by Opal Carew
Archer grabbed her around the waist and tugged her into his lap.
“Oh, nice.” She squirmed, getting comfortable and putting him in danger of popping a boner at the same time. That’s what he got for enjoying her mild embarrassment. “My favorite seat in the house.”
“Be careful or he’ll put you over those knees next time you’re in the clubroom. Bet you won’t like that as much,” Miguel teased her.
“Huh? What’s the clubroom?” she asked, chuckling kind of uncomfortably as if she’d missed the punch line.
Oh, shit.
When she finally noticed the serious stares on the guys’ faces, she realized—for once—they weren’t joking. “Guys? What’d I miss?”
Miguel clammed up. He looked to Archer as if asking for help out of whatever hole he’d managed to dig for them both. Even Banks raised his brows, which was about as shocked as Archer had ever seen the guy before. Was it that big of a deal that he hadn’t felt the need to play in there with her?
Well…maybe.
“Archer?” She looked at him then.
“You’ve seriously never taken her there?” Tosin asked, making the whole thing worse. “What’s up with that? And your little speech earlier… It made it sound like she met all your needs. Are you sure, Archie?”
How dare they imply he was changing who he was to suit her? It just hadn’t come up yet. Plus, they’d had a lot to work through, given their past. Could that be why he had toned down that side of himself around her? Because he still felt guilty? Or like he had to hide those parts of himself?
Could the guys be right?
Damn it. He’d rather believe they were butthurt because he hadn’t participated in any late-night private parties, taking that aspect of their bond with him.
“Archer?” Waverly’s pitch went up and her volume increased as she repeated herself. She sprang up from his lap and propped her hand on her hip.
They might have had to excuse themselves then to have a very private discussion, and maybe their first serious fight since getting back together, except right then someone screamed.
The animalistic sound left no doubt that something was fucked to hell.
Archer and the rest of the guys shot to their feet, trying to figure out where the noise had come from. A few seconds later, a more controlled shout followed. It didn’t ease his anxiety in the least.
“Help! Someone please, help! Oh God, I think she’s dead!”
Chapter 21
Archer sprinted toward the hysterical guest, who begged for help.
By the time he arrived, a few other crewmembers and guests had gathered around. The head stewardess, Maria, a married couple from Denver, and one of the ship’s officers—Ted—were alternating between trying to calm the screaming person and staring at the pool.
Floating on the surface, face down, in a spreading maroon cloud, was the ship’s masseuse.
He skidded to a stop and tried to prevent Waverly from seeing the woman once he realized who it was.
Miguel didn’t bother. Though it was unlikely they could help the woman, he dove into the pool and checked for a pulse. He shook his head. No.
When he lifted her face out of the water, he grimaced then set her down gently before heading for the edge. He drew himself up and out, dripping bloody water onto the deck. “She’s gone.”
“Is that Vanessa?” Waverly flailed at Archer’s back. “Oh my God, how can that be? I was just with her a few minutes ago.”
Everyone turned to stare at her then.
“She was…not like this. Alive. Very alive.” Waverly paled.
Captain Alex began barking orders over his radio. “I need all hands on Deck Two. Bring any weapons you have. Be on the lookout for suspicious persons heading away from the pool area.”
He looked to his officer then. “Ted, grab the log book from the office. I want to verify every gun we have onboard against it. Immediately. Check each one to see if it’s been fired since last cleaning.”
They had several, for safety in sometimes dangerous parts of the world.
“While you’re in there, download the camera feeds for the past fifteen minutes. Put them in the officers’ shared folder and be prepared to forward them to the authorities when I have more information.”
“Yes, sir,” Ted answered before running toward the interior of the ship.
“Archer?” Waverly seemed dazed.
He faced her then, pressing her to his chest so she couldn’t keep staring at the dead body.
Tosin assigned himself to crowd control, corralling the guests away from the area while keeping them together for their safety. It also prevented anyone from leaving before they could be questioned.
Captain Alex approached the pool and knelt, carefully retrieving a two-liter bottle from its surface with gloved hands and setting it aside. “Whoever did this knew what they were doing. They silenced the shot with this.”
“Explains why we didn’t hear anything.” Banks grimaced. “We were right up there, though it is quite windy tonight.”
Archer thought back to how they’d had to pin down their papers.
“There’s a storm coming. I’m going to call this in.” Captain Alex frowned. “Closest port is Kralendijk. They’ll probably have us dock as planned so they can conduct an investigation.”
“Who would do this? Why?” Waverly trembled in Archer’s hold.
Those were very good questions. He wondered if she was also thinking about the fact that they were trapped onboard with a killer. No matter how much he rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm them, she shivered harder. Banks appeared with a blanket. Together they wrapped her up.
Miguel stood nearby, not saying anything. Quietly, he observed everything and everyone around them.
It wasn’t long before Ted returned carrying a binder. He set it on a nearby table, grabbed one of the four thousand tabs on the side, and opened it. Crew members lined up to present their weapons. He swabbed the inside of each one with a Q-tip before confirming it was clean and checking it off the list.
