Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) (11 page)

Chapter 23

Bryce

We slept in the next day and by the time we got up, we realized that half the day was already gone. We were fine with that. Less time for us to run into Jinx but when we did go out, he was sitting inside the galley which happened to be where we were headed.

“Hey, Jinx.” Lana said.

“Afternoon. Did you just wake up?”

Naomi laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Really? I’ve never seen a lazier group.”

“We’re not lazy.” Dirk cut in.

“Is that so? Then what might have kept you from rising at a reasonable hour, if not laziness?” There was a pause as everyone looked at each other but Jinx wasn’t completely stupid. He immediately knew and smiled. “Oh, I see. Keep my girls up late last night, have you?”

“You mean our girls.” Seth said with slight anger on his tone. “And like it’s really any of your business but yes, we might have.”

Jinx just smiled again as he stood up. “Well, I better be going. I have things to do.”

He walked passed us but Cadence turned to him. “Hey, Jinx.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have like a bathhouse on this thing? I feel I could use it.”

“Of course but it’s a common one and you’re—well, I don’t think you would be too comfortable there but I do have a private one in my quarters you can use, if you’d like.”

“That sounds great. Do you have time to show us?”

“I most certainly do for you and if I didn’t, I’d make time. Come, I’ll show you now.”

“All right.” Cadence walked to him with Lana and Naomi right behind her. “We’ll be back.”

This, I didn’t like. We looked at each other as the girls left with Jinx and we immediately went over and got a window seat where we could watch better.

“He’s doing it again.” I said.

“I know.” Seth replied. “I can see it.”

“What should we do now?” Dirk asked. “Stage one was interrupted.”

“Then we move to stage two.”

“What’s stage two?” I asked.

“Observation. We watch every move he makes to ensure he doesn’t get any closer to them. If he does that’s when we’ll have the right to act forcefully and the girls can’t object to it then.”

“That’s good.” Dirk said. “But what about now? We can’t see what they’re doing in there.”

“Not yet.” Seth smiled and looked over at me.

Of course I was going to do this. I put a hand on each of their shoulders as they closed their eyes and used my vision to see into the captain’s quarters.

They just got in there and Jinx showed them his private area of the ship. It was just as great that we could hear what was going on just like we were there but they couldn’t see us. “Welcome to my home away from home, if you will.”

The large room was elegantly designed and the girls were disturbingly impressed.

“This is nice.” Naomi said. “Very you.”

“Thank you and the reason why you came—” He walked over to another door and opened it. They walked in and were in his private bathhouse that was completely tiled in an ocean blue.

“This is incredible.” Lana said.

“You should find everything you need in here, so feel free to use any of it. I’ll just be seeing to a few things for a bit but I’ll come back to see how you’re doing later.”

“Thanks, Jinx.” Cadence said. “This is great.”

“You’re very welcome.” Jinx smiled as they kissed each other’s cheeks. “Happy cleaning.”

He left his private bathhouse, closing the door behind him but we still continued to watch from afar.

“He left. That’s good news.” Dirk said, watching Jinx go into his office.

“Yeah, but we’ll see how long that lasts.” Seth replied. I moved my hands and they opened their eyes to stop watching. “Keep an eye on him for any kind of movement, Bryce. I want to know the second he gets up.”

“You got it.”

“Good. Now, let’s get some food.”

About an hour went by until I noticed anything out of the ordinary and informed Seth. “He’s on the move.” He and Dirk immediately leaned in and I touched their shoulders.

They were just in time to see Jinx walk back to his private bathhouse where the girls were sitting together in the round tub, naked! “You’re not done yet? Women sure do take a long time, don’t they?”

“Do you blame us?” Cadence asked. “I love it in here. It’s so tranquil.”

“Yeah, out of all of the places we’ve seen, you’ve really outdone yourself on this one.” Lana said. “It’s perfect.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re comfortable. I wouldn’t want you to feel awkward being in my space.”

“That’s the last thing we’d feel.” Naomi said. “We love being in your space.”

“Yeah but as nice as it is, we probably should be getting out.” Cadence said. “I’m sure the guys are wondering what’s taking us so long.”

We weren’t exactly wondering but we knew.

Lana and Naomi agreed with her though and they all stood up and stepped out of the tub. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

“What are they doing?” I asked. “Besides not even caring that he’s standing right there.”

“I’m not looking at that.” Seth replied. “Look at his reaction.”

“There isn’t one.” Dirk said.

“Exactly? He’s just standing there like it’s no big deal.”

“Should we go?” I asked.

“Not yet. He hasn’t made his move.”

We continued to watch for another minute as the girls got dressed, waiting for Jinx to react in some way that would allow us to retaliate but he never did.

“Do you think he knows about us and that’s why he hasn’t done anything because we might be watching?” I asked.

“Unlikely.” Seth said. “I’m sure he would have said something about that by now.”

“So, what?” Dirk asked. “Are they just not good enough for him?”

I laughed. “Are you kidding? That can’t be true.”

“Maybe but I’d still like to know what is.” Seth said. We watched them walk out of the private bathhouse with Jinx and head back to us.

I immediately took my hands off Seth and Dirk so we didn’t make it obvious that we were watching.

“It’s best if we don’t mention what just happened.” Seth whispered.

