La’Shia was suddenly at her side gently guiding her back into the hands of Brooklyn. La’Shia then stepped forward just as the next song began. She reached out and took Ben’s hand in hers. Ben looked up and La’Shia was surprised to see his gaze was a million miles away.
The next song was Julie London’s ‘Cry Me a River’, its smooth jazz beckoning them out onto the floor.
Ben heeded its call, stepping forward to pull La’Shia’s body to his and moving them into the dance. Her feet rushed to catch up and he automatically adjusted for her. She looked into his eyes but what he was seeing she couldn’t tell. Whatever it was had him in its spell and only his body expressed this inner conversation. She desperately wanted to know who it was that made him move so divinely. She gave herself over to his control and felt her movements just… click into place with his. She gasped lightly with the thrill of it.
Thomas and Rochelle entered the bar and looked at each other with delighted smiles when they heard the music. There seemed to be a crowd standing at the edge of the dance floor and they saw it was mostly their people.
Rochelle made her way to the edge of the group with Thomas in tow. When she finally had a clear view of the dance floor she froze and her breath caught in her chest.
Thomas had a clear view over her head and his eyes went wide as he watched La’Shia dancing so beautifully! He’d never seen her move so gracefully! Then he noticed Ben was her partner and… damn! He could dance too!
Rochelle watched Ben with a huge smile which drained away as she remembered what Gabriella said about Ben dancing with her cousin in France. How he’d slipped into a trancelike state then collapsed afterwards. She watched Ben’s face when it turned in her direction and she couldn’t tell if he was aware of what he was doing but he… wasn’t smiling.
“Thomas!”
“Yes?”
“We have to get to Ben the moment the song ends,” she blurted.
“What? Why? He seems to be having a great time,” Thomas grinned.
Rochelle looked back at the delighted man. She couldn’t explain it to him. She didn’t have the words. He caught the worry in her eyes and his smile dropped. He nodded and her heart gave a little ping at how quickly he moved to support her.
He took her hand and moved them out onto the dance floor to get a little closer.
La’Shia was enjoying herself so much. The moves were so different from the dancing she did in her music videos and on stage at her shows. There was a grandness to it, a deep emotional context she hadn’t felt before. She knew it wouldn’t work as-is for her fans but she and Brooklyn could build on this. She suddenly became aware of the song winding down and glanced at Ben’s face. He was still communing with his secret partner. She felt a sudden and intense pang of jealousy and it caught her by surprise.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Thomas and Rochelle moving closer to them and the expression on the woman’s face made her a little nervous. She turned to face her straight on as Ben released her to bow his thanks for the dance.
Rochelle stepped up and took Ben’s arm. “Ben? Ben, it’s time to come back,” she said quietly. La’Shia and Thomas looked on with surprised expressions.
Nat King Cole’s ‘When I Fall In Love’ began and Ben’s head snapped back in reaction. He made a choking sound and Rochelle heard him mutter ‘It’s our song’ before he pulled his arm free from Rochelle’s hand and stiffly walked out of the bar. Rochelle and Thomas rushed after him as Brooklyn joined La’Shia on the dance floor.
“Did you get it? Tell me you got it!” La’Shia blurted as she looked at her choreographer. Brooklyn replayed the video she’d taken of the dancing but the light conditions were so poor her cell’s camera couldn’t focus and none of the footage was usable. She shook her head.
La’Shia growled and looked at the rest of her party. “Did anyone get that on video?”
No one had any usable video and they shook their heads. She growled in frustration.
“I did.”
La’Shia turned towards the voice. A tall black woman with a large head of hair and a broad smile with a slight gap between her front two teeth stepped forward out of the shadows. She had a very high-end DSLR camera in her hand. She shifted it to her left as she held out her right.
“Naomi Klassen. Culture Couture Critic. I captured both dances in high definition. Perhaps we can work out an arrangement for the video.” She beamed her smile at the two ladies who glanced hungrily at the camera. She was sure they’d find something she wanted.
Ben woke with a yell and instantly he had two concerned faces looking down at him. Trish and Rain were lying on either side of him.
“Easy Ben. It was just a dream,” Rain said, resting her palm on Ben’s chest.
“What- what time is it?” Ben stammered.
Trish looked at the clock. “It’s almost 7AM. Almost time to get up to meet the group downstairs.”
Ben blinked the sleep from his eyes. He tried to recall what happened the night before. He’d gone to dinner without these two and then…
He looked at Trish. “It happened again, didn’t it.”
