Guardian (5 page)

Someone was talking; an intrusive voice laced with anger and a complete disruption to the moment. Nikki opened her eyes to find Mace stomping toward them. Vine and Zero were on his heels, and Raven brought up the rear, moving with none of the others’ intensity.

Mace stopped dead at her feet. “What were you doing?”

Vegan’s hand fell on Nikki’s arm as if to pull her from the trajectory of Mace's words. As she did, Winter stepped between Nikki and Mace, almost protectively. “She was with us.”

The challenge was evident, and Nikki saw the slow burn in Mace’s eyes as they narrowed. His hands were fisted, his lips a tight line, and he looked about ready to explode. “Nikki is our charge.” He took a step closer and started to reach, but Vegan closed the space between them, stepping in front of Nikki before saying, “And she is just as safe with us as she is with you.”

“No, she’s not.” The words were a growl from deep in Mace’s throat.

Glimmer stepped between them as well, creating a wall to keep Mace at bay. “Why not? Because we’re girls?”

Mace turned his attention to her. “It has nothing to do with that. She’s safest with us because she’s our responsibility.”

“Then where were you when we decided to leave?” Glimmer cocked her hip and her head. “I didn’t see you rushing to offer to take Nikki shopping. In fact, you haven’t even said a word to her since you got on the boat.”

Glimmer was right. He hadn’t talked to Nikki. He also knew he couldn’t continue avoiding her. And that recognition must have shown on his face, because Glimmer continued her irritating rant. “Some protector you are. Nikki didn’t even have enough clothing to be on a boat for a few days, and what do you do? Oh, that’s right—nothing. You’re too busy with the guys to even notice what she needs. Don’t get mad at us for doing your job when you dropped the ball.” She shoved an index finger into his chest hard enough that he was forced back a step.

His eyes left Glimmer and found Nikki tucked behind the wall of females, staring at the ground. Mace’s throat began to ache. He should apologize, say he’s sorry to all of them, especially Nikki. He’d done nothing for her since he’d arrived— except make her feel like more of an outcast than she probably already did.

He started to open his mouth, but the quick jolt of Nikki’s head stopped him.

She swallowed and met him eye to eye as one arm rested on Glimmer’s shoulder and the other on Winter’s. “It’s okay.” But it wasn’t. She was fighting every instinct within her in order not to yell at him. The evidence skated across her features and was replaced by a determination he could only admire. “We shouldn’t fight. We have to work together.”

The admission knocked a bit of the fight out of all of them.

Nikki chewed on her bottom lip and looked away. Oh, dear Lord, she was trying not to cry. Mace felt like scum.

She forced a small smile. “I should have given the boys a chance to go with us. I’m sorry, Mace.” She swallowed what must be gall in her throat. Her voice cracked on the last word, destroying him, but she soldiered on. “Vine, Raven, I should have told you. Forgive me?”

Mace wanted to sink into the sand and shells of the parking lot and disappear. Little pains shot through his chest. She was taking the hit herself to keep peace among the Halflings. And it worked. The evidence of shame was glaring. Uncomfortable glances, dropped heads, tinges of red across cheeks. None more so than him. He’d just been so angry when Will told him they’d gone.

But had he given her any choice, really? Who wants to wake a sleeping bear?

When he realized she was walking away, he called, “Nikki.”

But she held a hand in the air to silence him. “Don’t.” Bitterness coated the word. Head high, her feet carried her to her new home while four males and three females seemed at a loss. Of all of them, Nikki’d been the only one to act like an adult. If Mace’s job was tough before, now it had just become impossible.

Nikki stood in the galley shortly after sunrise. Ocean had instructed her to work there for the morning—which really irritated her because she’d wanted to watch the boat pull away from land. Everybody works on this vessel, he’d reminded her.

Hands on hips, she glanced at the number of boxes that needed to be stored. Why her? She didn’t have a clue where food should go in a floating kitchen. After opening a cupboard— after several unsuccessful searches elsewhere—she got her answer. Each tightly closed door housed specific provisions, and each section was labeled with black marker. “This won’t be too hard,” she said quietly, and started opening drawers and the yet-unsearched cupboards to familiarize herself.

Ocean had said he’d send someone to help as soon as they left the dock. It couldn’t be too soon; there were a million boxes.

“What are you doing?”

She was so into her work, the voice made her jump. Mace’s voice. Again.

She turned to face him. Standing just inside the galley doorway, he wore a white tank and loose jean shorts. He looked amazing. His feet were bare, and the wind had fixed his hair into its usual style, but messed up, like fingers had roamed through it repeatedly. For a moment she let herself imagine her own hands doing the job. Whoa, there.

Heat rose to her cheeks, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring in awe at the kitchen. She wondered why—it seemed dark and cramped to her. Her eyes trailed the space. Surely he wasn’t impressed with what she’d accomplished so far. Cabinets, cupboards, and drawers held only a minimum of supplies—left over from the last trip, she supposed. “I really haven’t done anything yet.”

“Nikki, we’re about to pull away from the dock.” His words were stiff and tinged with a bit of panic.

“I know, and I wish I didn’t have to miss it.”

His eyes widened and he headed straight for her, voice rising. “We’re about to pull away from the dock.”

Then it registered. Horror stricken, her gaze bounced around the kitchen again, seeing not supplies, but future flying projectiles. “Oh no!” She lunged toward the nearest counter and began slamming doors—some of which popped back open. She used her knees, feet, and even rear end to close drawers and cupboards.

