Mark (Next Generation Carter Brother #9)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mark

When you’re part of a big family, you learn to be patient really quick. Whether you are waiting on someone before ordering food, or you are waiting for a sibling to wake up on Christmas Day, you have to be patient. There is always something or someone you have to wait for. And if we aren’t patient, our parents will make us wait longer.

Yet as I stand on the dock waiting for Freya, tapping my foot restlessly, I am one minute away from leaving to search for her. She said she wanted to change into her bikini since we were going to be in the sea today. That had been twenty minutes ago.

I can’t help but wonder if she’s stalling because she’s stupidly worried we will hold her responsible for what her sister did. I remember her expression falling when she heard what her sister had done. I also didn’t miss how she watched me after, expecting me to flip out on her. None of us hold her accountable. Our parents taught us better. We are responsible for our own actions, and the same with other people. Paisley is living proof of that. None of us hold it against her that she’s related to the Hayes brothers.

“Are you sure she’s coming?” Lily asks softly.

I force a smile. “She will be here.”

Jaxon’s jaw clenches as his gaze falls on something over my shoulder. I spin around, inwardly groaning when I see Esther making her way down the ramp with her husband next to her. I’m not a fan of attention seekers, and everything about Esther seeks attention. Even now as she struts down the ramp, she has that, I’m better than you, air about her.

Sensing it’s us she is going to approach, I stand closer to Lily. Esther’s gaze lowers as she bows her head. Anyone else would believe the innocent, timid act because she’s so good at it, but we were raised to spot when a person is being fake. And everything about this girl screams fake.

She tucks her hair behind her ear, forcing a smile. “I know my parents told me to stay away, but I just have to apologise again for the accident this morning. I know you said it’s fine, but I feel so awful about it. I’m truly sorry you got hurt, and if you would let me, I would like to make it up to you.”

“Unless you have a time travelling machine, I don’t see how that is possible,” Jaxon growls.

“Easy, mate. She’s just apologising. It was an accident, but she’s still here, apologising once more because she’s a good person and she feels bad.”

Jaxon’s gaze cuts to mine. “Is he for real?”

My grimace is full of pity, and Danny notices and grits his teeth. “Sadly, yeah,” I reply.

“Please, don’t argue,” Esther pleads softly, then addresses Lily with her next words. “I’m truly sorry. I wasn’t paying enough attention. I’ve been stressed about the tension between my sister and I... I let it cloud my mind. I love her, and this drift between us is killing me. I’m just so sorry. I wasn’t being mindful. And I’m sorry you got hurt. We would love for you to join us for dinner tonight. Your husband too.”

“She cannot be serious,” Jaxon hisses.

“Jaxon,” Lily pleads, placing her hand on his chest. Her smile is warm when she turns to Esther. “There’s really no need to apologise again. But thank you, regardless. We appreciate your offer for us to join you for dinner, but sadly, we have other arrangements. Maybe another time?”

I watch as Esther relaxes into Danny. She comes across relieved, but there’s a smugness there. She reminds me of the girls who used to bully Lily at school. They’d smile to her face, even be polite in front of others, but the minute no one else was looking, they’d tear into her. “Definitely. Thank you for hearing me out.”

“You’re welcome,” Lily softly replies. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“You too,” Esther replies, then walks away with Danny.

“You’re way too kind,” I state.

“For once, I agree with your brother,” Jaxon replies. “Angel, I told you she isn’t a good person.”

“I feel kind of bad for her,” she admits.

My eyes bug out. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. She tries to act like she’s the favourite, and that the world revolves around her, but I think deep down, she knows she isn’t. It’s probably why she’s so mean to Freya. It must suck to fight for attention and not get it.”

I didn’t expect her to say that, and I’m not the only one who is shocked. Mum and Dad are watching her with open mouths, and so are Faith and Beau. The only one who doesn’t seem surprised is Jaxon.

I never thought of it that way. But now Lily has pointed it out, that is probably the reason. Esther could never measure up to Freya, no matter how hard she tried. I might not have known Freya long, but you didn’t need to know her long to get a feel for who she is. She’s too sharp and opinionated to be weighed down by acting fake. If you don’t agree with something, she doesn’t bother arguing her point. She will just dismiss you and go on with her day. Unless it’s facts that she knows she’s one-hundred-percent right about. Then she’ll probably stab you with a pencil. I wish I was joking about the last part, but I saw her hand grip the pen last night when we were arguing about the largest desert.

