by Bella Jewel
I swallow, and I tell him what happened, from start to finish, leaving nothing out. He and his coworkers listen, their eyes constantly going to the bodies lying on the ground. One of them is going a little pale, and I wonder if it’s the first time he’s ever experienced anything like this before.
“You’re telling me you were walking the halls, saw blood coming out of the kitchen, broke in, and found these bodies?” Tyrone asks, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“Yes,” I say, my voice strong. “If you go over the footage in the hall, I’m sure you’ll see the exact moment we saw it and even hear our conversation. The blood was leaking out into the hall and we were worried someone was in here, hurt. So, we did what we thought best at the time.”
“You didn’t think to just call security?” he asks.
Well, now he says it like that ...
I didn’t actually think, no, and I probably should have considering we both now look flipping suspicious when we aren’t at all.
“To be honest, no I didn’t. We just worried someone was hurt and acted. Look, officer, we have been drinking so it’s safe to say we aren’t thinking all that clearly but we didn’t do this. Why in the hell would we kill someone and then call you? Wouldn’t we just disappear? I mean, it’s a cruise ship and you’re just security. How are you going to figure it out?”
The moment those words leave my lips, I clamp them shut and look to Spike who is glaring at me like he wants to shake me and throttle me and rip my hair out all at the same time. What I basically just accused these officers of is being incompetent and no way near up to the task of taking on something like this, indicating that I think whoever did this could indeed get away with it because, well, there aren’t exactly any FBI agents on board.
At least, I don’t think there are.
I know I’ve pissed them off, but Jackson steps forward and says, “We’ll leave this in your capable hands, officers. I’ll give you all of our names and room numbers, no doubt you’ll want to conduct further questioning. If there’s nothing else, we will carry on with our night?”
Tyrone narrows his eyes, and then says, “You’re part of a club.”
How the hell did he know that?
Oh, a few of them did have their colors when we first arrived, but were quickly made to take them off, much to their horror.
“Yes, and your point is what, exactly?”
“It seems strange that the first murder ever on a cruise ship happens to be when there is a club on board, a motorcycle club, who we all know deals with shady business.”
“There are two!” Addison snaps. “How do you know it wasn’t the other one?”
Oh, god.
We are really stuffing up tonight. Never attend a crime scene while drunk and part of a club.
Your mouth gets the better of you.
Every damn time.
“Another club?” Tyrone asks, and Jackson gives his daughter a look that could kill.
Oh, boy.
We’re making this so much worse.
“They have nothing to do with this,” Jackson says coolly, “same as us. We’re just here for a vacation, officer, just like anyone else. Bit rude to assume because we’re in a club that we’d be the ones to do something like this. We aren’t monsters, we’re just people with a firm belief. Now, unless you have any other questions, we’ll be on our way.”
Tyrone narrows his eyes, but he knows damn well he doesn’t have the power to hold any of us, he’s just a security officer, and I’m sure there is protocol for this type of thing, but I’m also sure he’s never had to use it before.
“We have police officers on board, they’ll be in contact soon. We’re two days away from the closest port, so no doubt that’ll be sooner rather than later. We’d appreciate if word of this doesn’t get out as there are a lot of people and families on this ship that don’t need to be fearful.”
Jackson nods. “Got it.”
With that, he writes down all our names and room numbers on a piece of paper Tyrone hands him and then we’re on our way.
As soon as we’re well clear of the scene, Jackson stops and turns to both of us. “You two are fuckin’ not to go out of our sight again. What the fuck were you thinkin’?”
“Daddy,” Addison begins, but he throws a hand up.
“We’re a motorcycle club, two of our old ladies just found dead bodies. Did you honestly fuckin’ think we’d walk from this? You two stay the fuck out of trouble, keep your mouths closed while we figure out how to handle this. You clear?”
I nod, swallowing.
Addi does, too.
Then we go back to our rooms, none of them saying another word.
