Chapter 6
Trey wasn’t feeling up to a formal dinner that night. Neither was Jenn, for that matter. She was more relieved than anything when he requested that they simply visit one of the other restaurants for a relatively early dinner on the ship, instead.
Drinks in hand, they found a quiet table in a dim corner of the artisan burger shop at Jenn’s request. Just because they weren’t making love again tonight didn’t mean that she couldn’t drive Trey wild beneath the table. Now that she was no longer spread naked on the bed of her cabin, building anticipation seemed more than fair again.
“Do you want my mushrooms?” Jenn asked Trey when they were situated.
Trey blinked. “You ordered a mushroom burger.”
“I know. I love the taste of the sauce, but the mushrooms themselves are nasty. Don’t judge me. Want ‘em?”
“Sure.” Trey smiled, but did not judge. At least not out loud.
Jenn rewarded him with a gentle squeeze of his thigh.
He pulled out his phone, checking the time. “Well, since we’re not—,” he glanced at Jenn, who raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smile. “What would you like to do tonight?”
Jenn reached for one of his hands, intertwining their fingers and laying it down on the table in front of them. Trey turned to face her, his face lighting up in a happy grin, letting his phone drop onto the table.
“They’re holding a pool party tonight. I think we should go.”
“Sounds good,” Trey murmured, propping his face up on his hand as he simply stared at her.
After another quiet few seconds, neither of them saying anything, the worker at the counter called their number.
“I got it.” Extracting his hand from Jenn’s, he left his phone on the table and headed for the counter.
As he navigated his way through the close tables and chairs of the small shop, the screen of his phone lit up, automatically drawing Jenn’s eye.
For all of her directness, Jenn was not a prying person. She didn’t make a habit of reading other people’s messages, even when the opportunity presented itself. But when she saw that it was a message from within the cruise line’s messaging app, her interest was roused. The screen went dark.
She hadn’t messaged Trey. So, who did? Glancing up at the counter and Trey’s back, waiting in line to grab their food, Jenn tapped the screen to wake it up.
“You’ve had all day; any idea where we can meet up?”
Jenn’s eyes went dry, and her breathing became shallow. Who else did Trey know on the ship, and why would they be meeting up?
Trey was accepting the tray from the worker. Jenn glanced down as the phone went dark again. Trey once more wove his way back to the table through the throngs of loudly conversing and eating adults.
Jenn glanced around at the seated patrons with new interest. Was this mystery person in the room right now?
Jenn took a deep breath. No reason to catastrophize and jump all the way to the worst conclusion. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the message.
“Thanks.” She worked hard to put a believable smile on her face as she accepted the shallow wooden platter holding her overpriced burger and passable battered fries.
“You need ketchup or anything?” Trey asked.
“Nope. I’m good.”
Trey blinked, and his smile faded for a moment. “You sure?”
Jenn nodded, and tried another easy smile. “Yeah.” She gestured to the romper, free of spills and stains. “Ketchup and I have a fraught relationship.”
Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Trey sat down, sliding his own wooden platter into position.
Jenn didn’t say anything as she opened the burger and scraped the mushrooms from the top of her patty onto Trey’s platter.
“Thank you!”
“Mm-hmm.”
She vented her frustrations on the burger and the fries kept her mouth from filling with angry words. Instead, she used the time to think.
At last, taking a sip of the soda that for some reason tasted altogether too sweet, Jenn spoke.
“Mm— I didn’t tell you: I swear I saw someone from my work pass by just a minute ago, while you were getting the food.”
“Really?” Trey’s eyebrows were raised as he stared out toward the hallway outside the shop, as if expecting the fictitious person to walk by a second time.
“Right? What are the chances?” Jenn shook her head in mock disbelief, staring casually into her burger as she strained her jaw in preparation for another bite.
After several chews, she spoke around the mouthful, covering her mouth with her napkin. “Have you seen anyone you know yet?”
She was looking at her fries, but all of her attention was on the figure of Trey in her periphery, waiting breathlessly for his response.
“Mmm,” he intoned noncommittally, looking around the restaurant half-expectantly. “I don’t think so. Not yet anyway.”
Jenn’s stomach turned, and her appetite disappeared. She took one last half swallow of soda to clear her mouth, then pushed away her platter.
“I’m full.”
She saw Trey glance at her leftovers. “You sure? You hardly touched your fries. How was your burger?”
“Fine.” The moment it was out of her mouth, she knew she’d been too brusque.
