Page 20 of Sailor's Delight
Trey took only a moment to enjoy watching her walk before he remembered that every moment she was out there unaccompanied was a moment another man (or woman, for that matter,) might make a pass at her. The idea made him incredibly jealous. He ran to catch up with her.
The darkness of the night sky formed an inky black backdrop to the lights, fog machines, and lasers of the DJ’s table and stage. The multicolored lights waved and swept over the crowd, casting a thousand shadows that danced and lifted themselves, adding to the already-bustling scene of the deck party.
Jenn had passed through the crowd like a queen, looking neither to her left nor right. She made straight for the only empty loungers still available at the back of several crampedrows, much of the rest of the pool deck cleared to create a dance floor where those more uninhibited cruisers swayed, danced, or simply drank.
Trey couldn’t help but admire and observe the stir that Jenn created as she passed. Women looked on in approval and appreciative smiles. Men looked at her in begrudging interest, as if resentful that someone so clothed could hold so much of their attention.
Why she ever chose him was beyond him, at that moment. He looked at this creature, this seductive angel wrapped in gossamer, and he knew he was punching above his weight — which, looking down at his stomach— was considerable these days.
Jenn turned to find him and beckoned him over. He hadn’t realized how far behind he’d fallen. When her gaze found him, he smiled and jogged forward, unbuttoning his shirt as he did so. By the time he reached her, he’d removed his shirt, and gently tossed it in a ball onto the lounger next to her.
“We doing this?” he asked, pointing toward the pool.
Jenn nodded, undoing one of the ties that held her coverup closed. “Go ahead; I’ll be in in a minute.”
Trey nodded and turned toward the pool. He apologized and excused his way into it, finding a place to stand near the center. He turned to check on Jenn.
Standing in the pool, Trey‘s eyes grew as wide as his smile. He watched, transfixed, as Jenn gently let the coverup fall from a fingertip, stretching luxuriously and looking pointedly in his direction as she reached toward the sky. The micro bikinistraps connecting the miniscule bottom piece to the even smaller top pieces strained as her arms lifted over her head.
Trey heard a laugh and watched Jenn’s head whip toward the source. Trey glanced to look. A group of college-aged dudes sat at the far end of the pool, legs in the water, staring and leering openly at the many women across the deck in varying states of undress. A few of them made half attempts at hiding the phones that snapped pictures wildly.
Trey turned back to look at Jenn, whose arms had lowered and was now glancing nervously between her body and the group, scanning the rest of the crowd for faces looking at her as she bent to reach for a towel, her hands starting to fold across her body as she tried to hide.
Trey leaped into action, spraying a young woman a few feet away with saltwater.
“Hey, watch it, dadbod!” she protested.
“I’m so sorry,” Trey apologized quickly. “Jenn!” He called her name urgently. Jenn looked up. She had sat down on the edge of the lounger, fumbling with the gossamer gown.
Trey smiled, beckoning to her eagerly, his grin genuine, warm, and encouraging. He saw a slight shake of her head. He panicked. “Oh, come on! You look amazing!” he called. She hesitated, then tentatively stood and walked toward him in the pool.
“White whale alert!”
“Thar she blows!”
The calls had come from the group of collegiate lurkers.
There was no way he was going to allow someone as amazing as Jenn be cowed and humiliated by a bunch of men who were probably still obsessed with “body count.” Without hesitation, Trey began dancing to the loud reggae music now emanating from the ship’s speakers.
“White whale walking!” he called out, simultaneously turning toward and catching the attention of the group of young men at the pool edge. Picking out one in the center, where he judged the calls had come from, he pointed at the young man, proceeding to dance provocatively, gyrating his hips and swinging his belly around as he advanced on the crowd. They had all gone still, eyes wide.
“Come here, cutie!” Trey called, moving faster toward the group. There were a few laughs around the pool as more passengers began taking notice and stared at the unfolding scene.
Trey kissed noisily. “Come on, big man: white whale’s hungry. Come dance with me.”
The young men at the periphery of the group had already stood up and climbed out of the water, laughing uncomfortably and retreating a few feet from the pool as Trey advanced. The ones at the center, the loudest and most brazen of the bunch, tried to look on in disinterest and disdain.
“Yo, back up, bruh,” one of the young men said forcefully.
“Aww, don’t be like that,” Trey teased playfully. “Come play with Trey-man.”
When Trey was within arm’s reach of what he’d dubbed as the ringleader, the young man shoved hard against Trey’s chest.
“Bruh, get outta my face!”
Trey put his hand to his chest where he’d been shoved, smiling creepily. “Trey likes it rough. Do it again.”
When he surged forward, sending a wave of water surging up and over the young men’s laps, the last of them scrambled to their feet and retreated from the water’s edge.