Page 71 of Finding Lexie
“Sit,” Aleck ordered. “Before you fall down.”
“I’m not gonna fall down,” Midas told his friend, turning his head to glare at him.
“Just making sure. I mean, I don’t think you even breathed the entire trip here.”
“How did you guys get here so fast?” Lexie asked.
“Fast? Shit, it took forever,” Midas said.
Aleck shook his head. “We told the guy driving the zodiac that if he got us to port in seven minutes or less, we’d give him a hundred bucks. Money talks.”
“But then you still had to get here from the base,” Lexie said in confusion.
“Yup. The Naval police gave us an escort,” Aleck said.
“Oh, man. I’m sorry, Midas. I shouldn’t have hung up on you. If I’d explained, no one would’ve had to go to so much trouble. I’ll pay back whoever paid the money to the boat guy.”
“Like hell you will,” Aleck said under his breath at the same time Midas spoke.
“You shouldn’t have hung up on me,” Midas agreed, shaking her a bit. “Do you know the hell I went through, wondering what the fuck was going on here? If you were hurt?”
“I told you I wasn’t,” Lexie explained.
“No, you didn’t. Lex, all I knew was that there was yelling and screaming, then you said there was a fight and Natalie was armed. Someone could’ve overpowered her and taken the shotgun and hurt you or the others. Shit…” he said, closing his eyes. “I’ve never been so damn scared in my life.”
And just like that, Lexie felt terrible. She hadn’t meant to scare Midas, didn’t know the man was even capable of being frightened. But looking at him now, it was obvious he’d been completely freaked out. She put her hand on his cheek. “I’m okay,” she said softly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aleck back away and give them some privacy.
“There we were, having a hell of an eye-opening conversation, giving me all sorts of ideas, then the next thing I know, there’s screaming and you aren’t on the other end of the phone anymore. Then you come back and say everything’s fine, except you sound hysterical and Natalie has a shotgun and you hang up on me! I swear to God, Lex, I just aged about thirty years. Please, I’m begging you, never do that again. My heart can’t take it.”
“I won’t,” Lexie said immediately. And she meant it too. She’d never had someone as worried about her as Midas apparently was. She truly hadn’t thought much about hanging up. But if the roles were reversed? If she’d been talking to him and realized something bad was happening around him and he’d hung up on her? She wouldn’t be happy. He was letting her off way easier than he should’ve. She knew it, and vowed to be a better girlfriend in the future.
“Careful,” Pid said from nearby.
Midas looked at his teammate, then wrapped an arm around Lexie’s waist and pulled her out of the way of the two policemen leading Theo toward the doors.
“Oh, you aren’t arresting him, are you?” Lexie asked, frowning.
“No. We’re just taking him to the hospital to be looked over. He doesn’t seem to be in his right mind,” one of the officers said.
Theo looked at her, then locked eyes with Midas. “You should take better care of her,” he said in a low grumble.
“Excuse me?” Midas said.
Lexie could feel the angry vibes coming off him.
“It’s her fault,” Theo said. “You should watch her carefully.”
Midas growled. Honest-to-God growled, deep in his throat, and Lexie was alarmed enough to move so she was between him and Theo.
“Easy, man,” Mustang said, putting a hand on Midas’s biceps.
The cops quickly led Theo away, and Midas said, “What the fuck was that?”
“He’s not in his right mind,” Mustang said. “You can’t take anything he says to heart.”
“That sounded like a threat to me,” Midas told his friend. “And he blamed her for whatever happened here. You said you weren’t anywhere near them when the fight started, right?” Midas said.