Trey turned to look at her. Her cover was blown.
“What’s wrong?” Trey asked quietly.
She went impassive, willing herself not to blow up.
“While you were gone, someone messaged you. They wanted to know where you wanted to meet up.”
“Oh!” Trey buried his face in his burger, taking a large bite. He chewed slowly, grunting quietly in appreciation and nodding slightly. When he swallowed, he pointed at his food. “That’s a good burger.”
He pointed at his phone. “Probably some guy from this morning, another early bird. He wanted to get drinks this evening.”
“Really?” Jenn plastered an expression of mock disgust to her face in an attempt to conceal her doubt. “He sounded super needy.”
“Did he?” Trey picked up the phone, his eyes scanning the message. Jenn watched him closely. “Wow. You’re right. He sounds super needy.”
“You gonna meet up for drinks?”
“Probably not,” Trey said. “I think I have other plans.” He winked, then went for another bite of his burger.
Jenn decided, then and there, that regardless of whomever was on the other end of that clinging text, Trey was going to be very, very busy this evening.
Trey knocked quietly on Jenn’s cabin door. When she pulled the door open, he couldn’t help the smile that grew across his face, nor his eyes from taking her all in.
Her makeup was done for the evening, smoky cat eyes and a bright pink lipstick giving her an alluring appearance. She was wearing a long, black, only slightly translucent coverup reminiscent of an old Hollywood evening gown.
“Wow. What a look!” He hesitated. “Are you sure we’re only going to a pool party?”
“I’m sure,” Jenn purred. “You haven’t seen half of it, yet.”
“Well, I look forward to the big reveal!” Trey offered her his arm. “I feel a tad underdressed!”
Jenn pulled her door closed as she accepted his arm. “It’s only a pool party.”
“Yeah, well—,” Trey gestured to all of her appreciatively.
“Shall we?” Jenn glided through the hall, the train of the coverup billowing out behind her.
“Oh, that’s just not fair,” Trey gasped.
Jenn smirked. “Don’t be jealous. You could wear one, too, I suppose.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t fill it like you do,” Trey whistled.
“It’s cute that you don’t think so.”
Trey looked up, smiling at the quip. He chuckled at the good-natured ribbing. “O-okay,” he said. “Message received.” He smacked his belly lightly. He was rewarded with Jenn’s quiet laugh.
“Let’s do this,” he said, smiling.
They heard the pool party long before they reached it. The bump of bass and the metallic ring of steel drum pans echoed slightly throughout the atrium as they exited the elevator.
As they headed for the sliding doors that led to the pool deck, the sounds of the crowd and partygoers alternately muffled and echoed as the doors opened and shut as passengers passed through them.
Trey gave Jenn’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m incredibly lucky to be going to this with you.”
Jenn gave him an affectionate smirk. “I know.”
She let go of Trey’s arm and walked through the doors alone with a walk that would have been the envy of European models.
Trey took only a moment to enjoy watching her walk before he remembered that every moment she was out there unaccompanied was a moment another man (or woman, for that matter,) might make a pass at her. The idea made him incredibly jealous. He ran to catch up with her.
The darkness of the night sky formed an inky black backdrop to the lights, fog machines, and lasers of the DJ’s table and stage. The multicolored lights waved and swept over the crowd, casting a thousand shadows that danced and lifted themselves, adding to the already-bustling scene of the deck party.
Jenn had passed through the crowd like a queen, looking neither to her left nor right. She made straight for the only empty loungers still available at the back of several cramped rows, much of the rest of the pool deck cleared to create a dance floor where those more uninhibited cruisers swayed, danced, or simply drank.
Trey couldn’t help but admire and observe the stir that Jenn created as she passed. Women looked on in approval and appreciative smiles. Men looked at her in begrudging interest, as if resentful that someone so clothed could hold so much of their attention.
Why she ever chose him was beyond him, at that moment. He looked at this creature, this seductive angel wrapped in gossamer, and he knew he was punching above his weight — which, looking down at his stomach— was considerable these days.
Jenn turned to find him and beckoned him over. He hadn’t realized how far behind he’d fallen. When her gaze found him, he smiled and jogged forward, unbuttoning his shirt as he did so. By the time he reached her, he’d removed his shirt, and gently tossed it in a ball onto the lounger next to her.
“We doing this?” he asked, pointing toward the pool.
Jenn nodded, undoing one of the ties that held her coverup closed. “Go ahead; I’ll be in in a minute.”
