6
Chapter Six
Jake stuck the card in his pocket and quickly turned to see Carlos holding the kitten aloft – amazement spread over a face totally shocked.
“It is against the rules, Señor.”
“Yes, I’m sure it is. However, the kitten is a stowaway. I never intended to bring it on board.”
“S’cusé. A stowaway? How can that happen?”
“On the dock, my garment bag wasn’t fully zipped, and the little beggar must have climbed inside and was brought on board and left in my closet.”
“Oh, no! This is not good.” Carlos shook his head; his rather protruding brown eyes took on a furtive gleam and stubbornness appeared as his teeth gnawed at his lower lip. “We’ve left the dock now so he cannot be taken back. It’s bad, sir. Others in the crew are callous about small rodents found on board.”
“He’s not a rodent, Carlos. He’s a cat.”
“Si. But to them, it won’t matter. We could be fired for allowing this to happen.”
“Then let’s not tell anyone. You and me, we’ll keep him hidden in here, and when we dock in a few days, we’ll find him a home. I feel it’s my fault he got in the bag. I was petting him, and I guess he saw the opening and decided to explore. We can keep this between us, right?”
“That might be impossible. There’re others who come in the room. People delivering your laundry or extra meals you order.” Carlos looked pained.
Jake could see the wheels turning as his steward tried to decide the best way to handle the crisis. Rather than letting him worry it to death, Jake took out his wallet and extracted a number of hundreds and handed them over. “Here, take this for bribe money in case you need to stop any of the others from saying anything. I’ll take full responsibility. We can keep this quiet, right? What do you say?”
Face brightening, Carlos carefully took the money and folded it into his pocket. “This will certainly help persuade the others if they happen to find out our secret. But as far as I can, I will do everything in this cabin myself; warn the rest of the staff that you don’t want to be disturbed by a lot of people. Between us, for a couple of days, I’m sure we can look after one little kitten, Señor, yes? When we land in Aruba, I will ask a friend in the crew who comes from there if he knows of a family or a place where we can leave our friend.”
“Perfect! Until then, I guess we need some food for him.”
All the while they’d discussed the kitten’s future, Carlos had been cuddling the little guy to his chest and the smart little bastard had behaved with perfect manners. As if he sensed his life hung in the balance, there was no clawing or growling.
As soon as Carlos handed him back to Jake and left to get some food for their new pet, the pest wriggled until Jake let him go. Then he squatted and peed on the rug.
***
Sometime later, Jake made ready to leave the suite. His stowaway roommate was fed, holed up in the bathroom, sleeping on a folded towel, a water dish nearby.
He’d almost decided to give himself a break for that night and stay where he was, but something drove him to head for the dining room. He had to see for himself if his female nemesis had followed him on board the ship rather than just invade his space with the stupid flowers he’d asked Carlos to remove.
The silly woman wouldn’t accept defeat no matter how he’d tried to let her down gently. Especially at the beginning of the relationship, she’d refused to take no for an answer. She’d wanted him, or according to her latest flood of email and text messages, she craved him, needed to be with him in order to breathe or some such nonsense that he’d stopped reading.
Even Leo, disgusted with this behavior, had become worried for his safety. “Man, this chick is unbalanced, bro. You better be careful. It’s another good reason for you to get out of Dodge for a while.”
Having previously put up an argument about leaving, this behavior had tipped the scales, her unhinged harassment the final straw. Plus, Leo’s constant nagging that he needed to rest and recuperate after the last harrowing months of work he’d dealt with, the break-ins and the close-call kidnapping, add the business with the bitch never letting up, and it all drove him into finally agreeing. “Okay, book me on a vacation. I don’t care where. Just get me luxury, peace and a beautiful setting so I can finish this job.”
“You got it, boss.”
“And enough with the boss bullshit. You’re my partner, you asshole, and don’t forget it.”
“Okay, boss. We’re partners. But I take orders from you and that puts you in front, see? My calling you by that title is just my way of showing respect.”
“Call me Jake, and I’ll feel just as respected.”
“Right. But you know what? I won’t feel that way, so drop it.”
Jake turned to his friend and grinned. “Yeah, okay bossy prick.”
Laughing, Leo left to come back an hour later, waving a glossy brochure and the tickets for the cruise.