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“No!” Vivi cried as a bouncer tried to take her by her shoulders. She ducked under his arms and started dancing on her own, presumably using some of those moves she’d learned in hip hop cardio.
Coop had no time to watch. What felt like a Mack truck rammed into Coop and sent him flying through the air. He landed on a bobbing life raft and was pelted by the rope that set him free.
*
Violet wasn’t letting that boat sail without her. She didn’t care if she made Xuri’s highlight reel. Her grandmother needed her.
Which meant Vi didn’t look back to see if Coop was okay, even though she wanted to. She’d seen him tackled and tossed off the dock. She had to believe he was fine.
She channeled her grandmother’s enthusiasm for dance and boogied her way toward Xuri, working all the dance moves she could remember from class into her forward progress.
Xuri stood at the end of the dock, her expression shadowed by her dark, dramatic make-up and the ship lights above her. But Vi could tell Xuri watched her dance with gong-ringing on her mind. There was a tick to Xuri’s otherwise expressionless face.
Fear knotted in Vi’s gut, threatening to spread and stiffen her limbs. Darn it. She needed her body to be fluid in its starts and stops, in her hip sways and shoulder thrusts. But fear built. The fear that she wasn’t going to be allowed on board. The fear that she couldn’t protect her grandmother even if she did receive passage.
The fear layered inside of her like a stack of dry wood for a bonfire, just waiting for a match to go up in flames. It built and expanded and then… The fear morphed. The fear…
The fear made Violet mad.
Mad that this evening hadn’t been going her way. Angry that she’d kissed a man who hadn’t told her his real name. Furious that the safety of her grandmother came down to a dancing exhibition. Fuming that a designer was slowly turning to the gong-holder.
She glared at Xuri and screamed as she zombie-walked forward, working her stiff arms up-and-down to the beat of the music. She stopped mere inches from Xuri and that cold, regal face. She stopped screaming, too. But her mouth…
Her mouth kept moving and her hands fisted at her sides as she cried,“I’m. Getting on. This yacht.”
Chapter Twelve
“What do you mean I can’t dance again?” Coop tried to push his way past Xuri’s tiny assistant to the dock where Vivi and the last of the dancers had been taken aboard, escorted by Xuri. Two parties tonight. And two dunkings. His flimsy inflatable raft had been taken out by a wave cresting mere feet from shore. His cell phone was certainly dead. His shoes were soaked, feet squishing in them. “I want a do-over.”
“You had your turn. You were rejected. You lose.” Xuri’s tiny, militant assistant took too much pleasure in those words.
The yacht engines came to life, rumbling loud enough to almost cover the gangplank banging, preparing to be stowed.
Were they waiting for this woman? The bouncers were already on board, along with the cameraman.
Coop glanced at his one roadblock.
I can take her. I can toss her into a life raft.
The cameraman was at the railing on the top deck, aiming at the shore.
Coop’s jaw jutted forward. Making a spectacle of himself on film wouldn’t help Vivi. He drew a deep breath. “My people are on that boat.” Coop pointed at the yacht.My women.“They need me.”Vivi needs me.
Xuri’s assistant shook her head. “Your girl didn’t need you when she danced her way into the after-after party.” She pointed at dry land. “Stay, loser.” And then she turned and hurried to get on board the yacht before it set sail.
Coop stood alone on the dock. The other rejected party-goers were leaving, working their way back to the house and, presumably, their rides home.
He couldn’t see Vivi. Or Dotty. Or Kelcie. Or…
There.
Simon separated himself from the crowd on the upper deck next to the coat thief. Words were exchanged. Or at least, their mouths worked. He was too far away to hear over the engine churning. Arms were flung about. Hands connected with shoulders. The thief shoved Simon. Simon shoved the thief. And then there was a scuffle as the yacht pulled away from the dock and…
Simon fell overboard, creating a big splash.
The yacht continued to pull away. No one seemed to care that a man with poor swimming skills was being left behind.
Coop walked down to the shoreline, keeping an eye on his friend in case he needed to jump in and rescue him.
