Ricochet (Renegades #3)(95)
Author: Skye Jordan

“African pink ivory. The tree grows in Zimbabwe. This is hand carved. Hand carved. Can you believe that?”

Zach stepped over to the cameramen to show the image, and the three bullshitted about how much the board was worth, how long it took the guy to carve it, and eventually degraded into conjecture over what the artist wasn’t getting at home to be able to spend that much time on a piece of art.

Rachel watched the actor Zach was doubling struggle just to paddle his board through the surf, and smiled. He was a nice guy, the actor. In fact, everyone here was nice. And happy. Very little stress occurred on set, for which she was grateful, and day by day, she relaxed a little more. The fact that Nathan was halfway to Afghanistan by now delivered both relief and pain, and seemed to suck up every moment of her thoughts if she didn’t stay busy.

“Rachel.”

Her mind dragged back from the drift, and a tingle ran down her spine. She smiled to herself with an internal shake of her head. Now she was hearing his voice. Yes, she really needed a vacation.

“Mmm-hmm?” she said, raising her hand to shade her eyes as she gazed out at the water,

“Can we…uh, talk a minute?”

The tingle along her back turned into gooseflesh, and a flash of fire burned her chest. Jesus Christ, just what she needed—someone here with Nathan’s voice. She’d make sure to stay as far away from them as possible.

She turned to see which member of the crew would be her nemesis for the remainder of the shoot, and found… “Nath…?”

For a moment, she thought she’d mistaken someone else for Nathan. His hair was short, buzz-cut short. But it only took one look at his eyes to know she was staring at Nathan—his eyes brighter, the angles of his face sharper, his scars more severe. He was ridiculously striking.

Movement behind him dragged her gaze away, to where the other Renegades ambled forward—Jax, Troy, Wes, Keaton, and Duke. All of them. “Oh my God.” She swiveled with fear flooding her belly. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Nathan said, drawing her gaze back. “Well, except that I can’t live in my skin anymore after what I did to you. And nothing’s happened, except for me pulling my head out of my ass.”

“That doesn’t explain…” She looked past Ryker. “Jax?”

“I asked them to be here,” Nathan said.

“Begged is more like it.” Troy walked over to shake hands with Dillon and look at the picture on his phone. “It was a wickedly pathetic sight, let me tell you.”

“I meant to ask,” Keaton said to Jax. “Are we getting paid for this?”

“Hey, Keat, Wes,” Troy called over his shoulder, “come look at this board.”

The two men walked over to Dillon and glanced at his phone.

“Guys,” Nathan said with an irritable tone. “You’re not here to—“

“Dude,” Wes laughed, bumping fists with Dillon. “That’s a sweet ride.”

“This is ridiculous.” Rachel turned and started toward the water.Oh God, no. He wasn’t going to do this to her. Again. As if the rumors weren’t already bad enough. She darted a look at the three members of her new crew. Painful memories from that last night slammed her, and her heart hardened.

“Good for you.” She put on an air of indifference. “I’m sure you’ll be able to breathe better now. Jax, come meet the director. Guys,” she said to the other Renegades, “there are extra boards under that tent. Grab one and catch a few waves.”

But none of the men followed her directions—goddamned stubborn pieces of shit—so she turned away and started toward the set.

“Rachel, wait.”

The pained plea from Nathan pulled her to a stop against her will. She closed her eyes. Gritted her teeth.

“Please,” he said. “Let me do this.”

She spun back, clawing to hold on to an indifference she didn’t feel. But she didn’t have the energy or the heart to fight. And this would be over faster if she just let him relieve himself of his guilt.

“I can’t believe you dragged all these guys to San Diego for this.” Let it go. Move on.

Crossing her arms, cocking her hip, she said, “Fine. Get it out, then go.”

He took a step forward, his face drenched in so much regret it twisted her stomach. With his hair short, his expressions were even more intense, and she decided it suited the warrior inside him.

“I…” he started. “I lost it at the blast. I’ve been stuffing my pain and my fear, and the blast snapped my mind. I didn’t mean what I said and I shouldn’t have said it at all, let alone in public, with all your friends and coworkers around. It’s inexcusable, unacceptable—”

“Fucked up,” Troy added, arms crossed, attention now riveted to the apology.

“Shitty,” Wes supplied, hands on hips.

“Cowardly,” Keaton offered.

Nathan shot a scowl over his shoulder. “Shut the fuck up. You’re here at witnesses, not spokespeople.” Then turned back to Rachel. “And, yeah, all those things too.” He took a breath and met her eyes steadily. “I’m so, so sorry, Rachel.”

Her heart throbbed painfully beneath her ribs. She couldn’t draw more than shallow wisps of air into her lungs. And her vision blurred with stinging tears.

With one nod, she cleared her throat and managed, “Apology accepted. I’m sure you’ll be able to breathe better. Now go catch your flight.”

She got four steps toward the waterline before Nathan’s hand curved around her arm. “Wait,” he said softly, “I’m…I’m not done.”

A weary exhale escaped. “Well, I am.” She looked up into Nathan’s eyes, trying to memorize them for her memories. “Look around you, Nathan. You’re doing it again. I have to work with these people every day.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.” Without taking his gaze off hers, he dropped to his knees in the sand. Just dropped. Straight down with no warning. Rachel gasped and automatically reached for his arm. But he caught her hand and cradled it in both hands.

“Finally, it’s getting good,” Duke said from where he stood next to Jax. “I was starting to think I’d wasted two hours trapped in the car with you guys for a snooze-fest.

Behind him, Troy asked, “You rolling?”

Rachel’s gaze followed Troy’s to a cameraman who’d turned his equipment on Rachel and Nathan. He nodded to Troy, who grinned like the devil.