When everyone had made it through the line, he slapped his hand flat on the table. “Damn it. That’s all of them.”
“Well, it wasn’t a ghost that put a hole in that woman’s head.” Captain Alex turned an unhealthy shade of purple.
Archer thought he might only be a couple of hues behind.
“Excuse me…sir?” Ted seemed almost afraid. “I know of another weapon onboard. Not listed here.”
“Whose is it?” Captain Alex demanded.
Ted pointed. Directly at Waverly. “She had it in Caracas. When we ran from those thugs. And she damn well knew how to use it, too.”
Archer growled. Waverly flinched in his grip. “Of course she does. She’s a Navy veteran. Waverly had nothing to do with this!”
“It’s fine, Archer. Sorry, I should have thought of it myself.” She separated from him then and turned to the captain. “Yes, I have my weapon. It was cleared by Banks that I bring one.”
“Where is it?” the captain asked, not unkindly.
Good, Archer thought. I won’t have to fire his ass. Ted, however, was on thin ice.
“He’s just doing his job.” Waverly patted Archer’s chest when she realized what he was fuming at. “The gun is in the safe in our room. It’s unloaded. Should I go get it?”
“Why don’t you stay here?” Miguel said both too quickly, and a little too loudly. “I’ll do it. Archer told me the combination earlier because that’s where we put…stuff.”
He’d almost mentioned their treasure.
Waverly nodded. “Thanks.”
Unfortunately, Archer didn’t think his friend was motivated entirely by kindness. He’d better knock that shit off fast.
“While we’re waiting, let’s pull up the camera feeds, Ted,” Captain Alex boomed.
The guy looked miserable. Like he’d rather have anything else to say other than, “When I went to download the footage, they weren’t running. Looks like they were sh
ut off about an hour ago. Sorry, sir.”
“Fuck!” Archer couldn’t stand how everything was spiraling out of his control.
Little did he know, it was about to get a whole lot worse.
Miguel stomped back onto the deck. He shouted, “It’s gone!”
“My gun?” Waverly put her hand on her chest. Archer cupped her elbow, keeping her upright.
“That too.” He kicked a chair over, making a clatter that drew the attention of everyone in sight.
“Oh, shit.” Tosin put his head in his hands over where he sat with the guests.
“Does someone want to fill me in on what’s going on?” Captain Alex spoke quietly. It was so much more intimidating than if he’d yelled.
Banks shuffled close and spoke low enough that no one else could hear. The captain’s eyes grew wide. Then he released a string of curses that impressed Archer with its creativity and pure vileness.
His thoughts exactly.
“I didn’t do this!” Waverly wrestled with the blanket, shoving it off. “Swab my hands. Please.”
“No. You don’t have to do that.” Archer’s hackles rose.
“She does. We shouldn’t assume she’s innocent just because you’re fucking her,” Miguel spat.
Archer’s hands balled into fists and he advanced.
Banks stopped him in his tracks. “Let her do it. It will go a long way in clearing her name. We both know there’s nothing there.”
At least one of them was thinking straight.
Waverly held out her hands. He couldn’t help but notice they shook.
Ted zoomed in and used a bunch of the cotton swabs, then put them in a plastic bag and sealed it. At a loss for words, or what to try next, most everyone milled around. Captain Alex pulled Vanessa’s emergency contact sheet and passed it to Banks. Waverly groaned when she realized the phone call he’d have to make soon.
Captain Alex gave more orders. “We’re going to conduct a room search. Top to bottom of this boat. We’re looking for a handgun, or anything else out of place.”
Still, Miguel wasn’t satisfied. Against everyone’s cautioning, he edged nearer. He lowered his voice so only Archer, Banks, and Waverly could hear. “I’m worried for you, bro. You went from believing you raped this girl to chasing her like a puppy dog. She had you wrapped around her ring finger in a matter of days. It looks bad. Let them do this the right way so you don’t get any blowback. I know she’d have to be like the world’s greatest actress—a master manipulator—to have fooled us all, but…”
He stopped short of mentioning that it might run in her family.
Even that seed of doubt felt like a complete betrayal to Archer. How could his best friend be this disloyal? “She had nothing to do with this.”
Waverly stared blankly at the two men. She seemed overwhelmed and unable or unwilling to defend herself. So not like her. It infuriated him.
“How can you be so sure? Is this going to be like the time you forgot to mention you were Daddy Warbucks?” Miguel ripped out of Banks’s restraining grip on his biceps. “Are you telling us everything you know?”
“Shit! Yes. Guys, I swear. I don’t know what’s going on, but Waverly isn’t to blame.” Archer stood tall, wondering if they’d make it past their first destination before their entire future went to hell.
“I’m starting to feel like I don’t know who you are anymore,” Miguel sneered. “I hope you’re not being used. Blind faith doesn’t cut it for me. You’re already changing who you are for her, staying out of the clubroom. That’ll never last. The two of you won’t make it if you can’t be honest about who you are and what you like.”
The sound Waverly made then threatened to rip Archer’s heart out of his chest.
