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"No, you're not. I'm just surprised at how quickly you are adjusting and immediately taking charge. I like that."
"Thank you. It's just that I feel responsible for Jasmine, and I don't want to burden anyone with her care more than I have to." Margo smiled sheepishly. "I'm the rude guest who brought along another guest."
"You asked permission, and it was granted." The doctor opened a door into a sprawling lounge that was bustling with activity.
Some people were lounging on couches and watching a movie with Russian dubbing, while others were sitting around tables and playing cards, checkers or chess, chatting, drinking, and snacking.
The atmosphere was relaxed and upbeat at the same time, and no one paid her and Bridget any mind. Perhaps they were used to seeing the doctor down here.
Scanning the room, Margo found Jasmine sitting at one of the tables with three other women and holding playing cards in her hand. "There she is." She started walking toward her with Bridget at her side.
Jaz didn't notice their approach until they were only a few steps away and then turned her head and smiled. "Hi. I thought that you were not coming, so I came here and found these lovely ladies playing my favorite game. Do you want to join in? We are playing poker and gambling with potato chips."
There was a large stack of Pringles next to Jasmine and nearly none next to her companions.
"Who are your new friends?" Margo asked.
"This is Mila." Jaz waved at a plump older woman.
"Dobryy vecher," said Mila and inclined her head.
"This is Lina," Jaz said.
"Hello." The young woman smiled and did a little wave with the hand that wasn't holding cards.
"And that's Helga."
"Hyvää iltaa." The forty-something woman with ruddy cheeks nodded.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Margo." She patted her chest.
"Hello, Jasmine." The doctor offered Jaz her hand. "I'm Bridget, one of the ship's doctors. I would like to have a word with you and check how you are doing after your ordeal."
The fact that Bridget hadn't introduced herself to the other three confirmed Margo's assumption that everyone in the lounge knew the doctor.
"Of course." Jasmine put her cards face down on the tabletop and rose to her feet.
Bridget motioned for her to step away from the table and leaned toward her. "Margo told me about the drugs you two were injected with. I wanted to make sure that you were doing okay with the withdrawal symptoms," she said, so quietly that no one other than Jasmine and Margo could have heard her.
"I feel a little nauseous, which is why I came to the lounge to look for something salty to snack on." Jasmine didn't even try to keep her voice down. "I found these lovely ladies playing poker and asked to join their game."
Margo lifted a brow. "How? You said that you didn't speak Russian."
She turned and smiled at the youngest of the poker players. "Lina speaks English, Russian, and Finnish, and she translates for us."
"Your friend is killing us," Lina said. "It's like she can read our minds."
Jasmine laughed. "The three of you have such obvious tells that a baby could guess what kind of cards you are holding. You really need to work on your poker faces."
When Lina translated, the other two didn't look happy, and a discussion in Russian ensued.
It was strange that Jaz could read these women, whom she'd just met, so easily, but she'd been blind to Alberto's manipulation. Evidently, it was not only men who got stupid around beautiful women. It worked the other way around, too.
"I can give you something for the nausea," Bridget said to Jasmine.
"No need." Jaz snatched one of her winnings. "These do the job." She popped it into her mouth.
"As you wish." Bridget regarded her with the same scrutiny she'd regarded Margo with before. "If your symptoms worsen, let Lina or one of the others know. They can find me or one of the other doctors."