Trey nodded and turned toward the pool. He apologized and excused his way into it, finding a place to stand near the center. He turned to check on Jenn.
Standing in the pool, Trey‘s eyes grew as wide as his smile. He watched, transfixed, as Jenn gently let the coverup fall from a fingertip, stretching luxuriously and looking pointedly in his direction as she reached toward the sky. The micro bikini straps connecting the miniscule bottom piece to the even smaller top pieces strained as her arms lifted over her head.
Trey heard a laugh and watched Jenn’s head whip toward the source. Trey glanced to look. A group of college-aged dudes sat at the far end of the pool, legs in the water, staring and leering openly at the many women across the deck in varying states of undress. A few of them made half attempts at hiding the phones that snapped pictures wildly.
Trey turned back to look at Jenn, whose arms had lowered and was now glancing nervously between her body and the group, scanning the rest of the crowd for faces looking at her as she bent to reach for a towel, her hands starting to fold across her body as she tried to hide.
Trey leaped into action, spraying a young woman a few feet away with saltwater.
“Hey, watch it, dadbod!” she protested.
“I’m so sorry,” Trey apologized quickly. “Jenn!” He called her name urgently. Jenn looked up. She had sat down on the edge of the lounger, fumbling with the gossamer gown.
Trey smiled, beckoning to her eagerly, his grin genuine, warm, and encouraging. He saw a slight shake of her head. He panicked. “Oh, come on! You look amazing!” he called. She hesitated, then tentatively stood and walked toward him in the pool.
“White whale alert!”
“Thar she blows!”
The calls had come from the group of collegiate lurkers.
There was no way he was going to allow someone as amazing as Jenn be cowed and humiliated by a bunch of men who were probably still obsessed with “body count.” Without hesitation, Trey began dancing to the loud reggae music now emanating from the ship’s speakers.
“White whale walking!” he called out, simultaneously turning toward and catching the attention of the group of young men at the pool edge. Picking out one in the center, where he judged the calls had come from, he pointed at the young man, proceeding to dance provocatively, gyrating his hips and swinging his belly around as he advanced on the crowd. They had all gone still, eyes wide.
“Come here, cutie!” Trey called, moving faster toward the group. There were a few laughs around the pool as more passengers began taking notice and stared at the unfolding scene.
Trey kissed noisily. “Come on, big man: white whale’s hungry. Come dance with me.”
The young men at the periphery of the group had already stood up and climbed out of the water, laughing uncomfortably and retreating a few feet from the pool as Trey advanced. The ones at the center, the loudest and most brazen of the bunch, tried to look on in disinterest and disdain.
“Yo, back up, bruh,” one of the young men said forcefully.
“Aww, don’t be like that,” Trey teased playfully. “Come play with Trey-man.”
When Trey was within arm’s reach of what he’d dubbed as the ringleader, the young man shoved hard against Trey’s chest.
“Bruh, get outta my face!”
Trey put his hand to his chest where he’d been shoved, smiling creepily. “Trey likes it rough. Do it again.”
When he surged forward, sending a wave of water surging up and over the young men’s laps, the last of them scrambled to their feet and retreated from the water’s edge.
“Dude, you nasty!” The mingled cries from the young men overlapped as they slunk away, accompanied by cheers and the sound of applause. Dozens of onlooking passengers, most of them women, cheered the upset in the pool, whistling for Trey and booing the group of men who fled, flashing middle fingers and grumbling as they went.
Trey bowed briefly, smiling, then dropped low into the water and slowly hopped back to his spot. Jenn was waiting for him. When he sat down beside her, she scooted closer, pressing her thigh and side tight against his.
Placing her mouth close enough to his ear that he had to resist the urge to pull away at the tickle, she whispered, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he said, laughing quietly. He returned several of the smiles and nods he received from women around the pool deck.
“How did you know that would work?” Jenn asked, scooping water from the pool and wetting her shoulders. Trey watched the water bead up at first and run off, then gradually spread and run in rivulets down her chest, leaving the skin shiny and smooth, dimly reflecting the lights of the dance. He felt a rush of blood to his extremity, pushing briefly against the flimsy fabric of his swim trunks.
“They were macho guys. There’s nothing macho guys hate more than being treated the same way they treat women.”
“Hmm.” Jenn hummed softly. It was almost a low loan. Trey felt another rush of blood, and his heart started to beat when he realized she was playing with him. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Her mouth was back at his ear, and this time her whisper was a seductive breath. “Well, thank you. How ever will I repay you?”