I just wanted a damned vacation.
Is that so much to ask?
4
JAYLAH
I GLANCE AT MACK AS he dresses, not saying a single bloody word to me. He’s barely spoken to me since our fight the other night, and as every hour passes, I get more and more frustrated. I want to scream at him, cry, do something to get a reaction out of him. To get him to say anything, anything at all. Instead, he just gets around, silent, angry, not speaking to me at all.
I’ve about had enough.
“What are the plans for today?” I ask him. “If you’d answer in words instead of mumbles that would be greatly appreciated. They didn’t teach us how to decipher mumbles at school.”
He scowls at my sarcasm, but it’s all I’ve got when things are so tense. If I don’t use it, I’ll crumble and there is no fucking way I’m crumbling again.
Hell no.
Mack should be chasing after me, not the other way around. I’m the god damned prize here, and I’m not going to beg and plead with him to look at me. Even if inside it kills, even if every single part of me wants to beg him to just talk to me so we can go back to normal. I’m not going to do that. Mack isn’t the kind of man you beg to, no, he’s the kind of man you just let be and throw sarcasm at.
I learned that a long time ago, when I used to care for Diesel.
I couldn’t get through to him any other way, so instead, I was just myself.
Which is exactly what I’m going to be now.
To hell with him and his emotional moody girl fits.
“Same as every day, Jaylah. Pool, alcohol, sleep.”
“Wow, I’m so glad you’re enjoying our trip together so much. Maybe you should go soak in some more sun, see if it’ll lighten you up a little.”
He glares at me. “I don’t have the patience for your sarcasm.”
“You don’t have patience?” I laugh. “Excuse me, master, but you’re the one storming around with a stick up your ass. Not me. I’m just being myself. If you don’t like it ...” I wave a hand toward the door.
He shakes his head, pulling a shirt over his muscled body. A body I want so badly to run my tongue over. I miss him. Fuck do I miss him. I want him so badly it hurts. If he won’t come to me, I’ll make him wish he would.
I turn my back toward him and slowly take off my nighty, sliding it up and over my head. I’m not wearing panties underneath it, and I know that Mack’s weakness is my ass. I slowly grab my bikini and tie it on, leaving my ass on full display, then I grab the bottoms and bend down, making sure he gets a full flash of my very smooth, very untouched pussy, as I step into them and pull them up slowly, wiggling to get them over my ass.
I don’t know if he’s watching, but damn does it feel good to at least feel like I’ve got a little power back.
A knock on the door distracts me, and I stand up straight, scooping my thick hair up and tying it atop my head. Then I glance over my shoulder at Mack, and I know by the dark expression in his eyes that he did, in fact, enjoy the show. He walks past me and opens the door to reveal Maddox and Krypt, along with their two ladies.
“We got a problem,” Maddox says.
Mack stands aside and lets them into our room, and I give Santana and Ash a confused look as the men gather around, looking at Mack.
“What
is it?” Mack asks.
“Last night two of the Knights ladies found two dead bodies on the ship. Of course, security is suspicious straight away knowing they’re in a club, they also know we’re a club and have called us in for questioning, too.”
“Wait,” I say, putting a hand up. “Dead bodies?”
“Yep.” Krypt nods. “Dead fuckin’ bodies. Throats slit. Two of them. Girls found them in the kitchen. Now we’re all under watch because of who we are.”
“How are we under watch?” Santana huffs. “I was curled up in bed asleep. It’s not really fair to throw us in the mix.”
“Do you think their club has something to do with it?” Ash asks. “I mean it seems a little odd that they found the bodies.”
“Jackson came and spoke to me this morning, giving me a heads up,” Maddox says. “Not sure if he’s involved or not. Fuckin’ hard to know anythin’. What is gettin’ me the most, is how the fuckin’ hell they knew we were a club. We didn’t wear our colors on board, so someone had to tell them.”
“You think the Knights told them?” I ask, confused.
