by Jen Talty
“I totally agree,” Darcie said. “I need to ask you about what Reid and Preston’s team is saying about me. And Reid.”
“Am I allowed to speak freely and as frankly as possible? As if you’re not my boson?” Bradley asked.
She nodded.
“Are you sure? Because there is only one way to put this, and it’s not pretty.”
“I’m sure.”
“They’re just idiots who are jealous that their boss is getting a little action and they’re only riding jet skis with governors on them.”
She had to appreciate the man’s honesty. “Do you think they are saying these things purposefully in earshot of you all?”
“Who knows with people like that,” Kirk said. “Half the time, they act as if we’re not even around, unless they need something.”
“True,” she said. “Alrighty. Just let me know what else you hear, okay.”
“You got it.” Bradley turned and jogged back up the stairs.
“I better get back out there before my boson tells me I’m slacking.” Kirk knocked on the table with his knuckles. “See you later.”
She picked at her sandwich and stared at her computer screen. Reid didn’t do cocaine any more than she did. So,why would his team say that he did? And why would they be gossiping about her sneaking out of his room?
Of course, that was cause for dismissal. But what would having her fired in the middle of a charter do for Preston? And she wouldn’t actually be let go until they docked. She let out a long breath. She had a million questions with no answers.
She opened her laptop and pulled up the portal to the miscellaneous files from Reid’s server. It bothered her to no end that Jim had been communicating with Preston for months. It didn’t fit in her mind that whatever this was, it had been planned out months ago when Jim first contacted her to be his boson.
And then his bunkmate.
Why?
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fuck it.” She slammed the laptop closed and ran up the steps, turned the corner, and ran up the second flight, right into the bridge.
“What the fuck?” Captain Jim said as he swiveled in his big brown leather chair. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry, but we need to talk.”
“It’s going to have to wait. We’ll be anchoring soon, and I’ve got work to do.”
“Why’d you call me to be your boson?”
“Because I needed a good one, and I heard you were between jobs. You know how small the industry is.”
“Nice standard, well-rehearsed answer. But I’m not buying it.” She set her computer down on the table by the stairs. “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“With?” Jim stared at her with wide eyes.
“Me. You. This fucking charter. Everything. It doesn’t add up.”
“You’re not making sense.” He placed both hands on her shoulders and lowered his chin. “Are you feeling okay? Is something wrong? You’ve been acting off for the last two days.”
She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut.
“Maybe you should go lie down. I can have Kirk take over your responsibilities for the rest of this charter if things are too much for you,” Jim said.
“Are you kidding me?”
“When I found out Reid was coming on board, I thought about asking you to sit on the sidelines. I know you’re a tough girl, but with all that transpired over the last twenty-four hours, I think it’s best—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up.” That went nowhere fast, and she quickly realized the error of her ways. Whatever was going on with Jim, he was too far gone to reason with at this juncture. She snagged her laptop.
He grabbed her arms.
“You’re out of control, and your eyes are bloodshot. Did you even sleep last night?”
Motherfucker. “No. I didn’t,” she admitted. “Anything else? Do you want to drug test me? I’ll pee in a cup right now, no problem.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“I didn’t think so.” She tucked her computer under her arm and jogged down the stairs then marched herself into her cabin and slammed the door. Only there was no space to pace in her room. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“What?” Milia popped her head out from under her blanket. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry. I didn’t know you were in here.”
“I’m on a break, and I’m hiding with my nose in a book.”
“Hiding from what?”
“Can I be honest?”
Darcie let out a long sigh. “Please. I’d appreciate it.”
“I don’t like these people. They say weird things in hushed tones, but it’s obvious they want me to know what they are saying, and it’s all bad things about you and Reid. Things that I know, at least with you, aren’t true. And with the way Jim is acting and Kim constantly texting me, wanting to know what is going on, well, I just want this season to be over.”
“You and me both.” Darcie climbed into her bunk. She hooked up her phone to her charger and checked the time. She still had another half-hour on her break. She’d use the time to look at more of the files and emails from the server. She glanced at her text thread with Reid.
Nothing.
Well, he had a lot on his mind. She had to believe that he hadn’t meant the harsh words he’d said earlier. Whatever had transpired between him and Preston had fucked with his head something good. She just needed to give him some time to sort it all out. And it didn’t help that they were stuck out at sea.
She squared her shoulders and pulled up the folder labeled: Operation Dream.
It seemed like a weird descriptor for both Reid and Preston. Neither of them were dreamers. They considered themselves doers. Go-getters. Not dreamers. That term was reserved for people who thought about shit but never went about doing it.
An argument she used to love having with Reid when they’d been dating.
There were three documents in the folder. There were named:
Plan A.
Plan B.
Reid’s Note.
She clicked on Reid’s Note.
“I’m sorry Kim is struggling,” Darcie said, feeling a little bad that she’d basically ignored that part of the conversation.