“You are so much nicer than I am,” Faith declares. “I wanted to gauge her eyes out with a spoon.”

Lily giggles, shaking her head. “But you wouldn’t.”

“No, I wouldn’t, but I can fantasise,” she replies, before turning to me. “I don’t think she’s coming.”

“She will,” I promise.

“My, my, my,” Maya greets, stepping onto the ramp. “Am I being escorted by you group of hunks?”

“Nanna,” Freya groans, right before she steps out behind her.

My eyes drop to the shorts she’s wearing, and the rips in them. I can see a glimpse of the bright pink bikini bottoms she has on underneath. Her top is cropped and slips off one shoulder. She has a sandy-coloured straw hat on, which has a black ribbon around the crown. Her big, black sunglasses cover half of her face. I can’t stop my reaction to her. She’s stunning on a normal day. Even when I’ve seen her take the rubbish out in her pyjamas, she looked hot. But this… she has me wanting to skip the snorkelling to go back to her room.

“Sorry I’m late,” Freya greets. “Summer called me.”

“No need to apologise. I didn’t mind waiting.”

Jaxon snorts. “He was two seconds away from going back inside to carry you out.”

Freya’s lips twist into a smirk. “I told you I would be here.”

I tag her hand and pull her close. “You can’t blame me. You keep sneaking off in the morning so forgive me for having trust issues.”

“Aww,” she coos, patting my chest. “Does someone need to be spooned in the morning?”

I sniff. “Men have feelings too.”

“So needy,” she teases quietly. “Three days ago, you couldn’t stand me. Now I can’t get rid of you.”

“No, you can’t,” I reply. Tugging her closer, I lean down, needing her. Her lips are warm, soft, and her lip balm tastes like strawberries. The kiss is brief, light, yet still makes my dick hard.

Flicking her lashes open, she gazes up at me. “You kissed me in front of your family,” she teases.

My lips tug up into a smile. “You’re making me feel like a dirty secret,” I whisper, pressing my lips lightly along hers.

“You are,” she whispers, glancing around with mischief. “I don’t want my husband to find out about you. I mean, what will I tell the kids.”

I chuckle, smacking her arse. “You’re nuts.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’ve been saying the same thing since I first woke up with you next to me.”

Shaking my head, I pull back, and remember we aren’t alone. Everyone is watching us with amusement. Well, everyone aside from Jaxon, who is checking on Rose. “What?” I ask, my eyebrows pinching together.

“Can we go now?” Mum asks, struggling not to laugh. “Or do you two need another moment alone?”

I roll my eyes. “We’re ready,” I reply, linking my fingers through hers. I follow as they begin to walk, but my attention is drawn back to Freya when she begins to laugh under her breath. “Why are you laughing?”

She holds up our linked hands. “So needy.”

I shrug. “I’m not ashamed.”

“Okay,” she mutters, still smiling.

When her nan pulls her into conversation, I glance at my dad. He’s smirking, arching his eyebrows at me. I ignore him with a glare. I know what he is thinking. He’s thinking of our conversation before we boarded the boat. Or rather, remembering me having a thirty-minute rant about my annoying neighbour. He’s also remembering me flying off the handle when he accused me of having a thing for her. I’m pretty sure I said I’d rather be castrated with a blunt knife than ever let someone like Freya near me.

That’s old news though.

It isn’t what I think now.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t give her half of my sandwich, but I would certainly think about it. That has to mean something.

*** *** ***

Five minutes ago, I had been panicking because I had swimmers’ ear from snorkelling. I couldn’t hear what Freya or the instructor was telling me, which led me to screaming at everyone around me. Now it has cleared, I wish it would come back. I grip Freya’s waist, placing her in front of me in the waist deep, crystal blue water.

“Stop being a baby,” she hisses, running her hand over the top of a stingray.

“Why are you touching it?” I squeak.

“Do you really think people would pay to swim with them if they were dangerous?”

My breath hitches as I glare down at her. “Sharks eat people alive, yet humans still pay to go swim with Jaws. Excuse me for not trusting the word of humankind. Those same people are the ones who would visit Jurassic Park if one opened, even though the movies have proved it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

She rolls her eyes. “The likelihood of a shark attacking you is slim. You are being dramatic now.” She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Dinosaurs.”

