by Calinda B
Jace’s eyebrows arched and he smirked. “Still. I, for one, don’t want to be a bad influence on you. Let’s step upstairs and I’ll see if I can find you something to do.”
He wiped his hands on the soft blue cotton towel he kept tucked into the pocket of his coveralls and made his way to the ladder.
“Whose boat is this?” Lila asked as she stepped into the luxurious salon.
“Billy Fucktard O’Reilly’s.”
“Ew. Can I rip holes in the upholstery?”
“I wish. I’d take a blow torch to it if I could. Don’t think your dad would be too thrilled.”
“Probably not,” Lila said. “He’s too worried about money these days.”
Jace gave her a sideways glance. It couldn’t be good if Lila heard her dad talking about money. “You any good polishing Rift Oak?” He eyed the pricey oak, cut on an angle, resulting in a linear grain pattern with no flecking.
“No one better,” she said.
“Ha ha,” Jace said. “Do you even know what Rift Oak is?”
“Puh-lease,” Lila said, rolling her eyes. She ran her fingers along the glistening wood. “This is rift sawn Red Oak. Even our old boat has a Rift Oak interior.”
“Okay, hot shot, I see you know your stuff. And, your boat’s a classic beauty. Well, then. Take this cloth, grab that tin of wax on the counter, and get busy. You can start in here, in the main salon, and work your way into the bedrooms. You’ll be a big help to me. I want to be done with this boat.”
Lila grabbed the buttery soft chamois cloth, pried open the container, swiped some on the cloth, and started polishing. “Do I get to do the ladies’ work of cleaning while you do the manly work of engine room maintenance?”
“Sounds like a solid plan to me,” he said.
“Come on, Jace, let’s work together so we can talk.”
“What do you want to talk about?” he said, leaning against the veined marble countertop of the galley.
“There’s this guy I like,” Lila said, her face lighting up.
“A guy, huh? And you want my advice, why? Guys only want one thing.”
“No, no,” Lila said, blushing. “Mike’s not like that.”
“I guarantee you Mike’s like that,” Jace said, grabbing a towel, and buffing the surface Lila had applied wax to. “He’s a guy. You missed a spot.” He pointed to the cupboard. “How old did you say you are?”
“I’m almost sixteen.” She opened a cupboard and peered inside.
Jace gently removed her fingers and closed the cupboard. “And what do you want to do with Mike? Did he ask you out on a date?”
“He asked me to the movies with a bunch of older kids.” She hooked the toe of her sneaker on a drawer and pulled it open.
“Quit snooping.” He grabbed her ankle away from the drawer and closed it. “How much older?”
“They’re all eighteen.”
Jace cringed inwardly. At her age, the difference between being fifteen and eighteen was enormous. “I say wait until you turn sixteen. Or, better yet, join a convent.”
“Jace!” Lila said, making a dramatic exasperation of a fifteen-year-old. “That’s what my dad says.”
“Listen to your dad, girl. He’s the boss.” He paused in his buffing. “Tell you what. I’ll start in the bedroom and work my way out here. We’ll meet in the middle.”
“You’re just trying to avoid giving me advice,” Lila pouted.
“Bingo,” Jace said.
He took the few steps down to the main cabin and entered the space where he’d bedded many a babe. Not one of them comes close to Zoé. He got to work polishing and buffing until Lila tromped down the steps.
“Is this where the action happens?” she asked.
Jace raised an eyebrow and looked at her.
“I plead the fifth. Don’t know about no action,” he said jokingly.
“Puh-lease. Billy’s parties are legendary. Some of my friends even tried to get an invite once.”
The hair on the back of Jace’s neck prickled. “If you even think of coming on board one of Billy’s party rides, I’ll personally tan your hide, Lila. The guy’s dangerous.”
“Don’t worry. Not interested. I told you, he gives me the creeps.”
“Good.”
Lila sauntered into the room and opened the small closet.
“What’s this?” She reached in and dragged out a suitcase.
