Chapter 16 Quisling’s Quarters
I think this is the first time I’ve ever been exhausted after a round with Vincent.
Well, several rounds would be more accurate.
The way his body bends to my will gives me some sort of a power complex that quickly shifts into something softer every time I kiss him.
Love is such a complicated emotion. Loving him makes me incredibly weak and insanely strong at the same time.
My heart, which was impenetrable, has been thoroughly claimed by the two dimples that reside on my best friend’s face.
I will do anything to see those dimples every day, for the rest of my life.
Vincent is comfortably asleep with his head on my chest and his arm draped across me. I kiss the top of his head, running my fingers softly through his hair. He snuggles in closer, letting out a soft sigh of contentment.
What the hell? I lift my head from the pillow at the sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand. It’s four in the morning; who would be calling me right now? Since I don’t recognize the number, I send it to voicemail and immediately receive a text.
This is Michael, I need you to meet me outside of your dad’s ship.
I rub my eyes and gently move Vincent’s arm off me, which somehow doesn’t wake him.
Sitting up in my bed, I read the text again.
Why is he texting me? I’m not sure if going out there is the right thing to do.
What could be so important? Do I wake Vincent?
Or go by myself? Maybe I should just ignore it.
Don’t ignore me. I am breaking at least fifty rules to help you. I’ll give you five minutes. I wouldn’t bring Vincent, unless you have to.
Oh shit. This is either something about our dads, Harlow, or that asshole… Or it’s a set-up. I’m not sure why he wouldn’t want me to bring Vincent, but the safest place for him is beside me.
We’ll be down in a few minutes. Vincent is asleep. I won’t leave him here.
I kiss Vincent on the forehead and rub his chest. “Hey, I need you to wake up. Michael is outside.”
His eyes open, and he jolts up. “What? Michael? Why is he outside? What time is it?”
“It’s four am, I don’t know what he wants, but he warned me not to ignore him. He also told me to leave you behind if I could help it, but I’m not leaving you anywhere. On the off chance this is a set-up, the smartest thing to do would be to separate us. Let’s just go see what he wants.”
We get out of bed and quickly dress.
“I’m sore everywhere and so tired,” Vincent says while yawning. “I’m kind of surprised Michael texted you instead of Brody. Michael seemed like kind of a jerk.”
I shake my head at him. “Nah, Michael just seemed like he was following rules, while Brody seemed like he kind of does whatever he wants. Probably gets away with more since his dad is the chief.”
I take Vincent by the hand and lead him off the ship. It’s dark and quiet outside. The deck is empty, and so is the port. I see one man standing alone. He’s dressed in a black tactical uniform that I’ve only seen certain members of the inner police wear before.
Vincent squeezes my hand tightly. “Is this okay that we’re doing this? With the way he’s dressed he looks like he’s on a mission.”
“I don’t know what the right thing to do is, but let’s just see what he wants.”
He’s walking toward us but constantly scanning the area around us.
“Hey, guys, I’m gonna talk fast because we can’t stand out here.
If someone sees me, I’ll get fired. I warned you two before I left to be careful of Matteo.
I did a little more digging and see the thing is that we—” He holds his hand over his mouth.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this… I see myself and Brody when I look at the two of you, and the thing is that we had a friend who followed the same path as Matteo, and he’s no longer with us.
I don’t want to see that happen to you guys, too. ”
“What are you saying right now? I’m so confused,” I say.
“We started investigating Matteo about a week ago. He’s been crossing over into the city several times a day.
That’s more than enough for me to take him into custody.
He’s already broken the treaty by not declaring his business when entering.
I’ll just cut to it; he’s been at a hideout with several other pirates that we’ve been keeping an eye on.
Brody’s father really doesn’t want another huge pirate war breaking out, and neither do I, but your brother, he appears to be the one who is inciting this whole group of pirates.
I know that this is probably hard for you to accept, but if you don’t find a way to stop him, I’m going to have to arrest him before this blows up, and if he resists, I won’t hesitate in taking his life. ”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Vincent says.
“You’re telling me that my brother is not only planning to defect from our crew, but that you think he’s actually orchestrating some kind of a mutiny?
What about Captain Slicer? Are you guys watching him?
