Page 124 of Off Plan
“Mason, you’d best tell me if it gets to be too much, you hear? If they want an official statement, you direct them to the mayor’s office. And that goes for you, too, Fenn.”
Huh.
But Mason nodded, taking it all in stride. “I will. I haven’t gotten a single call yet.” He shook me gently. “Though this might be partly because someone hid my phone yesterday and didn’t give it back until this morning.”
“You needed the rest,” I said. And more than that, I’d neededhim. We’d spent the day mostly alone, dozing in bed for long hours, calling to check on Gloria, taking a short walk on the beach, soaking in the idea that the two of us were a package deal now, talking about places we wanted to travel, debating the dog Mason wanted to adopt… and absolutelynotdoing more than kissing, because I refused to even contemplate hurting him by being too enthusiastic. “It’s what your doctor would prescribe, if your doctor wasn’tyou.”
Mason snorted and admitted, “You’re not entirely wrong,” which was as close to an endorsement as I was going to get.
“Cancel your plans,” Big Rafe said again, eyeing his youngest. “Stay here. Spend time with the family.”
“Can’t. Got tickets to a concert.” Gage shrugged apologetically.
“Yeah? Who’s playing?” Young Rafe demanded.
Gage shrugged again and got very busy toying with his watch band. “Nobody you’d know.”
“Ohhh, I do believe our Gage-let has adate,” Beale said with a smile. “It’s not so much about the music as it is about the hot guy waiting for him if you catch my drift, Rafe. How’s my intuition, little brother?”
“Nonexistent.” Gage cleared his throat. “So. As I was saying. Small matter of a treasure?”
Big Rafe shrugged, clearly subdued, and Mason poked me, as if to say this was not the Rafe Goodman he knew.
I knew that was what he meant because I was thinking it, too.
“I’m assuming you four guys are going to split it since you were all there when it was found?” Gage continued. “That’s fair. But I expect one of you assholes to get me a decent car, okay?”
Rafe snorted. “Yeah, right. Not buying my brother some bougie vehicle just to help him get laid. When Jayd Rollins comes to the island this summer, you can drive him around just fine in your Civic, and then tell whichever asshole you date next that if your car was good enough for the likes of Jayd, it’s plenty good enough for them.”
“I’m not driving Jayd around! He’syourex-brother-in-law.” Gage blushed, all out of proportion to his brother’s teasing. “And no one said anything aboutbougie, Rafael. First, because I don’tusethe wordbougie, and second because I’m not talking about buying me a Vanquish or what-the-fuck-ever. I’m just saying, you guys finding a multimillion-dollar treasure justifies a slight upgrade from my 1982 Civic, okay? I’d like a car where I don’t have to actuallycrankthe windows down.” He pushed his shaggy, sun-shot hair away from his brown eyes and mimed turning a window crank.
“Hey! As a person who happens to drive a car with windows that need to be cranked…” I stopped, remembered, and winced.
Mason sat forward so he could wrap strong arms around me from behind and prop his chin on my shoulder. “Moment of silence,” he whispered. “May the Charger rest in peace.”
“Actually.” I twisted slightly to look at him. “About that. I think I know what I want to do with any treasure money that comes my way.” I twisted my lips up into a hopeful smile and waited for him to catch on.
It took 2.4 seconds for Mason to get it, but when he did, his face broke out in the happiest smile I’d ever seen on him yet… and just to say, his post-orgasm smile wasn’t exactlylow-voltage.“A car restoration shop,” he said triumphantly. “Hell, yes.”
“And it’s fitting that my baby should be my first patient, right?”
“Absolutely.” But Mason’s smile dimmed to a frown, and he bit his lip. “You know, not to be Debbie Downer here, but this way-smart guy I know once told me that step one after finding the treasure is figuring out who owns it.” He darted a look from me to Big Rafe. “And the best you could do would be to get aportionof the money as a reward?”
I shrugged, totally unconcerned. “It’ll be enough for a down payment. And then I thought I could talk to the mayor of Whispering Key about getting a small-business loan for the rest.”
Big Rafe looked up, startled, and his eyes narrowed on me. “You serious? You wanna open a garage?”
I nodded slowly. “I really do.”
“Yeah?” His smile dawned slowly. “So you’re staying, then? The both of you?”
Mason’s arms tightened around me. “Yeah. I’m waiving my probationary period. You guys are stuck with me. And you’ll have to tell Aaron Smith to look elsewhere.”
I squeezed his knee, more than happy with this idea.
Big Rafe nodded. “Good,” he whispered, quietly pleased. “That’s real good. I’ll make sure you get what you need, Fenn.”
And, look, not that I wasn’t glad that he was glad, but… I’d sort of expected somethingmore.
