by C. L. Stone
“Something like that.”
“It’s a big empire that Ethan runs. That’s not including crew. I was going to try to stick to the rich men this time. We can fondle the crew later. We’re lucky it’s only a thousand people. This is actually a medium-sized cruise ship. On some cruises, there’s like four or five thousand people. This is a baby cruise.”
“I haven’t seen many crew,” I said.
“They’re all in their spa rooms or shops or...” She casually waved toward the ship, where there were wide windows that looked out at the pool. I barely made out a man standing behind the glass, casually watching the pool area. “They stay out of sight, mostly. I think on a normal cruise, you’d see more around, but they’re told to remain mostly invisible for these folks.”
“Any reason?” I asked.
Fancy turned and waved a big goodbye to the bunnies. They took the hint and dipped themselves into the pool. Fancy hung onto me, drawing me to the rail with her. “Honey bun,” she said softly in a less exuberant voice than normal. “These are rich dicks. And vaginas. I can’t forget the vaginas.”
I hid an eye roll from her. “Got that part,” I said.
“So servants do what servants do. They remain invisible until you need them, and then they’re everywhere.” She reached out, touching my glasses to straighten them. “Stop glaring at people.”
“I’m not glaring,” I said.
“You’re pissed,” she said. “I can tell. I heard about Blake.”
“How?”
She pointed to her ear. “I’ve got Avery, the cutie patootie.”
“How is Avery doing?” I asked. “He seemed nervous earlier.”
“Seems to be doing fine. He doesn’t talk much, just says hello and then does some whispering to Ethan. I swear, I need to work on him.”
“He can hear you.”
“I know he can hear me. It’s funny that he can’t do anything about it right now. I like making the girls talk about sex. I wish I could see his face. I can almost hear him blushing right down to his nut sack.”
Talking about Avery was worse than talking about Blake. I tried changing conversation back to the job. “I’m waiting on someone else to talk to. Tara Wayward seems innocent.”
“She can’t be that innocent.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she’s talking to Avery right now about some secret girl working directly under Mr. Murdock that she didn’t know about.”
I snapped my head around to the bench where Ms. Wayward and Raisin had been. Hill and Kroner were absorbed in conversation with Brandon. “Does she suspect I’m not what I said I was?”
“She’s digging for dirt. To me, she sounds jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Like catching your man dick deep in a floozy.” She put a hand on my arm. “Not calling you a floozy, sweetie. I’m just painting a picture for you.”
That produced a big mental ew in my brain. Tara was maybe in her thirties, late thirties at most. Would she be interested in old Mr. Murdock? He had thin white hair and wrinkles and was just old. I couldn’t remember if she was married. She did have three little yapping dogs at home. “I can’t picture her being really romantic with him.”
“If you’re rich, you pay for better than her,” she said. She wriggled her hips, causing the cover dress to sway.
“Maybe it wasn’t romantic,” I said. “Maybe she’d want a job like the one I claimed to have. Maybe...”
“She’s the writer,” Fancy said.
I blinked, considering what she was saying. It took a moment, but I remembered and snapped my fingers. “Holy crap. Right. Maybe she’s digging for dirt. She writes books, doesn’t she? Aren’t they political or business or something? Are any of these people political?”
“Maybe she has dirt,” Fancy said. She swayed her hips some more, moving with the music. “Yay! We’ve got a lead.”
“Her laptop might be invaluable, if that’s true,” I said. “I still could be right. She might be interested in the position more than getting a story.”
“True,” Fancy said. “But now you’ve got something to talk to her about.”
There was a rush next to me and Brandon appeared at my elbow. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said.
“Never be sorry,” Fancy said. She danced a little, moving toward him, grabbing at his hands and tugging. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get these people going. Dancing. Swimming. I hope you brought a swimsuit. It’s okay if you didn’t, though. I bet at night there’s nude swimming.”
“Tell me that’s not a thing,” I said.
