Page 36 of Sail Away
Preston could be a real dick when he was sober, but drunk, he had a real knack for having diarrhea of the mouth and saying shit that just pissed people off. And he knew how to push Reid’s buttons, but he didn’t usually do it with Darcie. Actually, Preston almost never mentioned her, which Reid thought he did out of respect.
Now, he wondered why Preston did anything, considering he was in the middle of trying to steal the company.
“You can’t think straight when she’s around. You’re useless. And worse, you’re souring the mood with our team. They worked hard on this contract and you’re being a douchebag.”
“I’m just tired. It’s been a long day of drinking and being in the sun.” He held up his glass. “I’ll be more fun tomorrow.”
“You’re a bad fucking liar.” Preston clanked his glass. “She’s so far up your ass, she’s coming out your mouth. I don’t know what you see in her other than she’s hot. Does she give good head? Is she a really good fuck? Is that why you can’t get over her?”
“Just shut up. Don’t ever talk about her like that again, or I’ll beat the shit out of you.” Reid glanced over the railing, thankful he didn’t see Darcie, though it didn’t mean she hadn’t heard Preston’s hurtful words.
“She’s affecting your work.”
“Why would you say that now?” Reid asked.
“Seriously? You’ve done nothing but screw up since she walked out of your life. Hell. It started the second she came into it. And you’ve left me holding the bag.”
There was no denying Preston was absolutely correct in his observation. But what puzzled Reid was why Preston randomly brought it up on their vacation.
“It’s been a year. The time to be concerned about it affecting our business was about nine months ago. But you said nothing. You literally told me to take all the time I needed.”
“I wanted to give you some space. You were in pretty bad shape when she dumped you. It looks like you’re still not capable of giving me and the company your all.”
“It was a mutual breakup,” Reid corrected Preston, though he had no idea why he thought that was important. “And you have nothing to worry about when it comes to where my headspace is at.”
“You’re drooling,” Preston said. “You’re practically foaming at the mouth, you want her so bad. It’s pathetic, and to be frank, man, I don’t see what makes her so fucking special that you act like you want to blow your damn brains out. Everyone on the team is commenting on it. They are all worried about you. They have totally seen a change in you just since we walked on this boat. One even asked me if we should be putting away the alcohol.”
“Now that’s ridiculous. You’re the drunk one, and it’s clouding your judgment.” If only Preston could understand that he was the root cause of Reid’s foul mood, not Darcie. If anything, she made the entire situation bearable.
“Not even close,” Preston said. “To the judgment part. The drunk part, yeah. I’m there.”
“Maybe you should put down both the alcohol and what’s coming out of your mouth because you’re going to regret this in the morning.”
Reid took a swig of his whiskey. He had a decent buzz going, but he’d kept his drinking to a minimum. He wanted to be fresh for when he had access to the Wi-Fi. Of course, he ran the risk that someone at the office would notice him poking around inside the email accounts, contracts that weren’t his, and whatever else he could get his hands on.
But it was a risk he had to take.
“I highly doubt that. The only regret I will have is not having the energy to hit on that hot Anastasia. Damn, that chick has an ass. And her tits. I bet those babies are real,” Preston said.
“Have you ever loved a woman, Preston? The kind of love that makes your heart beat a little faster and your palms go all sweaty and reminds you of that very first time you realized that feeling was what you lived for?”
“Are you talking about thrill-seeking or fucking? Because it sounds like they are one and the same to me.”
“Of course you would think that.” Reid didn’t know why he bothered. Maybe, once they hit dry land, he should just call Preston on his shit and draw the battle lines.
Fuck. He couldn’t do that. Not if Preston had gone full-court press already with the manufacturing of a product that hadn’t been tested and could potentially cause more harm than good if it didn’t do what they said it would.
He had to figure this out. Protect himself before departing. There were things in the company that Reid was damn fucking proud of.
And he wanted them.
“You’re the expert on love,” Preston said. “Did you know Hans didn’t randomly call me up last minute?”
Reid’s breath caught in his throat. He coughed. “No. I had no idea.”
“This charter is last minute. I got lucky the boat was available. I paid a pretty penny for it. But the team and I always planned on meeting with Hans. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to include you.” Preston let out a short breath that sounded like a slight laugh.
“What does Hans want to do now? Was the jump at Deception Pass supposed to be for him? Were we helping him do something crazy?”
