Page 37 of The Bosun

At least they didn’t seem to know about my extracurricular activities. Maybe that meant Ophelia wouldn’t know either.

“It’s fine,” I told them before I took a long drink of my coffee. Dean had put my favorite creamer in it, so I knew instantly with that one taste he’d meant to set up that trap so he could give me shit for the day.

“Outside crew, I want everyone up on deck in ten minutes. Captain Dan informed me our weather conditions are optimal for leaving the dock so let’s make their last day aboard the best with all the water toys, including the slide. Before that, let’s make sure everything looks like the day they boarded.”

Scout and Owen let out a low moan, and I understood because it sucked hard dealing with the slide. I also knew we wanted to give them a day to remember so our tip would be fat.

“We’re working for our tip,” Owen said as he slipped from his seat. He was probably going to have a cigarette before he had to start working for the day.

“We’re going to make it their best day yet. Maybe we can still get in their beach picnic.”

“Yes, I’ll talk to the Captain and see if he can anchor us near one of the secluded beaches.” I looked to the two girls to see what they thought, but they were too busy staring at Dean’s ass as he cooked.

“Chef, do you still have provisions for a picnic lunch on the beach?” I hid a grin, knowing he probably already had the menu down for the whole day and hated it when anyone changed it.

Dean looked over his shoulder and glared at me. “Ifthat’s what we’re going to do, I’ll chat with the ladies and see what they’d like and go from there.”

“That’s fine with me. I’ll go speak to the Captain now and let everyone know.” Taking my plate over to the sink, I rinsed it before I headed upstairs with the hope I’d be lucky to see Stella.

I got my wish, but not the way I wanted it. I was close to the bridge when I heard Ophelia talking. I almost turned and went the other way to avoid her when I caught what she was saying.

“Since we didn’t get to finish talking yesterday, I wanted you to know you should stay away from Remy.” Stella opened her mouth to speak, but O kept on talking. “I know you only have today, but I thought you should know it’s all a game to him. We’ve been together for the last two years, and nothing you can do will change that.”

What the hell was she going on about? I moved so they wouldn’t be able to see me, but I’d be able to watch them.

“So,” Stella drew out the word, tilting her to the side, “you let your boyfriend cheat on you as part of some game. To me, that sounds like you’re the one losing.”

She would be if we were actually together, which we never had been.

Stepping forward, I wanted to tell Stella not to believe O, but the inside crew girls started to head in their direction, and I didn’t want them to find out.

“Ladies,” I called out to them, hoping to break up Stella and O’s little rendezvous in the hall, “have a good day.”

“You too, Remy. If you need anyone to talk to, you can always come to talk to me.” Kylie gave me a sad smile.

Ophelia’s head whipped around like she was possessed by Medusa after overhearing Kylie’s words.

God only knew what she was thinking or what she’d say to poor Kylie now.

I hated that Kylie likely thought something bad had happened, going by the smile she gave me. In reality, the secret was the time I’d spent with Stella last night, but I couldn’t tell her until Stella and her friends were off the boat. I could already imagine the looks on their faces when they realized I’d let them think something horrible was most likely happening at home. If they knew anything about my life, they’d know I hadn’t spoken to anyone in my family for over three years.

For the next few hours, I tried to get Stella alone when I was free from work, but it seemed the world had different plans for us. Maybe we were only meant to have one night and few stolen moments on the Seas the Day, but I wanted to at least explain before I never saw her again.

Stella tried her best to not be alone with me, and she must have told her friends what had happened because every time they saw me, they tried to murder me with their eyes.

What had Ophelia said?

The girls huffed in frustration as we all lugged the table, chairs, a makeshift bar, and food. The sun was out in full force today, and the humidity was slowly killing all of us. I wasn’t sure if the guests would enjoy it now that we were setting up.

Ophelia looked around to assess the environment. “I think we’re going to need to bring a tent for them to sit under, or they’re going to melt while they eat.”

Nodding in agreement, I looked back at Seas the Day. “If we had power, I’d bring a couple of fans, but a generator would ruin the ambiance.”

“We could always fan them ourselves. That should earn us a good tip if you haven’t already done that for us, Remy,” Ophelia’s face twisted up as she spoke.

“He’s only doing what was asked of him by the guests. You should be thankful he’s taken quite of bit of the load off us,” Jolene shot back.

“Really? Is sticking his dick in one of the clients what’s best for us? Remy was only thinking with his dick and not thinking about how it would affect us. If he had, we wouldn’t be setting up this little excursion for them as a last-minute effort.”

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