2. CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
SASHA
I never thought I’d be deserving of a second chance, not after I pretty much got my dad killed along with a few other deserving people. I thought chances were only given to those who truly deserved it. Maybe, just maybe I did something right in my life.
Back then, my parents were forcing me to marry Reece, a guy they introduced me to while I was with someone else. Our parents were prominent in Turkey and well known for the exportation of drugs and weapons. They wanted us to marry to keep that power and expand it to the U.S. And as nice and incredible a man as Reece was, he was in love with someone else, and if I were being honest, I was still in love with someone else too. Except the man I loved no longer existed in my world. My father and Reece’s father had Baris killed. They didn’t want us to be together so my father slit his throat. I cried as I watched it happen but my father just stood there and grinned proudly as he took his life. My eyes have never burned so much with tears before or since that day. I still dream about him and I wake up struggling for air. It’s like I relive his death every single time my eyes close.
Reece and I didn’t know how to escape from the chokehold our families had on us. It wasn’t until the day we were supposed to get married that we were finally free. Reece’s father-in-law’s friend, Rodney, managed to crash the wedding along with some undercover cops, one with ties to the FBI. There was a shootout and my father was killed along with Reece’s dad.
Sorrows. Sorrows.
Neither one of us shed a single tear for those inhumane assholes. The FBI helped us fake our deaths and we were given new identities and a life away from our old shackles. I went by the name Sasha Maris now and not Lunara Badem, the person I used to be.
Reece’s mom went to prison and eventually suffered a painful death, but my mom died a couple of months after the fake wedding. My heart felt heavy with guilt that I wasn’t with her, but I couldn’t risk my life or anyone finding out that I was alive.
My mom was a victim too and was obligated to marry my father when she was younger. All she wanted before she died from cancer was to see me marry a good man. Despite the fact that I was being forced to marry Reece, my mother adored him. She herself was in an abusive relationship and I couldn’t fault her for not being able to save me as much as she wanted to.
I was expendable to my father, and my mother knew this which is why she went along with everything.
After the FBI helped me with a new life, I managed to follow my dream of traveling the world. I worked on a cruise liner called Fantasy Cruises, specifically the newly built Asherah which was known as the Goddess of the Seas.
I’d never had experience working before. My parents never let me. More so my father. He expected me to be a doting housewife who bore the children of her husband while keeping my mouth closed and my legs open. But now, I’m free. I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. My ass is a little curvier, and my breasts are fuller. And though my face might be a little chubbier, I’m sure as hell happier.
I didn’t know life could be this way. Me, a barely noticeable form of my old self, coming out of my shell, trying to destroy the parts of me that I never liked. Fragments of the mollusks that used to protect me were scattered on the ground, a short distant memory following behind my steps as I tried to move on with my life.
I’d changed in the short span since I escaped my hell. I tried to open up my heart to meet new people even though I wasn’t looking for anything romantic in my life. It was still too painful, still too raw to even think about being with anyone else. Three years might have been a long time since he had passed away, but the image of his death still haunted me. I had to take care of myself first before I even thought about caring for someone else. At least not in that way.
But for now, I enjoyed my job. Meeting new people was my favorite thing besides traveling, and today I was going to get to meet some new colleagues who I would work alongside.
Two of the maintenance workers had left to pursue other opportunities so they decided to hire a couple more to replace them. I’d seen their paperwork come through on my desk which the HR manager asked me to photocopy. Now my job description didn’t entail me to mingle with the guests on board just yet but I hoped that one day I’d get a promotion.
“Sasha, did you file those cost reports from last week?” Fiona asked. She was the head accountant for the liner. “I think that there’s a missing page that might not have been scanned through.”
I turned to Fiona and nodded. “Sure did. Do you need a copy of them?”
“If you don’t mind,” she replied. Her fingers flicked through the stack of papers on my desk. I didn’t have an office like she did, but my workspace was huge enough to accommodate all the paperwork I had to go through. I thought they’d try and save the trees and all and just go digital, but for some reason decided to do both.
I stood from my chair and made my way to the filing cabinets and opened the second drawer. Scanning the monthly reports, I picked up the file for October and handed it over to Fiona.
“Thanks.” She tipped her head and walked away to her office clutching the cost report in her hand.
I went back to my desk and sat down. It was almost my lunch break when Natlie, the HR manager walked in with two guys I’d never seen before on her trail. I assumed they were the new employees of Fantasy Cruises.
Since I couldn’t tell which was Nick and which was Zeke, I decided I’d wait for an introduction.
“Hi, Natalie.” I smiled.
Natalie was a darling. She was always so polite when she spoke to you and whenever she did, she would really pay attention. Natalie wasn’t rude or distracted during any conversation with you and she was absolutely stunning. Golden curls that framed her face, blue eyes with flecks of silver, and a sweet voice to match.
