CHAPTER 26
RHETT

I couldn't get Chanel's words out of my head all night. “A do-over could be fun.” That was a blatant response to how terrible our prom night had been before. The cheeky look in her eyes stayed with me all night long, haunting me as questions rolled through my mind. Even though Tommy had dragged me around the ship, looking at women and dipping into other bars to get drunk, I could still hear her voice ringing in my head. Did she want a second chance at prom? Was that her way of forgiving me for what happened? Was that really how she felt or was she just trying to find humor in the moment?

I wasn't sure, but I was willing to find out.

When Tommy and I woke up that morning, the girls met us out in the hall for breakfast. Tommy hugged Ana closely, and Ana closed her eyes, breathing Tommy in the way I did with Chanel. A grin crossed my cheeks as I looked down at Chanel, ready for her to make some smart comment about the moment.

But she was gazing off down the hallway, her body in a trance and her eyes clouded over.

The four of us went to get breakfast, and Chanel didn't seem as happy as I thought she would be. She was calm but distant. Her answers were short and clipped whenever I tried to talk to her. I figured it was probably the Luke thing, but I still couldn’t be sure. I knew I was up early enough to feel the boat dock in Curaçao. I knew what was happening. Luke was boarding the ship and being transferred to one of the levels below the deck.

And if I knew Chanel well enough, she had probably been awake early to feel the boat dock as well.

Everything inside of me wanted to ask her how she was doing. As we sat and talked over breakfast about how stupid this do-over prom thing was, I wanted to take her hand. I wanted to bring it to my lips and kiss the softness of her skin. I wanted the warmth of my body to calm her like I knew it would. I wanted her to melt against me like she had in the ocean yesterday. I wanted her to know she was safe and know that even though Luke fucking Thomas was back on the ship, it didn’t mean she was in danger.

She had me, and that meant she was protected.

“I think it’s stupid,” Tommy said.

“Oh, come on. We can go, dance a bit, and then get drunk,” Ana said.

“Sounds like Tommy’s prom anyway,” Chanel said.

“I’d come back with a snarky little comment if I knew what you were talking about,” Tommy said.

“See? He doesn’t even remember. You came to prom drunk, spiked the punch, and got thrown out for it,” Chanel said.

“I remember that. You were a mess that night,” I said.

“I don’t know, sounds like a fun time to me,” Ana said.

“You would think that,” I said, grinning.

“Are you going to go tonight, Chanel?” Ana asked.

“I don’t know. I guess it could be fun, but it’s stupid to re-nominate a prom king and queen. Connie went a bit overboard with that one,” Chanel said.

“Finally. Someone said it. Who were our prom king and queen anyway?” I asked.

“You don’t remember?” Chanel asked.

“I don’t,” I said.

“Doesn’t shock me. That was when the two of you snuck—”

Ana stopped her statement, and I could feel Chanel tighten up beside me. I guess I had the answers to all my questions. Last night, Chanel was only trying to diffuse the tension. She didn’t really want a do-over for prom. She wanted to forget about the whole thing. I slid my hand onto her thigh, trying to pull her gaze toward mine, but she shrugged me off as Tommy cleared his throat.

“Like I said. Always missing out on the drama.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“If you weren’t drunk all the time, you might not miss it,” Chanel said with a grin. “There was plenty of drama when we docked this morning.”

“I wasn’t drunk this morning,” Tommy said. “I was sleeping off my drunken state.”

“What do you mean there was drama this morning?” Ana asked.

“Just with us docking in Curaçao and then taking back off. Some people saw Luke get on board in handcuffs,” Chanel said.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

Chanel sighed, and I knew exactly how she knew. Because she had gone to see it. Why the hell did she insist on putting herself through that kind of shit?

“You could’ve come and gotten me, you know,” I said.

“He didn’t see me or anything. It was from a distance. You put a real beating on him,” Chanel said with a small smile.

“He deserved a real beating,” I said.

“See? More drama missed. What was I doing on the island that day?” Tommy asked.

“Getting drunk,” Chanel and Ana said in unison with a giggle.

I was pissed off at Tommy making the comments he was, but it seemed to be the only thing that had Chanel laughing. I was worried about her state of mind and about what had taken her from her room at seven in the morning alone to see that asshole get back on the boat. If people had gathered to see it, then rumors were already flying. I trained my ears onto the conversations around us, trying to get a good peek into what everyone was talking about.

“Did you guys see him in handcuffs? That was Luke, right?”

“What was he in handcuffs for?”

“Someone gave him a shiner and broke his nose. You think he got into a fight?”

“Luke? Geeky, scrawny little Luke? Nah. He probably got run over by a bus.”

“Then why was he in handcuffs?”

“Did he steal something?”

“He’s a millionaire. Why would he steal something?”

“Can you be arrested for acting like a pompous dick? He’s been doing it all week.”

“I saw four bodyguards with him. All dressed in security outfits. They looked hot too.”

