“Colt is sitting next to you,” Marc said. He was standing by the shower stall, leaning against the wall, watching in the mirror as I put on the makeup. “I just checked the seating. He got moved next to you.”
“What happened to Mr. Smith? I thought it was going to be him.”
“I think Colt bribed the Maître d’ at the last minute, and Mr. Smith was outbid, because he did the same thing; that spot was going to be for Ms. Wayward.”
It was my turn to gawk. I turned, half of my face powdered, surprised. Gazes followed my face and then my hip, where the flap exposed a bit of my butt. “What? They’re putting money down to get a seat next to me?”
“A lot of money. Last I heard, Mr. Smith was trying to get Axel moved down a couple of seats so he could get the other side of you.”
“She shouldn’t sit alone,” Axel said.
“I agree,” Blake said. “I don’t care who sits by her, but Mr. Smith’s been carrying that gun around all day and from the way he’s been asking about you, he’s confirmed you’re the fund manager. The longer you’ve been gone, the more he’s been drinking. He’s the most dangerous right now.”
“He’s not going to shoot me in the middle of dinner. I don’t want to sit next to him, though.” I bent toward the mirror again, but it was fogged and streaked when I tried to clean it. “Do you have a mirror in that kit?” I asked Raven.
Everyone shuffled around to make room in the tiny bathroom. Raven fished inside of the kit, pulling out a small, round mirror. He wiped it clean on his shirt and then held it up for me.
I adjusted his hand and when I could see myself properly, I started up the makeup process again, getting to the eyes, and going for something smoky at first, but then realizing I needed to look smart and meek, so I kept it simple, with light pinks and whites. I put most of the emphasis on my eyes, and then a touch of color on my lips.
Silence fell in the room. They were all watching me. I wondered if it was a guy thing. Usually girls closed the door when getting ready for a date.
Maybe girls needed to start opening the door. From where I was, I could spot a few tented pants. I had to fight the grin from my face. Yes, I was in a towel, but I got a feeling part of it was simply watching a girl put on makeup and getting ready. It was sacred ground.
I finished with my makeup and then started combing out my hair with the brush from the kit. I looked at Blake, who had an odd look on his face, his mouth open. His tongue moved, like he meant to say something but his brain appeared to be stuck. I snapped my fingers at him to get his attention. “Grab the dress.”
Again, there was a shuffle. Marc and Raven moved out into the bedroom. Blake and ducked around, coming back with the dress and I shifted it so I wouldn’t get makeup on the material. In a flash, I let go of the towel, trying to do it quickly, even if the guys were watching. I slipped it over my head, smoothing the skirt over my hips and adjusting the gold hoop straps and the weird belt. I had to tighten it, when I did, it made me look weird, like it was cutting me in half. Blake zipped up the back for me and it still looked odd.
“I don’t like that,” Axel said. “It looked good on the mannequin.”
“This is why we try clothes on at the store,” I said. “It’s okay. The fit is just strange for some reason. Even with the belt, I look like a block. I’m a Lego.”
He moved forward and then turned me by the shoulders. I let him, and he focused on the dress. He removed the belt and then used his hand to tighten the dress at my waist. Without the belt, it looked better. “We just need a safety pin.”
“Got one,” Blake said. He pulled out his wallet, opening it and from inside one of the pockets, produced the pin. “Always carry one.”
“Thank you, Mr. Boy Scout,” I said, grinning, hopefully lightening the mood a bit. If I stood mostly naked in front of them, and no one fought, then maybe there was some hope.
“You’re welcome, Lady Without A Safety Pin,” he said with a smile. There was something else, too, in his eyes, where he was looking at me with amusement and pride. He approved of this greatly. I wondered if he figured out what I was doing--taking a stand with the guys. I had sacrificed a little bit of modesty for peace.