“We could make it a thing.”
I shuddered at the idea of a bunch of old men going skinny dipping at night. Maybe I would stay out of the pool.
Brandon coughed, clearing his throat. “No, no, I need Kayli.” He wriggled out of Fancy’s grasp and tugged me by the elbow. “We need to go inside.”
“Aw,” Fancy pouted. She continued to sway anyway and then turned to the pool. “Fine, I’ll just get into the pool.”
I turned away, afraid to see how Fancy would get into the pool with her special package in her bikini bottom. As I turned, I caught her stripping off the cover-up dress. Maybe she tape-tucked herself in well enough for this.
Brandon took me into a hallway and at first headed in one direction, and then backtracked to a stairwell, heading down.
“Where are we going?”
He turned back, taking my wrist and tugging. “Colt Baker is here. And he’s in the galley.”
Colt. The nerd in the glasses I really wanted to talk to. “Did he just get on board? Is he with anyone?”
“He’s been on the ship for a little while. Someone said he might be an ally?”
“I’d suspected that but we won’t know until we meet him.”
“Well, Colt’s in the galley asking a lot of questions about the crew and making them uncomfortable. Kevin is trying to get him out of there.”
That’s odd. “What kind of questions?”
“Very specific. How many cooks and how many servers. He wants to see their accounting books.” Brandon checked another map and then headed down the hallway, moving too quickly. When I couldn’t keep up, he turned, tugging me by the wrist. “And asking about their salaries. Hurry.”
My chest was tight and I was short of breath as I tried to jog, an action akin to exercising. My body wasn’t used to it and the shoes weren’t cooperating, either. I jammed my hands into the pockets of the corduroy dress, just to make sure I wasn’t flashing butt along the way.
Brandon went through a large swinging door ahead of me. Before I could follow him, there was a crash and then a slam and shouting. I hesitated outside the door, listening.
“What are you doing in here?” I didn’t recognize the voice.
“This isn’t the dining room?” Brandon asked. There was a swishing noise. “Sorry, man. Here, let me help.”
“Don’t worry about it, sir,” someone else said.
I cracked open the swinging door enough so I could peek inside.
Brandon was by the door, bending over with one of the crew to pick up pieces of broken dishware. There was glass all over the floor. Another of the crew members had a broom. Kevin was there, standing next to Colt and a few other staff members in black with aprons tied on, watching the scene.
Colt was wearing coffee on his suit, a cup still dangling from his finger. Whatever the chain reaction had been from Brandon pushing his way in, it was pretty catastrophic. Not a great first impression.
“Can I escort you to your room?” Kevin asked Colt. “I’ll be happy to get your suit cleaned.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Colt swiped at his clothes, getting little droplets of coffee onto the floor, but far from saving the blue tie and white shirt. He did wear glasses, but now outside of the horrible photo, he was different. Colt was a nerd but he wasn’t an ugly duckling. The glasses masked a clever, stern face. The suit fit him well. He unknotted his tie and then st
uffed it into his pocket. “I wasn’t going to stay on board.”
“You’re not here for the whole thing?” Brandon asked. “Why? Working?”
“I’m just not the cruise type,” he said. “I’m just here to catch up with Mr. Ethan about a few things. Maybe even Mr. Murdock if he arrived. He’s hard to get a hold of.”
He was my best lead and I was going to lose him. My brain went into overdrive. I needed Colt to stay. How could I...
I spotted the door to the dining room nearby. I needed a distraction. I needed a plan, like to pretend to be an innocent girl in distress. Most Southern gentlemen couldn’t ignore it. But how?
The dining room was set up with several tables of different sizes, each one covered in a white cloth and some already had plates and silverware for dinner. The process had been abandoned when it was only half finished.
There was a small buffet table along one wall. It held a variety of pitchers, holding water and juices. There were some warmers holding coffee pots. There were mugs, cups and platters with creams and sugar.