Jace’s eyes grew wide. It was the one Billy wheeled out of the abandoned cruise warehouse. “Looks like a suitcase to me.”
“Feels full. Let’s open it.”
“No, Lila,” Jace said.
Lila unzipped it, ignoring him. She pulled open the case revealing dildos, cock rings and enough lube to birth a baby elephant.
“Whoa,” she said, her face growing flushed.
He grabbed the lid and slammed it shut, trapping the contents inside.
“Wait, let me see. What is that stuff?”
“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with, that’s what.”
“It looked like…like…something I saw in my mom’s bedroom drawer,” Lila said, her face growing redder by the minute.
“It could be.” Jace took her shoulders, turned her around, and marched her out of the room. “Back upstairs, please.”
“Lila? Jace? Is Lila up there with you?” Lila’s mom, Lillian’s, voice came from outside the yacht.
Jace breathed a sigh of relief.
He followed Lila to the deck and called, “Yep, she’s up here, Lillian. Coming your way.”
“Spoilsport,” Lila muttered, tramping off the boat.
After she’d left, Jace wandered back into the master cabin. Why would he leave this on the boat knowing I’d be going through his yacht from step to stern? He unzipped the suitcase and inspected the contents. Lube, lacy lingerie, butt plugs, harnesses, dildos… Billy had a generous variety of toys.
“Why would he need to get these from an old warehouse?” Jace muttered. Stuck between the rubber and latex were two Glocks and a case of cartridges. He pulled one out and stared at it. “What the fuck is he up to?”
He ran his fingers along the inside of the suitcase, patting down the sides, the bottom, everywhere Billy might see fit to hide drugs. His hands landed on a big, fat envelope, tucked inside a silken robe. The envelope was jammed with one hundred dollar bills. Resting it on the bed, he continued his search. Inside, underneath all the toys, he found a small, discrete zipper, and tugged it. The bottom of the bag was lined with powder filled baggies. Jace whistled through his teeth.
“I’d put that away if I were you.”
Fucking Billy. Jace jerked back. He whirled around and glanced at the top of the stairs. “How’d you get onboard without me hearing you?”
“Quietly. I wanted to check on how you’re coming. I figured you’re up to something. That’s private property, Savage,” Billy said. “Put it away. Or, would you like to join in on the fun? We depart in a week or so. Whenever you get my yacht ready for pleasure.”
“I thought you were waiting until you lost your trial.”
“I changed my mind. And, I guarantee it will be you heading for jail, not me. Sure you don’t want to join me for one last bit of fun?”
Jace’s gut roiled with rage. “Not happening. I’ve got something money can’t buy.”
“What? Leftovers?” Billy sneered. “You can get those out of the dumpster. It’s called dumpster diving last I checked.”
Jace’s eyes narrowed. He wanted to beat the living daylights out of Billy O’Reilly. He took a couple calming breaths, stepping toward Billy to head out of the master suite and get back to work.
“Your fingerprints are all over that suitcase now, Savage,” Billy said coolly when Jace approached him to move around him.
Shit.
“Yeah, so? Lila pulled it out of the closet. Hers are on there, too.”
“That just means you’ve got a teenage accomplice. I could also spin it to say you had sex with a m
inor.”
Fucking hell. “What the fuck do you want, Billy? I’d like to finish in here, so I can be done with your fucking yacht.”
Billy grinned at him. “Oh, you’re just about finished all right. I’ve got new evidence to finish you off. Looks like a lengthy prison sentence. Must be my lucky day.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Jace’s teeth ground together. “We’ll see about that.”
“Deposition’s next week. Gives me time to fill them in on this new evidence. Oh, this is going to be easier than I thought. I may have to ask for more money. You might be contributing to my next yacht. I might hire you to take care of it. You’re so good at what you do —administering to my needs. But wait a minute —you’ll be in jail. No one will acquit you his time.”
Jace’s face grew red with fury. The goddamned lawsuit ties my hands. “Move out of the way so I can get to the engine room and get back to work.”
