I looked at his eyes, the storm of tension swelling as he seemed to think about the situation. If I gave him any more reason to leave, I had to believe he would. Another dirty girl trick landed on my tongue. I needed him to feel like it was us against them, and that I was for sure on his team no matter what. I hated to use it, but I needed to tip him into my favor; it might be the only way. “Which is why I had Marc call you,” I said. “I couldn’t do this without you, and I didn’t want to leave it to Blake. I’m sorry I hid him from you. I just didn’t want to fight in front of the boys.” I lowered my head. “I sort of failed at that.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was sick below,” I said. “Raven left me alone. He had to, because he needed to find someone to help. Avery or Doyle must have been listening and alerted Blake that I was in trouble. He checked on me, gave me some medicine...but then Brandon discovered him and attacked him.”
Axel growled, his hand on the table balling into a fist. “They’re listening? Now? I thought it was just Avery.”
“Doyle’s monitoring. I think he pipes in information to Avery and Blake, or he can get them to listen to us on the ship wherever we are. I can see why they’d need to for the mission, but…” I didn’t want to say the next part, that I wasn’t sure if I trusted them to listen in on every little thing we did, including possibly right now while we were having this discussion.
He huffed, his lips twisting. He didn’t like this news at all. “I’d wondered about this. I’d told the boys…” He trailed off, although I had a feeling he might have told the guys to not talk about the Academy or anything too private if they weren’t sure about being overheard here. Maybe that was why Raven went through the room.
“I demanded Brandon let me tell you first. I had meant to first thing but then I was sick.” I grabbed his shoulder, clutching at his blue polo. “We need to be here. If I’d left, Blake was going to be in charge of an operation that could affect a good portion of Charleston. Thousands of jobs could be gone in a flash if things go wrong. If I’m a co-lead, at least nothing happens until we can both agree to terms. Maybe...maybe that will be enough to turn things in our favor. We could make sure no one is hurt, and that innocent people keep their jobs.”
Axel blinked at me, looking at my hand on his shoulder for a second and then refocusing on me. “I should take you off this boat right now,” he said.
I started to shake my head when his hand lifted from the table and he planted a single finger across my lips. “Don’t...” I mumbled against his touch.
“But I get why you agreed to this,” he said. “If we’re going to make this work, we need our own objectives. I’ve got a few more requests.”
I stared at him, imploring him to go on since I didn’t want to mumble against his fingers again.
He moved his hand, drifting it over to the side of my neck to hold there. “The first one is if Blake doesn’t listen to you, and if Ethan does try to sweep things under the rug to his own ends instead of fixing them, that you leave with us. There’s not much point for you to be here if they are going to make you an accessory in their own plans.”
Sounded reasonable. If neither listened when the time came, then he was right. “What else?”
“I need to talk to Blake and Doyle. I need to know what they’re doing and what their role is going to be.”
I resisted the urge to gulp at this. Would it be a good idea to get Blake and Axel together? I didn’t know if Doyle could hear Axel talking quietly like this, with music playing. That is, if he was awake this early at all. Still, they were going to run into each other eventually. Hopefully Axel wasn’t going to threaten them too much. “And?”
“You and I are joined at the hip now,” he said. “While we’re on this boat, we need to stick together.”
“What about Raven and the others?”
He bent forward until his forehead was close to mine and the storm in his eyes almost overtook me. “From this point on,” he said very slowly, every word expressed in his stoic, calm way, “you and I are to never get out of arm’s reach of each other on this boat. Those are my terms. We don’t proceed without agreeing to this. There are many reasons, but one being if Ethan or Blake come to you to talk about what to do, then I want to be there. No more whisking you off ahead of the others to get you alone. No secret meetings.”
Did I need Axel to be at my elbow every minute? Did he not trust me to make the decisions? Maybe this was to test me, too. It was on the tip of my tongue to argue a point of some sort, to defend my reasons for being the one to make decisions, but after I’d made so many mistakes before, maybe he was right. He might stop me from shooting anyone else in the leg if I got angry, among other things. Plus, I didn’t have much of a choice.
