Overboard (16 page)

B
ored
of looking at the stars, Sebastian decided that Duncan needed to wake up to entertain him. They had tickets to the comedy show later so Duncan shouldn’t have been sleeping too late anyway.

The room was empty.

Sebastian knew that hunger would have driven his big bear to leave the room in search of food. He didn’t find Duncan at the burger place as he’d expected, though, so he checked some of Duncan’s other favorite spots. He wasn’t at the gym, or the library.

Cursing the size of the ship, Sebastian headed toward the pools.

Duncan wasn’t there either.

Sebastian had no reason, but he couldn’t stop the bad feeling in his gut that told him that something was wrong. He needed to find Duncan and take care of him.

Sebastian worried about what he would do if there were a problem.

What do I know about taking care of people?

He shoved that thought aside. He’d figure it out for Duncan.

Where could he be? Duncan wouldn’t be in any of the shops. Sebastian couldn’t imagine him wanting to go to the casino. They already had tickets for one show that night so he certainly wasn’t at another. He wished Duncan had his cell phone so Sebastian could send him a text.

Just as he started considering having him paged, he saw George and Nancy on the other side of the pool. He couldn’t run away because they had seen him too.

Nancy waved enthusiastically while George scowled.

With a sigh, Sebastian walked over to meet them, hoping that they would know something. Nancy smiled and shook Sebastian’s hand. George frowned at the two of them and said nothing.

Nancy asked, “Did you find something fun to do today?”

Sebastian spent a couple of minutes telling her about the pyramids. She was in the middle of asking a question about the iguanas when George interrupted.

“Nancy, could you give Sebastian and me a couple minutes alone? We have some things we need to talk about.”

Nancy, bubbly as always but not liking the tone of his voice, told her husband, “Is that really necessary, George? Why don’t you and me go back to the room to freshen up a little bit before the show tonight. It’s been a long day and I could use a little rest.”

Without taking his eyes off of Sebastian, George told his wife, “You go on ahead. This will just take a couple minutes. Guy talk.”

Nancy looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to figure out a way to get her husband to leave Sebastian alone.

Sebastian knew George wasn’t going to let it go until he had said whatever was on his mind. It was better to get it out of the way. He told Nancy, “It’s okay, Mrs. Mills. You know how it is with guys. Sometimes we just have to have a guy talk. We don’t get to escape to bathrooms together like you girls do when you need to talk.”

Nancy giggled and patted Sebastian’s arm. She kissed George’s cheek and told him in a firm tone, “Don’t be long. I’m sure Sebastian has better things to do than talk to us old fuddy-duddies.”

Sebastian and George watched her until she was out of sight.

George didn’t waste time with small talk. Sebastian imagined that he
rarely
wasted time with small talk. It didn’t seem in his nature. He reminded Sebastian of his own dad in that way.

“This new business. I understand what Duncan’s doing. He’s a carpenter. The skill. He’s great at what he does and everyone that he has worked for knows that. What I don’t understand is what you bring to the business. What’s your role?”

That didn’t sound like his own dad at all. George was protecting his son, not trying to knock him down a peg.

Sebastian hadn’t expected a question about the business. He had been so focused on finding Duncan that he was more worried that George was going to ask questions about their relationship. Or maybe that he had heard something from Katey.

Sebastian could easily have denied that. This was harder, though. More personal, somehow. Especially since he still didn’t know what he brought to the table other than his dad’s money, which they wouldn’t even be using.

“Well, sir.” Older men loved being called sir.

George didn’t smile.

Sebastian lowered his voice and continued.

“I’m going to be spearheading the sales and management side of the business. As we grow, we’re going to need to hire more people and pay them etcetera, etcetera. I’ll be in charge of all of that.

“You have to admit that as skilled of a carpenter as your son is, he leaves a little bit to be desired on the salesmanship side. He’s a man of few words and people like to be chatted with before making the purchase. It’s an important part of establishing the credibility before the project begins...”

Sebastian thought he sounded very professional.

“I tried to smile at all that crap you were telling me the other day because there were other people around and I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt since I don’t know you. But where are you going to get sales from? Other than lowlife party boys like you? How many guys like that are there really in Miami? I’m sure there’s more there than most places, but what happens when you burn through those few connections that you have?”

Sebastian was taken aback by George’s lack of tact, but he
had
been making all of that up on the fly. It had sounded good as he said it, but George was right. What would they do once his few friends had finished whatever remodels he might be able to con them into? He had no idea how to find new leads. Could he just call people in the phone book? Did phone books even exist anymore?

