Page 123 of Mark
“Max Carter, you promised me to behave.”
“I have behaved,” he argues.
“Then why do you only have two left out of five? What did you use the other two on?”
He gulps. “It was a misunderstanding.”
“What was?” she bites out.
He holds his hands up in surrender. “It was the beach incident. I swear.”
“Thatdidn’t happen on the boat.”
He rubs the back of his neck. “But I was still a passenger.”
“And the other one? I wasn’t born yesterday, Max,” she states.
“It’s better I don’t tell you,” he whispers.
She huffs out a breath. “You’re right. It is. Because it will be me who will need the last two when I throw you off this ship.”
She walks off, heading towards the buffet stand. Max just stands there, his mouth opening and closing. Finally, he turns to his daughter. “She wouldn’t really throw me off the ship, would she?”
Hayden nods. “We’ve all been imagining it.”
He curses under his breath as he storms off. I slump back in my chair. “I’m too tired for this.”
“I’ll eat it then,” Mark replies.
I grip the plate before he can steal it. “I meant the commotion, not the fucking food. Don’t you think you’ve starved me enough?”
“Sorry, I thought you meant the food,” he grumbles.
We continue to eat in silence, but I listen to the others talk about last night and what we missed. A part of me is glad I missed it, since there seemed to be chaos getting back to their rooms. Apparently, Liam had been so drunk he ended up sleeping outside his cabin door. The other part of me would have loved to have seen the Carter lads on stage doing the dance offs. I’ve seen them try to dance and they all looked stiff as a board.
“Freya, why didn’t you join us last night?” Mum suddenly asks.
I hadn’t realised I was dozing off until her voice brings me back to the present. I turn to her and Dad, smiling. “Sorry, we were, um…”
“We were helping the captain with a cleaning issue,” Mark replies, the lie easily rolling off his tongue.
“That was nice of you,” Mum states.
A yawn slips free as I nod. “It took all night. I’m afraid I won’t be around until later, after I’ve gotten a couple of hours sleep.”
“You do look like you need it,” Dad muses.
“Will you be joining us for drag night tonight?” Mum asks, seeming excited about it.
Dad chuckles. “She’s excited to see the show. She’s never seen a drag queen up close before.”
“They aren’t an endangered species,” I tease.
Mum rolls her eyes. “I know that, Freya. But ever since Loretta from over the road saw a show, I’ve been dying to see one myself. I hear they are quite entertaining.”
“They are the best,” Hayden announces. “If you enjoy tonight, you should go to the one on Broad Street. They do a great Tina Turner and they are comical too.”
Mum’s eyes light up with excitement. “We will,” she replies before turning back to me. “We will see you at dinner.”