Page 122 of Mark

“Get lost, Mark.”

“Look, we both made the decision to go in there.”

“I’m pretty sure you dragged me in by my hand,” I growl.

His eyebrows pinch together. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I snap.

“But you were all over me,” he replies.

“You were kissing me,” I point out.

“So this is all my fault?” he mutters sarcastically.

“Yes. All of it. I asked to go back to my cabin but you wouldn’t listen. You dragged me in there. You were the reason we couldn’t get out. You were the reason I didn’t eat. And then you had the nerve to put all the blame on me.”

“What did you do?” Charlotte asks, her eyes wide when I turn to her.

I jerk my thumb in his direction. “He ended up getting us trapped in the supply closest. Then when we were caught, and were sent to the captain’s office, he didn’t admit the truth. No, this fucker threw me under the bus instead.”

“Oh Mark. Why would you do that?” Lily asks softly.

“I was trying to save us from being thrown in the brig.”

“Wait, that’s a real thing?” Charlotte murmurs.

“Did you not go on the tour?” Hayden asks her.

“There was a tour?”

“No, not until Hayden manipulated one of the higher ups to take her,” Clay replies as he takes a seat.

“How did you get out of trouble?” Drew asks.

Mark snorts. “Uncle Max had five get-out-of-jail-free cards with the captain.”

“Boy!”

I startle at the sound of Max before glaring at Mark. “Why did you have to summon him?”

Hayden chuckles. “He’s not Bloody Mary,” she muses.

“No, he’s worse,” I remark.

“I had things I wanted to do. Now you’ve ruined it all,” Max snaps when he reaches our table. “How could you?”

“What did he do?” Charlotte questions.

“I have two get-out-of-jail-free cards left because this one took one,” he barks.

“Look, it was that or the brig,” Mark argues. “I chose freedom.”

Max points to his chest. “I had things I wanted to do.”

“And what exactly were those things?” his wife asks, her eyes narrowed on her husband.

He stands up straighter, his complexion paling. “I just meant they were a safety net. You know I don’t go looking for trouble. It always finds me.”

---