The Love Boat

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "You almost made me miss my class. Will I see you on the track tomorrow?"

"Count on it, Skah," I laughed.

"Okay, Cayall," she said. As she turned to leave she rubbed her hand across the side of my face, lightly brushing my ear. It was incredible. I had never felt anything like that before in my entire life. It was as if electricity passed between us. And the gesture itself, I don't know how to describe it. Though seemingly casual, it was the most intimate touch I'd ever felt. It was at least ten times more intimate than any kiss I'd ever felt and it projected more emotion. I felt more intimacy from her touching the side of my face than I got from thrusting my tongue down Danni's throat while I fucked her. For a long moment after she left I sat there holding my cheek where she'd touched me.

I understood how those schoolgirls on TV felt after their dream man has kissed them. "I'm never going to wash my face again," I thought.

I went back to our cabin to find Danni applying her makeup. Her hair was up in hot curlers and she had her voluminous makeup case open and went through product after product. It amazed me how much she had to do in order to make her face look normal. All of the things she used were designed to look like she wasn't wearing any makeup. I shook my head thinking about how stupid it was.

It usually took over an hour for Danni to get ready for even the most casual date.

"Hi Cal," she said as she applied some kind of goop under her eyes.

"Hello," I said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," she said. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll be ready to go to breakfast. Cal, I have to go shopping. It's an emergency."

"Danni, I've already had breakfast," I said. "What kind of emergency is there that you can solve by shopping?"

"We've been invited to sit at the Captain's table for dinner tonight," she gushed. "It's semi-formal. You have to wear a suit. You've got lots of suits, but I have to find just the right dress. Now that I'm your wife, I have to project the right image. Everything I do or wear reflects on you, you know."

I didn't know whether she seriously thought that or if she just wanted the chance to go out and spend more of my money on clothes. If this had been the previous night, I'd have said "No," emphatically. I'd already decided to spend the rest of the trip fucking her and then dumping her cheating ass as soon as we docked. It was my intention to leave her ass at the dock without as much as a ride home. But since this morning, I guess my priorities had changed. Meeting Sky had told me that there were nice people in the world still. I just needed to get out and find one.

"Okay Honey, whatever you say," I told her.

"You can go and check out the gym," she said. "But remember; don't tire yourself out too much. We still have business to take care of."

I intended to take care of some business myself. There was a knock at our door. And Emma came in. "Are you guys decent?" she asked.

"I am," I smirked. "Have a good time Emma. Danni, make sure you get something nice for Emma to wear too."

I didn't mind spending money on Emma. I actually felt better about buying something for her than I did about spending money on Danni. At least Emma had tried to stick up for me.

I took a long hot shower and dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. I grabbed my iPad from the table and logged into my email account. I sent an email to John Forsythe, my attorney. He was the one who'd set up my pre-nup with Danni. I quickly summarized the situation and asked him to start the ball rolling for an annulment. If the situation didn't merit the annulment, I asked him to start divorce proceedings immediately. I told him that it would be best to send me details by email since there was no cell reception onboard the ship. I also told him that at our first port of call or whenever I could I'd look into getting a sat phone.

I spent the afternoon making arrangements. I emailed my assistant and told her the situation as well. I gave her the job of getting the locks changed on my condo. Even though it wasn't necessary I intended to give Danni a few dollars to just go away. Before we'd gotten married Danni had shared an apartment with Emma. If Emma didn't have a new roommate yet she could go back there, I didn't care. It was actually a good thing that she hadn't had a chance to move all of her things in yet. It would give her fewer things to move back.

I checked my bank account. As yet Danni only had one of my bank cards and one of my credit cards. She could access my checking account but not my savings account. Since most of my money was in savings or investments or other banks accounts I was relatively safe.

I went to the gym and got a good workout in. The gym had a good selection of machines and I had no trouble finding the things I needed for my regular workout. After my workout, I had lunch in a little cafe on one of the upper decks. I looked out at the sea and all of the happy people on the ship and felt better about myself. As I sat there I noticed that a few women looked at me. I'd have no trouble getting back in the dating scene after this was all over, but I intended to do this in a very classy way. I wouldn't spend the cruise looking for someone to replace Danni or doing anything to call attention to my situation.

Shortly after lunch, I got a text from Danni. Her text said that she loved me. That means that she's spent a lot of my money.

She wanted me back at the cabin by no later than four p.m. Dinner was at 6 promptly and she wanted us to have a quickie before we dressed.

I spent the afternoon wandering the ship. It really was a fascinating vessel. There were so many things to see and do that it would take weeks to try everything. At four thirty I got a text from Danni. She was pissed and wanted me back at the cabin immediately. I headed for our cabin and took my time getting there.

