Page 77 of Mr. Bad News

"Someone needs to tell him that because he thinks what he's doing is completely normal." Linc shakes off his tension and pulls over a plate of fruit he put together for us. The two of us may not spend much time together during the day but since he wakes up as early as I do we've been meeting to chat at breakfast. It's typical now that we both share the same plate.

"Honestly, I don't think anyone telling him will break him out of it. Just my opinion but he needs to see it for himself. All you guys can do is support him. Maybe there's something happening behind the scenes that none of ya'll know." I take a small bite of a honey dew melon, the juices splashing on my tongue make me close my eyes in joy.

"You keep moaning and going on like that I'm going to need to leave."

When I look at him again, Linc is staring at me with a grin on his face and a playful twinkle in his eyes. He may not pressure me but he's made a few comments about how attractive he thinks I am. I'm not sure if he's going for the long game but I hope not.

I pick up a fresh piece of honey dew and toss it at him, "Shut up. This is probably the best part of my day. I love the fruits and coffee that they have onboard."

Linc's body tenses up again, maybe I offended him in some way.

"Best part of your day huh?"

I nod tilting my head slightly trying to figure out why the sudden mood shift.

"Ella, let me ask you something. This Percy, would you say he's the type to go after what he wants. Determined? Maybe a little over the top?" The words come out in his normal tone but his face is still hard.

"Yeah, for sure. The man's never met a problem he didn't want to fix."

"So not the type to give up, then."

"No, not at all but why are you asking me this?"

He looks away quickly before he looks back at me, "Well Ella I have some bad news."

Now it's my turn to be tense. My insides bunch up like someone is twisting my guts into knots. "What? What's wrong?"

Linc leans forward as if what he's about to tell me is a secret. I follow his motion. "I can't tell for sure but I'm thinking your Percy is standing behind you."

I snap back in my seat and blink a few times. The knots in my gut quickly dissolving into liquid fear. I force out a laugh, "Very funny, that's not nice Linc." The words are wobbly when they come out of my mouth.

"I'm not joking. Either that man is insane or he's Percy because he looks like he's going to come over here and rip my head off." With a twist of his lip a small smirk appears.

"Don't play. Are you serious? Linc, stop it!" I hiss, my body trembling violently at the thought of Percy standing behind me.

"Not playing. If he continues to stare at me like this for much longer we're going to have to fight."

I can't turn around. My body physically will not turn in any direction. My lungs have stopped taking in air and I feel a flop sweat starting. Suddenly the sun is too hot, the wind is too harsh and the smell of the ocean makes me want to vomit.

Maybe he's wrong, maybe it's just a crazy person like Linc thinks. Someone who thinks I'm their girlfriend and once I look they'll go away. It's not possible for Percy to be here. He doesn't even know where I am. I build up enough courage to turn my head so I can look over my shoulder.

Piercing green eyes catch mine the second I turn around and there's no mistaking it. That's Percy and he's pissed.

"Oh crap, crap crap crap!" I squeal and grab hold of the tables edge. "I know I asked you before but I'm going to try again. Please make me invisible. I'm invisible. He didn't see me. I'm invisible." I mutter to myself, praying that this time my request will be taken seriously.

"What? Are you really making a wish right now? You're not invisible Ella and he's already on his way. You want me to tell him to fuck off?" Linc asks quickly. I know that will just make things worse.

"No, I'll deal with him. I got it." I stand up and Linc does the same. Just before Percy gets to us Linc steps out and I turn just in time to see the two of them stare eachother down for a second.

"Ella, hit me up if you need to." Linc says before he walks away leaving me and Percy alone. We may be in the middle of a crowd of people but it feels like every last one of them has evaporated now that Percy is standing right in front of me.

My body doesn't know what to do. Part of me wants to jump on him and beg him to take me right here on the table but there's another part of me that wants to push his ass overboard.

"Ella, we need to talk." Percy basically growls out.

I have no reason to be afraid, I've done nothing wrong. After all it was him who broke up with me.

"No we don't. I don't know what you think you're doing here but I have nothing to say to you Percy. Leave me alone." I grab my wallet off the table and try to walk away from him.

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