Mace started on the other side and must have been doing better than her, judging by the slams she heard. Hearing the motor rise, they flew into high gear. And by the time they felt the first surge of movement, the only cabinet left open was across the kitchen from both of them. To her horror, it was filled with cups and glasses.

Mace’s eyes met hers as the motor rose again and both of them were thrown forward. She pushed off the counter as the boat lurched back and forth, and the cups rose to teeter on their edges then fell into place. She jumped into action, Mace at her side. His outstretched hands filled her vision. We’ll make it, she thought. But the boat lunged again and sent the jostled cups out in a flurry toward them.

Both were grabbing and reaching like mad as glass after glass and mug after mug flew like buckshot toward them. Arms full, Nikki used her head to slam the door shut.

A long pause of relief. An exhale of all that air. Eyes returning to normal size. And then … laughter. First it bubbled from Mace, then from her. They both sank to the floor, breathless and loaded down with unbroken cups. “That was close,” Mace said and started setting his armload down in a neat row on the floor. He began a second row with hers.

“Good thing you came along when you did.”

He chuckled.

And it warmed her from the inside out. It was so good to hear a chuckle, a laugh, anything from him that represented joy instead of pain.

“Ocean would have killed us!”

“Us?” He gave her a sidelong glance. “This was all your doing.”

She smiled over at him. “I never would have admitted it.”

He winked and her heart stuttered.

“Well, he shouldn’t have sent you down here alone, anyway. He hadn’t meant to. Zero was supposed to be here, but he’s pouting in his cabin.”

“Why?” Though she was thankful she didn’t have to work with Zero.

“Ocean wouldn’t let him bring a case of juice boxes onboard. Ocean told him there wasn’t room. Zero flipped.”

“Poor Zero.” How she could go from disliking him to feeling sorry for him so quickly amazed her. But Zero was like a little kid—a naughty little kid with killer computer skills, but still. “Juice boxes are his lifeblood. I can’t imagine him taking that too well.”

“He didn’t. In fact, he threatened mutiny when Ocean started questioning him about the case of PopTarts.”

Her hand flew to her face. “No. Ocean didn’t take the PopTarts, did he?”

“No, but he told Zero mutiny was punishable by death and trying to sneak juice drinks past the captain could end in keelhauling.”

“What’s that?” Before he could answer, Nikki realized she and Mace were having an actual conversation that wasn’t filled with tension.

There was a little tension, she had to admit, but not the bad kind. Sitting there, side by side on the floor, legs stretched out before them, she could feel some of the old spark. They both wore shorts, his long, hers a shorter pair Glimmer had chosen for her at the mall. She’d put on her wedge sandals—again, Glimmer’s pick, but they were actually comfy and cute and really did highlight the lean muscles in her calves and thighs. When she glanced at Mace, she saw he’d noticed.

He looked up, nervously. “Sorry. You don’t usually wear sandals. They’re, um … They look … Are they new?”

He likes them. A warm pool emptied into her stomach. She refused the warning voice that told her he shouldn’t like them and she really shouldn’t feel all mushy inside because he did. Nothing had changed. He was still a Halfling and she was still a human and that made this all wrong. “I got them at the mall. Glimmer picked them out.”

“She sure jumped to your defense last night.”

The whole nasty scene flooded her mind. “I’m sorry about that, Mace. It seems like everything I do ends in a war.”

He scooted close enough that his arm and hers rested beside one another. When she breathed in deeply, they touched. She angled toward him so they touched on every breath.

“Don’t apologize for people wanting to fight for you, Nikki. You’re important. More than you know. We all acted like spoiled babies—me especially. You were the one who deserved an apology.”

“Did you really think I was in danger?”

Mace’s head fell back to rest on the kitchen cupboard. He breathed in and out, his eyes fixed on the galley ceiling. “No. Do you mind if I explain something to you?”

So formal. But that was Mace.

“I’ve always tried to do the right thing.”

This, she knew.

“I’ve never been impulsive. I think things through. But with you, I tend to let my emotions run me. And sometimes, they make a mess. Does that make sense?”

It did, and as Nikki pondered it she realized Mace was a mystery. She’d thought he was the easy one to figure out, but he wasn’t. He was the loose cannon. Whereas Raven could be counted on to do the impetuous thing. Every time.

His lungs filled slowly as if he were trying to control every sensation, both internally and externally. He smelled like the air outside, fresh and salty. She’d missed the sound of his voice, the soothing vibration of his words. He said something she couldn’t quite make out. “What?” she asked, feeling as though she really needed to hear whatever he’d uttered.

“I was upset because you’d left and I wasn’t with you. I was jealous, Nikki.”

Slam! She crashed against the kitchen wall just as hard as if she’d been physically hit. What it meant for her, for him, for them, she wasn’t sure. But he’d wanted to be with her. Even after that awkward episode on the deck with Raven. Even after telling him on homecoming night she didn’t want to be with him. The same night her parents died.

This was bad. And good. And too much to figure out right now because Mace was leaning …

He scooted a fraction closer so his head tilted toward her, and all that salty scent came rushing at her. Closer and closer.

Off in the distance, a door opened and closed, but Nikki barely heard it. Mace’s cerulean eyes were locked on her and she couldn’t breathe.

The warmth of his fingers intertwined with hers. A quiver ran up her arm, setting her skin ablaze.