OCTAVIA
Two days of sheer bliss is all it’s taken for me to be able to pretend that this is my new reality. Lying beside the pool shouldn’t feel so good. I can do it at home. But what I don’t have at home is the three of them walking around, carefree, in just swim shorts, making me drool. The swim-up bar in the pool is a godsend, and somehow we seem to have eight pools—eight!—to ourselves.
Definitely not complaining.
“You need more lotion, princess?” Mav smirks at me as he steps up beside me, when four men in Hawaiian shirts walk toward us. Maverick stiffens as Lincoln pulls himself from the water and Finley sits up on the lounger beside me, watching their approach with a scowl, moving his body to shield me from view.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as the tension increases tenfold around me.
“Why are you here?” Lincoln asks, his voice low and lethal.
“Rico told us where you were staying. Your father offered your… skill set. We’re having some problems.”
He quirks a brow, looking cold and dangerous, even dripping wet. “No.”
I peer over Finley's shoulder as the easy smile falls from the man’s face. “It wasn’t a request.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Lincoln says, shrugging. “My father made an offer he can’t uphold. I suggest taking up your issue with him. I’m on vacation. I am not his lapdog.”
The second guy steps forward, but the one who spoke stops him. “I am sure we will be seeing you again very soon, Mr. Saint.”
They turn and leave, and once they’re out of sight Maverick launches a table into the pool. “What the fuck is wrong with your father!”
I sit there, wide-eyed, hating that whatever relaxation we were finally feeling just walked away with whoever that was.
Lincoln grabs a towel and drops down beside me.
“Is that our vacation over?” I ask. They’re all so tense. Finley turns to face us, his mouth set in a grim line.
Finley says, “Yes,” at the same time Lincoln says, “No.”
“Uhm?”
“We’re not leaving early because Harrison is an asshole,” Lincoln says, placing a hand on my thigh.
“What if they come back?” I ask, my gaze bouncing between the three of them.
“Then we’ll handle it,” Mav says, moving to stand behind me, rubbing my shoulders.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Finn questions, and I hate to side with any of them over the other, but I’m firmly in line with him right now.
“No.” Lincoln frowns before turning to me. “If you’d rather we left, we can. I just wanted to do something nice for you, but Harrison is a cunt.”
“He is, but I’m not sure I feel all that safe after that. It hadn’t occurred to me that they would reach us here. Stupid naïvety I guess.” I bite down on my lip, hating how this has all played out, our little slice of paradise marred by shadows.
“The Knights are everywhere, and they can reach you anywhere. There is no hiding from them,” Finley says quietly. “But we arranged with the Conclave that we wouldn’t be called upon this week. It’s why they agreed to wait until next week for your meeting. This is bullshit.”
“How likely is it that they’ll come back?”
“They shouldn’t. Rico is more likely to lose his shit at Harrison than send them back here. He’s always been pretty reasonable. He likes my father about as much as I do. He was a friend of your dad’s.”
I blink at Lincoln. It still amazes me that these three know a whole side of my dad that I had no idea existed. I try not to get emotional about all of it, but my bubble has officially burst.
“Maybe we should just help them so we don’t have to worry about them coming back? What did he mean your skill set, anyway?”
Any traces of warmth drop from Linc’s face at my question.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I say quietly, half wishing I could take the question back. Anytime we end up speaking about what it is they do for the Knights, it’s like being plunged into an icy pool.