“I don’t know if that will be easy.” Dirk replied. “After what I just saw, someone better be fucking explaining something to me.”

“I know what you mean but just try to restrain yourself from killing him, okay?”

We nodded as the girls and Jinx made it back to the galley.

“Wow, I feel much better.” Lana said.

“Good.” Dirk replied. “Hungry?”

Lana smiled as she went over and sat on his lap instead of in the chair next to him. “Yeah!”

“What about the rest of you?” I asked. “It’s good.” Naomi smiled as she sat down next to me and started eating off my plate.

“I’ve eaten but you should probably eat something, Cadence.” Jinx said as he offered her a seat next to Seth. “The food is only good for so long.”

She smiled and sat in the chair as he pushed it in for her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I have to go do some captain related things but I’ll see you later, okay?”

Cadence nodded as he leaned down to her and they kissed each other on the cheek—again.

Seth dropped his fist on the table as his final reaction. “All right, I’ve had enough.”

“Of what?” Cadence asked as Jinx stayed by her side.

“Of that.” Seth answered as he pointed between them.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about him always trying to move in on you.”

“Wait a second.” Jinx cut in. “You actually think that I’m trying to move in on her?”

Seth raised his eyebrows through a pause like it should have been obvious. Cadence, Lana, Naomi and Jinx all looked at each other and broke down laughing instead of arguing it. We naturally sat here confused. We had no idea what was going on.

The laughing continued until a member of the crew came in and broke it up. “Captain.”

Jinx held up his hand for a second and caught his breath. “Yes?”

“I have those papers you requested.”

“Thank you. Set them on my desk. I’ll be right in.” The man nodded and left the galley as the laughing subsided. “Well, I feel an awkward conversation coming on as I regret I’m going to have to miss it. I have some calculating to do but please, don’t hesitate to enlighten me on its outcome.” Cadence nodded with a smile on her face as Jinx left the dining hall.

“So, do you want to tell us what the fuck is so funny?” Dirk asked.

“I still can’t believe you don’t already know.” Lana said.

“Know what?” I wondered.

“About Jinx.” Naomi answered.

“What about him?” Seth asked.

“Are you honestly saying you don’t know?” Cadence asked with a smile.

“Know what?” Seth demanded.

“That you got all defensive for me for no reason, although the thought was sweet.”

“You call everything he’s done for no reason?”

“Seth.” Cadence took his hand like she were ready to share some emotional secret. “You’d never have to worry about him trying to move in on me but I can’t say the same thing for you.”

That didn’t help. We looked at each other and began to understand what she meant.

“Please don’t say that.” Seth said.

“Okay, I won’t. As long as you now know.”

“Well, maybe you should in case we’re thinking of something else.”

“He prefers men over women.”

“Damn it. We’re not. How could you not tell me?”

“How could you not know?” Lana asked.

“Well, you knew him before this.” Dirk said. “We didn’t.”

“Yeah, it’s not like there was any clear signs.” I added. “We saw him as a guy that you were ever so excited to see.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” Naomi asked. “We should have known you would have seen it that way but then again we thought you already knew and were fine with it.”

“We are fine with it.” Seth snatched. “Now.”

“Well, you know what you have to do.” Cadence said.

“What?”

“Apologize.”

“Are you kidding? Apologize for what?”

“For your boorish behavior. Do you even see how horrible you’ve been? You have to apologize.”

“Right now? Are you coming?”

Cadence laughed. “No. You three have to do this on your own.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to be there?” Dirk asked.

“You’ll be fine.” Lana said. “It’s not a disease, you know? If it were, you would have caught it already.”

The girls laughed.

“Don’t joke about that.” I said. “It’s not funny. This is serious.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Just go and get it over with. He’s not going to try and make it awkward for you. He knows you’re with us and being our close friend, he puts our happiness over his own. That should make this easy.”

Dirk sighed. “Oh, sure. Easy for you to say.”

“Just go.” Lana got off his lap and pushed him out of the chair. “I’m sure he’s waiting to hear about it, anyway.”

I sighed and got up with Seth who let out an even heavier sigh. “Not from us.”

“It will be a surprise but he won’t turn away what you have to say.” Cadence said. “Good luck.”

We didn’t reply as we walked out of the galley and headed to the captain’s office.

“I have a feeling this is going to go horribly bad.” Seth whispered as he brought up his hand and knocked.

There was a pause before Jinx answered. “Come in.”

Seth opened the door and walked in with Dirk and I behind him. Jinx’s office was pretty large seeing it in person. It was filled with documents, maps and other memorabilia that took up most of the free space. Then there was his desk which he sat behind and had yet to look up from his work. It was made of polished wood that was eight feet long and curved in a half circle around his chair. He sat there for a moment looking at a map and writing something down as we stood by the door, hesitant to say anything.

“I’ll be right with you.” Jinx said, breaking the silence but still looking down. “But please, have a seat.” We sat down on the adjacent couch and waited another minute. Jinx continued to work and I don’t think he even noticed who actually was sitting here yet. “Sorry, I couldn’t have stayed for that particular chat back there. As I’m sure I can imagine the look on their faces was similar to—” He looked up and saw us. “That, right there. Forgive me. I assumed you to be someone else. You’re the last three I would have expected to see in here.”

“That’s quite all right.” Seth replied.

“I’m sure it is but what do you want?”