I lowered my head, looking at the smooth white cloth of his pants. “I agree,” I said.
With his hand holding the side of my neck, his thumb stretched out to the side of my jaw. With a gentle pressure, he lifted my head. When I was looking at him, his palm slid down to my neck again. It was a warm touch and the storm in his eyes had calmed. “I’m not here to tell you what to do,” he said. “I just can’t stand by and let anyone use you, most importantly for their own gain without any regard for anyone else...including your safety. Going through with this means if the police ever catch wind of this, you’ll be in the middle, and will likely go down with them. You need to seriously consider what you’re about to do. ”
I didn’t think Ethan or Blake would do anything to draw the attention of the police. Still, I appreciated the warning from Axel, especially about something I hadn’t had time to consider yet. “So what do we do?” I asked.
His thumb glided along my neck. “I need to go find the boys before they kill each other over this little secret you’ve been keeping.”
I slumped a bit. I wondered if Brandon had gotten word to the rest of them. I could imagine his protests. What about Marc? And Kevin? Would they urge Axel to walk away now? “Can I make a request?” I asked.
“What?”
“Do I really have to be there when that happens?”
WITH US OR AGAINST US
Despite my protests of not wanting to talk to the boys together, Axel was unrelenting. I had to face the music.
Axel made a request to Avery to get a boardroom to ourselves to talk. Avery had called the others in as he showed Axel and I the way there.
Avery’s idea of a boardroom was actually more like a lounge. It was really a big space with lots of leather sofas, coffee tables and a fireplace around the perimeter. The wall panels were wood and there was a small bar to one side. He probably wanted to keep us comfortable and happy.
Although if this was a rich person’s cruise ship, then would they have regular office boardrooms, or lounge-like rooms?
Avery had opened the door for Axel and I, but then left quickly, saying he had some things to do. I shared a short look with him. I wondered if he knew what I was doing, because his expression was sympathetic, like for a crewmember ordered to walk the plank.
The other guys had beat us to the room. Brandon was standing by the fireplace, his arms folded across his chest. His face was red, looking like he was about to light himself on fire with how angry he was. He had changed clothes and was now in all black, slacks and a light jacket over a shirt, and for some reason, his dark outfit made him look even meaner.
Corey and Raven were sitting on a sofa. Corey was fiddling with his cell phone, wearing tan corduroy pants and a black jacket like Brandon’s. The lines of the corduroy made his legs look even longer. Raven was in the same brown long sleeve shirt he had been wearing earlier, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at the coffee table in front of him. From the way they weren’t talking, I had a feeling they’d argued and now were only sitting together because they had to.
Kevin was in an armchair, his legs crossed at the ankle as he slumped down low. He didn’t appear angry, just confused and bored with waiting.
Marc was next
to him in another armchair. There were deep circles under his mismatched eyes and his head was back as he looked at the ceiling. He wore the same jeans and black boots as the night before. I hoped he hadn’t been up all night.
The further we got in the room, the more I positioned myself behind Axel, trying to make him my shield.
“Close the door, Kayli,” he said, giving away my position.
I cringed and went to shut the door, eliminating my only quick means of escape. I breathed out slowly and then swallowed my fears. Axel wouldn’t let Brandon talk him into leaving just because he didn’t like Blake. Corey was on my side. I’d let Axel do the talking as much as possible. I pulled myself together and then stepped beside Axel to join in on this conversation.
Corey put his phone away. Marc and Kevin sat up. Raven was the only one who didn’t move, except for his eyes that were now focused on Axel.
Unfortunately it was Brandon who I made eye contact with first as I looked around the room. This set him off. He stepped forward, his arms stiff at his sides, hands turning into fists. His usual sad eyes were now blazing with hurt. It killed me to see him like that. “So she told you?” he said in an almost shout at Axel. “Tell me we’re leaving the ship now before it sails.”