Chapter Sixteen

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by TravyBearNLT

by TravyBearNLT

I apologize, but this is a really short chapter. It needed to be cut off where I left it though!

The minute the boat was docked in Hoonah, the family was abuzz with activity. They were all distracted and Danielle chose that as the perfect time to take off. With her small bag in hand, she hopped off the boat and snuck past all the brothers. They didn't make a second glance at her as she ran up the ramp. At the top of the ramp she stopped and looked behind her. The men were busy getting the barge situated and they didn't notice her. But the one person who caught her attention was Lorelei. Caleb on her hip, she locked eyes with Danielle.

"Don't do this," she mouthed.

"I'm sorry," Danielle mouthed back and took off towards her apartment.

Getting the car off of the barge was the easy part. What wasn't easy was getting it up the steep ramp. They tried to get a bunch of momentum and muscle it up the ramp, but nothing was working. Everybody was yelling at Rain to take her foot off the brake and her foot was off the brake. They were getting frustrated.

Finally Bear settled for going up to the road and flagging down the next truck that came along. Luckily one of the locals saw him and offered to help. They got the truck up the ramp in no time. Leaving a note on the car, the family retired to the boat exhausted.

"We're going to have to spend the night at the dock," Billy said. "It's getting dark and we won't get home in time."

"You got it, Da!" Bear exclaimed.

He headed to the back of the boat in search of Danni. He wanted to finish the conversation he was having with her before. He felt bad that he had to cut it short earlier. He was confused when he didn't see her. Maybe she was back in the bunks.

He traveled the short distance to the bunks and checked each one. She was nowhere to be found. He went back to where the family had gathered.

"Where's Danielle?" he asked.

The whole family went silent. He looked around at all of them, knowing something was wrong.

"Where's Danielle?" he repeated.

"She's not here," Lorelei spoke up.

"What do you mean she's not here?"

"She...took off..."

"Took off? What are you talking about?"

"Man, she's pretty upset with both you and I. I may have said something on the beach..." Bam trailed off.

Bear gritted his teeth. "What did you say to her?" he practically growled.

"It doesn't matter what Bam said to her. What matters is what she thinks of you," Lorelei said.

"What she thinks of me?" he wondered.

"She thinks you don't want her anymore. She thinks she's not the right girl for you," she explained.

"Where in the world would she...oh...Natalie..."

"Yeah, Natalie," Bam mumbled.

"Did you make a comment about Natalie? Is that why she's so upset?" Bear asked Bam, his voice raising.

"Hey now, let's not go blaming each other. Honestly, it was both your faults," Lorelei interjected.

"I need to go talk to her," Bear said, ready to take off.

Lorelei grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him back. "Give her the night to cool off. She's hurting. You can talk to her in the morning.

"But..."

"No buts. Go get ready for bed."

"Yes ma'am," he mumbled, sagging his shoulders in defeat.

Lorelei watched as he made his way to the bunk room to get ready for bed.