life. She’d never once doubted how much he’d cared, not even when he’d grounded her or taken away one of her many toys.

But her mom?

God, she felt as though that woman hated her very existence, and it had started before baby Gregory had been stillborn.

Trinity had done everything she could to please her mother, right down to trying to be a little version of Porsche Stevenson. She’d dressed like her mother, worn her hair like her mother, talked like her mom, and had even acted like her. It was that last one that had ostracized her from the community and from ever having a real friend in this town when she’d been a child.

Today, she knew people like Baily and even Audra were her friends. They showed it every day by their words and their actions. But to be part of the inner circle? No, that came from having strong bonds to the past.

That, Trinity would never have.

“It makes me wonder what else about Ken we don’t know, especially with some of the cryptic things Trevor has said,” Dawson said softly. “I believed the slight distance in our friendship was because he’d had a wife and kids. I understood he had to put them first. I also respect why Julie doesn’t want to speak to any of us and why she blames us for what happened.”

Trinity swallowed. She knew the official story the Navy had given for Ken’s death. But she also knew that wasn’t the truth. She just didn’t know the actual facts and probably never would. But by the looks of torment on everyone’s faces, she suspected some really bad shit had gone down on that mission.

Baily looked away, wiping the tears. “She won’t even talk to me or let me talk to the boys.”

“That’s terrible,” Trinity found herself saying. “I’m so sorry. That has to be painful for you.” She reached out and took Baily’s hand, giving it a good squeeze.

“No offense, but I can understand why she struggles to talk to or see the guys. I did too for a long time. It’s hard not to place blame. When someone dies the way Ken did, those left behind need someone to inflict their pain on. But she’s being cruel. And not just to me, but to my nephews,” Baily said.

Fletcher pushed himself to a standing position and made his way across the pit. He knelt in front of Baily, kissed her temple, and took her hands. “In no way will this make you feel better, but Julie never liked any of us. She merely tolerated us. We believed, over time, we’d grow on her and become a family, because that’s what we do. Ken loved her. Therefore, she was part of us. However, it never happened. ”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make me feel better. I was his sister. I was his blood.”

Fletcher wiped a tear that rolled down Baily’s cheek.

While Trinity knew these two were still madly in love with each other, she also knew Baily carried so much of the past bundled up inside that, until she set it free, they had no chance.

It was too bad because what they had was pure gold.

It’s what Trinity wanted. She wished she could have had it with Fenton. But he’d destroyed it when he’d shown her what kind of man he really was, and that had broken her heart.

“Once, when I was talking with Ken—more like arguing with him—I overheard her in the background telling him to force me to sell, that the marina was more his than mine. That he should flex his muscles and make it happen.”

“What did Ken say?” Fletcher asked softly.

“The only thing he could,” Baily said. “That it didn’t work that way because when he made it clear he was staying in the Navy and not coming back, Daddy changed the will, leaving it all to me. Now, if I did sell, I had to share with Ken, but I got to make the decisions. It wasn’t up to him. But he did tell her that he would continue to remind me of my place. I wanted to choke him.”

Fletcher looked at Trinity and jerked his head.

She jumped to her feet and moved to an open seat.

“We didn’t know any of this.” Fletcher moved his new chair closer. “If we had, we would’ve confronted Ken. ”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” Baily said. “Certainly not what happened to Ken in the end.” She held up her hand. “And honestly, I don’t blame any of you for that. But I do still resent all of you for coming back and acting like I needed a savior.” She cocked her head. “And now we’re back to what is the difference between chivalry and misogyny.”

“I’d say, not much. At least not from the woman’s perspective.” Trinity chuckled. “Like, why is it always women and children first? It should just be children first. We’re not frail. We’re not incompetent or incapable.”

“Good Lord.” Hayes shook his head. “Not a single man here—or even Keaton—is saying that. We served with some badass women. Some of them could’ve taken us down. Literally. Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t open the door for them or call them ma’am out of respect.”