She tapped out. “That’s it. I’m done. I’ll be in our cabin if anyone wants to arrest me. Or make me walk the fucking plank for that matter.”
Then she took off. For her to show even a hint of weakness meant they’d really hurt her.
Archer roared, then lunged at Miguel. “Fuck you! She’s innocent!”
Before Miguel could take it back or say something to make it worse, Archer shut him up with a punch to the face. Tosin scrambled to Miguel’s side and helped him sit up, shaking him from his daze.
Archer and Miguel stared each other down like two groupers defending their territory.
“Enough!” Banks shouted as he smacked his palm on Archer’s chest, keeping him from pressing ahead. “What he said about Waverly was out of line. That girl isn’t capable of hurting anyone. I know it, same as you. So why don’t you go help her instead of making things worse? Captain Alex and I will handle this. In fact, everyone return to your rooms for the night. No one is to be wandering about until I say otherwise. We’ll assemble a small team to conduct the searches. Cooperate with all staff instructions. Use your intercoms if you need anything or see something suspicious.”
Archer blinked then, thinking about how he’d let Waverly go when there was still a murderer on the loose. He wanted nothing more than to take her into her arms and promise everything was going to be okay.
He spun on his heel. As he strode away, he heard Banks scolding Miguel, “What did I tell you about earning that black eye, huh?”
It might have been funny some other time.
Not with a corpse onboard, though.
Or his woman, falsely accused, nursing some stab wounds in the back.
He jogged the rest of the way to their cabin, ignoring the worried looks everyone shot at him as he passed. Only one person mattered at the moment. Banks and Captain Alex could handle the rest.
When Archer arrived, he found the door unlocked, which only pissed him off more. She should be taking better precautions. Someone had been here. Invaded their personal space once already. His anger transformed into something more desperate when he stood outside the door to the bathroom and heard the sound of weeping, nearly—though not entirely—disguised by the running shower.
It wasn’t like Waverly, though she’d softened some since she’d returned to the Divemaster. He was sure she would hate for him to see it. So he paced, waiting for her to emerge on her own terms.
He’d be there when she was ready for his open arms.
But it wasn’t easy.
In fact, it was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
For her, he would manage.
Chapter 22
“You can’t blame them for their suspicions, Archer. They’re right. This looks bad.” Waverly chewed on her fingernail as she stood at the glass accordion doors that led out onto Archer’s stateroom balcony. The ocean looked mean and kind of angry as the wind picked up and waves crashed, a storm rolling in. Just when she’d started to feel like she belonged, the world reminded her that anything could be lost in an instant.
She tugged the thin silk robe she’d thrown on after her shower more tightly around her.
Maybe she’d been deluding herself to think this could be her forever. She wasn’t a partner in the Divemaster Project. Hell, she wasn’t even an owner-operator of her aircraft. Waverly was a simple pilot, working a job, and she’d let herself forget for a while that she could be banished from her new haven as quickly as she had been admitted.
They could fire her over this. Worse, have her thrown in a foreign jail for a murder she didn’t commit.
She might not survive losing everything again if it meant Archer went with it.
“I don’t give a fuck what it looks like. I’ve learned my lesson about that shit—believing what people lead you to think. I know you had nothing to do with killing that woman and nothing will ever convince me otherwise.”
His unwavering faith changed her. Altered everything she felt and opened new doors.
If he was strong enough to have confidence in her after the damage his father had wrought on his impressionable young psyche, she should be able to do the same for him. “Take me to the clubroom. The one the guys were talking about.”
“What?” He tipped his
chin. “Now? This isn’t the time—”
“It is.” She put her hand out, waiting for him to take it. “You trust me. And I trust you, too. I know it must be hard to let go of your unnecessary remorse after years of thinking you’d taken advantage of me. I’m guessing that’s why you didn’t tell me about the clubroom. Like Miguel said, if you can’t get past that, we’ll never last. So we might as well test it out and see before either of us is too invested.”
“He’s an idiot. He was freaked out and pissed off and not thinking straight.”
“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t right about some of it. Besides, I need this tonight. You. Anything goes. Hell, from now on, that’s how it should be. You’ve given me everything I need and believe in me completely. Allow me the opportunity to do the same for you.”
“Waverly…”
“This is my choice. I don’t want there to be boundaries between us. Limits on our relationship.” She drew a deep, somewhat shaky breath. “I can’t stand the thought of losing you. You should have told me this is something you need.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Archer cursed. “You are what I need. I’m sorry the guys questioned you. They’ll come around. They’re—”
“They’re just looking out for you. Totally understandable.” Though it had stung, still did, she appreciated their loyalty. “Still, if I’m going to be out of control when it comes to the awful shit in my life, you might as well show me the upside of freefalling.”
“What do you mean, Waverly?” He nudged her shoulder until she rotated, facing him. “Look at me when you explain.”
He wanted to read the truth in her eyes? Fine by her.
“Ever since…what happened to us all that time ago, I’ve protected myself by staying in charge. Of myself. Of situations. Of lovers. Not with you, though. I can’t do it with you. Don’t care to. So take me all the way. Show me what it feels like to give up power. Completely.”
