10. BLUE
BLUE
Thoughts of tomorrow were still far away yesterday, yet somehow the day came too quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to board the Deep Blue.
We packed in a rush after sleeping in. We hadn’t been given any more information, only that we had to be at the marina by ten in the morning. I wish I could say the anxious feeling from last night had disappeared, but it only worsened with every minute, making my heartbeat climb higher.
We were only a few steps from the yacht, dragging our suitcases behind us. The wheels caught on the pebbles, forcing us to pull harder until they finally rolled onto the smooth stone tiles of the marina.
In front of the yacht, two men in suits were already waiting while a bald man directed them to load suitcases and white boxes of food onto the boat.
My stomach tightened as my gaze moved from the yacht to the horizon.
In daylight it was a little easier to look at, but knowing there was nothing beyond it except open sea made nausea creep up my throat.
I stopped halfway. The color drained from my face, and Isabella turned to me.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “What if the yacht sinks and we all die?”
She rolled her eyes. “The chances of that are one in a million.”
I nodded and stepped closer to her.
As we continued towards the yacht, the bald man waved us over, pointing to the narrow bridge connecting the dock to the boat.
We are here. We are officially here.
“You two arrived just in time,” he said. “The guest who was supposed to board today arrived last night, and the deck, guest cabins, and master suite still need to be cleaned.”
We nodded without asking many questions. I hoped everything would make sense once we got inside. We were both supposed to be experienced, yet neither of us had the slightest idea how any of this worked.
It’s just cleaning. It can’t be that hard… right?
We followed the bald man, George, who showed us to a room we would be sharing with two other women. Luckily for me, there were no windows, and a small wave of relief settled in my chest.
The room was more like a dorm than a cabin, with four beds—two of them bunk beds. The bunk on the right was already occupied, while the one on the left was free for us. I took the bottom bunk, and Isabella climbed onto the top one.
In the middle of the dorm was a tiny bathroom that somehow managed to fit a toilet, shower, and sink into the same cramped space. There were no closets, only two narrow lockers beside each bunk bed.
We didn’t have time to unpack. We shoved our suitcases under the bed and changed into navy blue shorts and shirts with small lettering stitched on the right side of the chest that read, “Deep Blue Crew.” We were given white sneakers and black belts in case the uniforms were too big.
George explained that our hair had to be tied into neat buns.
Ours were still messy from rushing out that morning.
“Minimum makeup.” He kept talking as we walked down the narrow hallway on the lower deck. “No eye contact. If a guest is in the cabin, you wait until they leave before cleaning.” He stopped and turned to face us. “And I’ll repeat it. No contact with the guests.”
“Understood,” both of us said.
“Our clients are VIP guests. That’s why we hired maids to handle the daily cleaning instead of stewardesses, who usually do the job.” He let out a slow breath. “Got it?”
“Yes,” we both nodded.
We continued through the lower deck until we reached the guest accommodation. Two guest cabins sat opposite each other, with the master suite at the end of the corridor. A cleaning cart, stocked with a bucket and supplies, was already waiting outside the master suite.
George looked at us for a moment, his eyes scanning us as though he could see straight through us. Before I had time to wonder why, he turned and walked away. It wasn’t until then that I noticed the faint vibration beneath my feet and realized the yacht was already moving.
And as his footsteps faded down the corridor, I turned to Isabella.
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
“Uh-huh, no,” she said. “We’re not cleaning that too.”
She knocked on the master suite door, and when no one answered, she slowly pushed it open.
The color drained from her face when the door opened.
“I think I might throw up too.” Her palm flew over her mouth.
I stepped in behind her and caught my first glimpse of the suite.
Used condoms were all over the floor. The bed was in a mess, the windows smeared with greasy hand prints, and the stale stench of sex still hung thick in the air. Everything I’d eaten the day before lurched into my throat.
“What an animal,” I muttered, pinching my nose shut as I stepped inside.
As I entered, something moved beneath the bed sheet.
I screamed and jumped back, looking at Isabella.
“I swear I saw something move.”
Without a second thought, she yanked the handle off the mop, squeezed her eyes shut, and started whacking the lump under the blanket.
“Okay, Isa,” I said between nervous laughs. “I think whatever was under there is long gone by now.”
I reached over and pulled back the sheet.
A bottle of water rolled from one side of the bed to the other, rocking with the movement of the yacht.
I let out a breath. Ignoring the windows surrounding the suite, I pulled on the rubber gloves and started gathering the rubbish.
“How many times did they have sex?” Isabella asked, looking around.
She began counting the condoms one by one until her eyes widened.
“Thirty-three times?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I hope the woman survived.”
She picked a long strand of hair off the sofa overlooking the fore deck and held it up.
“I think he had a few,” she said.
I stripped the sheets off the bed while she wiped down the windows, each one smudged with fingerprints.
“This man is a sex machine,” she muttered.
Every time my eyes moved towards the windows, the open sea beyond them sent a chill crawling down my spine. The horizon stretched in endless direction. I forced myself to look away, to think about anything except the yacht and whatever lay beneath the dark water.
After making the bed, I grabbed a fresh trash bag and started picking up the used condoms stuck to the floor. Every single one was stretched to an XL size, making me chuckle at the thought of how big this monster must have been.
I held one up in the air and waved it at Isabella.
“Did you notice how big they are?”
“1Cazzo!“ she laughed, raising an eyebrow as she looked at it.
“Anyway…” I said, tossing it over my shoulder.