He’s the one that’s doing all of this. I don’t think Matteo has anything to do with it.
Matteo is probably just trying to keep things under control so that nothing happens.
” He turns to me. “Right, Sivan? He wouldn’t do anything like this. ”
What am I supposed to say to him when he’s looking at me like this? I exhale and squeeze his hand. “I don’t know. I—I don’t think Michael would be here if he wasn’t sure.”
Michael looks over his shoulder, then points toward the path leading to the city entrance.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you. Brody is there now, keeping watch.
I didn’t think you’d believe me, and I don’t blame you.
I’ll take you there, but you cannot interfere.
No matter what you see or hear, you have to give me your word that you will not make your presence known, and you cannot tell your fathers about this.
If you can’t promise those things, I can’t bring you. ”
“If we cross into the city at night, we’ll be breaking the treaty. And what are you going to show us anyway?” I ask.
“Matteo is there right now.” He points to his earpiece. “Brody can see everything that’s happening inside the room.”
“I want to see,” Vincent says. “I refuse to believe he’s in the city. You have the wrong guy.”
I have no idea what’s going to happen, but against my better judgement, we follow behind Michael carefully through back alleys, until we reach a large hotel. Michael leads us into a room with a bunch of security cameras.
Brody gives us a nod as we walk inside. “Sorry about this, guys. We only haven’t moved on him, because we’re waiting on the big fish, but he’s making plans here to ruin your whole ceremony on Friday.”
Vincent’s eyes are wide scanning all of the small monitors. “It’s this one,” Brody says, quickly changing the largest monitor to another feed.
Matteo is sitting on a couch, and Harlow is beside him. He’s drinking a bottle of beer. Harlow says something inaudible while rubbing his arm. “I don’t care,” Matteo says. “I don’t care about any of that. He’s not my father and I never should have been on that ship to begin with.”
Vincent looks to be in shock, and now that he’s seen this, I need to get him out of here.
“Why?” Vincent asks Brody. “Why would he do this? Aside from Harlow, who are the other people there with him?”
Brody shakes his head. “Bottom feeder pirates from Captain Slicer’s crew mostly.
I think a few are from your father’s crew, though.
We mostly know the big guys. These little fish with him aren’t important enough for us to track.
Now, if Henry steps on the stage or Captain Slicer, himself—we’ll have to move on them. ”
I want to take care of this right now. Just settle this myself, but I know that’s not the answer, because despite what I think, he’s still family to Vincent.
“No, I don’t care,” Matteo says, pulling his hand away from Harlow. “The plan is to do it on Friday. He’ll be here then.”
“We gotta get you guys out of here, now,” Brody says. “I can’t let you stay any longer. If anyone catches you in here, we’ll be in more trouble than I’m capable of talking us out of.”
Vincent is still in shock—his eyes are glued to the screen, as I pull on his hand.
“We gotta go, Vincent,” I say softly. “Come on. We need to come up with our own plan.”
“One more thing,” Brody says. “He doesn’t care that you two are gay, that wasn’t his problem. I can’t share anything else, but it’s important to me that you both know that.”
· · ·
It’s been a few hours since we got back to my room.
Vincent doesn’t seem to be in denial anymore, then again, he just fell asleep.
I don’t know how to make this better for him, because even I was shocked seeing Matteo sitting there.
I knew Harlow didn’t look like she was struggling when they carried her off the ship.
She looked pretty comfy tucked under Matteo’s arm.
This whole fucking thing has been orchestrated by this selfish bastard.
How dare he say he didn’t belong on Captain Rodrigo’s ship.
Twenty-one years ago, during the mutiny when all the women and children were hiding underground at Muffy’s, baby Matteo was left all alone.
Vincent’s parents took him in and raised them as their own.
So, hearing those words from Matteo’s mouth about Captain Rodrigo and the kindness he showed him, makes me sick to my stomach.
He would be just another crew member with no privileges, or maybe even worse, if Vincent’s parents hadn’t cared for him.
I’m glad that we left before we heard anything else.
I just don’t know what would make him want to join up with Captain Slicer to begin with.
The pirates in the room were treating him so respectfully, too.
It looked just as Michael explained, somehow Matteo seemed to be the one in charge.