Page 27 of Forbidden Whispers

The bartender and the other man exchanged a glance, then looked back at Noah.

“Like, nothing?” said the man.

Noah shook his head.

“I’m not too surprised, bro,” said the bartender. “You took a pretty hard punch.”

“From who?” Noah asked, but Maggie laid a hand on his arm.

“Why don’t we introduce ourselves first?” she said, and extended her hand. “I’m Maggie.”

The two men shook her hand in turn and introduced themselves. The bartender was Eduardo and the other man introduced himself as Dante. Dante explained that he was in charge of social media for the cruise company.

“So, how did you meet Noah last night?” Maggie asked.

Dante broke into another of his wide grins. “He was on our cruise last night, and he was super friendly. Life of the party! He was dancing the night away with the entire crowd, including his date, who was one very smokin’ hot, er...” He broke off and looked apologetically at Maggie.

She waved a hand, urging him to continue.

“Anyway, he danced a lot. And when he wasn’t dancing, he was up making music with them.” Dante indicated the band with a lift of his chin. “He had the whole place rockin’! I got some unbelievable photos and videos. We got so much action on Instagram and TikTok, my boss was singing my praises all morning. It was awesome!”

“So, where did the hard punch come in?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, so the punch,” said Eduardo, who had just returned to them after serving drinks to several people. “It was literally the end of the night. These two rough-looking dudes showed up and started trying to manhandle your lady.” Eduardo shook his head. “It was clear that she didn’t want anything to do with them, and people all around you were starting to notice. Our bouncer was just moving toward you all when you suddenly stepped in front of your lady and shoved one of the guys back, telling him to keep his hands to himself.”

“The way that guy looked at you?” Dante added with lifted brows and a shake of his head. “Man, if looks could kill...”

“What happened next?” Maggie asked.

“Pandemonium,” said Eduardo.

Dante nodded his agreement.

“Pandemonium?” said Noah.

“Yeah,” said Dante. “The guy you pushed hauled off and punched you in the face. You literally spun in a circle, man, and hit the floor like a dropped kettlebell. Your lady was screaming and swearing at the dudes. And the crowd, well, they went nuts. I mean, they loved you. You’d been making music for them and dancing with them all night, so they started attacking the dudes.

“Yeah, the crowd jumped them!” Eduardo added.

“But somehow, in the chaos, the two guys got away,” Dante said.

“And me?” said Noah.

“You were really out of it, man. So, Eduardo called for an ambulance. It took you straight to the hospital, and your lady said she’d follow in the car.”

“Wow,” Noah said, plopping down onto a barstool. “I can’t believe I don’t remember any of this.”

“Hey, I got pictures and video!” Dante said. “Lots of ’em. Maybe they’ll jog your memory.” He pulled out his phone and made a few taps on the screen, then opened the cruise line’s Instagram feed and handed Noah his phone.

Maggie hopped onto the stool beside him, and together, they watched a series of short videos, including several of Noah doing some crazy dancing with Valentina.

“You’ve really got the moves, bro!” Dante interjected as he also peered over Noah’s shoulder.

Another video showed Noah leading the crowd in a line dance. Then he was up on the stage belting out love songs and encouraging the crowd to sing along.

There were several still shots as well, and Noah scrolled through the images. Maggie lightly touched his arm again. “Wait, Noah. Did you see that? Go back!”

He went back a couple of images and stopped when Maggie pointed at the screen. “Look there!”

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