Chapter 32
Unknown Loyalties – Kayla
T he bustling around the train only intensifies, and no matter how I try, I can’t stop it from seeping into my ears. In fact, it even starts sounding like a loud whistle.
I know that I need to get out of there. Well, I obviously can’t leave the cabin. But I need solace.
So, I rush into the bathroom.
The cold metal of the door handle pierces my heated skin as I yank it open, seeking refuge from the external chatter and my own tormented thoughts. Then, the moment I step inside, I slam it behind me and try to muffle the sounds of moaning and gasping that I’d heard in the video.
Fucking Harper.
I thought he was over her. I guess not.
… and what if he’d never been? What did that make us? Make me ? An idiot? A fool? I’m not sure. Either way, it doesn’t feel good.
“Get it together, Kayla,” I mutter under my breath. You know the feeling of being sick and begging for the universe and your own body to make you feel better somehow? That’s kind of what I’m going through.
But when my prayers or whatever don’t seem to me working, I curse him.
Leaning over the sink, I joke and quote Shakespeare in a witchy voice, “A plague on both of your houses.” At least that makes me snicker for a second or two. However, the waves of reality soon come crashing back.
Then, I hear a knock at the door.
I hurry to wipe the tears from under my eyes.
“Kayla? It’s Callie.”
Thinking it’s just her, I open it without pause.
“Oh.” My heart sinks into my stomach when I see Jack’s sunken face in the shadows behind her.
My friend shrugs apologetically. “I’m so sorry. He really wanted to talk with you. Should I leave?” She turns her head to ask that last question, so she’s poising the question more to Jack than to me. But I can’t be too angry about that. At the end of the day, he is her boss.
Regardless, I answer for him. “No. Anything he has to say to me, he can say in front of you.”
At this, Jack sighs and rolls his eyes before saying, “Fine.”
The two of them walk inside the dingy, windowless space and shut the door again.
I stand with my back against the wall and cross my arms. “Well?”
“He’s seen the video,” Callie jumps in to say.
My jaw clenches, and I can’t even look at him. “Okay?”
Jack opens his mouth several times but fails to say anything. That is, until he finally murmurs, “I have no idea what happened.”
My head snaps in his direction and my eyes squint. “Seriously?” In case you missed sex-ed class, it sure looked like you were getting your jollies off with another woman.
He’s gazing at the ground, but he eventually looks up at me, looking defeated. “All I can tell you is that she came over to the apartment, I made her a drink, and she poured me a soft drink. Then, out of nowhere, my vision started getting obscured. From there, I have no recollection.”
I don’t know whether to believe him or not. It seems like a likely story… but also, why lie? It would honestly be less hurtful if he just admitted that she seduced him.
“So, what are you saying?” Callie asks. It’s actually very helpful having her here because she can make up for and ask the right questions I’m not in the right frame of mind to.
“I—” he starts picking at his palms. “I assume she drugged me or something. I don’t know.”
“And you know for sure you only had a soda?”
“Yes.” His brown eyes look desperate. “I had no desire to drink alcohol last night. For one thing, I promised Bryant that I wouldn’t. I was a mess the evening prior, and I didn’t want to put him in a position where he’d need to take care of me again.”
“Well, do you know what she could’ve put in your drink?”
“No. Believe it or not, I’m not exactly well versed on the types of date rape drugs available today.”
Callie chuckles lightly. “Right.” She pauses for a minute while glaring at me. “Well, Kayla?”
“What?” I ask in a tone that’s fiercer than I intended.
Her neck jerks back in response.
“Sorry,” I rub at my forehead. “This is—this is just a lot.”
Jack steps closer to me. “And I understand that. Can you please just try to believe me?”
When he reaches for my hands, I flinch at first but then allow for him to take them in his.
“What are you going to say to everyone else?”
Again, Callie jumps in and acts as a knowledgeable third party. “Well, they don’t know anything about the two of you, no?”
Jack nods. “Right.”
She shoves a few pieces of her bangs aside before continuing, “Okay. So, what anyone else has to know is that sure, maybe you and Harper slipped up. So what? That happens between exes.”
I’m starting to get irritated again. “Okay… so, if she did actually drug him—”
“Which she did,” Jack utters.
I ignore him. “We’re just going to let her get away with that? It’s a crime!”
Callie lets out a sharp exhale. “Well, what else do you suggest? We expose your relationship and her bad doings? I’m sorry, I don’t see one being mutually exclusive of the another.”
My pupils are darting from one side of the room to the next as I process everything she’s saying.
“But why can’t we allege she drugged him without implicating me in the situation at all?”
I watch as Callie and Jack share a glance.
“Well?” I demand when they fail to say something.
“Callie’s right,” Jack eventually says.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t do that to her.”
My heart rate is climbing. “Why not?”
“… her family gave me a large loan when my business was struggling.”
Oh. I had no idea.
“Kayla, they believed in me when nobody else did. There’s just no way I could betray them.”
“But it isn’t their fault she acted so poorly.”
The right corner of his mouth turned down. “No, but… I just—I just can’t.” He puts his arms behind his back and leans against a stall.
I understand loyalty. I really do. For instance, I’d do just about anything for my brother, Collin after everything he’d done for me growing up.
So, although Jack isn’t blood related to Harper’s family, or at least I hope not because that would bring a whole different host of issues to the table, I know family doesn’t always require such relation. Instead, members can be people who have supported you and stuck their necks out for you along the way.
“Okay,” I finally mumble.
“Okay?” I see the first semblance of hope on his face.
“Yes. We’ll go forward with your first plan. You and Harper slipped up. No biggie.” But then I threaten him to let him know I’m not a push over. “But this is the last chance, okay?”
He nods. “I promise. I’ll never be in a room alone with her again.”
Good.
Now that that tough conversation has happened, it seems as though he can let his body weaken again, and Callie and I basically have to catch him as he slumps over.
Then, after talking one arm and draping it around our shoulders, we lead him out and back to his seat.
I avoid acknowledgement of all the stares as we head down the aisle.
“Jack?” Bryant asks, his eyes wide with horror.
“He just isn’t feeling well,” I explain as we sit him down.
Then, as much as I don’t want to leave him, I know that I have to.
When Callie and I return to our sections, she texts something out on her phone before handing it to me.
“So, you believe him?”
I give her a look to communicate, “I don’t know. But I also don’t see how I can’t.” He did seem sincere, and I also knew it probably took a lot for him to apologize and confront me about it like that. Plus, I didn’t trust Harper any farther than I could throw her. And I also didn’t think her mighty enough not to pull a stupid, immoral trick like that.
However, none of that means that the little announcement we had to endure back on the boat was any easier for me to sit through. Thankfully, Jack was nowhere to be seen during any of it.
“So,” Captain Bryant stands in front of us and says, “as I’m sure you’ve all been made aware, Jack’s ex and he may have engaged in… adult behavior.”
Hearing it classified as that makes shivers spread all over my skin.
“Unfortunately, this was filmed and distributed somehow. Regardless, I trust that our crew is professional enough to discard this video and stop it from spreading even further. Am I correct in this assumption?”
“Yes, Captain,” we say in tandem.
He smirks. “Good. Now, I also hope to never hear a peep about this in the future. Understood?”
His eyes seem to intentionally meet mine.
Again, we all say, “Yes, Captain.”
Then, he puts his hat back on and tells all of us to get to our posts as we set sail for Greece.
That means us stewards need to clear any cobwebs or other dust that accumulated on the yacht during the few days we were away from it.