“Hi, Sasha. How are you doing, sweetie?”
“I’m doing fine. Just typing up a letter for Fiona.”
“These two gentlemen are Nick and Zeke.” She pointed to the blonde one first before the guy with the dark hair. “They’re the new maintenance team. Can you please just show them around the employee lounge? I’ve got to organize their passes and I’m already delayed with payroll.”
“Absolutely,” I replied, pushing my chair back. I reached out my hand first to Nick who immediately shook it with a wide grin. “I’m Sasha.”
“Nice to meet you, Sasha.”
When I offered my hand to Zeke, he stared blankly at me at first before a look of torture shot across his face. It was like I’d just offered to chop off his fingers. I ignored his uncomfortable gaze and he snapped out of himself before shaking my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Zeke. I’m Sasha.”
He just nodded instead of saying anything then he angled his body away and turned his head to the side. Zeke gulped down and sweat glistened on his forehead. It wasn’t exactly a scorching day for him to be perspiring like that.
Everyone I’d met on board had been super friendly and very welcoming. Nick was energetic but Zeke was cold and distant. Maybe he needed to warm up to me or something. At least one of them was nice.
“I’ll leave you three alone,” Natalie said, glancing at her phone. “Sasha, sweetie. Can you please bring them back to my office once you’re done? I’ve still got to finish up some paperwork for them before they officially start.” She looked at me and smiled before placing her hand on my shoulder. “Thanks.”
Natalie walked out and disappeared behind the door.
“Before you take us to the lounge, is there a bathroom around here?” Nick questioned, craning his neck to check out the space. “I had two bottles of water and I’m bursting.”
I pointed to the cabinets I’d taken the cost report out of. “Just behind those filing drawers.”
Nick nodded and I was left alone with Zeke.
“How long have you been working in maintenance?” I asked, hoping maybe he would open up a little and be less detached.
“A couple of years,” he replied without meeting my gaze. It was rude but again, I let it slide.
“What made you want to work on the cruise liner?”
Zeke shrugged his shoulders and finally locked eyes with mine. They were darker but had the warmth his personality lacked. “They were looking for someone and were willing to pay. I wanted money so I applied.”
So, money was his motive.
“Well, I started like a couple of months ago,” I offered that piece of information. “It’s good here. Everyone’s really a team. You’ll make a lot of friends.”
“I’m not here to make friends, Sasha.” Zeke’s brow lifted and his forehead creased. “What is it that you do here?” His posture was stiff and he curled his fingers. I didn’t know why I had made him so uncomfortable.
“I’m what they call a gofer because I go for anything,” I replied. “I do basically whatever they ask me to. Do you have any family?”
“Like I said, Sasha ,” Zeke spat out my name, emphasizing on it coldly. “Not here to make friends. So once you show me and Nick around, then we can go our separate ways.”
Asshole.
The thought in my head was not uncalled for but I hated it popped up like that. I wanted to see the good in people. I’d had my fair share of assholes in my life and I wasn’t wanting to add another one. Since I wasn’t the confrontational type, and since he was new, I wasn’t going to ask what his deal was, so I cut him some slack. I figured he’d warm up to me over time once he’d gotten to know that I was a nice, not-so-normal girl.
“Nick’s taking a while.” I glanced at my watch and back at Zeke.
“He’s taking a dump,” he said without me prompting that response. “He had the vegetarian chili at lunch.”
Gross.
“So your last name’s Walker.”
Zeke tilted his head. “How’d you know that?”
“It was on your paperwork,” I replied. “Natalie asked me to photocopy yours and Nick’s.”
He relaxed his expression and let out a small breath. “Yeah, Zeke Walker.”
“Zeke Walker the talker,” I joked. There was a small lift in his upper lip but the smile that could have spread disappeared. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that since clearly you’re not a talker.”
“You’ve gotta think of a better name for me than that.” He folded his arms and rested his ass on the handle of my chair.
I felt my pulse erratic against my neck and sweat started to form on my brow. I had no clue why he made me so nervous but he did. “Give me time. I’ll come up with something better.”
Instead of looking away, which I now actually preferred, Zeke gave me direct, determined eye contact. I felt my skin prickling with flames. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Trying to work out what type of person you are,” he replied. Zeke looked down at me. “I can tell you’re definitely the bubbly, free-spirited, annoying type that’s gonna piss me off every single time I see her.”
“And I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re the asshole type, whose assholery is going to piss me off every single time I see him.” Okay so maybe I was a little confrontational but who the fuck did this guy think he was? Belittling me on the first day of his job. Prick should have at least waited a month or something till he berated me. Some fucking nerve.
“Just stay out of my way, Sasha, and we’ll be fine.”