Axel fixed my dress and I brushed my hair. I was going to pull it back like in the bath, but I didn’t have a clip or anything so I left it down, brushing it as straight as I could. “Okay,” I said. I considered my options for dinner. I didn’t like Mr. Smith, but he might give me information. I also wanted Colt around. Would it be bad if Axel sat next to Colt and Blake sat next to Mr. Smith so I wasn’t that far from anyone? “I think we should get Mr. Smith and Colt sitting on either side of me.”
“No,” Axel said.
“You need to sit on the other side of Colt. Blake, you sit on the other side of Mr. Smith.”
“Oh,” Blake said. “So I’m the one to get shot at?”
“Sure,” I said. “You should be used to it.” He made a face at me, and I made one back. “No,” I said. “They may cancel each other out a bit if they’re sitting on either side. Whatever Mr. Smith wants to talk about, he might not be able to if Colt is right there. So you are going to talk to Mr. Smith about your previous dealings with me, and Axel, you may need to distract Colt from time to time. It’d be better if I didn’t talk, and Colt overhears Mr. Smith and Blake talking about me.”
“What are you going to do?” Axel asked.
“Listen,” I said. “And wait for them to talk to you all about investments. And then pay attention if they talk to someone else, and who they talk to.” I looked at Corey. “Did we pull anything from Colt’s phone yet?”
“I haven’t had time,” he said. “I started working on it, but we’ve got a hard drive copy of Smith’s and Wayward’s laptops that they left in their rooms. I pulled out the battery, though, until I could get to it. Marc’s dropping hard drives off left and right with Doyle.”
“I’m trying to grab what I can,” Marc said. “After I left the spa, I was going through a lot of rooms. Those were a pain in the ass to get. I take forever going over the same room pretending to clean while duplicating hard drives. Almost got caught a few times when people came back to get something. Or when the boss bitches at me to hurry up. Not a lot of rooms need cleaning this early, though. I’ll have better luck tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” I said. “Corey, if you can look in on Colt’s and Mr. Smith’s information, I think we should focus more on them right now. Even if you just read their emails or check their browser history. What we need are any matching investment documents, or numbers that match what’s in the account file we have.” I smoothed my hair out, and then the skirt of the dress, checking my blurry appearance in the foggy mirror. My hair was going to stay wet, but it was straight and looked plain enough. “Do I have glasses again?”
Axel pulled a pair from his pocket. “Almost forgot.”
I put them on. They were similar to what I had before, although they fit better. I was now Kitty Lane, a quiet, innocent-looking secret fund manager for a billionaire bad guy. I let out a slow breath between my lips.
I thought I’d be weirded out having been naked in front of all these guys. I was wondering if it had been a good idea at all or maybe it had been so over the top, they were in shock and I’d hear about it later. Oh well. Too late now. “Marc, if you’re going to sit down to dinner, go with Avery. Brandon, if you’re going in... can you support Blake? You’ve got a bit of history being friends.”
Brandon shrugged. “I guess. Although with the rate your table is filling up, I may not be able to afford a seat. I might have to sit at the next table.” The others seemed to have pulled themselves together. The show was over. Back to business.
“Are we missing anything? Is Kevin okay?”
“Kevin’s seating guests and serving,” Axel said. “Although I don’t like him being alone.” He looked at Raven.
“Customer or waiter,” Raven asked, motioning to himself. “What do you want from me?”
&
nbsp; Axel started to talk, but I raised my voice over him. I had to be the boss. “You should stick with him. I don’t want Kevin alone right now. That German...Sam is out there. Kevin is the most vulnerable to him at the moment. Blake had already been knocked out by someone. The only witness we have to who that might be and why is Sam. Get on his good side, even if it means you’re on our bad side.” I clapped my hands together. “Are we ready? Let’s get going.”
There wasn’t much else to say. They shared glares and glances with each other, talking to each other without saying anything out loud. I couldn’t catch all the looks, but I gathered there was confusion. They were listening to me, though. I had that going.
