“He’s got a point, Seth.” Bryce said. “How do we get around that?”
I smiled when I thought of a way. It was easy. I mean, we were us. How could we have not thought about it sooner? “By simply upstaging him, of course. They know we’re better. We just have to remind them. Stage one: competition.”
Dirk and Bryce smiled. Of course they were onboard. It would have been easy for us and we all started to walk over there.
“Well, good morning.” I said in a well-played good mood. “Beautiful day, is it not?”
“I’d say you’re right, Seth. It is a delectable day.” Bryce replied.
“Most definitely. Do you mind?” Dirk asked as he held out his hand towards the seating arrangement.
There was a pause. Everyone was kind of confused by our demeanor but they never mentioned a thing.
“Of course not.” Jinx answered. He and the girls repositioned themselves to kindly make room for us.
Dirk smiled. “Oh, good.”
We sat down on the edges and took off our shoes before standing back up and taking our shirts off. It was nice out so it didn’t seem that weird that we were like this and we sat down to get comfortable.
“So, been out here long?” I asked.
“No.” Cadence replied. “Are you all right?”
“Why do you always ask me that? Of course we’re all right. Aren’t we all right, guys?”
“Yeah, sure. Absolutely.” Bryce said.
“One hundred percent.” Dirk added. “Never better.”
“Well, good.” Lana said rather oddly. “I guess a good night’s rest really did something for you.”
“That could have been it.” Dirk smiled as he put his arm around Lana but she still had that look on her face like she’s never seen him this happy before.
It was funny and I got away from laughing about it by starting up conversation. “So, what do we have planned today? Any pre-scheduled activities planned or shall we just wing it. That’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten, you know? It changed my life.”
There was another one of those pauses like they were just trying to figure us out but no one seemed to know what to say.
“No?” Bryce wondered. “No one has any ideas? Well, let me think here as I do recall someone mentioning all the great times we’d have out here, so let’s work with that for a minute.”
“Do you dive?” Jinx asked.
I looked at Dirk and Bryce then laughed. “Do we dive? We grew up in a place with nothing but waterfalls and fresh water springs to jump into. So, of course we can dive. We can do anything.”
“Then prove it. That is—if you think you’re man enough to outplay me.”
This was perfect. Game on.
“Oh. You don’t think we’re man enough, do you?” Dirk wondered. “Well, this is an opportunity I wouldn’t even dream of passing up.”
He stood up but Lana took his hand and pulled him back. “Dirk, no.”
“It’s fine, Lana. We’re just having fun besides, I’m not letting him get out of a challenge that easily.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Jinx smiled as he stood up on the bed and hopped over the back of it. “So, are we doing this alone or are you in?”
Bryce and I looked at each other and got right up.
“Yeah, we are.” I said.
Cadence sighed. “Come on you guys. I know what you’re doing and this isn’t necessary.”
“Oh, I think it is.” I said.
“Don’t worry.” Jinx added. “I’ll go easy on them but you three have to be the judges.”
“Okay, what do we have to do?” Naomi asked as she laid down on her stomach facing the pool.
“Naomi!” Cadence shouted. “Don’t encourage this!”
“Oh, come on, Cadence. Let them have their fun. Tell me what we’re doing, Jinx!” Cadence sighed but her and Lana joined Naomi facing the pool.
“All right. We each take a turn diving and you judge us for our efforts with a score of one to ten, ten being the highest but don’t play favorites because, well, that’s not fair to them.” I shared a look with Dirk and Bryce because of Jinx’s comment and we lightly nodded to each other to what this was really about. “Then by the end of three rounds, we’ll see who’s best.”
Lana sighed and put her head down. “This is going to be bad.”
“You have no idea.” Cadence replied.
“But first.” Jinx added as he turned to us. “Care to take your test run?”
“No.” Dirk cut in. “We’re ready.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
“Let’s just do it.” Bryce said.
Jinx laughed to himself. “All right then. You’re up.”
Bryce gave Jinx an evil look as he turned toward the ladder and started climbing up to the platform.
“This one is on the record, ladies!” Jinx shouted. “Keep a sharp eye!”
Bryce stood at the edge of the platform and looked down into the pool. It wasn’t that much higher than one of the waterfalls we’ve always jumped off of back at the mountain palace, about twenty feet. He stood ready and took a deep breath while Dirk and I waited below and encouraged him.
“Come on, Bryce.” I said, clapping my hands together a few times.
“Yeah, show him what diving looks like.” Dirk added.
Bryce smiled then took a leap off the platform. He fell into a single somersault then a half twist, landing head first, straight down into the water with his arms extended forward.
There was virtually no splash whatsoever and I smiled while looking at Jinx. “We’re the ones that are going to make you regret it.”
“It’s not over yet.” Jinx muttered.
