Aleeza:It sounds like Jay might be on the boat. I’m going in.
Gracie:Shit. Don’t ... I’ll call the police. Wait for them.
I don’t want to wait. I want to get Jay out of there before another moment passes. And I want to throw Taylor overboard into the cold water. She clearly lured Jay here somehow and betrayed him.
“What the fuck are you two doing here ...?” a loud male voice behind me says. Shit. I turn. It’s Lance. He’s alone.
“Hey, Lance,” Jack says, scrambling to get up. “Was showing Aleeza around the club, and we thought we saw your sister come onto this boat.”
Lance looks confused and angry. And at that, the door to the cabin of the boat bursts open, and Taylor’s boyfriend, the well-dressed man I saw earlier, comes out.
“What’s going on here?” the boyfriend asks, climbing off the boat and onto the narrow dock between the two slips. Taylor emerges from the cabin behind him.
“They were listening at the window,” Lance says.
Taylor’s eyes widen. “What the hell?” She looks right at me. “Why is it alwaysyou? Mind your own fucking business!” She steps toward us, clearly furious.
Jack steps in front of me, but Taylor keeps talking. “First your damn web series, then you move into his room! And now, sneaking around—”
“Taylor ...,” the boyfriend says, voice full of warning.
“Who were you talking about in the cabin?” I ask. “Who’s sleeping on the boat?”
She glances at her boyfriend. “No one.”
“Do you have Jay hidden on there?” Jack asks.
At that, a noise bangs below deck. Loud footsteps follow, and a door opens.
My heart picks up speed when I hear the thumping of the person’s feet on the deck. Then I see him.
It’s not Jay.
It’s an older man. Blond hair, backward cap, and bloodshot blue eyes. And a very familiar face. If Lance weren’t standing next to me, I would think it was him. This must be his father, Andrew Murray.
He points at me. “Who the fuck are you?” he growls, passing Taylor and her boyfriend to stand directly in front of me and Jack.
“Dad,” Taylor says. “She’s nobody. Just a friend from school.”
“Bullshit she’s nobody.” Andrew looks at Lance, who’s behind me on the narrow dock. “She’s one of them, isn’t she? Salma’s family. They’ll fucking haunt me until I die.”
“Dad, she’s not. She’snobody,” Taylor says again. “You’re drunk—go back to bed.” Her boyfriend looks at her nervously.
Does this guy—Andrew Murray—think I’m related to Salma Hoque because we’re both Brown?
Jack glances at Andrew and snorts. He’s turned back into the Jack I first met—that bored, world-weary expression on his face. “You look like shit, Andy. You’ve been living on this boat? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. My father always said you’d never live up to the family you married into. Not surprised they took out the trash, honestly.”
“You little shit,” Andrew says to Jack. “This isyourfault. I told Lance to never trust a Gormley. You’re as useless as your father.”
“Don’t you dare talk about my father like that, you snake,” Jack hisses. “You can only dream to be half the man he is. But you’re dirt. Idiotic, trashy dirt.”
Andrew lunges at us. I jump out of the way, and Jack tries to duck, but Andrew lands a punch right to the side of Jack’s face. Andrew isn’t a small man, and he punches like he’s done it many times. Jack crumples to the ground, hitting his head on the old wood boat on the way down. Taylor’s boyfriend pulls Andrew off Jack as I rush to Jack’s side.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jack says, holding on to his face. He doesn’t look okay. He’s kneeling on the dock and his eyes are watering. Blood drips from his lip.
Andrew’s still being held back by Taylor’s boyfriend. “Take a picture ofthat, Taylor,” Andrew spits out. “Tell that bitch that’s what her precious boy looked like right before he went over.”
“Dad ...shut up,” Lance warns.
