I lie on the bed in silence. It’s 8pm and Stace hasn’t come back from his day’s work. I made the ship and boarded, unnoticed.
We have been sailing for two hours and I have been in the cabin waiting for him to come home.
Part of me knows that I didn’t want him to know I was on board until it was too late because I’m scared he wouldn’t want me here.
Part of me knows I will a die a little if he doesn’t.
I’m not here for him, anyway. I’m here as a humanitarian, I remind myself. I may be messed up, but I can’t live my life with his murder on my conscience. What kind of a human being would I be if I knowingly let him die? It should be no big deal that I’m here, anyway. It’s only two weeks until we get to Puerto Rico and then I will have time to dispose of the guns and warn Stace about the planned attack.
It was a smart decision to come back. I’m just covering my tracks, that’s all.
* * *
I’m pacing. It’s 10pm and Stace hasn’t come back to the room.
What if he didn’t even get on the boat… ship, or whatever the fuck it is.
What if he went back for me and I put myself on here?
My hands run through my hair in a panic.
Oh God, what the hell have I done?
For over an hour I pace back and forth with my heart beating hard.
He’s not on the ship.
I know he’s not on the ship. He would have come back to change for dinner for sure.
I start to feel sick about my decision. Nobody knows I am on here and he couldn’t find me in Bogota even if he was trying. If they know I am on here alone, it’s going to be open slaughter. But then… maybe not now that they know me. I know Angela and her boys would protect me.
Calm down, calm down. I walk into the bathroom and stare at the girl staring back at me. “What the hell have you fucking done?” I ask my reflection.
“I don’t know,” I answer.
“You idiot,” I mouth.
More importantly, what am I going to do now?
The key sounds in the door and I put my hands over my heart in relief.
He’s here. Thank God, he’s here.
I hear the keys put down on the drawers and I step into the room, his back is to me.
“Hello.”
He turns and his face drops. “Rosh?”
I smile hopefully. “It seems I missed the nautical life.”
His face falls. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He snarls.
“What?” I whisper, shocked by his venom.
“You can’t be on here! I docked the boat to get you to safety and you fucking came back?” He’s angry, furious, in fact.
“I missed you, too,” I whisper through my hurt.
He shakes his head. “This ship is about to become a fucking nightmare and I can’t protect you. I got you off this boat for that reason.” He growls.
“I came to protect you,” I whisper.
“What?” he screams. “I don’t need fucking protecting.”
“Y-yes, you do,” I stammer, trying to calm him down. “I forgot to tell you that I overheard Stucco planning with someone else to murder you.”
“What?” His face screws up as if not believing my story.
“It was the night that you went to Chelsea and I was so upset.”
“I didn’t go to fucking Chelsea,” he snaps. “Stop going on about Chelsea. You are pissing me off with it.”
“They are going to call a maintenance call in the middle of the night and push you overboard.”
He frowns.
“And I remembered that I didn’t tell you and I was freaking out.” I pick up his hand and hold it in mine. “I had to warn you and coming back onto the ship was my only choice. I didn’t have your number to call,” I whisper.
“I don’t need your protection. I can handle myself.” He sighs and I can see a glimmer of forgiveness.
“I know you can.” I pause and try to sweeten the deal. “I wanted an excuse to see you.” My eyes search his.
He stares at me as the last words I said roll around in his brain.
“You wanted an excuse to see me?” He narrows his eyes. “I thought I was just the guy who kidnapped you?”
I smile softly as I gently cup his face in my hand. “Maybe not. Maybe you’re more.”
He moves close and I know I may be forgiven. “How much more?” he whispers against my lips.
I smile up at him. “Stop asking stupid questions and thank me.”
He roughly grabs my behind and kisses me, and I laugh into his lips.
“Stop doing stupid things.” He growls.
“I can’t, it comes naturally,” I reply.
He throws me onto the bed and I bounce with a laugh.
“So, you are here by choice now?” he asks darkly as he slowly undoes his belt from his pants.
Desire runs through my blood and I nod. “Aha.”
“Here for me.” He pauses and raises his brow. “By choice?”
“Yes,” I breathe as I watch his pants slowly slide down his legs.
“So, I can legally do whatever I want to do to you now.” He purrs sexily.
Shivers run down my spine. “Yes,” I whisper in anticipation. “What do you want?”
His dark eyes hold mine. “Fucking everything.”
* * *
The pager wakes us from our sleep. I glance at the clock to see it’s 4am in the morning. Stace rolls over and looks at the clock. I know he’s thinking the same thing as me.
He gets up and reads the message on his pager.
I sit up. “What does it say?”
He doesn’t answer and goes to the bathroom, flicking the light on. “What does it say?” I call after him.
