Page 25 of Totally Wrecked
Brooke blushes and mumbles something. As she does, that smarmy host, Harvey, walks out of the bunk room. “Did I hear it’s lunch?”
Immediately Brooke’s shoulders go rigid. “Excuse me,” she says, walking outside with her plate. Gray and I watch her go; her hips do have a very nice swing to them.
“Don’t think about trying to hit that,” Harvey says calmly, pushing his finger around the sandwich fixings.
“Sorry, what?” I say. Gray just folds his arms and frowns.
“Just setting some boundaries. That piece of ass is claimed.”
Gray is not looking happy. But then again, Gray rarely looks happy.
I’m more confused than anything, Harvey seems like a bit of a douchenozzle. What is someone as adorable as Brooke doing hooking up with him? It’s a turn off, to be honest. She a star-fucker?
The TV dude picks up a slice of cheese and looks at it unenthusiastically.
It’s a relief when Rex’s voice booms down the gangway. “Gray, engine room! Leander, helm!”
“Duty calls,” I say, and gesture to where the food is. “Put it back in the fridge when you are done.”
I follow Gray outside. I didn’t get to drink my coffee, but at least the self-induced pain in my head seems to be lessening. Why do I do this to myself?
Because it helps me forget, duh! Isn’t that the age-old reason for drinking? I’m always surprised Gray and Rex don’t get black-out like me.
Rex is waiting for us with his head poking out of the engine room.
“Why you hollerin’?” Gray asks.
“The blower system gauge is not working properly. I don’t want fumes to build up. Leander, can you cut the ignition?”
“Sure.” I head to the helm and turn the switch. “You in charge up here, Captain Keyara?” She giggles from her spot on a crate, and gives me a salute. I run back to the deck and poke my head in the engine room, “Need anything else?”
“Yeah. Radio ahead and let them know we’re dragging ass,” Rex says. “But it shouldn’t take too long to fix.”
I roll my eyes. That’s what he said the last time the system gauge was playing up. Took hours to fix it.
I’m not really complaining. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to even comprehend the idea of fixing something, rather than just tossing it out for something new. I haven’t drawn on my trust fund for a long time.
I like placing value on broken things, and even though this boat is a piece of junk, it gets us from A to B.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from the last few years?
Damage can be done in an instant, but repairing that damage will take a lot, lot longer.
DAISY
Igive it twenty minutes, then go back to the galley to dump my plate. Surely Harvey will have cleared out by now? But unfortunately, he’s still there.
“You avoiding me, Brooke?”
“Of course not,” I say, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
Of course I am.
“Thought you might have come and visited me last night. I guess the jet-lag was bad after all. Come down to the bunk room now,” he says, getting too much into my space. “We’re not going to get any more opportunities until after filming.”
I’d take a step back, but there is nowhere to go. “Err, my stomach is feeling terrible,” I say, “I think I might get seasick.”
Harvey frowns. “Sweetheart, when have you ever been seasick? You shouldn’t have been drinking last night.” He takes my hand. “We have a good thing going on—don’t mess things up.” The way he smiles as he says this is disturbing. As is the way he squeezes my hand while he talks, hard enough to make my bones grind together.