"Where were you?" pouted Danni as soon as I walked in.

"Sorry, Danni," I said. "I lost track of time and I got lost too. This is a pretty big boat."

"It's after five," she said. "I have to start getting ready for dinner. Emma is sitting at a table with one of the other important crew members. She'll be in the room but she won't be sitting with us."

"Emma is a really pretty girl," I said. "She'll be fine, trust me."

"You make it sound as if you'd rather be with her," snapped Danni.

"Danielle, there's no need to act silly," I said. "I barely know Emma. You're the woman I married."

Just under an hour later we were ushered into the main dining room and introduced to the Captain and the people sitting at his table. Danni was wearing a beautiful dress in a pale shade of yellow that left very little to the imagination. Every man in the room turned to look at her as we walked into the room.

The dress was cut so low in the front that you could see most of her boobs. She accented the dress with several pieces of gold jewelry and even her shoes were a matching shade of gold. Most of the men at our table couldn't take their eyes off of her and she knew it. The other couples at our table ranged from newlyweds who were even younger than Danni and I, to retired senior citizens who'd been married for longer than I'd been alive. Most of the people at the table were very friendly and we had a lively conversation the whole way.

During dinner, I noticed that a man at one of the other tables spent most of his time looking at Danni. He was sitting with two other men and he wore a suit that cost at least a couple of thousand dollars. I knew because I had that suit at home and I wore it to close my bigger deals. In the back of my mind, I wondered what he'd be closing on tonight.

After we'd eaten, there was dancing. I got up and danced with Danni. She was extremely happy about the ship, the cruise, our honeymoon and dinner in general, but she was still a little miffed at me. When we went back to our table, I noticed that one of the older ladies was tapping her foot in time to the music. Her husband walked with a cane and had a very pronounced limp.

I walked over in front of him and asked him very politely if he'd do me the honor of allowing me to dance with his wife. They both smiled and he nodded.

I danced with the woman whose name was Sally McBride. The name was familiar to me somehow but I couldn't place it. As I sat down, I noticed that Danni was gone. I looked around and saw that she was heading to the dance floor with the asshole in the suit. He had his arms all over her and had pulled her a lot closer than was appropriate and she was letting him. Maybe it was her way of getting back at me for being late, but it was really embarrassing.

I watched them for a few moments and then got up to go and get her before things got any worse. I noticed the asshole reach down and grab a big handful of Danni's ass and she did nothing to stop him. Asshole looked over her shoulder and smirked at me. The look on his face told me that he knew exactly what he was doing. It was one of those smart ass little grins that you'd give to the guy whose wife you were planning on fucking. Before I got to them, his two friends stepped between us.

"Back off buddy," one of them said. He put his hand on my chest as if he was trying to hold me back. That was the end of it.

"Get your hand off of me," I said nicely. His friend stepped in beside him. I grabbed the hand on my chest and rotated it so the elbow faced downwards. Then I drove my other hand upwards breaking the arm at the elbow. The crack was heard all over the room. The man's high pitched scream was even louder though. I raised my knee and stomped down on his buddy's foot as hard as I could and as he tried to reflexively reach for his foot, I brought my knee up to meet his descending chin. He was out quicker than a light switch.

Asshole in the suit turned to look at me with shock and horror written all over his face. He knew I was coming for him and he started to back pedal. Danni stood next to him and her eyes were as big as saucers.

Luckily for both of them before I could get to him, three of the ship's security men tackled me and took me to the brig.

You can learn a lot about people by the way they react when you're in trouble. When the security men picked me up so I could walk and tried to restrain my arms, Emma came over and tried to explain that I wasn't a very violent person and something had to have happened to trigger my reaction. Danni just stood there and then left the room with asshole, while Emma tried to plead my case.

The people at my table also tried to defend me. But it was all for nothing. Ten minutes later, I was in the bowels of the ship in a room with a locked door. It was a very small room with only a table, a chair and a bed.

About a half hour after I was put in there, the security man who was assigned to watch me came into the room. "You have a visitor," he said. He watched me intently as if he expected me to try something at any second.

I was ready to rip Danielle a new asshole. As the person entered the room I was shocked. It wasn't her. It was Emma.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded.

"I tried to tell them that this is all some kind of mistake, but they really aren't listening. You hurt those two men pretty badly," she said. "I saw the way Danni was acting. I don't know why she does the things she does sometimes."

"Don't worry about it," I said.

"As soon as I find her, I'll tell her where you are so she can come and see you," she told me.

"Emma, don't bother," I said. "I don't want to see her."

