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“Where’d your friend go?” Seth nodded toward the vacated stool.
“And hello to you too.” Ashley’s grin erased the sting of her words. “Courtney wasn’t feeling well. She gets seasick.”
“Makes sense she would come on a cruise then.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Plenty of people get seasick.” She held up her arm to show the Dramamine bracelet on her wrist. “She’ll be okay tomorrow. She was already tired before we got here, she probably just needs some sleep.”
Seth checked his watch. 11:14. He could probably use some sleep too. He might be on vacation but that didn’t mean his body or his brain would allow him to sleep in. Tomorrow morning, his eyes would open with the rising of the sun whether he wanted them to or not.
“I might have to take a page out of your friend’s book and head to bed myself.”
“Party pooper,” Zack scoffed.
Ashley playfully smacked the other man’s arm. “Don’t be mean, Zack. If Seth is too old to hang out with the rest of us, we shouldn’t make fun of him.”
Seth raised a brow. “Full of jokes, aren’t you?”
Ashley batted her blue eyes. “Who me?”
Zack chuckled and sidled closer to the blonde. Seth would probably be doing them a favor if he disappeared now. As far as he knew, the two had never hooked up, but he’d always sensed a flirty undercurrent between them. Not that he’d ever said anything. With his dating record, he was the last person anyone wanted endorsing their relationship.
“We’re just lucky Seth even deigned to grace us with his presence,” Zack told Ashley as if Seth had already left. “He thinks this whole cruise is bullshit.”
Seth opened his mouth to protest, but Zack was barreling on.
“He thinks love is impossible and doesn’t even want to bother with hookups.”
“That’s not true,” he managed to get out. “I don’t think all love is impossible. I just don’t have the time for a relationship.”
“And hookups?” Ashley raised a brow.
Seth cringed. “The last time I tried that, I ended up with a stalker.”
Ashley cocked her head in a typicalyeah rightgesture.
“No, he’s telling the truth,” Zack came to his defense. “This woman was determined. Did you finally get a restraining order?”
Seth nodded. Not that he put much stock in a piece of paper keeping someone away. Mostly he figured he hadn’t seen her because he’d stayed away from his old hometown and stopped posting on social media. If the crazies wanted to find him, they’d have to work for it.
“So, you’re not looking to hookup on the cruise?” Ashley studied him as she asked.
He shook his head. In truth, hookups had never really been his thing, the stalker had just cemented the fact for him. “I’m just going to soak up some sun, see some sights, and maybe get some sleep.”
Ashley nodded, but she still studied him like maybe her brain was hearing something other than what he actually said.
“I think I’m going to pack it in for the night.” He looked to Zack, but his roommate and Ashley seemed to be having some sort of conversation with their eyebrows. Shaking his head, Seth clapped the other man on the shoulder. “I’ll see you back at the room.”
“Sure thing.” Zack barely turned as he answered.
Seth left the bar.
Another one bites the dust.
CHAPTERTWO
The sun beatdown on Courtney’s back as she and Ashley walked the track around the upper deck of the ship. Although Courtney wasn’t much for power walking, she couldn’t complain about the view of crystal blue water surrounding her or the breeze coming off the ocean. Back home, days were shortening and by the time she finished classes in the afternoon, it was too cool to enjoy the outdoors. So, she’d enjoy this walk while she could.
“Are you feeling any seasickness today?” Ashley asked, gawking at the elderly woman stretched out on a lawn chair in a small yellow bikini. A cane with an oddly carved handle sat on the chair beside her.