“Make me. I’ll call it assault and add it to the growing list of charges.” His cold blue eyes regarded Jace.
Jace grabbed Billy’s biceps and squeezed tight. “Listen to me, asshole. You do not want to mess with me. I’m through with you and your bullshit. You wrecked my life before, you destroyed Jayna’s, you fucked with Zoé, you’re not going to get away with that again if it’s the last thing I do.”
Fear flickered across Billy’s face for one brief second before replaced with an icy calm. “How’s my child? I heard you’re taking care of her?”
Jace released Billy’s arm and got in his face, close enough to smell Billy’s bad breath. “Marni’s not your child and never will be, you fucking slime bag. Your one good seed landed. If you come near her, lay one cold finger on her, I will kill you.”
“So now you’re threatening me,” Billy stated flatly. “I’m so scared. You’re just digging yourself in deeper, Savage.”
“You’re the one who’s digging your grave, O’Reilly. Now move out of the way and let me do my job.”
Jace shoved him out of the way and stomped into the salon. From there, he made his way off the boat and onto the gravel below. Furious, shaking with rage, he dialed Zoé’s number.
“Hey,” she said, on the third ring.
“Hey,” he said, his lungs heaving.
“What’s the matter?” Her voice rose with concern.
“Billy O’Reilly’s the matter. I told you I have to work on his boat to get it ready for some pleasure excursion he’s got cooked up. I…it’s a long story. Suffice it to say, I may have screwed myself just now.”
“Oh, no, Jace, what did you do?”
He gritted his teeth. How would it sound if he told her Billy was going to try to pin having sex with a minor on him? And here she’d agreed to move in with him this weekend. “I…I can’t talk about it just yet. You’ll…”
“Jace! Come on. Don’t do this to me. I thought we resolved this.”
“Old habits die hard, baby. Give me a chance.”
“Old habits do die hard, stud, like…”
“Jace!” someone bellowed.
He thought he’d heard her say “like trusting you” but he wasn’t sure.
“Hold up, baby, something’s doing in the yard.”
“Jace! Get over here! There’s a fire!”
“Fucking hell. I’ve got to run, baby. There’s a fire.” Without waiting for a reply, he raced to the dock to see his boss’s classic wooden boat lit this way to Sunday with flames.
Chapter 27
Zoé
Zoé zipped through the Seattle streets, heading for Chica Rios. She kept replaying her conversation with Jace a few nights ago, when he was putting Marni to sleep. Am I really going to move in with him? She sighed. That would mean quitting her job and she hated to just up and give notice. She liked it here—sort of. But, more importantly she loved Jace. He gave her safety. He gave her wildness and passion. He accepted her stupid jealousy and insecurity. And, he loves me back. Neither Jack nor Billy ever told me they loved me.
And then she mused on him saying “There’s a fire.” She hadn’t heard from him since. She’d texted and called but only reached voice mail.
Give him a chance. Don’t turn into a psycho-bitch again. Resolving to be more trusting, she turned the corner and parked behind the bar.
Once inside the bar, she threw her purse and jacket into her cubby, and tied her apron with a tight knot around her waist, determined to stay here, stay in Seattle, stay away from Jace Savage.
When she’d stepped onto the floor, she groaned. Billy! In my section! With those two bitches, Jasmine and Simone. She squinted. And who’s that other fellow with them?
She marched up to his booth and snarled, “What the hell do you want?”
“Happy to see you, too, love,” Billy said. “You remember Simone? Jasmine?”
The two women raised their hands weakly at her, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“And this is Ray, an associate of mine.”
“Hey, beautiful,” the guy with too perfect hair, too tan of a face, and a too wide predatory smile said.
“What do you want to drink? Give me your order so I can serve people with manners.”
“In a pissy mood, Zoé?” Billy said.
“Nothing a good fuck can’t cure,” his Ray said.
“Go to hell,” Zoé said. “Now give me your order.”
“We’ll all have dirty martinis,” Billy said.
“Sounds perfect. Dirty drinks for dirty, scumbag people.” She started to drop the order pad in her pocket when Billy grabbed her wrist. She froze.