Even if he had the leads, he wouldn’t know what to say if somebody was interested, other than handing the phone to Duncan.

“Well sir, that’s where some of my business connections will come in handy.” Sebastian heard his voice rising higher. He paused to clear his throat and continued. “I’ll be doing more high-level management. So I’ll be hiring people for a lot of those business functions.”

George snorted at Sebastian. “So it sounds like you’re going to take some of the profits and all you’re going to offer in return is to hire people to do the jobs that you’re supposed to do but don’t know how to do. That sounds like it’ll needlessly cut into Duncan’s profits. So again, I ask you, what do you really bring to this venture?”

Sebastian would have given anything for a big wave to shake the boat enough to knock them off-balance. He needed to get out of this conversation. It was worse than any he’d had with his own dad because George was being nice and actually protecting his son. Unfortunately, that meant that Sebastian was the problem.

Sebastian would have killed for that kind of support.

George had him on edge and Sebastian would make a bigger fool of himself if he couldn’t find a way to end the discussion.

After a couple seconds of silence, Sebastian realized no help was coming.

“Well... umm... My dad... He does a lot of real-estate deals. I’ll probably talk to him and see what he can do to help drive some business.”

George shook his head. “You’re a joke, son. You might have money, but you know nothing about the real world. Duncan and I might fight from time to time, and disagree about almost everything, but Duncan has never once needed his daddy to bail him out of a tough situation. He’s made himself his own man through hard work and perseverance. While I disagree with him moving so far away from us and wish he wouldn’t challenge me whenever I open my mouth, I respect the man that he built himself into. You are not that kind of man.”

Already low on self-esteem because of the conversation, the final words devastated Sebastian.

They were too true.

Half of the reason that he wanted to be around Duncan was knowing that Duncan was a better man. Sebastian hoped that being around a good man like Duncan could help him learn how to be a better one, too.

Maybe then Dad won’t hate me so much.

Sebastian’s heart hurt. He hated being such a disappointment to everyone. He wanted to run and hide. He stayed because George needed to hear one thing. George clearly cared for his son, but how was Duncan supposed to know that?

“I don’t think you know me well enough to say such horrible things about me. Whether true or not, you don’t know me well enough to talk to me this way. But you really need to tell Duncan what you told me. Instead of trying to break my spirit, you should tell Duncan how you feel about him and help build him up.”

“Don’t you worry about me and my son. You’re too young to know a damn thing about parenting. Duncan is as strong and independent as he is because he’s made himself into what he is. He doesn’t need any validation from me. Besides, you just worry about yourself. Don’t hurt Duncan with this stupid business idea. Make it work or I’ll come looking for you and give you a real piece of my mind.”

George turned and left Sebastian alone with his evil thoughts.

I’m not good enough for Duncan.

I’m destined to be a failure.

The ship was too small. He needed to get off. At the next stop, he could charter a plane to take him back home. Everything was too intense and too real for him on the ship.

He craved the comfort of the fake life that he’d had before. The safe life. The easy life.

Sebastian ordered two drinks and sat on a lounge chair on deck. The drinks sat untouched on the table next to him. As much as he wanted to run away, he couldn’t bring himself to get drunk until he knew that Duncan was safe. He would sit tight and give Duncan a chance to find him since the other way hadn’t worked out.

He fell asleep on the deck chair and didn’t wake for another couple of hours until the storm started to bring stiffer waves that rocked the ship. Until then, he slept, rocked by disturbed dreams, most of which involved him ruining Duncan over and over again.

W
hen Duncan recovered
from his meltdown, he decided that he had to find Sebastian. Everything had been fine when the two of them were together. It was only when they were apart or with others that things seemed too complicated.

He would find him. They would return to the room. And they would stay locked in there until the cruise was over.

Duncan knew he sounded crazy, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. Losing Sebastian was not an option.

He checked the casino. No Sebastian. He checked the rock wall. No Sebastian. He wandered the top walking deck, hoping to bump into Sebastian or see him down below.

Still no Sebastian.

The time alone gave Duncan too much opportunity to imagine where Sebastian could be, and who he could be with. Images of Sebastian being rubbed by the masseur returned to him over and over again.

He knew that the Sebastian he had met during the speed date would have cheated on him at a moment’s notice, but Duncan couldn’t completely convince himself that Sebastian was still that jerk.

