-27-
“Where the fuck is it we go?”Chauncey complained.His attitude hadn’t improved any on the drive from the festival site to the docks.He’d lost sight of the tour bus after the first half-mile, which had nose-dived his mood to a brand new low.Now, his tie was askew and his hair stood on end.He looked about two espressos away from a heart attack.Alle scowled at his back as he stalked off, and Lyra followed him with a bemused grin fixed upon her face.“Two days,” she mouthed at Alle over her shoulder.
Alle lingered a moment so that the pair were no longer in the stairwell as she climbed towards the main deck.The cruise ship sat mostly in darkness, giving it an eerie feel.Its myriad of entertainment rooms sat quiet.There was a pervading sense of emptiness.A lack of subliminal noise.As far as she could tell, there was only a skeleton crew on board.Just enough to cater to the band’s needs.The remainder of the crew were presumably enjoying another twelve hours of downtime on dry land.Hopefully, her brother among them.Not that she thought Flynn deserved fun at the moment, but at least if he was off duty, he wasn’t here, breathing down her neck, and spying on her in order to report back to Marshall.
Neither man had a right to any information about her relationship.Nor did she doubt that Marshall would enjoy splashing the word ‘Cheater’ in reference to Spook across a host of news sites.
Alle tried Spook’s cabin, but got no reply.She tried sending him a text, but either he was ignoring her or had his phone on silent, because there was no response.Repeating the path she’d walked yesterday morning, Alle found her way to the private lounge the band had been using.She hoped they weren’t all together there.It’d be so awkward having to step in and single Spook out with the whole band assembled.She didn’t doubt that they all knew everything by now, and all had opinions too.
To her surprise, at least on first glance, the lounge appeared to be deserted.The lights were off, so she used the torch on her phone to make a quick sweep of the corners from her position in the doorway.The beam reflected off a pair of cat’s eyes, making her jump.“Shit.”
She dropped the phone and had to rummage around to retrieve it.
Meanwhile a shadow stirred.Glossy black hair sliding over equally black leather—Xane.His long legs were stretched along the red leather of the banquette.
“Allegra,” he said, bending his knees.
Upright again, she shifted uneasily, moving her weight from foot to foot.Xane was not someone with whom she wanted to engage right now.Her anger burned inside her nostrils, creating an irritating itch.Unconsciously, she found herself curling her fists into claws.
Dammit.Don’t come closer.
If he came closer, the urge to punch low might overwhelm her.Thankfully, he seemed content to regard her with his otherworldly gaze from across the room.
“I’m looking for Spook.Do you know where he is?”
Xane inclined his head towards the double doors to her right.
The balcony.
Alle took a step forward and stalled, her gaze crawling back to Xane, whose feet had landed firmly on the floor.He was now fully upright.Shoulders square.
“I want to talk to him.”
“I daresay that’s what he’s waiting for.”
On a balcony.In the dark.Why?One hid in the dark.You didn’t stand around in it waiting to be found.
Actually, scratch that.It was totally a Spook Mortensen move.A secure, bright, warm cosy cabin environment probably hadn’t occurred to him.No.He deserved to suffer.So, outside.The dark swaddling him, and a chill breeze buffeting his face where he’d washed up.
She took another glance at the doors.“You’re sure he’s out there?”If he was, he was tucked into a corner.
“Certain.I’d have heard the splash if he’d gone overboard.”
Alle took a pace towards the door, and Xane slid into her path like grace personified.Even unsmiling, he was more handsome than any man had a right to be.And those contact lenses, they leant an additional hypnotic draw.“Are you trying to prevent me?”
“Assessing your mood.If you’re here to yell, then you won’t be going through those doors.”
“Do not fuck with me, Xane.The only reason things are strained is because of you.I fucking trusted you.I considered you an ally.”
“You trusted me to dig him out of his hole.Did I not do that?”He blinked, and Alle found she couldn’t meet his gaze.Even if it didn’t require looking right into the unnaturalness of his reflective contact lenses, she wasn’t sure she could have endured such scrutiny.
When she thought back to the state Spook had been in, she was grateful he was no longer so consumed.At least today he was walking and talking, and able to verbalize the distress he was in.
“You did so much more, and you know it.”She couldn’t help it, anger seeped into her words.Ire tightened like a vice across her chest.Squeezed.“You fucking bastard.”
Xane didn’t flinch at her venom.He only slid the piercing through the centre of his lip round a rotation.“What I did was make myself the shovel.By all means, you curse me.But you might try to be thankful that it worked.”
A raw laugh punched its way out of her mouth.“You want me to thank you for fucking him.Damn you, Xane.I fetched you because I thought you could talk him down from wherever I’d lost him to.Not so that you cou—” She stumbled over the words, and had to force them around a lump in her throat.“Could fuck him.You can’t expect me to believe that was a necessity.Why would that help?He’s been celibate for a decade.If I’d had any clue you’d do that.Any.Clue.I wouldn’t have got you.No way.”
