The Cruise 2 - Dine with me.

Justin was bordering on insanity, so he fled to his cabin before he behaved like a monster. He didn’t even know how he got there. When he finally came to his senses, it was already late morning the next day, there was an empty bottle of whiskey on the bed with him, it was almost noon and his mind was in utter chaos. He felt desperate. For the first time, he didn’t know what to do. It was impossible for Claire to be alive. No one would survive that fall. How? How is she here? Tears of anger and frustration came to his eyes and for a long time, he was just there, lost in his thoughts. After a while he forced himself back from his ordeal, showered, got dressed and left. 

It was evening already, and he had stalked her the whole afternoon. Justin was a distance away behind a few columns, and she was on the deck by the ship’s balustrade. She was even prettier than he remembered; she was looking at the blackness of the sea, and once in a while, she would close her eyes enjoying the sea breeze touching her face and making her long ebony hair float all around her. Her hair was much longer than it used to be, beautifully falling in waves almost to her waist. She hypnotized him, it was impossible to take his eyes away, his mind played tricks on him, her slender, soft body rubbing like a shy kitten against him, his mouth roaming hungrily over her full enticing breasts making her moan, his hands sliding naughty on the length of her body, his mouth trailing soft feather kisses up her legs all over her inner thighs making her scream his name… He was getting hot and heavy, Justin thoughts were sending shivers of pleasure throughout his body, and he was getting harder by the second. What the hell, Justin! He chastised himself. This is Claire, man. Get a grip! He closed his eyes trying to erase that image from his head and it just got worse because images of her sultry plump lips all over his body assaulted him and his breathing became ragged and strained. Suddenly a fit of rage assaulted him when a thought came unbidden. He wasn’t exclusive; she did those same things with dozens of other suckers, screwing them around while married to him. An uncontrollable fury took him and his heart started pounding in his chest making difficult for him to breathe, bile rose in his stomach, and he felt a terrible urge to puke, his head was swimming, after so long he was having again one episode of his panic attacks, his head fueled with murderous thoughts towards her. When Justin opened his eyes, he let out a guttural sound; sweat covered him, and he was plastered to the wall, those evil green eyes were dead straight looking at him. They stuck in each other’s gaze for a while, and without let go of his eyes she confidently rushed to him. 

Ella was by the ship’s balustrade, and she felt like someone was watching her, she looked around the deck and “bull’s eye” he was there, behind some columns intently staring at her. Ella felt like a lightning had struck her right there. Her heart gave a back flip at the sight of him, and a warm sensation spread through her whole body, making her hot. She refused to feel intimidated by him, and she worried about the wound in his forehead. She sensed right away something wasn’t right, and she rushed to him. Wanting or not, she had put that gash on his forehead, so it was a kind of her fault.  

  She stopped right in front of him, he was pale and heaving “What’s wrong? How’s your head?” concern in her voice. 

“I’m fine.” he answered with a growl and looked into her eyes with a murderous gaze.

“No, you’re not fine. Sit down, you’re about to fall,” she ordered.

 Justin let himself slide through the wall to the floor, closing his eyes. He knew if he didn’t sit down for a moment things would get worse, and he wasn’t about to show weakness in front of her, so he did what he was told to.

“I’m Ella Dawson and again, I’m so sorry for hurting you. I’d like to check you if you don’t mind,” she looked at him with knitted brows, biting her lower lip. It was there in her face, he could see she wasn’t faking it concern for him. He just nodded. Her eyes narrowed on him. She crouched beside him and took his pulse, looked for a handkerchief in her bag. Gently, she cleaned up the sweat on his forehead and put her hand there to feel for fever. 

Justin opened his eyes slightly, it was a good feeling her soft hand in him, Ella’s anguished cry got his full attention to her. “Why are you being so nice to me, Claire? What the hell are you doing alive anyway, you should be dead!” he spat, fuming at her.

“Oh gosh, I really hurt you badly! Maybe I gave you a concussion.”

“Why would you say that?” he raised one eyebrow.

“Never mind. Have you eaten today?” she wiped some more of the sweat off of his face.

“No, I had a lot on my mind.” he answered still find hard to catch his breath.

