Page 124 of Love Overboard
Well, if you insist.
PRODUCER
Were you shocked by what the crew found out the morning that charter eight started?
BERNARD
Yes and no. Was I surprised to find our chief stew and head chef tangled up together in the sack? Not really. But I was surprised by how it all kicked off after. Thought they might try to play it cool — instead, it was fireworks.
PRODUCER
And what about how the rest of the crew responded?
Bernard laughs.
BERNARD
Ah. Shit show, that was, wasn’t it? But you’ve got to understand — emotions were running high. We were all on fumes by that point, and seems like half the boat had been biting their tongues for weeks. That morning? That was the snap.
PRODUCER
Were you hurt by anything that was said?
Bernard shrugs, leans back in chair, grin unfading.
BERNARD
Nah, mate. Then again, I wasn’t the one who found my boyfriend in bed with my superior, was I?
The alarm didn’t go off.
I knew it the second I creaked one eye open and saw sunlight playing through the slats in the blinds.
Panic hit me before the grogginess could, my breath catching as I bolted upright — or tried to. Finn’s arm was draped across my waist, heavy with sleep, his bare chest rising and falling against my back.
Fuck.
“Finn,” I whispered, trying to shake him awake. “Finn, we overslept. We—”
SLAM.
The door burst open.
And my heart jumped into my throat when I locked eyes with Gisella.
I barely had time to yank the sheet to my chest before she was in the room, eyes wild, face flushed, jaw clenched like she was already coming for a fight before she even knew there needed to be one.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Her voice was sharp and high, gaze slicing from me to where Finn was hastily snapping into action beside me. I expected him to curse and jump out of bed and run to her, begging for her to give him a chance to explain.
Instead, he put his body in front of mine like a shield, his hand squeezing my knee under the covers in a silent reassurance that we’d be okay.
I wasn’t so sure.
Gisella cataloged the movement with her tongue in her cheek. She shook her head and barked out a laugh. “How chivalrous, Finn. You’re a lying, cheating sack of shit — but hey, at least you’re a gentleman to your whore.”
The cameras and production crew had already squeezed their way into the cabin, too, and I buried my face in Finn’s back as I imagined what they were capturing.
Oh, God.
