lady!” Tiffany flinched when he raised his open hand in a quick jerky motion, but he merely smoothed his wet hair against his scalp.
I repressed a disappointed sigh. I hoped sooner or later
With confident panache, Romeo sucked the dribbles of Tiffany’s drink from his fingertips. “Is that a mojito?” he asked thoughtfully. “It could use more mint. This simply won’t do.” He carefully removed the highball glass from Tiffany’s fingers. “Let me get you another.”
She was too stunned to object.
Romeo arched his eyebrow suavely. “I’ll speak with the bartender and have him mix a proper one for you. Shaken, not stirred.” He motioned toward Kamiko, “Miss Moneypenny, help me find Q. He’ll know the correct ratio of gassed water to rum, I think.” He gave Tiffany a cordial beauty-contest smile and squeezed past her, heading toward the stairs, Kamiko in tow.
Tiffany folded her arms across her chest and stared at me and Madison. “Your friend’s an ass.”
I grabbed Madison by the hand and we slid around Tiffany. “And that’s why we love him,” I said to Tiffany with a smile before heading upstairs.
On the main level, Romeo shook his head like a wet dog. Mojito droplets sprayed everywhere.
From downstairs, Tiffany’s voice shook the ship, “What did you assholes do to my painting?!!!!!”
“Take that, you twat-waffle,” Romeo muttered triumphantly. “Let’s go, ladies! Our work is done here!” Romeo said nervously.
But there was no place to go beyond that except the cold ocean.
Tiffany thudded up the staircase in her heels.
“I don’t know about you ladies,” Romeo whined, “but I’m swimming for shore before Tiffany Scissorhands snips my balls off!”
Chapter 5
CHRISTOS
Tiffany raged like a banshee in the main cabin.
I would’ve been surprised by her behavior, but I knew her better. Tantrums were par for her course.
Even when you knew it was nothing but theatrics, girl screeching grated on the nerves.
Brandon happened to be standing next to me the moment Tiffany’s temper had gone thermonuclear. “What is it this time?” he scoffed.
“She probably found out the bartender is making rum and cokes with generic cola instead of the brand name stuff,” I joked.
“Yeah,” Brandon chuckled.
Brandon stuck his pinky in his ear, wincing. “Did you bring earplugs?”
I laughed. “Sorry, bro.”
“Maybe we should find out what’s wrong, and try to soothe this savage beast.”
“Be my guest,” I said. If I’d learned one thing over the years, it was that Tiffany was never worth the trouble.
“Hey, I’m thinking of everyone else,” Brandon said, patting me on the shoulder. “This is hardly what I’d call a joyous atmosphere. Care to give me a hand?”
“If you insist.” I followed Brandon over to where Tiffany stood surrounded by her sorority entourage.
“I can’t believe what she did!” Tiffany whined.
Her sorority girlfriends hovered around her protectively and nodded mechanically.
Brandon gave me a hesitant look. We both knew I had always been better at talking Tiffany off the ledge.
“What’s wrong this time, Tiffany?” I asked with a blend of friendly compassion and parental amusement. I wanted to send her a signal that her childish behavior was off the scale.
“Your
“What are you talking about?” That didn’t sound even close to possible.
“You don’t believe me,” she accused. “Fine, I’ll show you.” She took a step forward and stumbled over one of her friends. “Move it!” Tiffany snarled, kicking past her.
The young woman slunk away, eyes bulging in terror.
Tiffany marched downstairs, surprisingly steady on her feet for how much I knew she’d drunk since the New Year’s countdown earlier.
I followed, Brandon behind me. We ended up in the master suite of her yacht. It was her dad’s cabin. I’d hung my portrait of her in this very room myself, several weeks ago, when she’d told me about tonight’s New Year’s Cruise. I’d taken the opportunity to invite myself and some “friends” without telling Tiffany who I planned to bring. I’m sure it irritated the shit out of her to no end that I’d brought Samantha.
Good.
I believed Tiffany would mature as a person if she were forced to deal with more obstacles in her life than she had thus far. Especially recently. She’d become dangerously entitled in the last couple years.
“Look at it!” Tiffany screeched at the painting. “It’s ruined!”
“What?” I wasn’t getting it.
“My painting!”
I always cringed when she called it her painting, like she’d done the work herself. “Am I missing something?”
Brandon chuckled, but covered his flashy smile by stroking his mouth with his hand.
“Shut
Then I saw it.
I had to hold my breath and clamp my jaw shut. If I tried to breathe, I was going to bust a gut laughing. I’m pretty sure I’d turned red.
“It’s not funny, Christos,” Tiffany pouted.
I snickered, “It kind of is.”
A wheezy chuckle broke from Brandon.
Tiffany glared at him.
“Sorry,” he laughed, “sorry.” He turned away politely, trying to get a grip on himself.
I was grinning ear to ear. “The technique is flawless. I didn’t even notice it at first. Blends in perfectly with my oils.” Had Samantha done this? Man, I sure hoped so. Someone needed to knock Tiff down a notch.
Tiffany gave me a pouting, pleading look. The momentum had turned against her. She knew she’d dulled her Angry Sword from overuse, so she switched weapons. That girl could drum up tears faster than a baby. It was amazing to watch her in action, but I knew better.
“It’s ruined,” she sobbed. “My painting is
I gave her a gimme-a-break eye roll that I’d used on her a thousand times over the years.
It didn’t help.
Nothing would, until Tiffany somehow got her way.
“Hey,” Samantha said from the doorway.
Romeo, Kamiko, Madison, and just about everyone else on board stood behind them.
Great, now Tiffany had an audience. I couldn’t escape the feeling she’d orchestrated this entire scene. Maybe
I gave Samantha a look and silently mouthed the words,
A guilty looked strained Samantha’s face. I smiled a big grin at her and nodded approval behind Tiffany’s back.
Then I noticed Romeo biting his lower lip. He looked guilty as fuck, too. I liked the guy better and
