Chapter 30
Cleo
“Alright everyone, fun’s over,” Captain Morley calls across the bridge. “Goodman, I’m handing over control to you for an hour. I think it’s time for a tea break, don’t you, Ms Carter?”
“Absolutely,” I reply, because I’m more than happy to leave the insanity that has been the past hour.
“Shall we take it in my office? It’s quieter,” she offers, and I’m grateful.
I’ve been in plenty of scrapes over the years.
It comes with the territory of being an investigative journalist. The state of emergency today wasn’t even that severe, yet the knowledge I’m in a floating metal tub, with the only escape being the ocean, adds a level of fear I wasn’t expecting.
Also, I was wholly unprepared for the worry I felt for River.
I know it’s her job, and she’s clearly more than qualified to deal with the dangers of living aboard a ship, but Jesus, my heart fell to my stomach when she dropped me off at the bridge and headed towards the fire.
The captain’s office is small but perfectly organised to maximise the limited space. The constant hum would irritate me within seconds if I had to work in here.
“Take a seat,” she says, gesturing to an empty chair. “Tea or coffee? I’ve got the good stuff.”
“Do you have any green tea?” Caffeine isn’t a good idea when I can still feel adrenaline in my system.
“I do. It’s my nightly drink when I’m working late.”
“Paperwork?”
“You know it.” She laughs.
I inhale the tea as soon as Captain Morley hands me the cup. “Thank you.”
She smiles and sits behind her desk. I’m hit once again with how lovely looking she is. Not as lovely as River, below me, blushing…mmm lovely.
“Are you okay, Ms Carter?”
“Cleo, please.”
“Then call me Katie.”
We fall silent again as we take small sips of our drinks.
“Are you okay after the incident?” she finally asks.
Placing my cup on her desk, I sigh. “I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to be rushed through a ship because it was on fire.”
“Only a small fire, and it was dealt with quickly.”
“Oh, I have no doubt. I was just taken aback. Although it was impressive to watch the crew deal with the emergency. It will be a great addition to the article.”
“Ideally, I’d prefer you leave out any issues we suffer, but I suppose the article needs to reflect the truth. And that is, from time to time we have issues and small emergencies. All part and parcel of being in the Navy.”
“I take it this isn’t the first time something like this has happened?”
She smiles at me. “Actually, it is. We’ve had a clean slate until today.”
“Wow, that’s impressive. How will the fire affect the deployment?”
It’s her turn to sigh. “That’s a little more complicated. First, we need to get to the bottom of the fire’s origin and determine the full scale of the damage. Unfortunately, my gut feeling is we will be returning to port earlier than expected.”
“Really? You can’t fix it out at sea?”
“We absolutely can. However, I’d prefer to have the ship inspected fully before we deploy on the next leg, which will be for seven months. Cutting a training run short is preferable to finding we have bigger problems when on active duty.”
I hadn’t thought past the next few weeks. Of course the ship will be off on another tour, with River on it…for seven months.
“What if it was something as simple as a faulty switch or something?” I really have no idea what the hell was on fire, let alone if any switches were involved. I’m just projecting my hope the fire was a freak accident and totally fixable without cutting my time with River short.
“I certainly hope that’s the outcome. However, a faulty switch could be indicative of a bigger problem. Plus the brass will want a full debrief, and I hate to say it, but with a certain guest on board, we’ll be under more scrutiny from—”
“My dad.” I sigh. “I didn’t think of that.”
My dad will absolutely want answers when he finds out something went wrong with me on board.
He can be a bit bullish when it comes to my safety.
He may not have been there all that often, and his behaviour towards my mum was deplorable, but he has always shown a high-level of protectiveness over me.
Plus, it was him who got me involved with the article, so that will play into his guilt and manifest into something over the top.
“Afraid so. Admiral Carter will want to see you face-to-face. I would if my child was in the same situation.”
“Do you have children?”
“I do not. I have a crew of a thousand to look after, and that’s quite a challenge at the best of times.”
“They’re a good bunch. I’ve interviewed enough to see how passionate they are.”
“We have a reliable and solid crew. I’m proud to lead them.”
“Look, I’m sorry if my dad’s going to be in your face.”
She sends a devastating grin my way, that, pre-River, would have had me melting into a puddle.
“Don’t think anything of it. I’ve dealt with meaner men than your dad.”
“Still,” I begin. “I never wanted to make anyone’s life more difficult.”
“Cleo, your presence on the Queen Elizabeth has been nothing but positive as far as I can tell.”
“Really?”
She smiles and nods. “The crew are excited someone is interested in their stories. You’ve made them feel like a part of something bigger.”
“Bigger than this humongous floating city,” I deadpan, causing her to laugh.
“Yes. They’ll be participating in recruiting the next wave of sailors, who could one day be serving with them. It’s exciting.”
“You have a lot of confidence in this article.” I laugh.
