It takes me an hour to locate Cleo. She’s chatting with Ruby, of all people, in the aft galley. I make my way over and try to put a convincing smile on my face. The way Cleo looks at me makes me think she saw through it.
“Romeo, hey there, sugar,” Ruby says with a wink.
I roll my eyes and grin. “Ruby. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to steal Cleo.”
“Everything okay?” Cleo asks.
Instead of answering, I smile and wait. Cleo bids Ruby goodbye and follows me back to her cabin.
“Hey,” Cleo says, stepping into my personal space as soon as we’re alone. My body reacts immediately and the crushing weight of what I’m about to do almost physically hurts.
“Cleo,” I begin. I have to take a step back because I can’t do this with her touching me. “I—”
“River, you’re kind of scaring me. Did something happen?”
I guide her to the bed and sit her down. I, on the other hand, pace the small space.
Eventually, Cleo has enough of my silent meltdown and puts a hand on my arm, stopping me in place. I take a second to really look at her, in the way I won’t be able to after this conversation. Her hair is held lazily in a bun at the base of her neck. Her eyes are bright but filled with concern. My eyes track over skin, and I memorise as much as possible.
“I told the captain…everything.”
Her eyes go wide and her brows lift to her hairline. “You did what?”
“I came clean. It was the only option.”
“No, River, it wasn’t!”
“Really? Please enlighten me to the option I missed which would’ve made all this any less impossible!” I don’t mean to snap, but my nerves are frayed.
“You didn’t think to at least give me a heads up first?” she practically yells.
“No, because you’d have talked me out of it.”
“Maybe you should have been talked out of it. Fucking hell, River.”
“Look,” I snap. “This is my life, Cleo. Once the ship docks you leave and go back to your life. I’m still here with Benson and Grey.”
“But you know I would have continued to—”
“Investigate? Great, and how would that have helped when I’m away with them for months at a time, and you don’t have access to the people who can provide any proof that Benson is a homophobic scumbag? And where would I be if either of them suddenly decided to make good on their threat to spread our text chain? Even if it was to the other crew and not the officers, I’d been smack in the middle of shitty gossip.”
“River.”
“Am I wrong?”
“But I could’ve gone with you to see Captain Morley. Help explain the situation.”
“That would’ve looked like you were there trying to defend your girlfriend. It had to be me.”
“What did Morley say?”
“She took what I told her about Benson and Grey seriously.”
“Well, that’s good. I still intend to talk to her, because I do have a stake in this. Benson is a bigger problem than sleeping with Grey.”
“I agree.”
“And,” she sighs, “what about—”
