Page 37 of Elijah’s Whim

They both did the head-tilt thing in my direction, wordlessly challenging my claim. “Okay, Banks. If not us, at least be honest with yourself,” Grant issued and then sat back deeper into the love seat.

Bas studied me for a few really long moments. Finally, he said, “I get the chick did a number on you, man, but I’m going to do something I don’t think I ever thought I’d hear myself do—give you some advice about women.”

At once, Grant sat forward again. “Oh shit, this should be good.”

“You just be quiet over there.”

Seriously, I invited Sebastian’s advice. “All right, Shark, I’m listening. Let’s hear it.”

“Women don’t like hearing about your past fucks. Especially set on repeat. They’re jealous creatures by nature, even more so than men. As long as you’re still mooning over Hensley, you’ll never stand a chance with Hannah.”

“That is what you’re saying, right? That you’ve got it bad for Hannah?” Grant injected his question into the mix.

I twisted my scowl in Twombley’s direction. “I don’t have it bad for anyone. Christ, we aren’t in high school.”

The man beamed triumphantly. “That’s a yes, then. I haven’t seen you act like this about a woman in a long time. I have to tell you, man, I couldn’t be happier. Just don’t fuck it up, okay? Drop all the shit about the devil lady. Wipe the slate clean and move the fuck on already.”

Bas pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and first finger while saying, “As much as I hate saying this, Grant’s right. It’s time to move on. You’re wasting your life remembering glory days that weren’t all that glorious.”

A lot of what my friends were saying was completely true. But there were things they were completely wrong about too. There really had been great times between that woman and me. They just remembered the bad times. These two men were the best friends I could ever dream of having for how loyal and supportive they had been over the past few years.

“I appreciate the two of you more than words can express.” I offered my hand to Grant and pulled him in for a hug. We thumped each other on the back a couple times before parting, and then I turned to Bas.

He raised his hand in the air between us. “Yep, I get the point from here. I’m good.”

I just shook my head and grinned wider. The guy would never really change, and I guessed that was the great thing about knowing people so well. The word predictable could easily be traded for familiar, and boring could be interchanged with reliable. Who wouldn’t want relationships like that?

“Do you want to do something with us this weekend? Like a triple date? I think something during the day would be better. I’d like to lure these crooks out of hiding, and I’d rather not be helping their cause with the dark of night.”

Grant stood up and went to look over the side of the building. “I’m in. I’m sure Rio would love to do something with Hannah. To be sure, though, I’ll talk to her tonight and let you know tomorrow. Cool?”

“Yeah, that’s great. Bas? What about you and Abbigail?”

“I don’t see a problem, but I better make sure before committing. A man only makes that mistake once.”

I wasn’t completely sure what Sebastian meant by that comment, but I had a feeling Abbigail could be hell on wheels to live with. The man had definitely met his match in that spirited redhead.

Grant brought the subject back to the pirates with his next question. “Has there been any other news of pirate trouble? In that shipping lane or anywhere? With that zone being so active, I would think those bastards would be getting a lot of interference with their mid-ocean cargo offloading.”

This was my wheelhouse. “I have a team monitoring domestic and international news outlets, and one of my tech guys set up a web-crawler that searches for keywords pertaining to the topic. We’ve netted a handful of stories that met the search criteria, but nothing that panned out to be our guys.” Both friends looked thoughtful while I continued. “After that first story hit the mainstream news, they’ve either been keeping their noses very clean or are flying so below the radar they aren’t being detected.”

“Or they’ve gotten money into the right hands,” Sebastian added as a third possibility.

“Good point, Bas,” I said. “I hadn’t given that much thought.”

He shrugged. “That’s what I would do. It’s the easiest way to accomplish almost everything.”

We all nodded thoughtfully, but Sebastian was growing increasingly restless. Grant caught my attention as Bas paced his third lap around the seating area.

“Shark, what is it, brother?” I asked with genuine concern in my tone. If I knew the man at all, his first inclination would be to deny anything was wrong at all.

“Hmmm?” He looked up from where he was inspecting the rooftop. “Nothing. Just a lot on my mind. What else is new, right?”

“Bullshit,” Grant disguised in a sneeze and intentionally did a terrible job at it.

“Talk to us,” I insisted and held my arm out in invitation for him to join Grant and me.

Bas sat on the arm of the sofa instead of relaxing on the seat. He was as edgy as an expectant father in the hospital waiting room.