by Trisha Grace
“Is your throat still bothering you? Is that why you’re drinking so much water? How are you feeling?”
Elena rolled her eyes. “Which one of those would you like me to answer first?”
Gina’s brows immediately drew closer. “You’re always grumpy when you’re coming down with something.”
“I’m fine. Just tired.” Yes, I’m perfectly fine. Elena told herself that though she already knew she wasn't. She knew her body well. She knew the particular weird sore throat—the one that wasn't scratchy, that didn’t really hurt, but made her throat feel weird—that indicated the onset of fever, flu, and cough.
But she hoped it would just go away if she drank enough water—which it sometimes did. Water and sleep. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against the headrest. She rested a moment before rolling her head to the side and kneading her neck. “Let’s get going before I fall asleep,” she said with a sigh.
Gina’s chest rose slowly. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.” She opened the car door and stepped out. Being on the same yacht with Jake was a good opportunity for her, an opportunity for closure. So what if her heart ached so much at mere memories of the two of them? So what if her mind refused to obey her command to stop thinking about them? She took a deep breath. I can do this.
Jake Owen stared at the yacht docked by the marina. It was large and grand, but he couldn’t muster a single ounce of excitement. He hadn’t been excited about much for a while. Even clinching four new gold medals hadn’t brought him the same thrill it used to.
He’d had one goal his whole life: to win gold in the Olympics. Perhaps it was because he’d achieved that feat twice that he was feeling this way now. Everything just seemed so meaningless.
Even this whole photoshoot for Laurent felt utterly pointless. He wouldn’t have agreed to it if Wayne hadn’t said that the deal was only on for the team if he was in it.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Wayne asked. “I heard it belongs to the Henry Laurent.”
Jake shrugged and turned to the rest of the team, listening to them chat about the photoshoot and the yacht. He wasn’t paying much attention until Wayne’s eyes shifted to the side and landed on someone or something behind him. From the grin Wayne was displaying, Jake suspected it was a someone.
He followed Wayne’s gaze and froze.
Elena.
He hadn’t seen Elena since they broke up. He’d avoided all news about her and hadn’t even caught any of the movies she’d filmed.
Which wasn’t too difficult since he spent most of his time training.
He looked at the honey blond hair he used to run his hand through and the olive green eyes he used to gaze into. His heart beat faster the way it used to when he stepped up onto the starting block before a competition.
He pulled his hands out of his pockets, but thrust them back in when he didn’t know what to do with them.
She strode over in her faded light-blue sleeveless dress and white sneakers. “Hi,” she said with a sweet smile, her gaze sweeping across the entire swim team. Her gaze didn’t linger or hesitate when it came to him, and it made him feel as if none of that ugliness—or love—happened between them, as if they never meant anything to each other. As if everything they’d shared had only happened in his head.
He, on the other hand, couldn’t take his eyes off her.
He took a deep breath, filling his chest with as much air as he could, trying to break the sudden tension trapped within. How was it that someone who used to be so important to him, someone who meant the world to him, could become the complete stranger standing across from him?
“Hi.” Wayne brushed past Jake’s shoulder and extended his hand. “I’m Wayne Forrow.” He flashed a brilliant grin, the same one he always used whenever he wanted to charm someone. Though Wayne usually came in second in competitions, he was definitely the best at getting women.
“Hi, Wayne,” Elena said and responded with a grin that matched his.
“Are we going to be on the same yacht?” Wayne asked, taking a step closer without releasing Elena’s hand.
“Seems like it.” Elena peered over at the yacht, and Jake thought he saw her shiver.
It looked like she hadn’t gotten over her fear of water.
Wayne tipped his chin forward. “Your co-stars are here.”
A couple walked toward them. The guy in a light gray V-neck T-shirt and faded cut-up jeans grabbed the hand of the scrawny woman wearing denim shorts that were barely visible under a loose black sleeveless shirt with the words ‘I like to have fun’ scrawled across it in bright pink.
The woman pulled her hand away from the guy and muttered a bored ‘hey’ to Elena before plodding away while drawing her hand through her long, curly—and slightly frizzy—blond hair.
“Did you guys get into a fight again?” Elena asked the guy, who was staring grumpily at the woman’s back.
“I don’t know what ticked her off this time.” The guy pushed the bangs of his straight, golden-brown hair back; the sides shaved. “She was fine just now.”
“You never know what’s going to tick her off.” Elena looked over her shoulder at the woman, then turned back to the guy. “Go after her and apologize.”
“For what?” The guy adjusted his sunglasses.
“Just say you’re sorry.” Elena gave the guy a push in the direction toward the yacht. “I want to clear the shoot in one day—today.”
“Looks like Jerome and Angel will be joining us as well,” Wayne said to him.
“And how do you know who’s who?”
“Because I don't spend all my time training.” Wayne grinned. “They were in a movie with her around a year back. I think there’s going to be a sequel.” He gave Jake a pat on the back before stepping next to Elena and placing his hand on her back. His touch directed Elena’s attention back toward the group.