“Well, thank you, sir, for that.” Trinity lifted her beer.

“We can’t win this argument, so we might as well cut our losses.” Dawson leaned over and tapped his beer against Trinity’s.

“You could add that I’m right.” Trinity smiled.

“Never gonna happen.” Dawson took a big swig of his beer.

Trinity’s phone buzzed. Twice.

She pulled it from her back pocket and glanced at the screen. Two texts. One from Keaton. Well, that was interesting. They had very few text conversations.

The second one was from Fenton.

Crap .

She decided she’d start with Fenton, hoping Keaton’s would be the better of the two.

Fenton: Hey. I’m going to be in Calusa Cove in the morning. I have a business meeting with your dad. I’d like to see you.

That wasn’t going to happen. For a split second, she thought about ignoring Fenton, but when she did that, he did things like showing up at her house unannounced. That was never fun.

Trinity: Sorry, busy all day tomorrow.

Fenton: Working? I can bring by some coffee and a pastry before my meeting? Or maybe dinner after? A girl’s gotta eat.

She groaned. However, this time she would ignore him.

She brought up Keaton’s text.

Keaton: Sorry for being a jerk. Sorry for huffing out. I wanted to say that in person, so I’m sitting on your front porch and realized that makes me even a bigger dick for being that presumptuous. So, can I stay and wait for you to apologize properly? Or do you want me to leave? Apology stands no matter what. I’d like a chance to explain. However, my behavior was uncalled for, regardless.

She blinked and reread the text. Twice.

Trinity: That was long-winded.

Crap. She hadn’t meant to hit send. Her and her fat little fingers.

Bubbles appeared.

Keaton: Took me ten minutes to write it, too.

She chuckled .

“Who are you chatting with over there?” Audra asked.

Heat rose to Trinity's cheeks.

“Better not be that idiot, Fenton,” Baily said. “Lilly told me he’s still trying to win you back.”

“He did text me, but no, it’s not him, and he’s got zero chance. I’m done with him.” Trinity’s fingers hovered over the screen as she contemplated her response.

“Are you going to tell us?” Dawson asked.

“Keaton. He’s apologizing.” She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “His texting skills are…amusing.”

Keaton: Seriously. I am really sorry. Please don’t leave me hanging.

Trinity: Sorry. Still at Dawson’s and was in the middle of a convo. Apology accepted. No worries. I am curious about the explanation since you brought it up. So, yeah. I’m leaving here in five. See you at my place in fifteen.”

Keaton: Thanks. See you then.

Trinity tucked her phone in her back pocket. She stared at the fire, which was now more like gray ash with sparks.

“That was nice of him,” Baily said.

Trinity nodded. Her stomach twisted and turned. From the moment she’d met Keaton, she’d been attracted to him. She’d see him in town or at the marina, and she’d find herself staring. It had gotten awkward when she’d been with Fenton, but only because her attraction hadn’t gone unnoticed .

It had caused more than one fight, but that wasn’t why they’d broken up.

Fenton had a fatal flaw. One that he’d accused her of, only she’d been faithful. Sure, she’d looked at Keaton, but she hadn’t been interested. Keaton’s personality—especially toward her—left something to be desired.

Fenton, on the other hand, had stuck his dick where it didn’t belong.

Trinity had a few rules. They were simple. She didn’t date liars. Cheaters. Or people who wanted her father’s money.

It turned out that Fenton had ended up checking all those boxes.

“It’s getting late.” Trinity stood. “I better get going.”

“Will you do me a favor?” Dawson arched a brow. “Make sure you check in with Baily at the marina tomorrow?” He raised his hand. “If you’re going to be out after she closes up, will you kindly check in with one of us? It’s not because we don’t think you’re not a seasoned pro, but because we know from experience what can happen down there.”

“I can do that.” She nodded. And she would because, while she hated Keaton’s delivery of his message, she didn’t disagree. Safety was always her number one priority.