An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (ebook reader wifi txt) 📗

laughter as we made it to the dock. I could immediately tell which boat the party was on. It was lit up like a firework, and even from the edge of the dock, I could hear the sounds of music and yelling from onboard.

“Let me do the talking,” I whispered to Jase as we got closer to the boat. I was thinking up answers for whatever questions we might get hit with. Of course, plan A was to just walk on board and hope that no one said anything to us. If we managed to do that, then I wouldn’t have to worry about sweet-talking my way past anyone.

“Um, excuse me,” a nasally, high-pitched voice called just as we were about to walk onto the boat. Oh well, so much for just waltzing in.

“Oh, hi.” I smiled at the young woman who had stopped us. She had short brown hair pulled into a high ponytail and was wearing a full face of makeup. It was especially dark and heavy around her eyes, which were a pretty shade of hazel. She was also wearing an incredibly skimpy bikini.

“Do you have an invitation?” she asked haughtily, as though she already knew the answer was no and was just itching for a reason to turn us away. The girl beside her turned to look at us as she spoke.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” I replied as I made a show of checking my pockets. “Oh, shoot. I think we must have left them back in the room. Isn’t that right, Jase?”

The entire time I was speaking, I made sure to maintain eye contact and keep my smile plastered over my face.

“Really?” the girl snickered as she raised a hand to her lips before looking me up and down.

I kept myself calm even as I rejoiced internally. I had her hooked.

“All right, you got me,” I sighed dramatically as I broke eye contact and looked down bashfully at the ground before peering back up at her. “We don’t have invitations. We didn’t even know there was a party, actually. We just happened to be on the dock, and when we saw these two gorgeous girls standing on this yacht, I knew I just had to climb on board and ask what their names were.”

“Oh, is that right?” She giggled before turning to look at her friend. She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she turned to look back at me. “So you guys are guests at the resort?”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “We’re in Florida on business. We thought it might be fun to rent one of the yachts and throw a party, so we came down to check them out. I guess someone beat us to the punch, though, huh?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “But if you guys wanted to hang out for a minute, that would be cool.”

“Really?” I asked. “You sure you won’t get in trouble?”

“Well, I’m the one in charge of letting people in.” She shrugged. “So if I say it’s okay, then it’s okay.”

“Great.” I grinned at her. “Should I wait for you inside, then?”

“Oh, yeah,” she blushed. “I should finish in, like, twenty minutes. I think we’re setting out a little after eight, so I’ll be free then.”

“Cool.” I nodded. “Come find me whenever you’re done, then.”

I put my hand on Jase’s back and steered him inside as the two girls turned to whisper something to each other. Once we were safely inside the yacht, I allowed myself to relax.

The inside of the yacht looked like a nightclub. The lights were dimmed, and there were lasers and strobe lights flashing colorful lights all over the enclosed space. The entire area was packed with people already dancing to the blaring music despite the fact that the party hadn’t even officially started yet.

“Should we split up to cover more ground?” I yelled over the noise. The boat was small enough that it probably wouldn’t be too dangerous to split up, and I would prefer to find Ian before the boat disembarked so we wouldn’t be stranded on the lake with him.

“Sure,” Jase yelled back. I nodded before moving away through the crowd of people. I probably wasn’t going to make much progress on the main floor, which was too chaotic and dark to even look through. I headed over to the narrow staircase at the end of the room and climbed up to the second floor. There were still people up here, but it was much quieter, and much more brightly lit.

The main bar was up here, so most of the people milling around were chatting and drinking. No one bothered to look up as I casually walked past them and through a doorway at the end of the floor. It opened onto the upper deck, and a sudden gust of sea breeze hit me as I stepped outside. There wasn’t anyone else out here yet, so I made my way quietly around the edge of the deck toward the back of the boat.

There were doors up here, but the lights were off inside of these rooms. I took a quick look around to make sure no one was around before I tried the first door I came to. To my dismay, it was locked.

I sighed as I took a step back and considered my options. I could try to pick it, but that might take a while, and by then, we might have set off, or someone else might come out onto the upper level. I could also kick it down, but the resulting noise might alert someone.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to just risk kicking it down. The music was loud enough that I might not be overheard, and I didn’t want to waste any more time. I took two steps back before throwing my weight forward and kicking at the weakest point of the door, just above the doorknob.

I cringed as the door made a loud bang when it splintered apart. I stood stock-still and silent,