The rumors were buzzing all around us. People were postulating why Luke had been carted on in handcuffs. Some were wondering what had happened while others were wondering what would happen to him once we got back to Miami. Tommy and Chanel continued to go back and forth as she rattled off memory after memory of Tommy being too late or too drunk to remember what was going on around him. But my focus was elsewhere. I was trying to find a way to get the rumors under control or at least get them away from Chanel so she could enjoy the rest of her trip.

“She’s right. You are pretty late. You were late last night for dinner, and you’re literally right next door to us,” Ana said.

“I can be late and pretty or on time and shabby. Take your pick,” Tommy said.

“I don’t think Ana minds shabby as long as you’ve got a big dick,” Chanel said.

“Hey, guys!”

I heard Connie’s voice come from behind me as she approached the table. Ana groaned, and Tommy rolled his eyes, but Chanel did something I didn’t expect. She pressed herself against me, her hand landing lovingly on my thigh as she leaned over my chest. Connie was passing out papers to the table, and Chanel was more than willing to take those from her.

“Did you guys see Luke this morning?” Connie asked. “What in the world happened?”

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked. “I was sleeping off some alcohol this morning.”

“All I know is he boarded in handcuffs. Did he get into trouble or something?” Connie asked.

“That’s usually what’s happened if someone’s in handcuffs,” Ana said.

“The prevailing theory right now is that he stole something,” Connie said.

“He tried to,” Chanel said with a murmur.

“What was that?” Connie asked.

“I said it serves him right. What kind of millionaire steals stuff?” Chanel asked.

“What are these names for?” Ana asked.

“The nominations for prom king and queen, girl! Make sure you cast your vote. There’s a box with a slot in it over in the corner you can put your ballots in later,” Connie said.

“Can we write in names?” Chanel asked.

“Nope. We’re using the same names from prom when we graduated. Nothing spectacular. Just a fun little thing to reminisce,” Connie said. “Can’t wait to see who wins! We have a beautiful crown for the queen this time around.”

“Uh-huh. Well, thank you for bringing these around,” Chanel said.

There was something in her eyes I couldn’t identify, which was odd because I prided myself on being able to read Chanel well. Her demeanor had changed completely when Connie approached the table, and when she left, Chanel’s demeanor went right back to normal. She pulled away from me, her hand left my thigh, and she tossed the piece of voting paper onto the floor.

“You okay there?” Ana asked. “You look a little murder-y.”

“Not all of us enjoyed our prom,” Chanel said. “Why do we have to relive it?”

Tommy’s eyes whipped over to mine as my heart sank to my feet. I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to fix this. Chanel looked angry and defeated and tired. She had tortured herself this morning by watching Luke get on the ship by herself. She was standing on a limb that was shaking, refusing help from anyone who reached out to her.

I had no idea what had brought any of this on, but the only thing I could do was try to cheer her up.

“You guys want to go spend some time by the pool?” I asked.

“I’m always pool-ready,” Tommy said.

“Got my bikini on underneath my wrap,” Ana said.

Our eyes panned over to Chanel as she stared out the window near our table.

“Huh?” she asked.

“We’re all heading to the pool. You wanna come along? Some sun might do you some good,” Ana said.

“Oh. Oh yeah. Sure. Means I can get a drink,” Chanel said.

“That’s the spirit! We can go to this prom drunk, or we can drink and miss it altogether. Who the fuck cares about it anyway?” Ana asked.

“You know, I liked Winter Ball that year more than I did our prom,” Chanel said. “Do you remember that dance?”

“Like it was yesterday. You were in this beautiful royal blue and silver gown. Strapless. It poofed out everywhere,” I said.

“Then we went to Steak and Shake afterward for three fucking hours,” Ana said.

“Oh, shit. I remember that dance,” Tommy said. “The one where the ornament balls started falling from the ceiling and busting on the ground?”

“Holy hell, that was that dance?” I asked.

“I can’t believe you don’t remember that. You got hit with one,” Chanel said with a grin. “It busted all over your head and put glass down your pants.”

“I still don’t understand whose bright idea it was to hang massive blown-glass ornaments from a fucking popcorn ceiling,” I said.

“Uh, that was me,” Ana said. “I was on the committee that year.”

“Why doesn’t that shock me?” Chanel asked. “Ana, you’re the reason Walking On Broken Glass became our class’s anthem that year.”

“That, I don’t remember,” Tommy said.

“You were probably drunk,” Chanel and I said together.

“How could I be drunk through an entire school anthem?” Tommy asked.

“I don’t know. You do some pretty outstanding things,” Ana said.

“Oh, really? And what do you like the best?”

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Chanel said. “Who’s ready for the pool?”

Chanel rose from her seat with a smile on her face. Even though her emotional state was erratic today, I was glad she was still choosing to spend the day with us. An afternoon of laying out underneath the sun would do us all some good. It would be relaxing for this event tonight, and if none of us wanted to go, then it would be a good way to waste time until the shows started instead. There was a magic show as well as a musical number show taking place during the re-prom, so we had our pick of what to do if none of us wanted to go.

I watched as Tommy wrapped his arm around Ana, escorting her to the deck as we followed behind. But even though I tried to wrap my arm around Chanel, she wouldn’t let me.

At least she was here and not off somewhere torturing herself.