“Yeah, I think they did, but it don’t make any sense as to why they’d warn us. Got a weird feelin’ about this.”
I purse my lips and glance at Krypt who is watching Ash. I love the way he still looks at her like that. I don’t even think he realizes he’s doing it sometimes; it just comes so naturally to him. That’s a look I miss, so damned much.
“What’s our next steps then?” Mack asks.
“We’re goin’ to do some research of our own. Either way, someone on this ship got killed. and I ain’t happy with the idea of walkin’ around for two days with a murderer. I want to know who it is. I also want to know how the Knights are involved in it, because they are involved, one way or another,” Maddox answers.
“I’ll go and start askin’ questions,” Mack says, walking toward the door.
“Don’t let anyone know about the murders, as far as I know it’s not public knowledge,” Maddox calls after him as he leaves.
“Yep,” he mutters.
“Well, he’s chirpy as always,” Santana mutters. “Everything okay with you two?”
I snort. “If by okay you mean he hasn’t spoken to me, touched me, or made any effort then yeah, we’re okay. As okay as those two dead people.”
Krypt grunts. “You have a way of putting things, don’t you?”
I grin at him. “You know me, Krypto, always the entertainer.”
He rolls his eyes and then looks to Maddox. “What are your thoughts on this murder, you think it’s something that could be repeated?”
“Goin’ to talk to Jackson more about it. I want to know everything, but mostly I want to gauge whether or not he’s involved. Don’t want a single thing comin’ back on us.”
“Got it.” Krypt nods. “I’ll go start findin’ out what I can, too.”
Ash looks to me. “I guess that means we’re on our own.”
I grin. “Yeah, fuck the murderer. Pool, drinks, and dancing is on the table for me again. Oh, and maybe a massage.”
“Keep public,” Maddox orders. “Don’t want any of you gettin’ into any trouble.”
“Got it.” I salute him. “Ladies, let’s go.”
We gather our things and head out the door. As soon as we’re at the public pool, we find a lounge and lay our things out. I sit on mine, stretching out and exhaling. I came here for a vacation; nothing is going to take that away from me. Nothing.
“Do you think one of these people is a murderer?” Santana asks, peering around.
“Probably,” I say, lifting my sunglasses and glancing at the people surrounding the pool. “Oh, I bet it’s that one over there. Middle aged, looks super pissed. Maybe it was her lover and her husband, and they all found out about each other and the two of them got into it and died.”
Ash laughs. “Wow, that was detailed. I doubt it, though. I heard Jackson say it was made to look like a murder suicide.”
“Ohhh, juicy!” I clap. “It’s like we’re in one of those ‘who done it’ games. I like a bit of mystery. We should totally try and solve it.”
Santana wiggles her finger at me. “You just sit down and behave, Jaylah. This has nothing to do with us. Like Maddox said, we’re already being watched because we’re part of a club, we don’t want to make things worse by asking questions.”
I purse my lips. “Fun spoiler.”
“It would be kind of fun if we could find out who they were, and who they were here with. We could totally cozy up to those people and get some juicy info.” Ash grins.
“Ah, a girl after my own heart.” I laugh. “Come on, Santana. We’ll just ask a few questions, nothing major, and we won’t get into trouble. It’ll be a little fun.”
“It sounds like it’ll be a whole lot of trouble.” She shakes her head. “No, Jay, we’re going to enjoy our trip and pretend this isn’t happening. Got it?”
Oh.
I’ve got it alright.
Doesn’t mean I’m going to listen.
“YOU FOUND THE BODIES?” I say to Ciara, sitting beside her at the pool.
“Yep,” she tells me, glancing around.
Her, Addison, and Serenity are by the pool—they arrived a few minutes ago and of course came over to say hello. We told them to join us, because I’m unable to help myself, I need to know what they saw and what happened. It’s so juicy I want more of it. Santana told me that it was Addison and Ciara that found the bodies, so I just dive on in and ask the questions.
