Resonating Souls (Bermuda Nights #1)(9)

Not again.

I leant back slightly against Evan, and it was as if I’d plugged into a high voltage power supply. Strength coursed through me, enriched me, infused me. Evan’s hand came to rest on my hip as if it’d always belonged there, and I smiled.

“Jeff, you and I broke up months ago. You’re in my past. What I choose to do now – in my present – is wholly up to me. I hope you have a good time on the rest of your cruise.” I drew myself up. “And now, if you’ll excuse me –”

I began to turn.

Jeff’s arm flashed out, reaching to grab my upper arm.

Evan moved more quickly than I could have thought possible. His hand intercepted Jeff’s arm, Evan’s fingers closing solidly around Jeff’s forearm. The fingers tightened, and Jeff’s movement was forcibly stopped.

Jeff’s face darkened, and his neck muscles bulged with strain, but he could not move his arm an inch. Evan held him solidly in place.

A second went by, then two … then Jeff blew out his breath in fury. He went slack, as if he’d stopped fighting. His voice came out in a growl. “Let me the f*ck go.”

Evan spread his fingers, and Jeff snatched his arm back, his other hand going instinctively to rub against the bruised skin.

Evan’s voice was low, edged with steel. “We have very firm policies on this ship to safeguard our passengers’ safety. I’m afraid, if you approach Amanda again, that I’ll have to call in security.”

Jeff’s face flushed, his eyes turned coal black, and he drew his eyes down me in disgust. He spat the words out at me. “He’ll get tired of you, Amanda. I bet he has a groupie every night of the week on this ship, and he dips his wick into every one of them. He won’t be around to watch over you forever. And then I’ll be there, waiting to take what’s mine.”

He raked me with his gaze one last time, then he turned and stalked out of the club.

Kayla bounced up to us, a glass of Champagne in each hand, her eyes bright with joy. “Finally got us those drinks, ‘Mand! Here ya go!”

I took the flute from her, put it to my lips, and drank the entire thing down in one long swallow. I staggered back, and Evan’s hand was there around my waist, steady, holding me up.

Kayla raised her arms up in victory, letting loose with a wild whoop. “There ya go, ‘Mand! You’re finally free!” She gave a playful punch to Evan’s arm. “Way to go, Evan, I think you’ve done it. You’ve set her loose.” She grabbed my empty glass, handed me the other full one, and swirled back toward the bar.

My knees wobbled beneath me, and Evan guided me back over to our table, settling me down into the chair. He dropped into the seat at my side, pulling forward to straddle my legs with his. He took up my hands.

“Are you ok?”

My breath eased out of me in a long, slow flow. I still couldn’t believe I’d done it. I’d sent Jeff away. In all my time with him, I couldn’t ever have imagined doing that, speaking up to him.

I thought of how Evan had been drawn into it all, and I flushed. I looked up at him, guilt coursing through me.

“Evan, I’m so sorry. Jeff gets that way when he’s been drinking, and he –”

He tilted his head to one side. “Are you apologizing for Jeff?”

The words dried up in my mouth. For so long that had been my way of living, my daily habit.

I nodded.

He raised his fingers to my cheek, gently running them down my skin. “God, Amanda, don’t ever apologize for someone else. You are only responsible for you. Nobody else.” His gaze hardened for a moment. “Jeff is a jerk, and a nobody, and he is in your past. Whatever he used to do to you, or however he used to treat you, that is behind you now.”

He tucked a stray curl of my hair behind my ear. “You control your future now, Amanda. It’s your choices which guide your path.”

The thought glowed within me, billowed, and I looked into his eyes.

His breath caught, and for a moment his lips floated closer.

The sound of drumsticks rapping came from the stage, and he turned, blowing out his breath. He gave my hands a squeeze, and then he was gone.

I closed my eyes, sitting back in my chair, the enormity of the moment washing over me.

The guitar eased through the babble of conversation, a rolling, bubbling brook, a familiar, comfortable, heart-felt call as the band slid into Going to California.

I turned my chair so I could sit back and just watch him. He looked up and smiled, then eased back into the flow of the music, and it was as if he were performing for me alone. It was just him, me, the fingers on the strings, and the rich, aching, haunting sounds which floated out across the room.


The music flowed, the room ebbed and flowed, and I blinked as the last notes of the last song echoed out against the dark walls. Sven’s voice was hoarse from his long night of singing. “And that’s it for tonight, folks! Be sure to enjoy your day on Bermuda tomorrow, and come back on board for our set tomorrow night! Boston Strong!”

The crowd roared back, the noise shaking the glassware hanging above the bar.

Kayla bounced up to Sven, a glowing apparition of pink and sparkles, and she giggled as he took her up in both arms and spun her around. She turned to look at me over her shoulder.

“Beads!”

And then they were drifting with the ebbing tide, flowing out with the sea of patrons returning to their rooms.