STORM AND FIRE
I got my shoes on. Corey left with Raven. Brandon and Marc had to stay behind and get themselves ready and it would be best to avoid us all walking into the dining room together. I didn’t have any purse or accessories to bring along, so as we left, I reached for Axel’s hand.
He turned to me, a look of surprise on his face, and then he relaxed, saying nothing as we walked down the hall together.
Blake walked right behind us. “I can’t stay with you for too long. When we get out of the elevator, we should split up before the dining room. I’ll wait to seat after you’ve been seated.”
We found our way to the elevator. It was slow getting to us but when the door opened, it was empty. After I pressed the button and we started to move, I looked at Blake. “Did anyone check out that spa? The one blond crewman…Sam went to after Mr. Smith paid him?”
“It’s a regular spa,” Blake said. “Not the hot bath one. The pamper and polish one. Massages. Pedicures. That kind of thing.”
“Did Mr. Smith have an appointment?”
“Yeah,” Blake said. “That was the weird part. Mr. Smith has one scheduled every day while he is here, but it was set up prior to our taking off. His first one is after noon tomorrow. He’s getting massages. What I don’t understand is why he forked over cash to Sam when he already had the appointments. It wasn’t like he paid him to boot someone else off the roster for a spot. I’m starting to wonder if it was for something else. Maybe it was just a tip for loading the luggage onboard. But then I don’t know why Sam left the area to go right to the spa.”
“We should go when Mr. Smith goes,” I said. “Let’s find out who else has an appointment around that time. Maybe he made sure to get a room close to or with someone he’s interested in talking to. That seems to be a thing around here.”
“Shouldn’t you and I go?” Axel asked.
I turned to him, blinking. “Yeah,” I said. “I meant you and I go.” Hadn’t I just said that? Or did he assume by we I meant me and Blake? I was planning too far ahead anyway. I was trying not to focus too much on the dinner so I wouldn’t be as nervous.
The elevator doors opened. Blake turned right, heading toward the pool deck. I had a feeling he was going to make a few circles around the ship before coming back to the dining room.
I wished someone else could have went with him. I hadn’t considered Blake to be going off by himself. I bit my lip, unsure, but then right now it was a little too late to change things. I made a mental note to talk to Axel and the rest of them about everyone pairing off, including Fancy and Blake and Doyle.
I held onto Axel’s hand as we walked down the hallway. Then Axel tugged at my arm, pulling me toward a men’s bathroom. I thought maybe he needed to go, or wanted to give himself a last minute look over.
I was about to let him go at the entrance when he kept holding my hand, pulling me in with him. Why? Wouldn’t it be weird if other men were in there?
As it was, the bathroom was empty. This one had urinals with walls between them, no doors, and then regular stalls further down. He went for a regular stall, opening the blue metal door and pulling me in with him.
Okay, I know they had watched me dress, but I didn’t really want to watch him pee. “I can wait outside the door if--”
“Shh,” he said. He pushed the door closed and locked it, then pulled an earbud out of his ear, holding his fist around it like Raven had done, masking our voices from whoever might be listening.
I had my eyes on his closed fist, waiting for him to yell, to complain about the spectacle I’d made of myself back in that bathroom. That sparked the heat inside of me. I was ready, a retort on the tip of my tongue.
The storm in his eyes met my fire. “I just want to know one thing,” he said.
“What?” I snapped.
“Do I need to back off?” he asked. “Did I assume too much before and step in where I wasn’t wanted?”
That wasn’t the question I had been expecting. It shook me up. “Axel,” I said, trying not to be dissuaded, even as I sympathized. Still, I couldn’t back out of this now. No more lies. No more secrets. “Remember when I said the others were interested in me, and you devised ways to let them know what was going on? You wanted to tell them flat out that you were interested in pursuing me and they should back off.”
“Yeah. Of course I remember. What about it?”