“I think I made a mistake by supporting her decision to be with Jim.”
“Nah. That’s what friends are for, and she needs a good one by her side no matter what happens.”
“You don’t think Jim is capable of changing his spots, do you?”
“I don’t know.” If she were being totally honest with herself, she thought that Jim could be a kind and loving man. And with the right woman, maybe he would be a wonderful partner.
Plus, Kim was kind of perfect for him. She had all the qualities he liked in a woman, especially the part where she followed him around like a pathetic puppy, hanging on his every word.
That was the disconnect with her relationship with Jim. She was just too damn independent for a man with his tastes. He liked to be the big man calling all the shots for his little lady.
That didn’t work for Darcie, but it worked for Kim.
“Is Kim happy?” Darcie asked.
“No. Not really. She pretends to be. She wants to be. I mean, he swept her off her feet. But since she left the boat, he’s been distant and acting weird.”
“Maybe it’s not her. Maybe he has other issues.” What the bloody hell? Now she was defending him? As if he were caught in the crossfire with all this? Fuck, no. “Or maybe he’s just an asshole, and she should dump him.”
“That’s what I want to tell her.”
“I wish my friends had told me that,” Darcie said. “My family members were the only ones willing to get in my face when it came to Jim.”
“What about Reid? What did they think of Reid?”
“They all loved him. Still do. If I took him back, they’d throw a fucking party.”
“Why don’t the two of you get back together, then?”
“Be
cause people like Jim and Preston always get in the way,” Darcie admitted as she clicked on Reid’s Note. “I wish I had some good advice to give you to forward on to Kim, but I don’t know what to think of Jim these days. And my opinion is severely skewed in the negative.”
“Well, I think Kim is going to be asking for a long engagement if she doesn’t call the whole thing off.”
“Whatever she does, she shouldn’t make any rash decisions. And if she wants, tell her she can call me once this charter is over.” Oh for fuck’s sake, why would Darcie offer herself up like that?
Because she was a kind and decent woman, who needed to believe that in a week, this entire thing would be over, and all the questions she had would be answered, and she’d be sleeping full-time in Reid’s bed.
She had to believe that.
Had to.
Otherwise, she’d go crazy.
“Thanks.” Malia rolled over and went back to her book.
Darcie focused on the file she opened. Reid’s Note. Her pulse increased as she read the words on the screen.
To Whom It May Concern:
I’ve never understood that greeting. What does it mean? Does it mean people might not be concerned? Well, in my case, that is absolutely true. I’m not worth being concerned about.
What the fuck? Of course, he was worth it, and he knew it. Why would he even write a note suggesting that he wasn’t? And why the fuck would he put it on this server?
Reid wouldn’t.
She sat up straight, hitting her head on the top bunk. “Fuck.”
“Are you okay?” Milia asked.
“Just ducky,” she said, flicking her finger over the trackpad. This didn’t make sense.
My life has been one bad turn after the next, and I’ve grown tired of it. It’s time to put an end to it. I can’t live like this any longer.
Darcie blinked. She knew that Reid could be weird and moody and emotional, but this didn’t sound like him at all.
I’ve turned my company into the one thing Erin would be most disappointed in. I don’t know how it happened. Or when it turned. Yes, I do. It was the first time I tried cocaine. That’s when everything changed.
What the hell?
Darcie introduced me to the devil. We danced together, and for a while. it was good. Until it wasn’t.
Like most things with Darcie.
Jesus.
Erin once told me that you come into this world in a blaze of glory. A mad adrenaline rush, and some of us are wired to cling to that emotion for the rest of our lives, unable to be satisfied with that one wild journey into the simplicity of living because our hearts are never settled. These tortured souls are restless and can never tame the beast. Enough is never enough. In the land of the living, life should be the end game.
But in my world, it’s that split second between life and death where you know you’re a goner and yet you straddle the space between. That’s the moment no one can live to tell about, and that’s the moment all true extremists live for.
I’ve accepted the fact that I’m like Erin, a true extremist, and I can’t deny the need to experience the one second between life and death.
See you on the flip side.
“No. No. No fucking way.” Darcie jumped from her bed. “This can’t be happening.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Milia asked.
“Everything.”
With a shaky hand, Reid opened the last file that Preston had given him and stared at what he knew to be doctored images of Darcie with a line of cocaine. He flipped to another picture of him and Darcie, taken a year or so ago, showing them drinking with what appeared to be a white powdery substance on the table.
Photoshopped in, of course.
But the worst was seeing all the drugs stashed in her cabin and on her sailboat.
There were even pictures of her and Jim with suitcases full of drugs as they transported them onto the superyacht, which explained how Captain Jim had become involved.
The only question was: had Jim done so willingly, or was Preston using him, as well?
“Fuck.” Reid tossed the folders across the room. They hit the porthole and scattered to the floor. He was fucking screwed.
