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Tao grins, revealing a tiny gap between his top teeth. “Breakfast at midnight is one of my favorites.”
“It’s midnight? Oh, then definitely don’t?—”
Leandra touches my arm. “If you’re about to say another word about us going to any trouble, I’ll have John put you in the brig.”
John snorts, staring intently at his cards. “Don’t listen to her. We don’t even have a brig.”
“Do you have a plank?” I ask, which makes Danny laugh.
“There’s a retractable diving board,” he says. “Which, I guess could work just as well.”
Of course, there’s a retractable diving board. What kind of yacht would this be without one?
“Let’s finish this hand so we can deal Sadie in,” John says, tossing a blue chip in the center. “I raise. It’s to you, Danny.” John glances at me. “Do you know how to play poker?”
“A little,” I say.
Danny grins again. The man reminds me of an oversized golden retriever. “I bet that means she’s good. Decent players always undersell themselves. I fold. This one’s yours, John. Were you bluffing? You were, weren’t you?”
John’s smile is smug as he gathers chips from the center and deftly shuffles his hand into the rest of the deck. “I’ll never tell. Are you in, Sadie?”
“What’s the buy-in?” I ask. “I have zero cash, but I’m good for it.”
“Don’t worry about it for now,” Leandra says, counting out a stack of chips from a silver case. She slides them in front of me, and John begins to deal.
Ten minutes later, the whole room smells like bacon, I’ve got a cup of coffee in hand, and I’ve taken almost all of Danny’s money. I’m having a blast.
“I knew you were good,” Danny says, looking as unperturbed as if he’d been the one to cleanmeout.
“I had good hands,” I say, which is partly true. The other part is that I’ve been playing for years with a group of guys I met through a mutual friend. The mutual friend moved, but I kept the poker group. Also, I learned from the best, and the best was Gran. “What’s your job, Danny? I didn’t get to meet you the other day.”
“I’m a deckhand. I do pretty much all the grunt work, especially with such a small crew.”
“It’s a very important job,” Leandra says, giving his forearm a squeeze.
I notice a tattoo peeking out from Danny’s sleeve. Hard to tell without seeing the whole thing, but it looks like it could be Mickey Mouse. I barely know the guy, and still, a Mickey Mouse tattoo absolutely fits.
“I’m not complaining,” Danny says. “Ben pays better than anyone else. Plus, he offered me time and a half for this trip, since I basically had less than an hour to pack and get myself on board.”
This reminds me of the whole kidnapping thing. And the fact that I didn’t run into German or the other agent while searchingfor the galley. I wonder if one of them has to stay awake and on duty even when we’re out at sea. Shouldn’t they be keeping track of me?
By my count, they’re doing a pretty poor job.
“What, exactly, did Ben say about this sudden trip?” I ask, trying to sound casual as I shuffle the deck and start to deal.
Tao grins. “What hesaidwas he wanted to show his girlfriend a good time.”
I stiffen, having forgotten that little tidbit of information.Girlfriend—right. I remember German saying something similar—right before I threw up over the side of the boat.
Yet another reason to be angry with Ben. Lying about me being his girlfriend is definitelynotokay. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably how he convinced German to do this whole Take-Sadie-to-Sea plan. Which,fine.I understand they were all operating from a place of concern. But not a single one of them consulted withme.Told me what was happening. Asked if I had an opinion on the subject.
My frustration rises, which is good considering how much it softened through Ben’s excellent caretaking skills.
You don’t like him, I remind myself.Youcan’tlike him.
“But since we know Ben doesn’thavegirlfriends,” John starts.
“And since you’re clearly out of his league,” Leandra adds with a smile.
