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Levka closed his eyes and rested his head against the sofa cushion. If any of the crew bothered him, he’d just wipe their minds, and they’d forget he was even here.
The ship’s staff repeated the lifeboat announcement over and over again, and Levka clenched his fists. “Enough already. Get it over with, all right?”
He glanced at his watch and wondered where his friends were. A knock sounded on the door, then a key twisted in the lock. The door squeaked opened, and three men came into the room, wearing the ship’s uniforms.
“Your friends,” the one said, “asked us to come get you because you were in a wheelchair. We’re here to take you up to your assigned lifeboat.”
They hustled him out of the room so quickly, he couldn’t focus on any one of them to control their minds.
He’d kill his friends as soon as he had the strength.
When he reached the deck crowded with passengers wearing their orange lifejackets, he saw no sign of his friends. Hiding somewhere else, no doubt, so they didn’t have to bother with this nonsense, or face his irritation.
A blond-haired girl stood in front of him in extremely short shorts and said, “See, I told Mom and Dad how stupid it was for them to send you with me. You’re shaking so hard you’re about to come unglued.”
“I’m fine, Alicia.”
He recognized the second girl’s voice at once. Caitlin MacEvin.
“You can lie all you want to me, but you’re going to be in a psychiatrist’s care before this cruise is ended. Oh, oh, Dylan!” Alicia moved away and headed for the guy with the spiked hair, the one Levka had thought was Caitlin’s boyfriend, or stalker.
Caitlin clutched her lifejacket with a death grip, her eyes round with terror. When she had said she was fine, she sounded so. But he could see now she wasn’t.
“Levka.” He stretched his hand out to her. Every effort, no matter how little, pained him. He tried not to reveal the agony he felt, but she turned and studied his face for a minute, her own terror forgotten, and she took his hand and squeezed.
“I’m sorry if I was so pushy earlier. I don’t have any friends on this trip and—”
Levka looked in Alicia’s direction.
Caitlin shrugged and wrapped her arms around her lifejacket; her eyes narrowing. “My foster sister.”
He looked at the guy with the spiked hair.
Caitlin turned to see who he was observing. “Her boyfriend. Her parents want me to keep her away from him as much as possible on the trip.”
Levka couldn’t believe the pretty girl didn’t have any friends on the cruise and was being made to baby-sit her foster sister.
“Are you from Florida?” she asked. “A lot of the kids are.”
“From…Texas.” He’d thought about naming some other place, but sticking closer to the truth often avoided problems later.
“Oh.” She offered the most charming smile. “A Texan. That’s cool.”
He wondered if she’d think he was even cooler if she knew he’d run cattle on Goodnight’s ranch for a spell, fought Apaches, and cattle thieves, but worse, had to deal with stampeding longhorns during a thunderstorm? Being a real cowboy wasn’t as romantic a life as it was made out to be, but he and his friends were always first to try out new experiences.
The lifeboat drill ended, bringing him back to his current set of circumstances. Except for Caitlin and Levka, everyone moved en mass and returned to their rooms to ditch their lifejackets before first dinner.
“Where are your friends? Did you want me to take you back to your room?” Caitlin asked.
“No, thank you. You must look after your foster sister.”
Rolling her eyes, she said, “I’m afraid that’s my mission impossible. Are you sure you don’t want me to help you?”
“I’m sure.” He folded his arms across his chest and winced with pain.
“But I don’t see your friends.” She looked around the empty deck.
He would kill them. “Please, go. I’ll be fine.”