The door to the kitchen from the dining room swung open but then shut again before anyone came through. I was alone in the room for the moment but likely only had a few minutes to figure out how I was going to do this.
“Hang on,” Kevin said. “Let me at least get a towel.”
“I’ll just get out of the way,” Colt said. “I’m fine. I should go.”
I could still hear them talking in the kitchen, so they would be able to hear me in here. I didn’t have time. I needed to change Colt’s mind about leaving now.
I moved quietly and took up pitchers of coffee and a juice. I poured juice on the dress, threw both of the pitchers onto the table with enthusiasm, and sunk to the floor as if I’d fallen.
I cried out loudly in surprise and in my fake fall, I caught the tablecloth, pulling to make the stuff shift around more. The table, to my horror, leaned forward as I pulled and once things started to slide forward, it all started toppling over. Coffee, broken mugs and glasses and juice and water spilled around me as they everything collided into a big mess. I covered myself, regretting pulling so hard. Hot coffee spilled on my arm and I tried rolling out of the way, getting bits of glass in my elbow. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
And then I realized a good part of my hip was exposed. I was flashing my butt pretty well. I tried to correct it. Flashing them all would be a little too much.
The door swung open and in another rush, a crowd of men were next to me. Someone grabbed my arm, helping me up.
I blinked a lot, trying to make it seem like I was surprised and confused. My glasses fell down my face, over my mouth, making it difficult to say anything but I tried. “Someone...” I gasped. “Who...” I heaved my shoulders and sucked down air to feign being breathless.
“Hang on there,” Colt said close to me. He studied me, and then my clothes. I focused on him, hoping my cheeks were heated up enough to really look like I was blushing. He readjusted my glasses for me. Aw. Sweet. “Are you okay?”
“Miss?” Kevin was next to him, as were the entire kitchen staff, now crowding around. “Are you hurt?”
Brandon was behind them, trying to elbow his way through. “Ka—,” he said.
Kevin shot him a look and elbowed him before he could finish.
Brandon coughed and then fix himself, frowning. “What’s going on? What happened?”
He almost used my real name, and I didn’t have one yet. Crap. I didn’t have an identity yet. I wasn’t even sure if we should pretend to know each other right now, because I wanted Colt to be the one to do most of the rescuing. I shot looks at Brandon and Kevin, trying to tell them to ease up a little and let Cold do as much as possible.
Now I really was embarrassed. In my shame, I turned to Colt, addressing him specifically. Part of the girl trick: Look like a helpless girl in need of male assistance, and they don’t stand a chance. “There was someone...I don’t know who.” I patted my pockets and then looked around the mess of table and cups and spilled liquids. “My tablet. It’s gone.”
Colt shot a look of concern at the others, appearing uncomfortable.
I looked right at Brandon. He silently blinked at me. What was I doing?
I wanted to steal whatever was in Colt’s pockets. Anything. I needed Brandon to cover me.
“Help me find my tablet?” I said looking around at the men.
Colt started to look. The others did, too, scooting things around.
I made hand gestures to Brandon to get behind me. I needed to pass things off. There were too many eyeballs. And I didn’t want to place a wallet in my pocket. It’d be too obvious right now.
Brandon picked up on this.
I sidled up next to Colt.
Hip bump.
Lift.
A phone. Good enough. I put it behind my back just as Colt stood straight and glanced at me.
“Sorry,” I said, blushing. At the same time, Brandon took the phone. I didn’t see where it went after that. I focused on Colt, pouting with a lip. “I’m sorry. I was looking...”
“I was, too,” Colt said. He turned, shaking his head. He didn’t seem to notice the lack of his cell phone. That was good. “I don’t see it.”
The others had started to help clean up the mess. One of them tried to touch my elbow and guide me out of the broken glass, but I pulled away, sticking by Colt. It forced him to retreat out of the fray; I was like a lost puppy, heeling at his side.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Kevin said, following after me. He really did look concerned. I wondered if they really thought I’d been ambushed. Maybe it had worked a little too well. “What happened? Who was here?”