Beneath the water, her hand brushed down the top of his trunks, following the outline of his growing cock, even as it shifted with another large rush of circulation. Not here! Not now! There were far too many people: too many witnesses! He laughed nervously and placed his hand on top of hers, guiding it away from his shorts, down his leg to his knee.
She looked at him playfully, narrowing her eyes in challenge.
“Gonna play hard to get? Challenge… accepted.”
With that, Jenn kissed him lightly on the cheek, then proceeded to throw her legs over the top of his and scoot up onto his lap. Hooking her arms around his neck, she said, loudly enough for those around them to hear, “What would I have done without you?” She pulled him into a tight hug.
The soft swell of her next-to-bare breasts pushing against his chest was simply too much. In a series of pumping throbs, his cock expanded like an inflating balloon, trapped between both their legs. Trey heard Jenn chuckle quietly.
“There he is,” she whispered quietly enough for only Trey to hear.
There were several claps, laughs, and whistles as persistent onlookers, maybe still watching out of interest from Trey’s display earlier, shouted approval and encouragement. Emboldened, Jenn pulled back slightly, looking around and even smiling back at some of the cheerleaders.
Trey panicked. He couldn’t do what needed to be done here. There was no way that this was happening here, now.
Jenn, encouraged by the positive support of the crowd, spun around on Trey’s lap and laid back against his chest, letting her head rest against his shoulder. She peered up at him, smiling.
Looking down at her, Trey’s eyes were drawn past her smile to her breasts, just above the waterline, where he could see the outlines of her nipples straining hard against the tiny strips of fabric that covered them. His penis strained uncomfortably against the seam of his swim trunks.
Feeling the pressure against her bare cheeks, Jenn bit her lower lip mischievously. Her right hand disappeared below the water line. Trey rediscovered it when he felt eager fingers pushing across his thigh toward his cock. Behind his glasses, Trey’s eyes widened.
“Jenn— “
“Just go with it,” Jenn whispered. Her fingers clenched around his cock. She unclenched and slid her hand slowly up and down the length of his shaft, still inside his suit.
Despite his best efforts, Trey’s breath caught in his throat and every muscle in his body tensed. A quiet moan sounded deep in his throat.
Jenn grinned, laying her head back on his shoulder and arching her back, thrusting her breasts out of the water and into the air in front of them. There were a few more cheers and whistles.
“Jenn, stop.”
“Why would I stop? They are all loving this!” Jenn was reacting to the cheers of the crowd now. A young woman’s voice yelled, “Get it, girl!” Jenn began thrusting back and forth on Trey’s lap, sliding her cheeks across his swim trunks. More cheers.
Jenn let out a whoop of her own.
“Jenn, please stop. This isn’t you.” It was all Trey could do to get the words out. Jenn’s persistent thrusting had shifted his now-fully-erect penis until it was in line with her crack. She hummed again.
“Slide forward and lean back.”
“What? Why?”
Jenn smiled and slid her hand up toward Trey’s belly, forcing her fingertips under the lip of his trunks. “Cause I wanna ride your cock.”
“No!”
Trey recoiled, hunching over instinctively. Jenn was forced off his lap, barely having time to protest before her head was submerged underwater. She came up sputtering, wiping water and makeup from her eyes.
Trey rushed to help her up. “Shit. I’m sorry, Jenn. Let me—,” There were some laughs and squeals of second-hand embarrassment as cruisers all around the pool deck either looked away or stared harder.
Jenn pulled her arm away, glaring at Trey. She didn’t say anything, just wiped water from her face and flung it from her hands as she waded toward the opposite side of the pool.
“That’s cold, man.”
“Honey, he don’t deserve you!” Jenn turned to look at the woman who had shouted, a thin, tight, quick, angry smile flickering over her face.
Trey stood up to follow her but dropped back in the water when he realized just how far his cock pushed out the front of his trunks. Outside of the water, there was no hiding the strength of his erection. The few who had seen made catcalls and shouts. One woman a few feet away pushed a pair of sunglasses up onto her head, staring fixedly at the water where Trey’s tented trunks rippled and waved underneath its surface.
“Damn, don’t pay her no mind, baby! If it were me, even if you dumped me in the water, I’d be all over that stick. Give me that Vitamin D!” She clucked her tongue in approval.
Trey did his best to ignore her, watching Jenn and waiting for his erection to ease.