The distant sound of the bathroom door creaked open and Nick emerged with an exacerbated sigh. “Okay, remind me not to have that chili again.”
Ew.
He clapped his hands and walked right over to us. “So, what were you two talking about?”
“Sasha here was saying how she was going to make sure that we felt welcomed and was going to do anything we asked, because that’s what a gofer does.”
I’ll give you gofer. Go fuck yourself.
“Okay, I should show you guys around so you can get back to Natlie and I can get back to work.”
“Sorry, we’ve probably distracted you from whatever you were doing.” Nick tucked his hand in his jacket pockets.
“I’m sure it wasn’t anything important,” Zeke said dismissively and turned his head away.
“So, I guess that you don’t need my help showing you around,” I replied. “Or perhaps when Natalie asks me to help with payroll next time, there might be a little delay in transferring the funds. I bet you’ll be needing my help then.”
Zeke subtly rolled his eyes.
I may not have had one of the most important roles on the cruise ship but my job was necessary. He was just being a dick.
Zeke the Freak. No, that doesn’t work. How about Zeke Walker the shitty talker? There. That’s better.
I smiled to myself and Zeke frowned not knowing that my brain was blissfully making fun of him. “Employee lounge is just this way behind these doors. Follow me.”
I escorted Nick and Zeke to the kitchenette area and meal table. It was small but could fit eight of us if we squeezed close together. The kitchenette had a toaster, coffee machine, and boiling water dispenser. I’ve gotten burned a few times on that thing because it was so damn hot. I rarely used it and just stuck to coffee. Someone had made a tuna fish sandwich for lunch so there was a sickening stench lingering in the room.
“Here it is,” I told them and waved around the room. “There’s a small couch over there. The employee lounge is open twenty- four hours because of the night shift workers. There’s a fridge and I highly recommend labeling your food because there are some thieves who try to steal, and it’s not good if you’re allergic to anything in particular. Don’t eat something that’s not yours or you might get sick and die is what I say.”
“I’m really excited to be working here.” Nick beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet. If he hadn’t taken drugs to hyper up he probably needed them to calm down.
“If we head back out, I’ll show you where the filing cabinets are just in case you need to locate a report if I’m not here.”
“You mean the ones that were next to the bathrooms?” Nick asked.
“Those are the ones.” I nodded. “I’ll give you a bit of a run down on how things are filed.”
We headed back out toward the main office area. Nick walked beside me while Zeke lagged behind. “We file everything by room number or area and location.” I opened the drawers and flicked my fingers through the papers, before pulling one out to show them. “This is for room 304. Light fixtures needed replacing and there was a toilet leak so the other team had gotten that fixed before they left.” I placed the document back in its rightful spot.
“Is that all?” Zeke asked. “Are you done? Can we go now?”
Zeke had facial hair and he was acting like a toddler who was in the car on their way to a park, asking how long it would take to get there after one-minute of driving. Scratch that. He was worse than a toddler. He was a grown-ass man.
I nodded with pursed lips.
“Great thanks,” he said sarcastically before walking away.
I was supposed to take him back to Natlie’s office but it looked like he knew where he was going.
“Don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Nick shrugged. “He wasn’t like that when we met last week.”
“Must be me then.”
“Nah, you’re awesome.” Nick stepped forward and closed his arms around me for a hug. “Great to meet you.”
“Oh. Um, thanks.”
When he pulled back, Nick nodded. “I’ll catch you later. Maybe we can hang out.”
He seemed like a real sweetheart. A sweetheart on happy pills, but a sweetheart nonetheless.
“That sounds great.”
“How about we friend each other on Instagram?” Nick’s smile was bright and infectious. The two were stark contrasts against one another. Nick was so friendly and seemed sweet. His fluid movements matched the slow spread smile on his face. It was like he was high without the drugs. Or maybe he was on drugs and I just didn’t know it.
“Sure,” I replied. “I just don’t really post much of myself.” I had a Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok account but that was so I could follow people I liked. And if I happened to post photos of my travels, I made sure to never upload the ones with me in it. That was just a safeguard in case someone who I didn’t want to find me came across my account.
Nick took out his phone from the back of his pocket and unlocked it. There was the cutest picture of a yellow labrador puppy with him on the screen before it disappeared when he opened his Instagram app. Zeke stopped walking and watched the two of us swap social media accounts.
There was no way in hell I was going to add him on anything.
Jackass.
“Catch you later, Sasha.”
“Bye, Nick.” I waved and he disappeared out of the room to follow that asshole’s behind.
I let out a deep sigh and groaned. It was clear Zeke was going to try and ruin my experience here and that he was going to be difficult to work with. But I was strong, and in a time of my life where I’d had enough of people like him, I wasn’t going to let Zeke Walker mess that up.
Not now. Not ever.
He was just going to have to deal with me and get over it.