I looked to Colt, who stood by, seemingly interested in my answer. I lifted my arm, the one with the glass in it. There were a few shards still stuck in my flesh. “I don’t know,” I said. I tried plucking the glass out with fingernails but winced and pouted. It wasn’t going to come out easily.
Colt touched my elbow gingerly. “We need to get this out.”
“I’ll get a first aid kit,” Kevin said, and rushed back into the kitchen.
Brandon started to hover closer, but I shook my head at him, waving him off. I needed him to focus on the phone and getting away. He didn’t need to have it on him near Colt right now. I shook my head at Brandon. “I’m fine. It’s okay.”
Colt held on to me. He adjusted the glasses at his nose. “Do you know what happened?”
I spoke through my teeth. The pieces of glass did hurt, but I played it up for sympathy, hoping to appear meek. “I was just standing there,” I said. “I wanted some coffee. The next thing I know, I was pushed.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“I thought I heard someone,” I said. “But I didn’t think anything of it. I was pouring coffee.” I looked down at my dress, pretending to notice the juice and coffee stains for the first time. I looked at him, with the coffee stain still on his shirt. “We match.”
Colt looked down at his own shirt and then a small smile appeared. “Looks like.”
“Did you get pushed, too?”
“Not quite in the same way,” he said looking up with a stern gaze at Brandon.
Brandon waved his hands in the air. “This wasn’t me,” he said. “I was in the kitchen still.”
“Looks like we’ve got a thief onboard,” Colt said.
And closer than he thought. “I need to find that tablet. There’s sensitive information on there. Mr. Murdock...” I winced again, purposefully breaking off my sentence as I looked at my injured arm. “That really stings.”
A SECRET IDENTITY
The kitchen staff started to break up, giving each other things to do. There wasn’t much to save from the table, so it all had to be replaced. I felt bad giving them extra work to do. Someone got a broom out and started to sweep up the big pieces of broken mugs.
Colt pulled me further away. “Maybe we should get out of here and let them work.”
“Yes,” I said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. When he didn’t protest my touch, I held onto him. Another girl trick. Touch when possible. Makes the connection stronger. “I’m sorry. I...”
“Come on,” he said, keeping his hand on my arm and guiding me out.
Kevin brought out the first aid kit, and we took it with us out into the hallway. I was grateful to be out. We’d done enough damage to the kitchen and dining room.
Kevin had to go back in but Brandon remained with us. He started to open the kit, but I flashed him a stern look. Stop trying to help, I was trying to tell him. Can’t you see I’m working him over?
Brandon gave me a weird look. I wasn’t sure he understood. I know he was supposed to stay nearby me, but this wasn’t going to work if he tried to play the hero, especially if Colt was ticked off at him. He could follow without being within eyesight right this second. I needed him to take the cellphone away. Now. What if it rang while we were all standing here?
I showed my elbow to Colt. He squinted at my skin through his glasses and then held up my arm close to his face, looking it over. There were little droplets of blood, and the glass pieces were embedded into my skin. That was going to sting for a while.
“Tell me there’s tweezers?” Colt asked Brandon without looking at him.
Brandon filed through the packets of items in the kit and plucked out a pair of tweezers. He held them at first and looked at me, like he planned to do it himself.
I gave him the most evil eyes I could muster. Leave this to me. Go away. Send Raven down if he needed someone to babysit. I was trying to protect him. Didn’t he understand? “Maybe you can get some sort of...paper towel or something? To collect the glass so we don’t drop it all over the floor?”
Brandon frowned at me; he clearly didn’t want to leave me alone with this guy. I knew it was his job to stay by me, but I didn’t have much of a choice right now. Either I got Colt to stay on this ship, or we let him leave and I wasn’t sure if or how we could bump into him again. It would be better if he stayed.