“Dramatic? I’m being dramatic?”

“Are you talking about sharks?” Hayden interrupts, then eyes me. “I wouldn’t worry. There have only been thirty-two cases of unprovoked shark attacks since the fifteen-hundreds here.”

“There are sharks here?” I squeak, scanning the water.

Max starts screaming, glancing around. “There are sharks here?” he screeches, jumping towards my dad, before trying to crawl up his back.

“Fucking hell, Max,” Dad hisses. “Get off me.”

“Wife, get out of this water,” Max screeches, looking to the shore.

I turn to see Aunt Lake pause in the water. “What?” she yells.

“There’s a shark,” he screeches.

“No, no, no shark,” the instructor yells as people around him begin to scream, fighting to get out of the water.

“Oh my god, they are following me,” Max cries, clinging to my dad’s head now.

“Oh God,” Freya whispers, her eyes wide as she watches the chaos unfold.

“Did you know stingrays and sharks are closely related?” Hayden asks, as she too brushes her fingers along the slippery creature.

I gulp, stepping back. “They are beautiful,” Freya muses, not realising I’ve taken another step back.

I made it this far in life by playing it smart. I’m not going to start acting stupid now by hanging out with a group of stingrays closely related to sharks.

“Max, will you stop?” Dad roars, still trying to throw him off.

“It stung me. Oh my god, it stung me,” Max cries. “I’m going to die.”

“We aren’t that lucky,” Hayden yells out.

“Daughter, get out of this sea of death,” he wails. “Save yourself. It’s not too late.”

Hayden snorts as I take another slow step back to shore. I don’t want to disturb the stingrays around me, or accidentally step on one. “Dad, they sense movement. You moving like your arse is being electrocuted is not helping.”

He freezes, his legs wrapped around my dad’s neck, his hands gripping my dad’s forehead. “Don’t move, Mav. Don’t move!”

“I am going to drown you,” Dad grits out, then bends at the knee, submerging into the water.

Max’s eyes widen a second before he starts to freak out, flapping in the water like a toddler learning to swim.

“Oh fuck!” I whisper, which has Freya turning around.

“Why are you moving away?”

Because we are surrounded by a shark’s cousin.

Because I don’t fancy being stung.

And because our instructor warned us about respecting the stingrays’ home.

“If you knew what was good for you, you would do the same,” I warn.

She arches her eyebrow in denial, but then Hayden reaches out for her, taking her hand. “I’d listen to Mark for once. We need to move.”

“Why?” she asks, stepping back.

“Max,” I answer as Hayden replies, “Dad.”

“Okay, you are officially freaking me out,” she announces, and when she gets closer, I tag her hand, pulling her the rest of the way.

“Put your legs around me,” I order, as I watch Max try to cling to the instructor, who is yelling at him to calm down.

It’s safer for everyone to give Max his space. Maybe if I knew the instructor, I would be more inclined to stay and help.

Or maybe not .

*** *** ***

I smile as Mum lowers a plate of food down on the small table next to my sun lounger. I reach for the cheese toastie, my stomach rumbling with hunger. “Thanks, Mum.”

Hayden snorts when Mum leaves. “Thanks, Mum,” she repeats, using a squeaky voice.

I smirk. “Jealous?”

“Dude, you are in your twenties and your mum still brings your food,” she mocks.

“So you are jealous?” I repeat.

Her shoulders drop. “Yes. My mum barely finishes making a plate before my dad is there demolishing it.”

I chuckle. “How is Uncle Max doing?”

She rolls her eyes as she sinks back into Clay on their lounger. “Milking it. He has the staff bringing him in trays of food.”

“I thought it was a superficial sting?” Hope asks, glancing up from her book.

“He’s still saying it was the stingray that stung him,” Hayden admits. “The jellyfish barely touched him. There’s not even a wound. There’s just a red mark.”

“I still can’t believe the police were called to the scene. I was so surprised when they showed up,” Clay announces.

Hayden shrugs. “You’re the only one who was surprised then.”

His lips part as he glances down at her. “You’re telling me you expected that?”

Another shrug. “He was acting like a mad man. What did you expect to happen?”

“I didn’t expect to see so many,” Hope declares.

“Me neither,” I admit. “There had to be a good forty police officers. It’s not a big island. I didn’t expect them to have that many.”