Jake turned away and tilted his head to the side, stretching his neck. He wasn't sure why Wayne’s simple gesture was making him so uncomfortable.
“This is Austin Dowell and Kent Robinson.”
Jake inhaled deeply through his nose and held the air for a beat before exhaling again.
It irked him to hear Wayne introducing his team to Elena. Jake usually didn’t care that he was the captain or that it was his team to introduce.
Wayne had always been more sociable than he was, so Jake never cared when Wayne took over the entertaining. But with Elena, he’d never had a chance to do this. Because of the clause in his previous contract, he and Elena had to keep their relationship under wraps, so he didn't get to introduce her to his friends.
Elena hadn’t been the superstar that she was now, but he would still have been just as proud to have her as his girlfriend.
He smiled as he thought about all the time he’d spent with her. He’d been crazy about her then. He’d never been interested in anything else besides swimming. He spent every spare moment he had training or watching videos of his trainings to know what he did wrong and how he could improve.
Elena changed his life when she dropped into it.
He suddenly had someone to look forward to seeing after training, someone to look for at the stand when he emerged from the water. More than anything, he wanted to see her smiles. Winning became important only because he wanted to make her proud.
“And Jake, you already know.”
He turned back to Elena with the smile that was brought on by the stirring of his memories.
“Yes. I do know him.”
Him? He has a name. Jake’s smile slipped away, and he turned away, pretending to scan through his phone so no one could see him sulking.
“I’m going to say hi to the crew. I’ll see you later.” She tilted her torso to the side, then smiled and waved.
For a moment, Jake thought she was smiling and waving at him. And for a moment, he genuinely smiled. That was until he noticed her gaze never met his.
“See you guys later.”
Jake shook hi
s head and walked back toward his rented car.
“Where are you going?” Kent asked.
“I left something in my car.” He just needed to get away for a few minutes. He needed to clear his head.
“So, Jake.” Wayne came over and hooked an arm around his shoulders. “You and Elena weren’t serious, right?”
Jake shrugged Wayne’s arm off.
“Oh, come on. You already have a girlfriend.”
“If you want to go after her, then go ahead.”
“You’re talking about Elena, right? Not Carolyn.” Wayne grinned, then stepped back with his arms raised in peace.
Carolyn. Jake nodded. He already had Carolyn. He and Carolyn had grown up together, and she was a competitive swimmer as well. They’d known each other for a long time, and everyone they had met always thought they should be together.
“Great.” Wayne slapped him on his back and turned around. “I’ll go find Elena.”
Jake got into his car and closed the door harder than required. He took out his phone from his jeans’ pocket and twirled it in his hand. It was insane to be so affected by Elena. Perhaps it was just her Hollywood star effect. The rest of his team was tripping over themselves as well. Weren’t they?
He sighed. He hadn't even paid any attention to them.
Perhaps he just needed to hear Carolyn’s voice.
“Hey Jake, is everything all right?” Carolyn asked the moment she answered the call.
“Yeah. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
For a moment, there was silence on the other end. “Is everything all right? You’ve never called me for that before.”
He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “Everything’s fine.”
“Okay.”
Silence hung between the two of them, and Jake didn’t know how to continue the conversation. “I have to go.”
“Right, okay. You sure everything is all right?”
“Yeah. Everything is just fine.” He ended the call and repeated, “Everything is just fine.” Surely he could survive a day with his ex-girlfriend.
Chapter 2
When Jake got onto the luxury yacht, one of the production crew members was standing with the rest of his team.
“There he is,” Wayne said and cocked his head to the side. “Let’s go. They’re showing us where we can put our stuff.”
Jake scanned the deck and noticed Elena was nowhere in sight. A stocky black and white bird that was perched on the yacht’s metal railing squawked and flapped its wings, flying away as the yacht began moving.
Elena probably wished she could do that now.
Glancing back at the harbor, he couldn't help wondering why she accepted a job that was shot out at sea? Though he avoided all her movies, he’d seen her in posters and commercials everywhere. Surely she was popular enough to reject a commercial that required her to go out to sea.
“This way.”
He trotted behind the rest of his team, heading indoors. They went down the stairs and plodded along a narrow walkway that was only large enough for them to walk in a single file. They came to a stop outside a dark wooden door. “You can put your things in this room. There’s a bathroom inside and another one,” the female crew member jerked her thumb upwards, “upstairs.”
“Nice,” Wayne said as he stepped into the room.
“Jerome, Angel, and Elena are in the other rooms.”
“They get one room each?” one of his team members asked. “Doesn’t seem fair. There’s four of us.”
“Well, you won’t have much time to spend in the room,” the female crew member said. “The photoshoot will be up on the sun deck. You guys can look around for a bit or rest here while we set things up.”
Wayne emerged from the room and grinned just as Elena opened the last door at the end of the walkway. “Elena, I heard you get a room all to yourself.”
She glanced at them. “You guys have to share one?”
Wayne nodded. “Can I check out your room?”
Elena smiled and stepped aside for Wayne to enter. “I’m sure it’s the same as yours.”
Wayne whistled. “Yours is way bigger than ours.”
