“No way. This is fun.”
Damian just pursed his lips and sipped his orange juice. A vague thrill in him. A slight impatience in his rushing heart.
Boarding first, they settled, Armando next to a window, and Gabe with him. Damian sat alone next to them, but on the other side of the aisle. Their eyes meeting with Gabe. Remembering. That slight amusement on their lips. That dread in Damian, still. He leant back, breathing out, the kitten at his feet. Listening with eyes closed to Armando asking a hundred questions, and Gabe’s patient voice answering.
Rolling out on the tarmac, Armando almost squealing when they took off. Damian kept his eyes closed. Even if he had tamed that mad fright, it was still a struggle with all his senses sharp. Fortunately, food became a distraction, and everything else toiling in his head. His eyes on the darkening night.
Feeling Gabe slide next to him later when Armando had gone to sleep holding the pig. He leant his head on Damian’s shoulder, the seats down to a bed. Holding hands under those familiar blankets. Smiling lightly at how it felt on their skin.
Gabe’s whisper. “Tell me where we’re going.”
His grin in the dark. “No…”
“Why?”
“Because. It’s a surprise.”
“I know. And I don’t ...”
Damian cupped his neck and kissed him, shutting him up.
Landing in a pouring sunshine, eyes wide on that warm landscape when they had exited the airport.
Damian waved a cab down. “Just a bit more.”
Gabe was holding an exhausted Armando, but they climbed into that cab. Straight to a hotel where they slept until the next morning.
Back into a cab to a harbor. Damian walked to the main office, meeting a man with dark hair and skin, shaking his hand.
“Mr. Bourne. A pleasure.”
“Captain… my family.” They shook hands and went to a large boat. Climbing on board, the crew hauling their luggage up. It left almost straight away, and Gabe just stood at the railing watching the frothing waves, that blue ocean so familiar.
He turned to Damian. “This is not our boat, right?”
“No, socialist. I rented it and paid a handsome sum to our good captain.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see…”
“Asshole.”
Damian just smiled, his eyes on that sparkling blue ocean. His heart rushing.
They stopped in the middle of nowhere, a smaller motorboat lowered, bobbing next to that huge one.
The captain walked to them. “It’s up to you from here. The location is programmed in your GPS. Everything else we discussed is on the boat, your luggage too. Enjoy.” He shook Damian’s hand.
“Thank you. Ok, off we go.”
Gabe’s face fell, an icy feeling in his guts. “Where? We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere…” His eyes searching a shore, anything.
Damian grinned and scooped Armando up. “Precisely. Come on.”
Gabe grabbed his arm. “Where?”
“Trust me?”