Jenn, having reached the far side of the pool and heard the woman’s comment, turned and flipped her off, saying, “Go right ahead and try, ‘baby.’ Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.”
As Jenn reached down to adjust the narrow strip of fabric that covered the small patch between her legs, the woman said, none too quietly, “Fuck you, fat bitch.”
Trey winced as he saw Jenn visibly flinch. “Not cool,” he said to the woman. His erection now rapidly decreasing, he stood and followed after Jenn.
She had lifted herself out of the pool, crossing her arms uncomfortably across herself and returned to her lounge chair. She clasped a towel to herself, picked up the delicate fabric of the coverup, and without a backward glance, headed for the entrance into the atrium of the ship.
The DJ running the music spoke up over the speakers. “Hey, let’s all remember that we’re here to have some fun! Leave all that drama on land, people! Out here, we only do one thing: party!!” He launched into a new song, an electronic dance tune with heavy beats that soon had the crowd all bobbing and whooping in time. Trey pulled himself out of the pool, scooped up his shirt, towel, and sandals, and ran to follow after Jenn.
As he did, the brazen woman from before called out, “Hey, I’m in cabin 756, if she doesn’t put out! You’re welcome anytime!”
He ignored her. Right now, Jenn was his only concern.
Trey had every reason to be concerned. Jenn was furious. She clasped the towel around her breasts with one hand, mashing the elevator call button with the other.
“Jenn! Wait, please.”
She took an angry breath, glaring at the couple standing waiting for the elevator, as well.
“No, no, keep staring. In another minute, I’ll give you a private show.”
The couple glanced at each other and walked to another set of elevator doors to wait for a different car.
The elevator doors dinged then opened, and Jenn stomped in, punched her deck button, then repeatedly tapped the door close button.
Trey’s arm kept the doors from closing entirely, then he slipped in quickly as they reopened.
Jenn set her face in a freezing stare and faced the bank of buttons.
“Jenn, I’m so sorry. I— ”
“Do you think any of that was easy?”
“What?”
“Do you think running around with my tits hanging out and my bits on display for everyone to see is just my natural state? Do you think that comes easily?”
“I just— we couldn’t very well just fuck in the pool, Jenn. I mean, did you really want all those people watching?”
Jenn stared. Sucked her lips in as she jack-hammered the 12th deck button. Lord don’t let her explode on this beautiful man.
“Besides, in the pool? That’s… wrong on a number of levels.”
Never mind, Lord.
Jenn whirled on him as the elevator began to move. She dropped the towel to the floor.
“My apologies, Mr. Morality. Does the idea of having your privates exposed for everyone so inclined to look at make you uncomfortable?” She flipped aside the two nipple covers, fully exposing her breasts, then used two fingers to dislodge the flap that covered her vulva and the narrow, delicately trimmed trail of hair extending up from them.
Trey stared, and Jenn shouted, “What about mine?”
She couldn’t care less about the bulge in his shorts that grew in response to her display.
“Nope. Just yours.” Jenn replaced the cover at her crotch and only just managed to get the nipple covers back in place before the doors opened. A white-haired couple stared in, the man’s eyes hungrily taking in Jenn’s near nudity.
Jenn bent to pick up the towel, giving the couple a full show of her backside. She heard the woman gasp and make angry muttering noises. When she stood and turned around, she made fixed eye contact with the woman as she wrapped the towel around her body.
“Believe me, he’s seen way more than that, and you probably chose the wrong cruise if that offends you.”
The woman sniffed in disapproval as Jenn left the elevator. The couple turned to Trey, whose hands tried and failed to hide his erection.
Behind her, Jenn heard Trey try to offer some explanation as she swept down the hallway, leaving him behind.
He caught up to her just as she reached her cabin door. She opened her bag, pulling out her keycard.
“Jenn, I— ”
She cut him off.
“I put everything out there for you, Trey. Literally.” She didn’t look at him as she swiped the card. He didn’t interrupt. “Not only did you turn me down—,” She whirled on him. “You rejected me!” “Not only that, but you made me into a laughingstock, while you came out of it smelling like a rose, a paragon of virtue to stand firm and unaffected by the drunken advances of the cruise fat lady!” She pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Say hello to 756 for me, or whoever the hell else it is you’re meeting up with tonight.” She slammed the door behind her, then leaned against the door, fighting the tears that built up in her eyes.
The humiliation, embarrassment, and anger poured out of her as she slid slowly to the floor, cradling her head on her arms and knees as she cried.