“Ms Carter, I’ve read your work, so I have no doubt the article will be top-notch. The admiral seems very invested in this project, and I’m sure your work will be central to it.”
“Well, I’ll cheers to that then.” I laugh.
I’m back in my cabin when the captain announces we will indeed be returning to Portsmouth. I’m sure there are a ton of other ports the Queen Elizabeth could dock, but none of them have my dad waiting in them. I’ve already had five messages from him asking me to call him as soon as possible.
I reply with a text of my own, confirming I’m absolutely fine and he needs to let me get on with my job. The last thing I want is for him to be overbearing from hundreds of miles away.
Guilt swirls in my gut as I digest the news. If it weren’t for me being on board, I’m certain the captain would’ve proceeded with the planned training. After all, the whole point of this two-month deployment was to train for emergencies.
Worry also swims around my body as I keep thinking of River, and how we’ll be parting ways far sooner than either of us anticipated.
Hell, we’re only just getting to the good stuff—and I’m not referring to the sex, which is delicious.
I’m talking about the part where we’re finally admitting this thing between us is more serious than either bargained for.
I’ve been excited to still have weeks ahead of us to keep exploring the relationship and each other.
Feeling agitated, I slip my camera around my neck and head out of my room, eager to be on deck. I need some fresh air and some time to get my head on straight.
I pass Grey on the way and the look she gives me sends the hairs on the back of my neck tingling. Ignoring whatever the hell that was, I make my way to the flight deck and smile as the setting sun hits my face.
I wander around taking photos of the crew, which earn me a few smiles and silly poses.
I remembered the captain’s earlier comment about the crew being glad I was there, which made me smile even more.
It’s nice to feel this welcome, and I can understand how, even in such a small amount of time, the people on the ship can feel like family.
As I circle back toward the hatch which will take me back to my cabin, I spot River hanging about looking…odd. Her body is almost twitchy, and her eyes scan the area with suspicion.
“Hey,” I call as I approach.
“We need to talk,” she replies curtly. My stomach sinks. What on earth has happened between the last time I saw her and now? Where is the warmth she wrapped around me just this morning, or the care she radiated as she took me to the bridge earlier?
I nod and follow as she leads me back to her bunk. The second I step through into the space she closes the door and settles her forehead against it.
“River, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
I’d seen her briefly after the fire and she looked fine, but maybe she’d gotten hurt and just didn’t want me to know.
“I’m fine physically,” she replies, turning around. “But we have a problem. A big fucking problem, Cleo.”
Sitting on her bunk, I do my best to stay calm. If she’s here to pull the plug on us, I might not be able to keep my composure for long. Today has already thrown far too much shit our way.
“Grey knows about us,” she states. Her stance is guarded and as much as I want to soothe her, I remain still.
“Please elaborate. Tell me exactly what’s happened.”
I sit and listen to her as she explains the conversation she had with Grey in the showers.
“When did she have access to your phone?” I ask. River frowns at me and I understand her confusion. She expected me to panic, but I’ve done enough of that for one day.
“I-I don’t know,” she replies, rubbing her temples. “The only time…” she trails off and I get where she’s going.
“During the emergency. Was your phone in here?”
River nods. “It’s always in here because there’s no reason for it to be on my person. None of the crew have their personal phones on them during shift.”
“So she knew where to go looking.”
“That’s not all,” River stutters. “Fuck, I was going to tell you on our date, but—”
“I asked you not to,” I say plainly, because I remember the conversation. I’d shut River down because I just wanted a scrap of normalcy for us.
She nods. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, I was going to tell you that I’d caught them.”
“Caught them?”
“Yup. Grey and Benson in a…compromised position.”
All the air whooshes from my lungs. “Well, that explains why she’s going on the offensive then.”
“She told me if I reported the incident she’d make sure everyone, including the captain and your dad, knew I was sleeping with you, and I don’t think she’d paint me in a great light. Not with my history with women. Jesus, I can just imagine your dad hearing about it.”
River pales at the thought.
“Is it really such a big deal that they’re sleeping together?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
“You know it is,” she replies.
A feeling pokes at my brain. “Do you think Benson knows you know?”
“I’d say yes. Grey is a nasty piece of work, but when she spoke to me, the words were Benson’s, I know it.”
“Fuck. We need to decide where to go from here. I haven’t got anything concrete to take to the captain regarding Benson’s behaviour towards you and the rest of the queer crew members, although I think it’s glaringly obvious he’s a bigot.”
“So it’d be my word against that of Grey and Benson. And let’s be honest, my word will mean shit once the text messages are revealed.”
“Yes, but how can they use them as evidence without compromising themselves? Private information didn’t just suddenly spring from your phone to Grey’s.”
River sags against the door. “I don’t know, Cleo. But I do know I’ll be the one in the shit no matter how you look at it.”