Bryce climbed out of the pool and the girls held up both their hands, revealing his score. Cadence gave him a seven, Lana also gave him a seven and Naomi gave him an eight.
He wasn’t happy. “Twenty-two? You’ve got to be kidding me. It was better than that.”
“Not according to the judges and that’s us.” Naomi said.
“Fine. I’ve got better ones.”
“Then show us.
“Oh, I will.”
“Can’t wait.”
Bryce smiled and they shared a kiss before he walked back to us.
“Well, done.” Jinx said. “Who’s next?”
“I am.” Dirk stepped to the ladder next and started climbing up to the platform. He reached the top and walked out to the edge. He looked down at the pool before turning his back to it and facing the other direction.
“Ooh, tricky.” Jinx muttered.
Dirk bent at the knees and did a back flip off the platform, falling into a two and a half twist and landing head first, straight down into the pool with his arms extended forward.
It was pretty amazing. Bryce and I nodded at each other and smiled as Dirk swam to the edge of the pool in front of the girls and climbed out, waiting for his score. Cadence gave him an eight, Lana gave him a nine and Naomi gave him an eight. Dirk didn’t say anything. He mentally took his score of twenty-five and walked back to us.
“Nice one.” I said.
“Of course. You’re next.”
I stepped to the ladder and started to climb up to the platform. I wasn’t nervous. I was ready for this. I stood just in front of the ladder facing forward and got a running start. I did a single forward handspring off the platform and fell into a double somersault, single twist and landed head first straight down into the water with my arms extended out. It felt amazing and I’m sure it looked just as amazing. I mean, I’m the one that did it so of course it looked amazing.
I swam to the edge of the pool and saw my score. Cadence gave me a nine, Lana gave me a ten and Naomi gave me a nine.
“See if you can beat that.” I said to Jinx.
“Oh, I know I can.” He stepped to the ladder and started to climb up to the platform.
He reached the top and did a handstand on the edge of the platform facing away from the pool. He bent
his arms so his head was almost touching the platform then quickly pushed off, flipping backwards and falling into a double somersault with two and a half twists and landing in a head first straight position with his arms extended forward.
We were actually impressed as Jinx climbed out of the pool by the girls but of course we wouldn’t react. It would only spark him to say something and we didn’t need that yet. Cadence gave him a ten, Lana also gave him a ten and Naomi gave him a nine.
“It looks like round one belongs to me. Still wish to continue?”
“You bet.” Bryce walked to the ladder and started to climb up to the platform again. “This one has potential to take round two.”
He walked out to the edge of the platform and turned his back to the water. He slightly bent his knees as he jumped backwards into one and a half somersault pike with a half twist, landing head first in a straight position with his arms extended out.
It was incredible and the girls only proved it by giving him a score of all tens. “Now that’s more like it! You can’t do any better than that!”
“Yes, well, you’ve clearly have taken the second round but let’s take this last one to the next level.” Jinx replied.
“How?” I asked.
Jinx didn’t answer but he did smile and look up.
“Jinx, no.” Cadence said as she got off the bed and walked over. “They’re not doing that.”
Lana and Naomi got up as well and walked over but I was still considering it. Jinx had looked to the mast hanging fifty feet over the pool and I wasn’t scared.
“Up there?” Dirk wondered as he pointed.
“Yeah.”
“No.” Lana said as she put her hand on Dirk’s chest to stop him from moving. “Jinx, call it off.”
“Can’t. It’s already been played. If they refuse, they’ll be forfeiting and the third round is mine, giving me the win.”
“We’re in.” I replied.
“No, they’re not.” Cadence said as she stepped in between me and Jinx. “Drop it right now.”
“It’s fine.” I told her.
“No! Jinx, I won’t let you do this.”
“It’s not really up to me anymore. They’ve decided it.”
“But you can stop it.” Naomi cut in. “So do it!”
“Well, that wouldn’t be very good for them. You’re taking away their chance to prove themselves, you know?”
“I don’t care.” Naomi said as she stepped closer to him and got right in his face. “Call it off.”
Jinx looked over at Cadence and Lana while they waited for his response. He sighed and was about to reply but a member of the crew reached the top of the stairs and called out to him. “Captain! Forgive me but your presence is requested.”
Jinx nodded and looked at us with a smile. “Saved for the day. We’ll continue this some other time. Ladies.” He slightly bowed his head and Cadence stepped closer to him.
“Thank you.” They embraced and kissed each other on the cheek. Jinx just smiled and nodded as he turned and walked away from the pool to where he was needed.
“Well, that was fun.” Bryce said, breaking the silence. “But I think I’d like to take a break for now and just sun dry.”
We agreed and we went back over to the bed and laid on it under the sun for the remaining of the day. We didn’t see Jinx at all after that and got to go to bed without another word from him. He was beat. We won and we basked in the glory of it.
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.
Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) Page 10