crystals and shimmers with her every movement. Her long, raven black hair is smoothed down her back in a shiny silky sheet. She looks younger than her age but at the same time, when she smiles, you can see lines forming around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth and that makes her look suddenly older even though it’s really brief moments. I don’t know why Alicia is marrying VDB but she certainly doesn’t look like an ecstatic bride to be. Call it women’s intuition but I wouldn’t be able to stop smiling if I were marrying Blaine.
The thought hits me like a freight train because: a) it’s the first time I’ve realistically thought about marriage. Well, the first time after Pierce. And b) seeing the way VDB attempted to blackmail me into sleeping with him, could Alicia be under duress? And if that’s the case, what could VDB have on her to manage to force her into marrying him? I really need to find a moment to talk to Blaine alone but it’s obviously not right now because we’re right in front of the ‘happy couple’ and I’m suddenly busy forcing a fake smile on my face and lying about how much I love my bridesmaid dress.
I look around the room and there must be at least a hundred people drinking champagne and chatting away and that’s really kind of weird. When I think about a rehearsal dinner, I just picture the innermost circle, just really close friends and family. This seems a full blown affair as more and more guests arrive.
“Come here, Honey Bunny. Let’s get us some champagne and when the dancing starts I call fucking dibs on the first dance. Have I told you how fucking sexy you look tonight?”
Blaine is standing behind me, his chest touching my back, as his deep voice rumbles in my ear and travels down my spine, all the way down to my core, causing me to clench as I feel a rush of wetness at the image that just formed in my mind. Me and Blaine in one of the guest cabins, clothing totally optional. I’m about to tell him what I’ve just thought when something, or rather someone in the corner of my eye catches my attention.
Pierce.
My heartbeat accelerates and my throat closes down as I move through the now crowded room, following the brown haired figure in a black suit. I can feel Blaine following me but I don’t say anything, not wanting to sound absolutely insane. I just caught a glimpse of man’s mouth, he had a smirk that looked sinisterly familiar but my vision was partially impeded by someone standing in front of him and a mask covering most of his features.
It can’t be, it can’t be. Pierce is fucking dead, right? My feet have moved of their own accord following the suited figure but there’s too many people and it takes me too long to reach him. I see the suit disappearing from sight through a door that leads to the corridor inside the boat.
Should I follow and see who that person is? I’m pretty positive that it can’t be my ex but I’d definitely feel better if I could establish that without any doubt.
“Sloane, what—”
Blaine has followed behind me and I’m about to tell him what I think I saw, but a booming voice stops me in my tracks. “Дорогая! (Darling) My beautiful muse! You look absolutely spectacular tonight. Blaine, you’re the luckiest mofo ever!”
It’s Kronin, followed by his shadow, the huge and silent Lagi, looking more intimidating than ever in a dark brown suit. I feel Blaine tense up behind me and have to repress a laugh when he calls Kronin out on calling him a ‘mofo’. But the Russian is completely batshit crazy and his smile widens at Blaine’s scowl.
“Ah, but your girlfriend is going to model for me and that makes her family. So you’re family too and we can call each other mofo and other names, right?”
Blaine looks really taken aback, what do you say to your host when he puts it that way?
When I no longer fear that Blaine will punch Kronin in the face, I allow myself to look at him. He isn’t wearing a tuxedo, he’s actually in a pirate costume.
“You look, like Captain Jack Sparrow, Mr. Kronin.” The Russian billionaire smiles and shakes his head, making his blond dreadlocks undulate with the movement.
“Вот именно! Хорошо! (Exactly! Well done!) I’m Jack Sparrow. This is a