And if he didn’t do what Preston wanted, Darcie would lose everything.
He couldn’t allow that to happen. She had her entire life ahead of her, and he had one foot on the downslope. He slumped to the side of the bed and cradled his face in his hands. He’d made a mess of his life all because he’d had a fear of abandonment.
His parents, while loving, had never really understood him, nor had they been there for him.
He used thrill seeking as a way to hold onto his humanity. To feel something. Anything. He also used it to keep people at arm’s length. He never wanted to get too close, and when he did, it never ended well.
However, in this case, he had no one to blame but himself.
And he had no idea what to do.
But he couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing, and he couldn’t tell Darcie. Not this time.
He picked up his cell and called Jagar.
“What’s up, man?”
“I’m only calling out of respect for you.” Reid put the phone on speaker and placed it on the side of the bed.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Jagar said.
“Preston has me between a rock and a hard place, and in order to protect those I care about, I need to sell my soul to the devil.”
“You fucking bastard. I’m not letting you break my little sister’s heart again.”
Reid rubbed his temple. “She’ll be fine, especially after how I behaved this afternoon.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve already started by telling her I thought us being together was a mistake, and I’m going to get drunk and belligerent and act like a fool.”
“And why are we going to do this?”
“Because if I don’t, Preston is going to make your sister out to be a drug addict. Or worse. Say that she’s selling drugs on the high seas and using the charter business to do it.”
“How is he going to do that, exactly?” Jagar asked.
Reid stood, ran a hand through his hair, and took in a deep breath, trying to calm his out-of-control pulse. “He’s got fake evidence. He’s also creating a narrative. Fuck. My head hurts.”
“Listen. I need you to relax a little.”
“Right. I’m on a fucking boat that I can’t get off with a goddamned crazy person who wants to not only ruin me, but also the woman I love. And he’s been fucking with us from the beginning. I’m sorry if I’m a little pissed off at the moment.”
“That’s better than when you first called informing me that you were going to call it quits.”
“Well, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t let him destroy Darcie’s career.”
“No. You can’t. Let me get my detective brain working,” Jagar said. “Can you send me the pictures.”
“Sure. I can send you all the blackmail material he just gave me.”
“Good.”
Reid set all the papers out on the small desk and, using the document scanning app on his phone, he made copies and emailed them all to Jagar.
“This feels like such an elaborate plan where so many things could go wrong,” Jagar said. “If Preston only wanted you to sign off on this deal—”
“This is about Preston getting off. You have to remember that it’s always first about the thrill with him. Everything else is secondary. He needs to live on the edge. To always be so close to danger that his heart rate is always elevated. It’s like going through life with a semi-hard dick.”
“I have to say that would suck.”
“I know,” Reid said. “Too much of a good thing is often a bad thing.”
“Okay, but he still has something he wants to achieve, and I go back to him wanting this deal with Hans and wanting you out of the company doesn’t equate to these elaborate plans that have been in the works for months. And
that brings me to my sister. Callie’s read the emails. I looked at the information you sent me. We’re missing something.”
Reid’s door rattled. A second later, Darcie came barreling in, all out of breath.
She held up the computer, pointing at the screen. “He plans on…plans on…plans on…”
“Slow down and breathe.” Reid took the laptop from her shaking hands and closed the door. “I’ve got your brother on speaker. Now what are you babbling on about?”
Her chest heaved. Her eyes were as big as golf balls as she waggled her finger. “Note. Fake. From Reid.”
“Look at me.” Reid took her by the biceps and made eye contact. “In through the nose, and out through the mouth.” He nodded as she inhaled sharply, then exhaled loudly. “That’s it.” He’d never known her to panic, so whatever had her spooked had to be something big. “Take your time.”
“Jagar. You’re going to need to get involved now.”
“I already am,” Jagar said.
“No. I mean officially.”
Reid ran his thumb over her cheek, wiping away a single tear.
“Why? What happened?”
“I found a note on the server,” Darcie said. “Preston plans on killing Reid and making it look like suicide.”
“He’s planning what?” Reid grabbed the computer.
“The best part is in your suicide note, you blame me for getting you hooked on cocaine.”
The laptop slipped through his fingers and landed on his toes. “Fuck.” He jumped up and down.
“I need a copy of that note and anything else you found,” Jagar’s voice crackled over the cell.
Reid picked up the computer and sat down at the desk. He waved to Darcie. “Get my cell,” he said. “Jagar. You’ve already got copies. At least, Callie does. I’m texting you the file names and directories now.” Reid clicked one of the other tabs and glanced over Preston’s elaborate scheme to get back at Reid.
“Holy shit,” Reid mumbled.
“What is it?” Darcie stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders.
“I thought he destroyed it.”
“What?” Darcie repeated.
Reid reached out with a shaky hand and circled his finger over the screen. He couldn’t bring himself to touch the words on the page.