He held on to the small hope that things were still going to be okay.

He was about ready to return to the massage parlor and demand some answers, though, when he noticed an old couple making out in the corridor.

It was Edith and Emil.

Duncan was too slow to turn and leave. Edith, her back pressed against the wall while Emil kissed her neck, called out.

“Where is your pretty boy?”

She pushed Emil away. He sat on a nearby lounge chair adjusting the bulge in his pants.

Edith hurried over to give Duncan a hug. “How is your cruise going?” She didn’t give him time to answer. “Emil and I had the best excursion today. We went to this little beach, not the main one, we had to get a taxi driver to take us to the special private beach. When the two of us got there, we stripped down to our birthday suits. Probably been three or four years since we went skinny-dipping. Can you imagine going that long between dips?”

Duncan failed to block the image of the two of them naked on the beach. His whole body shivered.

“That sounds... Exciting. Hope you didn’t get any sand where it...”

Edith slapped his chest. “We’re old pros at running around naked. No sand in this cootchie. So where is your pretty boy? What did you two do on your big trip off the ship? Did you find a private spot?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Edith looked concerned. “When you don’t want to talk about it, that’s the best time to talk about it. You don’t need to suffer alone. What’s going on with you two? This is supposed to be a romantic cruise.”

Duncan automatically said, “It’s a business trip.”

Edith waited silently for him to continue.

“Fine. I need to tell someone. We went to the pyramids today. It was amazing. If you would’ve asked me then, I would’ve said everything was perfect. But when we got home, I laid down for a nap and he went out to the casino. And then he made out with some random guy. I’m pretty sure. It sounds like something he would do anyway. I can’t trust him any further than I can see him, I’m afraid.”

Edith covered her mouth in shock. “What? You mean he cheated on you? You caught him cheating on you?”

Telling Edith as much as he had was already too much. He couldn’t tell her about Jason and his sister. That was his sister’s business, not his. He couldn’t share that.

“It’s complicated. I heard it from a reliable source. Well, a source. Fuck. I don’t know who’s telling the truth anymore. They might all be lying. But I wouldn’t put it past Sebastian to cheat. He practically fucked the masseuse right in front of me. He’s probably getting a happy ending right now.”

Edith squeezed Duncan into another big hug. For such a tiny woman, she had a strong grip.

When she finally released him, Edith said, “Are you sure you’re not just being jealous? I mean did you actually see Sebastian do anything wrong? Or is your imagination getting away from you?

“I used to get jealous of all the girls that hit on Emil when we first started dating and right after we got married. It used eat at me every time a waitress would bat her eyes or a neighbor would come over and ask him to look at her broken car. I was sure the tramps were breaking their cars on purpose.

“Emil was important, I decided. More important than all those bitches. So I asked him about it. He admitted that he liked the attention, but swore that he never would wander.”

From the lounge chair, Emil shouted, “Edith had the best ass in the town. No way was I gonna risk losing that.”

Edith blushed. “Oh honey, you still say the nicest things.”

Duncan said, “This is different. I’ve only been with Sebastian for a couple days. We don’t have a history. We don’t even have a relationship really. And before this cruise, Sebastian was a total player, a real man-whore.”

Edith frowned. “Then why do you want to be with him? Why does him cheating upset you so much if he’s a bad guy? Just move on if he’s that kind of a person.”

Duncan sighed. “He is worth it. That’s why it bothers me. He’s been a perfect gentleman the last couple days and has seemed so committed to making things work. I’m not sure what to believe. I’m so confused.”

Edith smiled and grabbed his hands. “If he’s worth it, talk to him about it. Then be ready to work on it. The relationship is still so young. You guys have so much to learn about each other still. If you both want each other, find a way to make it work. And never listen to rumors.”

Duncan promised to think about it. It felt good to talk to someone, but he was more confused than ever. Once again he wished he were home alone and could just ignore the whole problem. But the two of them were sharing a room together. Duncan had to find out what was going on.

He figured the best bet was to return to the room and hope Sebastian was there. If not, he would wait there. Sebastian had to show up sometime before the show.

The room was empty.

Duncan couldn’t stop himself from imagining the masseur again. He sat on the bed and promised himself that he wouldn’t cry, or break the TV. There were was still two hours until the show. He would wait for Sebastian. His eyes were so heavy that he decided to set the alarm. Just in case.

In a few minutes he was asleep again.