Austin and Kent dropped their bags in their room and went over to join Wayne in Elena’s.
“Thanks,” Jake said to the female crew member before heading into their designated room. He dropped his rugged black duffle bag on the polished white marble floor and headed back out. He couldn’t stop himself from peering into Elena’s room, and he clenched his jaws when he saw Wayne’s arm around Elena as they took a photo with a phone.
Wayne sure wasn’t wasting any time.
Austin and Kent joined in, taking photos both as a group and individually.
Wayne was near Elena the whole time, moving her about the room, telling her random anecdotes about Austin, Kent, and himself.
Jake tipped his head to the side, stretching his neck that was unusually stiff today. Unwilling to stand around and be tortured by the sight of Wayne with his arm around Elena, he headed out onto the stern.
The whole production crew seemed to be gathered there. Everyone was walking around, shifting things about.
Jake took a step to the side to avoid colliding with one of the crew members, only to knock into someone else. “Sorry.”
He didn’t want to stand around and block the people who were working, so he turned and headed back inside. He went up the stairs and onto the second deck, where he found a dark brown leather sofa.
Moving past the sofa, he peered into a room divided from this one by a white wall. In there was a long rectangular polished wood dining table and chairs with white leather cushions. Plates and utensils, enough for ten people, had already been set out.
“Mr. Owen, are you hungry? Lunch will be served in half an hour’s time.” A young woman in white shirt and black pants smiled at him. “But I can check if there’s anything I can get you from the kitchen.”
“No, it’s all right,” he said. “I’m just looking around.”
The young woman nodded and stepped away while he went on to the third deck. It was filled with bags and more equipment. He supposed the crew members had taken over this deck. He turned and headed back to the second deck. He stopped when he heard Elena’s laugh.
He smiled at that familiar sound. How he’d missed that. He shook his head and continued down the stairs just as Elena, with the rest of the swim team right behind her, came strolling toward the dining area.
“Jake,” Wayne said when he saw him. “Elena says there will be lunch.”
And again, Jake was irritated that Wayne was behaving as if he was Elena’s host.
“This is the first photoshoot I’ve done where the production crew hired a chef to prepare lunch,” Wayne added.
“It wasn’t the production crew.” Elena smiled. “Henry hired a chef. He was afraid we’d get hungry.”
Henry. She’d pronounced it the French way. On-ry instead of the usual Henry.
“Henry?” Wayne asked.
“He’s the owner of the yacht and the company that hired us for the commercial.”
“You know him well?”
Did Wayne actually sound jealous? Jake wanted to laugh at that. Yeah, you deserve it. He shouldn’t have to suffer through this alone. He frowned and swallowed. He wasn’t suffering. It didn’t matter if Elena was or wasn’t close to Henry, not to him anyway.
How old is this Henry anyway?
One of Elena’s shoulders twitched as she took her seat at the middle of the dining table. “I’ve met him a few times. This is the fifth year I’ve been the face of this brand.”
So? Jake had been the face of several brands, but he’d never met with the owners. He took his seat across the table from Wayne, who had settled himself next to Elena.
The rest of lunch continued in that mood. Everyone else was happy to be eating with a Hollywood star. They continued taking photo after photo, and Elena entertained all of them, answering all of their questions. Jerome show
ed up halfway through, but he wasn’t as enthusiastic about taking photos and answering questions, so the attention soon went back to Elena again.
Jake didn’t say much. His mood wavered between annoyance at Wayne finding every excuse to shift a little closer to Elena or brush his arm against hers, and frustration at himself for getting annoyed by Wayne’s actions.
Elena glanced over at him several times, but her gaze never lingered. It was as if she merely happened to look at him while her gaze was wandering. She never spoke directly to him either, but that could be because he didn’t direct any questions to her.
After lunch, he excused himself and went back to the swim team’s designated room. He didn’t want to get involved with whatever was going on outside. He didn’t go out even when he heard Wayne’s voice outside in the walkway.
He sat on one of the two single beds with white fitted sheets, scanning through his swim statistics in the recent Olympic games. The room, though way too small for the four of them, was more comfortable that the room he had stayed in while competing in the Olympic games.
He took his eyes off his phone and turned toward the door when he thought he heard someone shouting. He got off the bed and opened the door to see what was going on.
“Are you two hooking up?” A woman’s voice—not Elena’s—shouted again.
“No, Angel!” This time, it was a man’s voice. “Seriously. Just calm down.”
Jake didn’t recognize either of the voices. He walked over to the door of the room next to his. It had been left ajar, and he could see Elena inside.
Without stepping in, he pushed the door back to get a better view.
Elena was seated on the cushioned chair in front of the dresser, running her hand through her hair, while Jerome was seated on the edge of a king-size bed, looking up at Angel who was standing between Elena and him.
“Don’t lie to me!”
Elena glanced over at Jake before standing and walking closer to Angel. “Jerome and I were just chatting,” she said as she tipped her torso slightly forward, as if to get a closer look at Angel’s face.
Angel shoved Elena back, and Elena fell back against the chair with a gasp.