Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(36)

When the shit hit the fan—and it always seemed to hit the fan—Jag just had to be sure his woman was strong enough to withstand the storm.





CHAPTER TEN





Carly felt like a coward hiding out in the kitchen, but when one of Shawn’s best friends showed up at Duke’s for an early dinner, she’d started shaking and couldn’t stop. He was with a group of men she’d never seen before, and just the sight of Jeremiah Barrowman had her trembling uncontrollably.

Kenna had noticed her reaction and swept her out of the public eye and into the kitchen before Carly knew what was happening. Vera sat the men at a table near the beach, and Justin was waiting on them.

“You’re okay, Carly, just breathe,” Kenna soothed.

Carly took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“It’s just that I haven’t seen any of Shawn’s friends since…well, you know. And Jeremiah has always given me the creeps.”

“Well, you don’t have to deal with him today,” Kenna said firmly. “Justin’s got their table and we’ll stay on this side of the restaurant.”

Carly nodded. “Thanks. I feel so stupid.”

“Why? You shouldn’t. Not at all. You want me to go out there and scope things out? Maybe I’ll offer to help Justin so I can see his reaction when that asshole sees me. If he was working with Shawn, he’s bound to react negatively to seeing me, right?”

“No!” Carly exclaimed, grabbing Kenna’s arm and holding on tightly.

“Okay, okay, okay! I won’t.”

Carly breathed out a sigh of relief.

“But that doesn’t mean Charlotte can’t go over there and eavesdrop on their conversation…”

Carly shook her head in exasperation. Kenna was her best friend, but she drove her crazy sometimes. She couldn’t resist leaning forward and giving her a long, hard hug.

“What’s this for?” Kenna asked as she returned the embrace.

“I’m just so thankful you’re in my life,” Carly said.

Kenna pulled back. “Same goes for me. You know that, right?”

Carly nodded.

“Good. And best friends stick together. Let’s get the salads for table three and try to ignore Jeremiah what’s-his-name. He can’t hurt you here.”

Carly wanted to disagree. Shawn had managed to hurt Kenna there. But she let it drop.

Within ten minutes, all the servers in the restaurant knew that one of Shawn’s friends was there. They all made a point to go over to the table for one reason or another. Kaleen threatened to put something in the drink he ordered, to make him shit his pants, but Carly managed to talk her out of it, not wanting to see her friend get hauled off to jail for trying to poison one of the patrons.

It took a while, but eventually Carly stopped shaking and, instead of being scared, got mad. It seemed to be a new pattern with her. Her first instinct was to cower and hide out, but then she got pissed. She was giving Jeremiah power over her, just as she’d done with Shawn. He didn’t own this city, and Carly had the right to live and work there, just as he did.

She wasn’t quite ready to go up and have a conversation with the man, but she did walk by the table a few times. She even met the man’s eyes once—and was surprised when he looked shocked to see her. He had to know she worked here.

The next hour went by uneventfully, and Carly actually felt very proud of herself for not hiding out in the kitchen until Jeremiah left.

But when he and the rest of the people at his table got up to leave, she was unfortunately standing at the front of the restaurant, talking with Vera.

Jeremiah stopped right next to her. “Can I have a moment, Carly?”

It was actually Vera who broke Carly out of the paralyzed trance she’d fallen into. “I don’t think so,” the hostess said.

Carly put a hand on her friend’s arm. “It’s okay,” she said, surprising herself.

Vera looked equally surprised, but nodded. “I’ll be right here,” she told her. Then looked at Jeremiah. “So don’t try anything, buddy.”

Carly wanted to laugh at Vera’s guard dog act. She didn’t exactly look very tough. She was actually a few inches shorter than Carly, but then again, weren’t the smallest dogs the most vicious?

Taking a deep breath, Carly took a step to the side and waited for Jeremiah to say what he wanted to say.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” he said. “Shawn was out of line.”

“Out of line?” Carly couldn’t help but repeat. “Coming here with a bomb strapped to his chest to kidnap me was ‘out of line’?”

Jeremiah winced. “Yeah, probably a bad way to phrase it. But you have my word that I wasn’t involved.”

“You expect me to believe you?” Carly asked. She was quaking inside, but determined to stand her ground. “You and Shawn, along with Gideon and Beau, were always together. I know he probably told you what he’d planned.”

“He did,” Jeremiah admitted.

Carly stared at him with her mouth open. She couldn’t believe he’d just admitted that out loud.

“I should’ve done something. I honestly thought he was kidding! He was always talking shit about one person or another. I never thought he would actually go through with it.”