Page 76 of Deserving Maisy
“Don’t let Stone go,” Ry whispered. “He loves you. I know he does. It’ll take him some time to get over what happened, but he will. Do what I told you. Seduce him. I’ve never seen two people more meant to be together than you and Stone.”
Maisy wasn’t so sure about that. She hadn’t downplayed how awkward and bad things were between her and Jack. But she didn’t want to think about that anymore. “Do you know why everyone calls him Stone? I can’t do it. In my head, he’s always been Jack, but I’m curious.”
“When he was training to be a pilot, they had to do this drown-proofing thing. It sounds horrible, and thevideos are even worse. They put them in a simulated helicopter and turn it upside down in the water. They have to stay put for thirty seconds before attempting to get out. And once they do, they turn on these jets that blow bubbles up from the bottom of the pool, I guess they’re for divers who are learning, so they don’t hit the water too hard. Anyway, they turn them on and there’s immediately no visibility and the water is all churned up. It looks scary as hell. Stone isn’t the best swimmer, and every time he got out of the fake helicopter, he sank straight to the bottom of the pool.”
“Sank like a stone,” Maisy said with a small smile.
“Yup.”
“How’d he pass then? I mean, he had to get past that in order to become a Night Stalker, right?” Maisy had heard all about how amazing Jack and Owl were. How very few people were able to become legendary Night Stalker pilots in the Army. Hearing that wasn’t surprising, she already knew how amazing Jack was, but she was impressed nonetheless.
“He was allowed to retake the test at the end of the class. He spent every spare second he had at the pool, trying to learn how to swim. He got to a point where he didn’t immediately sink when he was in the water, but he still wasn’t a strong swimmer. He was able to get to the surface during his re-test, and while he got the lowest possible score he could get, he passed. The nickname stuck after that.”
“How in the world do youknowthat?” Maisy asked.
Ry simply lifted a brow.
“Right, sorry. I forgot. Super computer hacker,” Maisy said with a small chuckle.
“And he hasn’t always worn glasses either.”
Maisy was confused. What did his nickname have to do with his glasses?
Ry didn’t make her wait long to figure out her line of thinking. “Helicopter pilots have to have perfect vision. They can’t be flying around in the desert and get a speck of sand in their eye and fuck with contacts or something. And if their glasses fog up in the middle of an op, that wouldn’t be good either.”
“Right,” Maisy agreed.
“He didn’t need them until a few years ago. He resisted it as long as he could—because he’s a guy—then finally went in to see an eye doctor. The prescription isn’t all that strong, but he still wasn’t thrilled that he needed them.”
“I like them. He’s kind of like a sexy librarian, but a guy. Wait, that sounded sexist. Of course men can be librarians.”
“Yup. Tonka’s former partner who lives out in Virginia is a librarian.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Cool. Anyway, maybe I should say he’s like one of those older professors I’m always reading about in romance books,” Maisy said. Then blushed. She hadn’t meant to admit to reading that kind of thing.
“Ooooh, I love those,” Ry agreed, making Maisy feel better about her choice of reading material. Which was stupid. Why did it matter what she enjoyed reading? And romances were awesome. They always ended happily and made her feel really good inside, convinced that things could work out for people. Gave her hope for herself.
Then Ry shocked the crap out of Maisy by reachingout and pulling her close. She hugged her tight, and it felt so good to be touched once more. Maisy hadn’t realized how touch-deprived she was until Jack came along. And now that he was going out of his way to avoid making even the smallest bit of physical contact with her, this hug meant even more.
“Do what one of those heroines in a romance would do. Go into his room in the middle of the night, naked, then jump him before his brain has time to catch up.” The words were whispered in Maisy’s ear, and then Ry pulled back, smiled, opened the fridge and grabbed another pitcher of whatever sweet concoction Alaska had mixed, before heading back into the other room where all the girls were still chatting away about nothing in particular.
As Maisy watched the women in the other room talking, she realized that she actually felt pretty good at the moment. She’d been in a funk for days, and knowing Ry had her back was nice. And not only her. All the women had been more than kind.
She suddenly understood why Jack was so loyal. If she had friends like this, she’d do whatever it took to make sure everything was right in their lives. She had no idea what the future held, but Maisy would make sure nothing she said or did negatively impacted The Refuge or anyone who lived and worked there. The world needed more people like them.
Honestly, confronting her brother scared the crap out of her, but before she could move on, she needed to do it. Wanted him to know that he hadn’t beaten her. That no matter how badly he’d treated her, she would rise above it. If she had to stoop to his level to make him understand how serious she was, so be it. She wasn’t going to fall forhis tricks and manipulation ever again. Hopefully he’d end up in prison for what he’d done, but if not, she didn’t want him trying to get back at her for the rest of her life.
Maisy wanted to be free. Wanted Jack to be free. Because one thing she knew about her brother was that he held a nasty grudge. And if there was even a one percent chance he could get to Jack and hurt him, he would. Which wasn’t acceptable. Maisy needed to right the wrong that had been done to Jack, and maybe wipe her slate clean in the process.
Jason would be pissed, would probably try to hurt her. But she didn’t think he’d kill her. Because if she died, her money would go to charity, not to him. She’d say what she needed to say, then get the hell away from him.
She didn’t thinkJackwould want to confront her brother. Nor did she think Jack would allow her out of his sight for long, knowing what Jason was capable of. So she’d have to take whatever time he was willing to give her. Even if it was only one minute, that would be enough.
Feeling a little better about the upcoming trip back up to Washington, Maisy rejoined the rest of the women. She let Ry refill her cup and enjoyed the feeling of being part of a close-knit group for the first time in her life.
