Part 36 (1/2)
”Earlier what?”
Cyril winked. ”He's a little buzzed.”
”Jacob, are you drinking? I need you on your 'A' game-I invited a booking agent from The Tonight Show.”
”Honey, that's so exciting.” Cyril leaned in and kissed Jacob on the lips.
From across the crowded stateroom, Nancy spotted her boyfriend seconds before a man in a white tuxedo jacket kissed him pa.s.sionately. What the h.e.l.l?
”Cyril, I need to speak with Jacob . . . in private.” Ruby grabbed Jacob by the wrist and dragged the giddy man through the galley and down the grand stairwell that led to the lower deck sleeping quarters.
Nancy pushed through the crowd after them-only to be intercepted by Olivia Cabot.
”Dr. Beach, I'm so glad you made it.” She fake-kissed Nancy, cheek to cheek. ”Come with me, I want to introduce you to a dear friend of mine who can get you syndicated in New York and L.A.”
Olivia worked her way aft through the crowded stateroom.
Nancy hesitated, glancing toward the stairs. Screw him. I'm not going to allow another man to cheat on me and ruin my career.
Squeezing through the crowd, she followed her boss to the stern.
RUBY LED JACOB down the carpeted stairwell to a foyer that flowed into a starboard study. A forward corridor separated two V.I.P. suites, the aft corridor leading to three smaller staterooms and the crews' quarters.
She opened the cabin door to the suite on the starboard side, flipping on the lights. The chamber was decorated in the same cherry wood motif as the rest of the yacht. A king-size bed faced a large flat screen LCD television. The starboard wall was a tinted oval window looking out to sea. A connecting door led to the master bath-all marble, with wood trim.
”Must be enough cherry wood on-board this s.h.i.+p to fill a Pennsylvania forest.” Jacob said, lying back on the bed, his dress pants stretching beneath his hard-on. ”Speaking of wood.” Unbuckling his belt, he pulled his trousers down to his knees, exposing his Sponge-Bob Square Pants boxer shorts, which were now animating.
”Jacob, what are you doing?”
”What do you think?”
”Jacob, I didn't bring you down here to have s.e.x-did you forget our conversation this morning?”
”No. Yeah. Is it getting brighter in here?”
”I brought you down here to talk. Your brother got the test results back from my pap smear.”
”Are you pregnant?”
”What? No.” Her eyes welled-up with tears. ”I have uterine cancer.”
”Oh, s.h.i.+t.” Jacob sat up, his suddenly flaccid p.e.n.i.s flopping inside his shorts. ”How bad is it?”
”Pretty bad.”
NANCY FOLLOWED OLIVIA through the stateroom and outside to the aft deck bar. Seated on a sofa shaped like a giant lifesaver was a couple in their late thirties. The man was Venezuelan, possessing an athletic physique beneath his ivory suit, his dark hair slicked back into a pony-tail. The woman was his equal, her long platinum-blonde hair pulled into a stylistic weave atop her head, exposing her well-defined shoulders and upper back.
”Dr. Beach, I want you to meet Mercedes Duggan, the producer I told you about, and this is her fiance, Sebastian Bastidas.”
”Nancy?”
Nancy's eyes widened in the dim light. ”Sebastian?”
Mercedes smiled nervously. ”Darling, do you know this woman?”
”You might say that,” Nancy interjected. ”Your fiance and I were engaged two years ago when I found out he was f.u.c.king my roommate.”
Instead of reacting, the platinum blonde playfully tugged on Sebastian's earlobe. ”You are such a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, aren't you?”
”Guilty as charged.”
Nancy's blood boiled. ”Yeah? Well he not only f.u.c.ked her, he got her pregnant!”
”Really?” Olivia said. ”Boy or girl?”
”A boy. Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d has my eyes.”
Sebastian's sheepish grin poured gasoline on the fire flowing through Nancy's veins. ”Let's hope he doesn't have your d.i.c.k!”
”Dr. Beach-”
”No, I'm sorry Olivia, but this creep ruined my life. a.s.shole!”
”Is your life really ruined?” Mercedes asked.
”Yes. No. Not anymore.”
”Would it have been better if you had married Sebastian?”
”No. Definitely not.”
”Then his cheating with your roommate turned out to be a blessing . . . yes?”
Nancy felt her cheeks flush. ”I suppose.”
Sebastian nodded. ”You're welcome.”
Nancy stomped on his right shoe as hard as she could, the heel of her pump crus.h.i.+ng his big toe through the Italian leather.
JACOB HUGGED RUBY, his skin tingling against hers. ”When's the surgery?”
”Monday morning. I'm scared, Jacob.”
”Listen to me. You know how it seems like everyone has that one thing they do very well. Surgery is what my brother does really well. The guy was on-track to become a great brain surgeon when he switched to women's plumbing after Helen's mother died of breast cancer. But she didn't have a surgeon as good as Vince. So don't be scared, okay?”
”Okay.”