“That obviously didn’t happen. And I’m saying it’s obvious why we didn’t just tell everyone flat out. It’s because it’s a bigger deal than you’ve tried to get me to believe. I walked in on an all-guy group where everyone is super talented and smart and good looking...and single. I’m surrounded by all of you constantly. Over that time, they’ve all flirted and they’ve all thought the same thing as you. I thought keeping quiet about the others flirting, with you flirting, I thought that was how I would handle it. I thought eventually I’d wait until I was sure one of you were serious...or I knew which one of you I wanted…something like that.”
“I am serious,” he said.
I held up my hand between us. “Hang on,” I said. “I’m trying to tell you, I can’t possibly make a decision yet. There hasn’t been enough time, and I may not be able to even commit to any of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if I commit to one of you, it’s going to break the others at this point. And to be honest, I’m not ready for a committed relationship. So I can’t commit to you. If you want the truth, I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this. I like you, but I also like Marc and Brandon and Raven. And I kind of like Blake, too.”
He pressed his lips together, the storm rolling around in his eyes. He didn’t like my answer.
“All I know is,” I said, continuing since he hadn’t started to talk. “I need to stop this fight now or you all will go down, and me, too. We’ve got five days on this boat to behave and I’ve got that much time to help you to convince the Academy that we should stay beyond that, if necessary, to help Ethan. I think us being able to get along and get the job done is going to be crucial, and I can’t have you all fighting with each other. I also don’t have the time to juggle to get to know you all properly to make that decision. Not in the right way. So you all need to understand that I can’t commit.”
“So you’re not interested?”
“I am interested,” I said, seething through my teeth. I pushed him, and he stepped back, his back against the wall of the stall. I leaned in, my lips close to his mouth. It was an intimidating thing, doing what he had done before. “But what I said before is true, too. I split my time with all of you, and I don’t seem to get a chance to get to know you. Plus, I need time. I’m not ready for a commitment when my life isn’t stable at all.”
“None of us are stable,” he said in a rush, but then breathed heavily as he stared at my eyes, the wild storm bubbling over. “What do you want, Kayli? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
I watched his lips as he spoke. I didn’t know. We didn’t have time to hash it out. I also didn’t want him to think I didn’t care at all. I did. That was the problem. I cared too much about all of them, but I couldn’t let them presume there was any commitment when I didn’t know what I wanted yet. That wasn’t fair.
So I kissed him.
It was a short kis
s, harsh.
He lifted his hand, cupping the back of my head in his palm. When the kiss ended, he tried to hold onto me, to pull me against his lips again.
I resisted and pulled back. “We need to go,” I said. “This is what I mean when I said we don’t get enough time.”
“I have to agree with you on that,” he said. “I don’t really have a solution.”
“I don’t either,” I said. “Which is why I need all of you to back off on the commitment stuff. There’s lots of reasons not to start a relationship at this point. If that means...if it means you lose interest in me altogether, then that’s the risk I have to take. I’m just not ready.”
The corner of his mouth lifted and suddenly the storm broke. “Good enough.”
I lifted a brow. “What is?”
“That you consider my losing interest a risk.” He reached down for my hand and squeezed it. “I can’t treat you like a typical girl I’d date, because you’re not typical at all. And this thing we have, I can’t explain it.”
I stared at him, full of questions. Was this really okay? No normal guy would ever be this good to me. A normal guy would be angry and quit, or tell me to commit or else he’d leave. Axel seemed to understand, at least as best as anyone could in the short time he’s had to consider what was really going on.
I studied him in the blue tie, the clothes that weren’t right for him. A couple of stray locks of his dark hair framed his face, the rest pulled back in a small ponytail. He was incredibly smart and talented, and too good for someone like me.
As we looked at each other, there was a noise out in the bathroom. Someone else had entered. It was hard for me to determine where they had gone: to a stall or a urinal.
Axel pushed me out of our stall the moment a flow of pee started. A man was at a urinal, focused on the task in front of him. I moved quickly to the door. Axel followed.