Page 62 of Sail Away
His parents, while loving, had never really understood him, nor had they been there for him.
He used thrill seeking as a way to hold on to his humanity. To feel something. Anything. He also used it to keep people at arm’s length. He never wanted to get too close, and when he did, it never ended well.
However, in this case, he had no one to blame but himself.
And he had no idea what to do.
But he couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing, and he couldn’t tell Darcie. Not this time.
He picked up his cell and called Jag.
“What’s up, man?”
“I’m only calling out of respect for you.” Reid put the phone on speaker and placed it on the side of the bed.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Jag said.
“Preston has me between a rock and a hard place, and in order to protect those I care about, I need to sell my soul to the devil.”
“You fucking bastard. I’m not letting you break my little sister’s heart again.”
Reid rubbed his temple. “She’ll be fine, especially after how I behaved this afternoon.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve already started by telling her I thought us being together was a mistake, and I’m going to get drunk and belligerent and act like a fool.”
“And why are we going to do this?”
“Because if I don’t, Preston is going to make your sister out to be a drug addict. Or worse. Say that she’s selling drugs on the high seas and using the charter business to do it.”
“How is he going to do that, exactly?” Jag asked.
Reid stood, ran a hand through his hair, and took in a deep breath, trying to calm his out-of-control pulse. “He’s got fake evidence. He’s also creating a narrative. Fuck. My head hurts.”
“Listen. I need you to relax a little.”
“Right. I’m on a fucking boat that I can’t get off with a goddamned crazy person who wants to not only ruin me, but also the woman I love. And he’s been fucking with us from the beginning. I’m sorry if I’m a little pissed off at the moment.”
“That’s better than when you first called informing me that you were going to call it quits.”
“Well, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t let him destroy Darcie’s career.”
“No. You can’t. Let me get my detective brain working,” Jag said. “Can you send me the pictures?”
“Sure. I can send you all the blackmail material he just gave me.”
“Good.”
Reid set all the papers out on the small desk and, using the document scanning app on his phone, he made copies and emailed them all to Jag.
“This feels like such an elaborate plan where so many things could go wrong,” Jag said. “If Preston only wanted you to sign off on this deal—”
“This is about Preston getting off. You have to remember that it’s always first about the thrill with him. Everything else is secondary. He needs to live on the edge. To always be so close to danger that his heart rate is always elevated. It’s like going through life with a semi-hard dick.”
“I have to say that would suck.”
“I know,” Reid said. “Too much of a good thing is often a bad thing.”