“What happened?” I ask her.
“We were walking home and saw some blood coming out of the kitchen. Well, we didn’t know it was blood. Anyway, we broke in and found two dead bodies, throats slit, it was pretty messy. We ended up having to call security, in case we were on camera, and because of that they got suspicious. Wondering why we didn’t just call them instead of breaking in.”
“Shit,” I murmur. “So now they think you have something to do with it?”
“Yep, and they’re watching all of you, too. I heard Jackson telling Cade just before that they have footage of you, Ash, and Santana in the area of the kitchen around the time the murders were said to happen. They’re going to call you in soon, ask questions.”
“Wait, what?” I ask, and Ash and Santana both sit up, glancing over at Ciara.
“Yeah, what?” Ash asks, narrowing her eyes.
“Look, I don’t know much, I just overheard them before we came here. It’s why I came over, I wanted to let you both know. Did you go down there last night?”
I glance at Ash and Santana. Yeah, I mean we walked past the kitchen in a drunken state but we didn’t stop. We didn’t do anything at all. Hell, we didn’t even touch a door.
“Yeah, we walked past there. We were drunk, coming back from the club, and we got a little lost, again. We didn’t do anything, though.”
“I know that.” Ciara laughs. “Gosh, do I know that. But, apparently, outside of the two people who were actually killed, the only people on the security cameras in that general area are you, me, Addison, Santana, and Ash. Nobody else was around, apparently. There are also areas where no cameras are set up, and someone could easily enter the kitchen through another point if they knew where the cameras were, so whoever did this, knew how to dodge security. Unfortunately for us, and our curious minds, we’re all on there.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Ash grunts. “I’m never drinking again. Every time we do, we go on drunken adventures, get into way too much trouble, and this happens.”
Santana laughs. “Well, that’s true. I’m sure they have nothing to pin on us. They can’t prove we did anything.”
“No, but it’s going to look bad for all of us,” I mutter, then I wiggle my brows as my face lights up. “Which is why we need to figure out who did it. I mean, we have our names to clear now.”
“Ohhh, I like it.” Ciara claps.
“Nope!” Addison shakes her head. “Nope, we’re not doing that. We’re
already in enough trouble with our guys, they want to throttle us. If we go digging up information, we’re going to end up in deep shit.”
“We’ll end up in deep shit if we don’t do anything,” I point out, shrugging.
“She’s right,” Ciara says. “We’re all suspects, and I, for one, don’t want to get off this ship and be dragged straight into a police station. That’s not going to be good for anyone. If we can find out who they were, and maybe try and get some information, we might be able to work out who did it.”
“I’m in,” I say, clapping my hands. “I’m not up for trouble, either.”
“I’m in, too,” Ash says. “Nobody is getting me for something I didn’t do.”
I look to Serenity, Addison, and Santana.
Santana sighs. “I’m in only because I know you’ll all do it anyway and I want to make sure you don’t do stupid shit.”
“This is a bad idea,” Serenity says. “Bad bad.”
“But we’re doing it, aren’t we?” Addison says, exhaling.
Serenity nods. “Yep, we’re doing it.”
I clap my hands. “How exciting. Our very own murder investigation.”
“One thing is for certain,” Ash points outs, “we cannot let any of the men know what we’re doing. They’ll flip a lid.”
“True that,” I chuckle. “It’s our little secret. Should we have code names? I could be Purple Starlight ...”
Santana laughs. “Oh, I could be Pocahontas.”
“I’ll be Pussy Cat. Only because I want pussy mentioned.” Ciara giggles.
We all burst out laughing.
Oh, this is a bad idea, I just know it.
But I love it.
Yes, I love it.
5
CIARA
“THEY’RE NOT PART OF it, Spike,” I say, leaning toward my gorgeous man and narrowing my eyes so he can see how serious I am. “Just like we’re not part of it.”