“Have dinner with me then, you need some food, and we can discuss this over it. Come on, I’ll help you up,” she stated without giving him a chance to refuse or say anything. She stood up and extended her hand to him. He looked at her with flat eyes, stood up by himself and staggered a little, holding himself to the wall. Ella dropped her arm beside her body, shaking her head in disbelief. “I see, stubborn just as any male,” and smiled at him. “Can we go?” 

Justin shot her a sarcastic look and nodded. He put his hand on the small of her back, leading them to one of the ship’s restaurants. Feeling Justin’s hand on her, Ella’s pulse set it off and her heart thundered in her ears. The host approached them with a friendly smile, and greeted them. “Party of two at a nice and private section of the diner, please,” Justin asked politely. The host nodded picked up two menus and asked them to follow him. 

They were quiet for a while, staring at each other like they didn’t know what to do with themselves. Then Ella finally broke the mortifying silence. “I don’t even know your name.”

He cocked his head and looked at her for some time. “Justin.”

“Ok, Justin, for real, how’s your head?” there was genuine concern in her tone.

“Don’t worry too much, it’s fine.”

“Any headaches or any kind of pain?” she furrowed her brows and looked into his eyes, to the wound, and back to his eyes.

“No headaches, just a little pain around the wound, I took some medicine, and it’s better now. Happy?” he said without flinching. “As I said before, I’m fine.”

Ella nodded and Justin didn’t take his eyes off of her, not even for a minute, and that was making her very uncomfortable. For quite a few times she forced herself to look away, not to be trapped by those eyes. He was handsome, his eyes were the most expressive, she noticed the different shades of dark gray, blue and black that goes on there depending on his mood. Black, full eyelashes framed them. His hair was dark brown, short on the sides, longer on top with a bit of extra length at the front. A few strands of gray hair were showing on the sides of his head, just enough to give him that extra charm. Ella felt a desire to slide her fingers through them and feel the softness in those strands. Automatically she closed her hand and hid them under the table, afraid she couldn’t control herself. He didn’t spend time shaving and a light stubble was showing on his face, giving him that bad boy look. It was a beautiful face, but a troubled one, and that was intriguing. He had broad shoulders and through his fitting T-shirt she could notice his muscles when he moved, and parts of a tattoo in his left biceps and right shoulder through the collar. Ella got curious about the tattoos and thought of him taking off his shirt. When the image of him naked came to her mind, she immediately shook her head, trying to get rid of the image.

“Do you like what you’re seeing?” he was smirking at her, and a sly smile dancing on those sinful lips. Startled, she looked away, flustered, wanting to kick herself. 

A kind girl in a uniform came to the table, dissipating a little of the tension going on there. “Evening, I’m Anna and I’ll be your server tonight, what would you like to drink.”

Justin looked at the girl and then to Ella. “How about some red wine? Do you have Vintage Shiraz?” looking to the waitress and then to Ella? It was Claire’s favorite. 

“Thanks, but I don’t care for wine. A freezing cold beer would be great, please. The biggest bottle you have,” she muttered to herself.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that…” the waitress asked confused.

“Nothing, a bottle of beer if you don’t mind,” A half-annoyed smile played on her face, seeing his shocked stare. She needed to put a hold at the tension of the moment. “What? Have you never seen a woman who enjoys a good freaking beer, before?” she asked sarcastically.

“Ok, beer it is, then. We’ll need a few minutes to order,” he said, and the waitress left to get the drinks. Justin kept staring at Ella and she was getting frustrated. Gosh, she was beautiful, he loved that long hair on her, her green eyes seemed brighter framed by her long, curly lashes, now with a bit of tan on he could see some freckles on her nose and cheeks.

“What!?” she blurted out.

“Sorry?” he blinked and looked at her confused. 

“What? What’s going on? Why are you staring at me like this? It’s weird, I’m feeling like I’m at my last dinner before my execution!” she said between nervousness and laughter. 

“You just look like too much someone I knew a long time ago.” he explained averting his eyes and sneering.

“And she didn’t cause a good impression on you...”

“Why would you say that?” he looked at Ella, furrowing his brows.

“The look on your face when you look at me, the way your eyes change, and you purse your lips?” she tried to say carefully looking at him.

“And, you got all that just being with me this half an hour?” 

“Well, yeah… It’s kinda hard to miss it when you’re staring at me like an ax murderer and you confused me with her a few minutes ago, or don’t you remember?” she blurted out faking annoyance. “Am I so much like her?”