“There is a problem in the engine room,” he replies dryly.
Oh no, I jump out of bed. “It’s a trap. This is it. I’m telling you, it’s a trap. This… this is what I heard them talking about,” I stammer.
“It could also be a problem in the engine room,” he replies.
“Don’t go. You can’t go.”
He zips up his pants and pulls his shirt around his shoulders. “I can handle myself.”
“I’m coming with you,” I snap as I try to find some clothes.
“You are not fucking coming with me. What are you going to do?”
I put my hands on my naked hips in an outrage. “I can fight, you know.”
He smirks and kisses me quickly on the lips. “I can fight better. Go to bed. I will be home soon.” And with that he leaves the room.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I grab some clothes from the drawer and pull them on, and then I get down on the floor and slide my rifle out and attach the silencer.
I click it up to ready the ammunition.
I warned that fucker not to mess with him.
I open the cabin door and peer out into the darkened hallway.
Game on.
I creep up the hall in the darkness until I get to the staircase, then l look back down from where I came from, relieved there’s still nobody around. I glance at the staircase going up, and although it feels like the safer option, I know that side of the ship is the enemy at the moment. If you go overboard, you’re toast. The thought of the cold, hard maintenance level is freaking me out, but I head down anyway with my gun gripped tightly in my hand. I tiptoe down the stairs that are lit only by the exit sign. The sound of the engine is loud and obnoxious. My heart is beating so fast and I have no idea what I am going to be faced with when I get to the bottom. Fuck’s sake, why did I let him come back here to this hell ship?
I arrive on the bottom step and slowly peer around the corner to see there’s nobody around. The engine is loud and whirring. With my gun in my hand, I walk farther into the room.
What if he is already dead?
No, the call was only moments ago.
I hear someone coming down the stairs from where I just came from and I duck into a darkened hallway.
Shit. Who is that?
I stand flattened against the wall as I listen, and then I see Stucco walk past. Shit, it is really true.
This is it.
My heart begins to hammer and I see him stuff something in his back pocket.
Was that a knife? I frown. It wasn’t big enough to be a gun. I peer around the darkened corner and he calls out, “Mac, you here?”
I listen and I know that Stace is down here doing the exact same thing as me. Flattened against a wall somewhere listening to the fucker. I wonder how fast his heart is beating?
“Mac!” He calls again.
“What’s the problem?” Stace eventually replies as he appears around the back corner.
“The gasket in the rotator is gone.”
Stace’s knowing eyes hold his.
The tension between them is thick.
“No, they aren’t. That’s a blatant lie,” Stace replies calmly.
“But…”
“There are no buts. I just fucking checked them.” He sneers.
Stucco stares him down.
“A little birdie told me you plan on knocking me off?” Stace smiles sarcastically. “Good luck. I’m waiting pretty boy.”
“Fuck you,” Stucco hisses.
“I’m sick and tired of your fucking shit. You got something to say or do.” He pushes Stucco in the chest as a silent dare. “Do it now.”
Oh shit.
Stucco runs at him and Stace punches him hard in the face, but Stucco comes back and connects a hit to his jaw and Stace staggers back.
Oh no. What do I do? I grip the gun. What the hell do I do?
Stace runs at him and tackles him to the floor and then he is on him and they struggle for a while rolling around. Over and over they roll and Stace gets the upper hand and smashes him hard in the face repeatedly.
I step back to my hiding place around the corner. Holy fucking shit.
“What are you doing?” Mac screams in his face. I call him Mac because that’s who he is at the moment. There isn’t a trace of my beautiful Stace here.
He slams his head on the concrete. “What do you fucking want?” he screams again.
Stucco struggles and tries to punch up at him, but he doesn’t stand a chance against Mac’s strength.
As if losing control, he slams him continually until Stucco is out cold.
I stay hidden, disturbed by what I have just witnessed, and yet sickly proud.
He was right. He didn’t need me at all.
I watch as Stace rolls him over and checks his pocket and pulls out a syringe filled with something. He eyes it suspiciously.
I hear someone coming down the steps. Oh no. I flatten up against the wall in the darkness.
“What’s going on?” I hear a male voice ask. I peer around the corner to see one of Stace’s colleagues from the control tower.
“This fuckwit just jumped me and I found this on him.” Stace holds the syringe up and the guy takes it from him
Oh no, don’t trust him. Don’t trust him. Don’t give him the syringe.
“Fucking idiot.” He sighs. “We will put him in the lockup and deal with him tomorrow,” he replies dryly.
They grab an arm each and pick him up and half carry and half drag him up the stairs, no doubt to the lock up in the control tower.
I lean back against the wall and let out a deep breath. That was close.