“You’d do well to be nice to me, bitch.”
“Let go of me,” she hissed.
“I could make things go down a whole lot easier for your boyfriend. He’s in big trouble.”
“Ha! He told me about your bogus claim. Now get your filthy hands off me.”
Billy frowned slightly, before his face froze into a hard, cold mask. “I doubt if he told you everything.”
A man in the booth next to Billy’s looked at her with concern in his eyes.
“I’m all right,” she said to him. “I’ve got this.”
He nodded and turned back to his conversation.
“Let go of me, you pervert,” she hissed at Billy. “Before I call my manager.”
Billy drew his hand away her.
She rubbed her red, discolored skin.
“So, did he tell you about having sex with a fifteen-year-old?”
“You’re full of shit, Billy.” She tried to keep her voice low so none of the other patrons overheard her. Would he do that?
“Did he?”
“Yes,” she lied. “He tells me everything.”
“I doubt that very much. It happened today. When I caught them, he threatened to slit my throat. Slit my throat, can you imagine that? The guy's got a temper, that’s a fact. I was only minding my own business, checking on my yacht. And here he was sullying the sheets of my master suite with an underage girl. Tsk, tsk.”
I can’t picture him saying that. Would he? He did destroy Billy’s property. Zoé stood speechless, her brain suddenly fogged with images of Jack and Billy and the wounds they left behind. “You’re lying.”
“Ask him yourself. Oh, wait. You talk about everything. I’m sure he’ll volunteer this juicy bit of information.”
Sharon hustled past Zoé. “Chop, chop, Zoé. We’re slammed.”
“What?” Zoé said, looking up. “I’m on it, Sharon,” she called to her manager’s retreating back.
Without another word, she stalked away.
At the bar, she threw the order over the counter. It drifted, benignly, toward the floor on the other side.
Devon hustled over, stooped down, and retrieved the tab. “Wow, Zoé. Having a bad day, or what?”
“I wasn’t. Now I am. Look who’s in my section again.” She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder in Billy’s direction.
“I keep telling you. We can take care of him.”
“Believe me, if I wasn’t so
scared of getting caught and the moral implications, I’d consider it.”
“What’s he doing that has you in such a twist, girl?” Devon asked, pouring the ingredients for the martinis into his shaker.
“Oh, living. Breathing. He’s nothing but trouble.”
“You got that right.”
She eyed Devon with a sudden stab of guilt. She’d been about to quit. Since she started working here, two years ago, Devon had been her good pal. She’d miss him if she were gone.
“Actually, I should thank him. I think he inadvertently did me a favor.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” He deftly poured the cocktails into four martini glasses, adding a swizzle stick of olives to each glass.
“He may have kept me from making a terrible mistake.”
Devon set each glass on her tray. “What kind of mistake?”
“I was about to move in with Jace,” she blurted, placing her palms over her face. The sting of shame bruised her cheeks. “Now I’m not so sure. Billy told me he…” She refused to say, “slept with a fifteen-year-old.”
“Wow. Isn’t that the guy you just met?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s kind of sudden. Do you love him that much already? Do you even love him at all?”
“No! Yes! I don’t know. Tell me what to do, Devon.”
“No can do, love. That’s not my department.” He picked up his ever-present cleaning cloth and began wiping down the wooden bar. “Everyone’s different. My girlfriend and I practically moved in together on day one.”
“You’re kidding! Really?” She found that encouraging.
“Nope, not kidding. We just clicked. But some couples take their time. You have to move at your own pace.”
“That’s just it. Ours is moving at super-sonic speed. It terrifies me at times, thrills me at others.”
“Sounds like a relationship to me.”
Sharon zipped behind Zoé.
Zoé lifted a hand in acknowledgement. “Chop, chop, I know, I know.” She turned back to Devon. “What if I’m making a big mistake, though?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“How?”
“Move in with him. It doesn’t work, move out. Life should be simple that way. You try something, learn a little, have some fun, move on.”