Page 29 of Uncharted

“Yeah, like I said, I’m not stopping it. I have a relationship with Haley; I’m not ending that because you’re here. Going back to being friends with her isn’t happening. She’s mine.” Dante nods.

“You mean she’s everyone’s.” It makes my stomach flip when I say it.

“So help me, Miller... If you for one damn second think I will allow you to disrespect Haley, you’re going to have to back yourself the fuck up. She’s the best human I’ve ever met. She has feelings for you too. I saw it when I first met the two of you back at port, when you were sitting on that tiny bench, watching Penny.”

“Did you? Then why didn’t you stop her from fucking all of you?”

“Did you put a ring on her finger? Were you going steady?”

I purse my lips.

‘“Exactly. Asking her to go touring with you after the season is over isn’t the same as telling her you’re exclusive. Telling the crew you’re together. Being together. I had a captain a few years back marry his chief stew. It didn’t work out, but that’s because they were both narcissistic a-holes. But it’s done, it’s happened. You could have told Rocky. Hell, Candy would have been thrilled to know that Haley wasn’t trying to dig around in her gold pot. But you didn’t.”

I shake my head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Why? Not that it matters now. But why?” Dante tips his chin up at me, and I’m convinced he’s as much of a narcissistic asshole as his old captain. But he’s got a point.

“She’s young.” It’s one of the reasons I’ve told myself over and over again. It’s shit.

He laughs. He does that a lot. “She’s the most mature out of all of us. Including you, fucker.”

I square my shoulders. If we were on board, I’d fire him. I’d have him off my boat so fast his luggage would have to catch up with him.

“I see that look. You’re not my boss on this island. I might be cooking for my family, but that’s because they’re my family. We’re Haley’s. She’s ten times more mature than you.” He’s not wrong.

I feel my eyes burn through him. Jennifer, my ex, used to say something along the same lines?I’m not mature enough?and I fucking hated her for it. Not mature enough to forgive her for fucking around while I was at sea just because she thought I was doing the same when I wasn’t.

I nod at him. What else am I going to do? Hit him?

“Someone had to tell you. Haley’s mortified. Zane and Calvin have some sort of weird hero worship thing with you. And Easton thinks you’re going to be our savior. But you are just as fucking scared as the rest of us. You’re not a savior; you’re another liability. But I fucking love your dog.” He turns back to the dishes.

I’m counting to ten in my head. If I were a decade younger, my knuckles would already be swelling. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from taking a crack at his jaw. I’m more than that now. I was more than that then. I’m trying to see it as they do.

“They tell me you’re great. And maybe you are. But right now, to me, you’re yet another captain. One of my contacts at the yacht crew management company said you’re good to work with. Reasonable. You’re the guy who said yes to my résumé. That’s all you are. And I’m the asshole who laid it all out on the table for you. So let’s start there. We’re on an island, just trying to survive without hurting the girl we love.”

“Love?” It’s like a slap across my face.

“Yeah, I fucking love Haley. I’m not going to tell her. Not now. Doing it now would make me a selfish prick.” Dante glances over his shoulder at the shelter. “If you so much as mention any of this to her... well, that’s your relationship with her. But know that it will crack her open. Break her. Let her not be broken for a little longer. It’s taken a long fucking time to get where we are.”

I nod, but I don’t say I won’t.

“For the record, I know the difference between edible mushrooms, hallucinogenic, and deadly ones. I’m the one who cooks all the food. Do you understand me?”

“That you’re a fucking psychopath and I need to hire a new yacht crew management company?”

“Exactly. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” He smiles and slaps me across my back. He picks up the dish tub and heads past the fish weir up the path to the treehouse.

I walk back up the beach, slowing at the trap. It’s ingenious. It’s definitely been repaired, adjusted, and redesigned a few times. There are old posts in the sand that aren’t being used and a pile of replacements in the dry sand next to the tree line. I’m examining it like my life counts on it. It helps push the conversation with Dante out of my head.

Damn. Looking at Haley’s picture every day is what got me through being out there alone.

I’m standing there looking at the fish weir when Zane comes walking up. “Heard you and Dante had a little chat.”

I nod. “You could call it that.”

“Right, so Dante’s heart?—”

“He’s fucking nuts.”

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