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I took the flute and sipped. I swallowed, trying not to choke on the surprise. Definitely not just orange juice. Maybe there was champagne mixed in, too.
I took another sip as I thought about the pages of bios. “My money is on Colt. I bet I could talk to him. What about Kroner and Hill?”
“Not of interest to us at the moment,” Axel said. “Leave them to Avery or someone else unless they choose to talk to you.” The loose bit of dark hair whipped around in the slight breeze. He absently tucked it back behind his ear. “But we have to stop talking about what we’re doing. Observe and listen.”
I relented, holding back my questions. I felt uncomfortable being in charge now. Really it should be Axel and Blake. It wasn’t like these were my ideas. They were the ones really working the lead. I was just there to make sure they got along.
We moved over to a bench that had a coffee table. I put my flute on the table and he held onto his, occasionally sipping from it. Meanwhile, I had a difficult time trying to figure out a way to arrange myself. The skirt went super short when I sat down, and even shorter when crossing my legs to prevent exposing myself.
“Just put your knees together,” Axel said.
I tried that, but it felt like if anyone sat across from me, I’d be exposed. I lowered my knees down by sliding my feet out and that was awkward. “I should have never taken this dress,” I said, crossing my legs again and smoothing out the material, tugging it lower on my thigh.
“It looks good on you.”
“I’m going to spend more time worrying about flashing people than I am actually doing anything productive.” I leaned my legs to one side, pressing my knee into him and doing an ankles squeezed together thing. It was cozier into Axel than I’d intended, but it seemed to be the only way to look natural and not be exposed.
Axel placed a palm on my knee. “I never took you for modest.”
“Do you want me to get manhandled?” I asked. “Flashing an invitation isn’t high on my priority list right now.”
“Kayli, the more I learn about you...” He never finished and rubbed my knee.
I thought he was just trying to get me to settle down and quit worrying about my skirt. I tried to be still, and worked on studying other people as they began to arrive.
The blond crewman eventually walked back up the gangway empty-handed and redirected the drivers to continue to carry the luggage onboard. The men put the luggage down on the deck, until the blond man spoke and they reluctantly picked suitcases up again and followed the blond man inside the foyer. How mean. He was going to make them deposit the luggage in the rooms? Didn’t they even have a cart for them?
Was the blond man just lazy? It didn’t feel like the driver’s job to deposit suitcases. But then, why were these cases brought up on this deck and not through that door he’d pointed to before?
I was going to mention this when a silver platter materialized in front of us. On it was an offering of meat, cheese, and cracker combinations. The portions were big, like half a slice of bread big.
Kevin was holding the platter and looking at us. He wore the same dark clothes as the other crew. “You should try the crackers on the third row,” he said. “Those are the best.”
I squinted at him and then looked at the platter. They were all the same.
Axel picked two up off of the third row. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Kevin said, and then moved on toward Blake. I watched as Kevin started to offer up the platter. Blake went to reach for an hors d’oeuvres, but then Kevin pointed to another row. Blake carefully picked up the second selection.
It wasn’t the same row Kevin had pointed out to us. So Blake got regular hors d’oeuvres and not the ones we got. Was he leaving Blake out in particular?
Blake shrugged, ate a bite, and then casually made his way toward the hot tub.
The bikini-clad girls raised their hands, waving at Blake. He passed off his snack to Fancy, who ate it. He greeted them all and then put an arm around the waist of one of the girls, and talked to them. He seemed to be talking particularly to Fancy, but the beach bunnies giggled.
“Ugh,” I said, unable to stop myself. A heated bubble of jealousy worked its way into my chest. I turned my head away from him, trying to ignore it. I couldn’t be jealous. My brain flipped from trying to tell myself he was trying to blend in, to outright wanting to throw the flute of orange juice in his face. Did he have to do that while I was sitting here watching?
Axel elbowed me. I turned my head to see him open his hand; there was an earpiece in his palm. Then I found he’d put the uneaten hors d'oeuvres aside. Kevin had delivered our earpieces. Axel had black boxes, too, like Blake’s.
“Why do we even have these?” I asked. “They don’t even work that well. They cut off...”
“Don’t talk,” he said. “Just put it in.”
I reached over and took the small earpiece. I stuck it into my ear, wiggling it into place.
At first, I thought mine was broken. I didn’t hear anything. My first reaction was to cover my mouth somehow as I talked, so I picked up my flute to cover my lips.
“Yeah, Corey?” Axel said, looking at me like I was part of the conversation.
Oh. That made sense. I pretended to talk to Axel instead. Nothing from my earpiece. Axel got Corey. Did I get Marc or Raven?
“Hey...” I said quietly with the flute in front of my mouth, simply because it felt weird.
“Don’t talk,” Doyle said in my ear. “Don’t even start.”
I looked at Axel, who appeared to be listening. Corey must have been telling him something. “Are you supposed to tell me something?”
“Will you be quiet? I’m trying to give you the silent treatment. I heard it works to let your opponent know you don’t like them.”
“Then why did I get this earpiece?”
“To annoy you.”
“I can take it out now.”
“I’m connecting you,” he said. “Just shut up.”
Connecting me? I waited. Kroner and Hill were onboard now. The woman who had picked up the poop now also carried the small dog. The Yorkie yapped at every person they passed along the way. The two men talked to each other. They greeted Ethan and Avery briefly. Then they approached the bar, grabbed a flute each and moved to a bench, taking a seat as they chatted. The woman kept Raisin with her until Mr. Hill settled in and then she put the dog into his lap.
First to arrive. We were going to sit here as maybe a thousand more people boarded? Didn’t they need to check in or something? Or was that what security was for down at the dock?
“Kayli?” Blake’s voice drifted into my ear.
My eyes instantly went to Blake, who stood with one of the beach bunnies. He smiled out toward the river like he was enjoying the view. The bunny in his arm talked to Future and the other girl.
Blake turned his head, looking like he was talking to the girls but I heard, “I like you in that outfit, but I don’t think it suits you. The glasses are an interesting touch.”
“If you’ve got a question about my outfit, talk to Fancy,” I said. “Her idea.”
Axel leaned into me, putting an arm around my shoulder and turning me slightly toward him. If we were going to talk, we needed to pretend to talk to each other. I wondered if he knew I was talking to Blake. Then I realized that’s why Blake was with the beach bunnies. He was hiding the fact that he was really talking to me. He didn’t have a partner.
He spoke to me now. “One of the men from Nightingale is coming onboard in a minute. He just arrived: Mr. Smith.”
“Original name,” I said. I waited quietly. It seemed like Axel was done with his conversation for now. All I was hearing was the girls on Blake’s side giggling and talking about something.
Eventually, three people showed up, two men, one woman. I didn’t recognize any of them.
“Which one is Smith?” I asked.
“Bald, hook nose.”
There was a really tall man fitting that descri
ption. He was Lurch with a tan. Gold rings on his fingers, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and khakis. He looked like he belonged on a cruise liner, far into retirement. I couldn’t help but check out his pockets, he was carrying something heavy.
“Is Mr. Smith on the list for gun carriers?” I asked, repositioning the flute to my lips to mask what I was saying in case anyone was paying attention.
