Neptune's Ring

Neptune’s Ring

Published by Ali Spooner at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Ali Spooner

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Neptune's Ring

PART ONE

Nat and Liz rode back to the resort and
passed a taxi leaving the resort driveway. “That is odd,” Liz said
as they pulled into the garage. “Who at the resort travels in a
taxi?” she asked.

“That is a good question and I intend to find
out the answer,” Nat said as she walked to the front desk her good
mood sinking quickly.

“Maryann, who just arrived in a taxi,” she
asked?

“It was your sister,” Maryann said.

“Simone?” Nat asked.

“Do you have any other’s we don’t know about,
Honey?” Liz teased.

“No, one is quite enough these days,” Nat
said with a sigh.

“Keep your cool,” Liz said as she saw Nat’s
blood pressure rising.

“I am going to see what she is up to now,”
Nat said. “I will meet you in the office in a bit.”

“Very well, my love, just promise me you
won’t throw Simone off the balcony,” Liz teased.

“I will try my best, but I won’t make a
promise I may not be able to keep,” Nat said with a wicked
grin.

Nat stormed out of the front desk area headed
for the elevator. If she were lucky, she would catch Simone still
in her suite and would confront her there instead of out in public
where Simone was sure to make a scene.

Liz walked up to the office and waited for
the fireworks to begin.

Nat arrived at Simone’s door and pounded on
it until Simone came to the door.

“Well hello, Sister,” Simone said.

“What are you doing here?” Nat asked. “I
thought you had a few more days in the hospital.”

“I put on my charm and talked the doctor into
discharging me early,” Simone said.

“Are you really well enough to be out of the
hospital?”

“How nice of you to ask, but yes, he said it
would be fine as long as I took it easy for the next few days,”
Simone said. “You would have known that dear Sister, if you had
been at the hospital with me,” Simone said with venom in her
voice.

“The way you have been acting, you are damned
lucky I don’t throw you out on your ass right now,” Nat said
clinching her fist.

“Not to worry, Nat, I will be off the island
Sunday,” Simone said. “I have been released to fly then and I
already have a ticket.”

“Until then I suggest, you lay low and not
cause any more trouble Simone or I will send you off to the only
other motel on the island,” Nat warned.

“Oh, I will be good dear Sister,” Simone
said. “I plan to lay out by the pool and stay out of your way as
much as possible,” she said.

“That would be very wise, Simone.”

“I do plan to take care of some unfinished
business with Levi,” Simone said.

“That will be pretty hard for you to do,” Nat
said with a devilish grin.

“Why is that?” Simone asked a bit
startled.

“Levi is not on the island anymore,” Nat
said.

“Where is she?” Simone demanded to know.

“Quite frankly, dear Sister, I don’t believe
that is any of your business. You are completely and finally out of
Levi’s life now,” Nat said.

“That’s what you think, Nat, but my way of
thinking is very different.”

“Why would you even want to pursue someone
who has absolutely no desire to be with you?” Nat asked.

“Oh, Levi still wants me, I am sure of it,”
Simone said. “She can’t just walk away from me,” Simone said.

“Well this one did, Simone and you ruined the
best thing to have come into your life,” Nat said.

“I guess we will just have to see about
that,” Simone said. “I know you would not let your little prize
bartender go for long so I will just wait until she returns.”

“You will be out of here Sunday morning,
regardless, Simone, and that is that,” Nat said as she spun on her
heel and barged through the door.

“Later, Sister,” Simone shouted as Nat closed
the door loudly.

Nat could hear Simone laughing behind the
closed door as her rage burned through her veins. “Damn you
Simone,” she mumbled under her breath. “Why can’t you leave well
enough alone?”

Nat walked around the resort to exhaust the
rage Simone had stirred in her. Not many people had the ability of
making Nat lose her temper, but her younger sister always knew
exactly which buttons to push to send Nat over the edge.

Simone had always felt inferior to her older
sister. Nat was the first to become a successful businesswoman. Nat
had a secure and stable relationship with a great woman. Granted,
Simone’s success in the travel industry had blossomed quickly, but
only due in part from the financial backing Nat had provided to get
Simone’s ideas off the ground. Simone had paid Nat back in full for
her investment, but Simone knew without Nat she would have been
just your routine travel agent. Simone was also envious of the love
that Nat shared with Liz and longed to share that love with
someone. She had seduced many women, but none of them had that
special feel to them. That was until Levi had come into her
life.

Levi was definitely the one that got away, or
in Simone’s case the one she foolishly discarded like yesterday’s
trash. Simone felt the sting of shame burning deep inside her for
the way she treated Levi, but she would be damned if she would
admit that to anyone. Simone was superior and would not concede how
badly her psyche had been damaged when Levi walked out of her life.
No one and especially not a minimum wage bartender would humiliate
Simone Taylor.

Simone removed the immobilizer sling and
carefully showered to rinse the smell of the hospital off of her
body and dressed in a skimpy bikini. By the time she finished her
shoulder was on fire with a dull ache and she swallowed a pain pill
and replaced the sling on her body. She had plans to lay out by the
pool to soak up some rays and scope out the resorts latest round of
guests. She slipped a thin cover up over her head and took off for
the pool. Despite the doctor’s warning of mixing alcohol with her
pain medication, Simone took great pleasure in ordering a tall
Tropical E as she located a perfect sunning spot and spread out a
towel.

“That is an absolutely sinful drink,” a deep
voice said from beside Simone.