A wet slap rang out behind me. And judging by the color draining from Isabella’s face, I’d just hit a person.
My stomach dropped.
I turned around slowly.
A pair of green eyes locked onto mine.
The first thing I noticed was the tattoo on his neck.
Veni, Vidi, Vici.
“You.” His brows drew together as he glanced down at the used condom clinging to his bare chest.
“You,” I said quietly, my body going rigid as I realized he was standing in front of me wearing nothing but his underwear.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, grabbing a towel from the cleaning cart and gripping it tightly.
“I think that’s obvious.” I gestured around the suite. “But I could ask you the same thing.”
“I own the yacht,” he said calmly.
Of course he does.
I swallowed hard and stepped closer.
My hand hovered awkwardly over his chest before I pinched the condom between my fingertips and carefully peeled it off his skin. The sound of sticky rubber coming loose made my stomach lurch.
Still, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
“I could’ve guessed this was yours,” I said, dropping it into the trash bag. “Only you have enough sperm to sow your seeds all over the Amalfi Coast.”
Isabella slapped a hand over her mouth, but a snort escaped her anyway.
“You sound jealous,” he said with a chuckle, using the towel to wipe his chest clean of what remained of his precious seed.
“I have nothing to be jealous of,” I shot back. “But I’ll give you ten points for using protection. Good to know your brain still works.”
While we argued, Isabella quietly tried to slip past him.
He noticed.
Without taking his eyes off me, he stepped aside just enough to usher her out into the corridor, then pulled the door shut behind her.
The lock clicked.
My heart sank.
He closed the distance between us in two long strides until he was standing right in front of me.
“Now,” he said, his voice losing every trace of amusement, “you can tell me what the fuck you’re doing here.”
“I’m working,” I sighed. “Some of us have to earn money for food.”
He laughed and rested his hands on my shoulders, turning me toward the window.
It was wide open, facing nothing but the horizon.
There wasn’t a trace of land in sight, and even the sea had lost its light blue color, fading into a deep, navy blue.
The sight alone made my stomach twist. My heart hammered against my ribs, sweat prickled across my face, and my breaths came quick and shallow.
He noticed.
Chuckling, he leaned close, his breath brushing my ear as he held me in front of him.
“Aren’t you afraid of the deep blue sea?”
I swallowed down the panic and shoved his hands away. Spinning around, my hand shot through the air and cracked across his face, leaving a red mark on his cheek.
“Fuck you,” I said, heading for the door. “Do whatever you have to do, but leave so we can actually do the job you obviously hired us for.”
He laughed.
“Believe me,” he said, rubbing his jaw, “if I’d fucking known you were one of the first candidates, I’d rather drown than have you employed.”
His jaw tightened as he glared at me.
“Well, now you’re stuck with me, aren’t you, asshole?”
I yanked the door open, stepped out, and slammed it shut behind me.
“Ugh, I hate him.” I rolled my eyes, letting out a long breath as I spotted Isabella leaning against the wall outside. “Out of all the people, I can’t believe he’s the one here.”
“Maybe it’s a good thing,” she said. “Maybe he can help us.”
“The only thing he can help me with is raising my blood pressure.”
Isabella fell into step beside me.
“You have to admit, that was… entertaining.”
“For you.”
“For both of us.”
I shot her a look.
“The way that condom got stuck on him,” she said, laughing as she pressed a hand over her mouth. “You should’ve seen his face when he tried to act all cool.”
“He deserved it.” I headed toward the guest suite.
“Gabby.”
I stopped and looked over my shoulder.
She hurried over, lowering her voice once she reached me.
“Would it be okay if you clean on your own while I go down to the lower deck and find out who Dante’s brother is?”
I nodded. “Just be careful.”
“I will,” she said, slipping down the hall toward the stairs leading to the lower deck.
Just as I was about to enter the guest suite, a blonde woman marched up to the master suite and started banging on the door.
“Oliver, baby, I know you’re in there. Please let me in.”
Her palms slammed against the wood again.
“Let me in!”
I raised an eyebrow, the master key still in my hand. I knew I wasn’t supposed to get involved, but there had to be a reason he refused to let her in. Besides, seeing the look on his face when she walked inside would be worth it.
I made my way over to her.
“I’m sorry, miss,” I said gently. “If you need help getting in, I can open the door.”
Her eyes lit up.
“You can do that?”
I nodded.
“Mmm… okay.” She breathed through her nose, subtly adjusting her breasts to make them look fuller. “Ready.”
I slid the key into the lock and opened the door for her.
He had just stepped out of the shower. A towel hung low around his waist, barely covering him. The moment he saw her, his brows drew together.
“Who the fuck are you?” he shouted, his eyes sweeping over her face.
“You don’t remember me?” She stepped closer to him. “Last night…” Her finger traced the edge of his towel.
He raised a brow. “You were supposed to leave.”
“But I work here,” she said quietly. “I came to tell you breakfast was ready.”
He brushed past her and dropped onto the bed, pulling off his towel.
“Then take me, baby,” he chuckled.
He turned toward me.
I stood frozen in the hallway while she left the door wide open.
“Can you close the door?” he shouted. “Or do you prefer to watch?”
I rolled my eyes and shut the door behind me.
But instead of moans, I heard only raised voices. They were arguing. It was as if he wanted me to believe he was about to have sex with her, when in reality he just wanted to clear the air.
What an ass. I wish I could just push him overboard and watch him drown.
1. Fuck