Trish smiled gently but nodded. “Rochelle and Thomas brought you back to the room last night. You were pretty agitated. We got you undressed and into bed and you went right out.”
Ben looked over at Rain.
“Trish explained last night. It’s ok Ben. You’ll get through this. It sounds like you already have a plan of action with seeing this Dr. Granger when you get home. That’s a good idea.”
Ben looked at Trish with a pleased smile “At least Trish gave you her real name and not their pet name for her. That’s real progress!”
Trish looked uncomfortable. “Well, she’s going to help you now. Calling her Dr. Evil seems counter-productive.”
“Dr. Evil?” Rain’s eyebrows went up in concern.
“It was on her orders that Ben was strapped down to his bed when Sturn stab-” Trish gasped and couldn’t finish. Her eyes welled up as she flashed back to that awful night.
Ben pulled her in tight against his side and kissed the top of her head as she trembled.
“You- you were strapped down… when you got these?” Rain said wide eyed, looking at the scars.
Ben looked at her and nodded gently as he felt another tremor go through Trish’s body.
“I survived. I had people who needed me,” he said quietly.
Trish pulled back and looked into his eyes. She smiled tremulously.
“Now if you don’t mind, I need to get up as I need to use the bathroom,” Ben said with a wince.
Trish snorted. “Way to ruin a tender moment, Ben!” But her smile was loving none-the-less.
They got up and got ready for the day. They’d be on the catamaran in the sun for a good portion of the day so Ben made sure he had sufficient lotion in the beach bag. He put three towels in the bag and a cap in case the sun got to be too much. He admired the back view of Rain’s new bikini until she wrapped a gauzy skirt over the bottoms. Trish had on her red shimmering micro bikini again. She added her black wrap over her bikini bottom as well. Both pulled oversize t-shirts on.
Trish and Rain were moving just a little slowly this morning which made Ben apologize again but they just shook their heads. He vowed to himself to be gentler with them in the future.
The restaurant was quiet when they arrived with only a few guests getting up this early. They saw Killah and Brooklyn who waved them over. They sat and placed their orders with a waitress and saw a few more of their group arrive.
Tilisha stopped by Ben’s chair and greeted him. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Ben squirmed as he couldn’t remember the events of the night before. He had a flash of Tilisha asking him to join them for dancing. “I- I’m good. Thanks! You?”
She beamed him a wide smile. “I’m doing very well. I wanted to thank you for that amazing dance last night!” Brooklyn was giving her the eye so she looked for a seat.
“Oh… you’re welcome,” he smiled awkwardly.
“How are you two doing this morning? We missed you at dinner last night,” the rapper named Millionz asked Trish and Rain with a grin as he and one of La’Shia’s dancers settled into their chairs.
The two women in question shared a smile and Trish answered. “We’re good, thanks!” Ben breathed a sigh of relief at her brief and discrete response.
Others arrived and they said their greetings and gave their orders. Conversation at breakfast was far more subdued than dinner had been as most were still a little sleepy from the early hour.
“Tomorrow we all sleep in and laze on the beach again!” La’Shia said as she arrived last. The group chuckled and a few seconded her suggestion.
Ben noticed La’Shia and Brooklyn sharing glances across the table and wondered if he had done something embarrassing with them the previous night. He was too disturbed by the memory gap so he just did his best to ignore the potential intrigue.
Once they were finished they made their way to the lobby and about fifteen minutes later a bus arrived to transport them to the beach where the catamaran was moored.
They took their seats, Ben sitting next to Trish and Rain next to Tilisha behind them and soon they were underway. The drive wasn’t long and they enjoyed the scenery along the way. Ben noticed the sky was very clear this morning so he began applying some lotion to his face and arms as did Trish.
Everyone piled out of the bus and made their way across the beach to some smaller boats that would ferry them out to the catamaran. The jaunt out to the larger boat was short and the two boats made several trips back and forth to get everyone onboard.
Ben, Trish, Rain, Tilisha, Rochelle and Thomas managed to secure one side of the open netting at the front of the boat while Killah, Brooklyn, La’Shia, Millionz and his girlfriend took the other side.
Once everyone was on board they lifted anchor and got the boat underway.
The sun felt good and soon they were drowsing, shirts tucked into their bags, stretched out on the nets.
Forty minutes into the outbound trip Rochelle suddenly sat bolt upright catching Ben’s attention.
“NAOMI? What are you doing here?” Rochelle growled.