“Yes, it is,” Simone said as she lowered her
sun glasses to get a better look at the woman beside her.

Young, spiky blonde hair, cute smile, sexy
voice, just my type of woman, Simone thought as she smiled back at
the woman.

Hi, my name is Simone,” she said as she
replaced her glasses, protecting her eyes from the glare of the sun
on the pool.

“Nice to meet you, Simone, I am Del and I
sure hope you will allow me to buy the next round,” she said.

“I do believe that can be arranged,” Simone
said. “So where are you from Del?”

“I am down from Boston for a couple of weeks
of fun and relaxation,” she answered.

“That is a beautiful town,” Simone said.

“Where do you live?” Del asked.

“Mainly in New York City, but I also have a
small place in South Beach,” Simone said.

“That must be where you get such a heavenly
tan,” Del said.

“Well, I do try to spend us much time as
possible on the beach,” Simone said, obviously flattered by this
woman’s attentions.

“It shows too,” Del said with a voice that
almost purred to Simone’s ears.

“Why, thank you, Del,” Simone said as she
took a long drink.

“That looks very painful,” Del said pointing
at Simone’s right arm in the sling. “What happened?”

“I had a bit of a jet-ski accident and broke
my collarbone,” Simone said. “It isn’t as painful as it is
frustrating,” Simone said. “I can remove my arm long enough to
shower, but the remainder of the time my arm must be immobilized.
It makes eating and sleeping a real challenge,” Simone said.

“Well if you will allow me to assist you, I
could help with mealtimes,” Del said.

“That is very sweet of you, Del,” Simone said
with a smile. “Can you help me sleep too?” she teased.

“That could possibly be arranged too,” Del
said returning Simone’s challenge with a sly smile.

“Interesting,” Simone said as she took
another sip from her drink.

Nat had finally cooled down from her
confrontation with Simone and was walking past the pool when she
glanced over and saw Simone talking with Del. “Now if that isn’t a
match made in heaven,” she said out loud, “I don’t know what
is.”

She suddenly felt like smiling again and when
she stepped inside the office, Liz looked up to see her
smiling.

“I am not so sure, I like that look on your
face,” she said. “I don’t hear any sirens, so what has you smiling
so brightly?” she asked.

“You know that spiky haired young guest who
is bordering on the edge of being a stalker?” Nat asked.

“Del? Yes, what of her?”

“Well she and Simone are having drinks down
by the pool,” Nat said with a smile. “For some reason I thought of
a cobra and a mongoose when I saw them together, two predators
sparring like that,” Nat said. “I just had to smile.”

“You can be a truly evil woman, Nat,” Liz
said.

“Now, now my dear, evil is a pretty strong
word,” Nat said.

“Ok, you are a truly wicked woman then, that
better?” Liz teased.

“Much better, wicked sounds so much
sexier.”

“Well you are very sexy, My Love.”

“So what are you working on?” Nat asked.

“I was surfing the net looking at some
potential properties,” Liz said.

“Have you seen anything you like?” Nat
asked.

“There are five that I think may hold some
potential,” Liz said.

“That sounds very promising,” Nat said. “Why
don’t you show them to me?”

Liz turned back to the computer screen and
began to move the cursor across it when the power dimmed and then
went out completely. The fire alarm screamed aloud and Liz looked
at Nat.

“We don’t have a drill scheduled for today do
we?” she asked.

“No we don’t,” Nat said as she rushed over to
the enunciator panel and saw that a smoke detector had been
activated in one of the guest rooms. “Room 108,” she said as she
rushed for the door, with Liz closely behind her.

When they arrived, the Maintenance staff was
already in the room and had determined that a cigarette had been
discarded in a waste can, before being properly extinguished and
were able to stop the fire from growing beyond the waste can. Smoke
filled the room, but there was no damage to fixtures or
furnishings. Sirens could be heard in the distance as the small
local fire department was on its way in response to the alarm.

“I have everything under control here, Nat,”
Mary, the head of Maintenance said. “I will deal with the Fire
Department as well,” she said.

“Thanks, Mary,” Nat said. “I absolutely
detest dealing with that ogling bunch of men,” Nat teased.

“I know you do, Boss, so I will take care of
everything.”

“We may need to move the guests from that
room while the smoke clears,” Nat suggested. “Have a little chat
with them about smoking safely too, please.”

“Will do Boss,” Mary said as she sent one of
her assistants to the front desk to find out the name of the guests
in the room.

“Let’s beat it before the fire chief makes
his arrival,” Nat said as she took Liz’s hand and left the
room.

Vanessa and Levi were jolted awake by the
landing of the jet as they arrived in Miami.

“Touchdown,” Levi said as she smiled up to
Vanessa. “We made it.”

“That wasn’t bad at all,” Vanessa
admitted.

“I don’t know about you Babe, but I am
starving,” Levi said. “Why don’t we grab some lunch before we leave
the airport,” she suggested.

“There is a nice little deli that serves some
of the best Cuban sandwiches,” Vanessa said.

“That sounds perfect,” Levi said, “My
treat.”

“You have yourself a deal,” Vanessa said as
she retrieved their bags from the overhead.

They located the deli and ordered the
sandwiches before finding a small table in the crowded room. They
sipped on drinks while they waited for their sandwiches to arrive
and watched the traffic in the busy airport.

“What will be happening on the ship today?”
Levi asked.

“They will be performing a final deep
cleaning and maintenance,” Vanessa said. “Most of the crew will be
on shore until Wednesday as the ship is re-stocked and made ready
for the next cruise.”