“Ready?” Cash asks.
Lie looks between the two of us suspiciously. “What did you plan?”
“I asked Cash if he’d be willing to give us a private tour of the island,” Laiken says.
Lie looks at Cash, eyebrows knit together. “I didn’t think you knew how to drive the boat yet.”
He doesn’t. He said as much when I approached him with my plan and promised that he’d find someone trustworthy. I was not expecting Onyx to come out of the small cabin below deck.
Lie stares at him, about as surprised as I am.
Cash huffs. “Onyx is a nosy bitch,” he complains, “but I was talking to one of the guys at work on my phone, and he overheard. He offered to drive.”
“You drive boats?” I ask Onyx.
Onyx nods. “My parents have a private boat moored on Makara. I’ve been driving it since I was seven.”
“He promises he won’t see a thing and won’t repeat a thing,” Cash says. “I didn’t tell him who we were taking on a tour. Just so you know.”
“I don’t know either of you,” Onyx says. “I’m just here.”
Cash frowns at him and gives Lie a wary look. Lie looks between the two of them for several minutes. He meets my eyes. A minute passes while we’re all standing there without direction.
“Well. Let’s go,” I say.
Cash smiles and gestures for us to get on board. Onyx is there with a hand proffered to assist us. Lie gives him a hard look before accepting it and climbing on that boat. Onyx inclines his head toward me as I join Lie.
He watches like a predator as Onyx then helps Cash on board before untying the boat from the dock.
Lie and I take a seat. Cash leans against the steering column with Onyx behind it as Onyx maneuvers us away from the docks.
“So, I’ve devised a new tour that I’d like to try on you. If that’s okay,” Cash says.
I nod. Lie does as well, a smile across his face.
“Onyx is going to bring us toward where we’d ideally leave from.”
“Sounds good,” I say. My attention drifts toward Onyx as he smoothly drives the boat. I’m sure he feels me watching him. He smiles, though he doesn’t look at me.
“You’re friends with Deryke,” Onyx says, and I raise a brow. His eyes meet mine again.
“He doesn’t come around to listen to us play anymore, but he’d once been a fan of Whiskey Horizons.”
“Let me guess,” Lie says. “Ben turned him off the band.”
Onyx rolls his eyes. “Yes. But we became friends, nonetheless.”
Lie shakes his head. “I wish you’d get your head out of your ass,” he mutters.
Cash coughs, covering his mouth and his laughter.
Onyx doesn’t answer, though his small smile doesn’t fade, either.
“Okay, so we’ll start here. I’m going to kind of pick and choose random things to cover because I haven’t quite worked out all the interesting facts I’d like to share and which I can skip because maybe they’re just interesting to me,” Cash says.
“Sounds good.” I lean back and wrap my arm around Lie’s shoulders. “We’re happy for the ride.”
Lie cuddles into my side. His gaze flickers to Onyx briefly, but Onyx is only paying attention to the water. And maybe to Cash, though that could be for context clues on where he’s supposed to drive us.