Hayden picks up her cocktail, taking a sip. “How is Freya doing? She looked close to crying… Or fainting.”

I grimace. “It was all the blood,” I mutter. “She didn’t expect there to be so much blood.”

“I still can’t believe the guy cut his foot open on a rock,” Hope muses, bringing up the instructor’s injury.

“When he has a six-foot guy on his back, using him as a life jacket, what did you think was going to happen?” Hayden replies.

Max didn’t just get the instructor hurt. Dad had to carry Max out of the water, and because of all the screeching and flapping around, he wasn’t watching where he was going. He stepped on a bottle and ended up falling, smacking his head off a rock. He had to get a couple of stitches.

“I thought she was going to escape on a lifeboat,” Hope teases.

“Nah, she’s put up with worse from her own family,” I reply. “She’s strong. Nothing can beat her. She always gets back up.”

“Really?” Hayden questions.

My back straightens as I narrow my gaze on her. “Of course. She can handle anything.”

She glances at the double sun lounger I’m on, her eyebrow raising. “ Really ?”

I glance down at Freya, who is curled up on her side. A towel covers her body, and she has one tucked under her head as a pillow. A light snore slips past her lips, and I wince.

“In her defence, it’s been a long day,” I state, feeling defensive on her behalf.

Hayden chuckles. “She was so pale earlier.”

I brush her hair from her face, smiling. “She still didn’t run though.”

“That’s because people either go into flight, fight or freeze mode in traumatic situations. She clearly froze,” Hope points out. “I felt kind of bad for her when Max clung to her.”

I wince at the reminder. Before my dad carried Max out of the sea, he had reached for one of us. We still don’t know if it was me, Hayden or Freya he went for, but since Hayden and I are used to him, we moved out of the way just in time. Which meant Freya had been pulled under the shallow water. I’m pretty sure she grabbed his balls and twisted before we could help. Max had screamed ‘balls’ at the top of his lungs. When I questioned her about it, she just glared, like I’m the one who accidentally drowned her.

“She muttered something about me paying for her therapist when I helped her out of the water,” I admit.

“She didn’t go back to the room, so that must mean something,” Hope helpfully points out.

I grin, feeling better. “Yeah, there’s that.”

We all turn as the others arrive, and my eyes widen as Malik carries Maya over towards us. As he gently places her down on the sun lounger a few beds away, I can do nothing but gape.

Maddox snorts as he joins us. “That woman has all of them wrapped around her finger,” he states, dropping down into a chair.

“Weren’t you one of the ones who helped carry her back onto the ship?” I ask.

He shrugs. “That’s me. I’m always charming. Since when have you ever seen my dad be nice to anyone other than my mum?”

I tilt my head to the side. “Good point.”

“I love her,” Hayden declares. “I swear, she’d better stick around long enough for me to have a child. I want my child to have a great nan.”

“You do realise she isn’t our nan, don’t you?” Maddox questions.

“Like you don’t already have Jasmine and Asher saying Nanna Maya,” Hayden snorts.

“She’s just so…” he begins.

“Like our nan,” Hope finishes. “I get it. But Maya has her own personality and it’s hard not to fall in love with her.”

“She’s going to bake me a red velvet cake when we get home,” Hayden boasts.

“She’s baking me scones first,” Maddox remarks.

“You have a girlfriend who bakes for you,” Hayden snaps. “Stay away from Maya and my baked goods.”

“If anyone is getting anything, it’s me,” I declare. “She’s Freya’s nan, which means I get first dibs.”

“Fuck you!” Maddox growls. “She offered them to me first. Stop hogging her.”

“You don’t share Amelia’s baked goods,” I argue.

“We’ve had this conversation already,” Hayden snaps. “She was my friend first. I met her before any of you.”

“Oh my god, please tell me you aren’t arguing over my nanna again?” Freya moans, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Tell them I get the baked goods,” I order.

She sits up, stretching out the muscles in her back. “I’ve learnt not to get in the middle of a Carter and their food so keep me out of this.”

“See,” Hayden teases.

I glare at Hayden before turning to Freya. “But you will put in a good word for me, right? Right?”

“I’m going to get changed,” she declares, getting up.

“Aww, someone doesn’t want to tell you she’s not going to be putting in a good word for you,” Maddox teases.

I get up, chasing after her. There is no way I’m letting any of those fuckers near my baked goods.

Not a chance.