"You don't mean that," she said. "You're just angry right now." I just looked at her. I liked Emma but I didn't think that telling her I knew more about Danni than she thought would be a good idea.

"Do you want me to bring you anything?" she asked.

"I'd love to have my iPad," I said. "And if you could bring its charger too that would be great. The iPad is on the table next to our bed and the charger is plugged into the wall outlet."

I sat on the bed wondering exactly how I'd gotten into the fix I was in. After all I didn't really give a fuck about Danni. Yesterday had killed our marriage. I'd already started my lawyer looking into an annulment. I guess it was pride. Having some gorilla pawing your wife in front of you and in public demands a response even if you can't stand the cheating bitch.

A short time later, Emma came back with my iPad. The guy who was watching me let her in again. "I'm really not sure I'm supposed to let you have this," he said. "So if it comes up, I'd appreciate you not mentioning that I did."

I nodded and noticed that he seemed to be staring at Emma a lot.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" he asked.

"I've studied a lot of different styles of martial arts since I was young," I told him. He nodded and went back into the room outside.

I lay down on the small uncomfortable bed and tried to go to sleep. I figured that when Danni decided that she felt like coming to see me, they could wake me up. She didn't come that night at all.

I woke up in the middle of the night. According to my watch it was four a.m. Normally, I'd have been waking up to run in about two hours. As I thought about running, I remembered Sky. I knocked on the door of the room I was in and heard a bored voice. "It's open," he said.

I opened the door and looked out to see another of the security men. "I need to ask you something," I said.

"Through that door," he said.

I looked puzzled. "The bathroom is through that door," he said.

"Uhm thanks but that's not it," I told him. "I need to get a message to someone."

"Look buddy, I was there," he said. "I've also watched the security footage. Those guys were trying to prevent you from going to your wife to stop her from making a God damned spectacle of her-self. Most of my colleagues are on your side. We only stopped you because A, it's our job and B we didn't want you to kill that bastard. I hate to tell you this but he spent most of the night in some of the dance clubs with your wife. Both of them got drunk as a skunk."

"So could you get the message out for me?" I asked.

He nodded and I quickly wrote down a short note for Sky telling her that I really hadn't wanted to miss our run, but there was no way I could make it.

The security guy promised me that he'd deliver it. All I had to do was to tell him which cabin she was in. I explained to him that I didn't know but if he took it to the running track at six a.m. he'd find her. Then I went back to sleep.

I woke up a couple of hours later when someone knocked on my door. The first security guy was back. He looked in and told me I had a visitor. "Is it..." I began.

"It's not the woman from last night," he said.

"Tell her I don't want to see her," I said. He nodded and went back outside. A few minutes later he came back inside. "She says she doesn't care," he said.

Before he could think of anything else to say Sky had squeezed between him and door. "Why don't you want to see me?" she asked. "I didn't do anything to you."

"Sorry, Sky," I said. "I thought you were someone else." I shrugged my shoulder and the security guy left.

"So who'd you think I was?" she asked. "It seems kind of weird that you wouldn't want to see someone when you're stuck in here."

I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, her," she said. "I guess I can understand that."

"Can you really?" I asked playfully. Seeing her had done a lot for my mood.

"Shouldn't you be up on deck running?"

"I decided to take the day off," she smiled. "I have a friend who needs me."

"Really?" I said. "Who?"

"You stupid," she smirked. "So what are we going to do with our early morning hours before breakfast? You do know that the entire ship is talking about your situation. Even the crew talks about it. More than half of everyone thinks that you got a totally raw deal. The rest are afraid of you."

"Why would anyone be afraid of me?" I asked.

"Well duh, you put two big guys in the hospital quicker than a cat can lick its ass. It was so fast that the security people who are trained to recognize and deal with things like that had no idea of what was going to happen. The guy whose arm you broke had to be flown out to an orthopedic specialist. The doctor on board the ship couldn't deal with the severity of the break. You broke his arm at the elbow. He may never be able to regain total usage of his arm again."

"The other guy is pretty bad too. They had to wire his jaw shut so it can heal. You also broke three of the bones in the top of his foot." She just shook her head and smiled. I wasn't sure whether she got off on violence or if she was just smiling to cover up her unease at the situation.

"And everyone on the ship is totally disgusted with your wife. She was out clubbing with that asshole almost all night. Most of the passengers don't want to have anything to do with either of them. I'm included in that bunch so when she comes to visit you, I'll leave and come back later."

"You won't have to leave then," I said. "I won't be seeing her."

"Oh, you're just pissed at her right now," said Sky. "Come on, you two are newlyweds. There are always things that happen on a honeymoon. It's really the time when two people have to get used to the idea of being together forever. Living together instead of just dating takes some time to get used to."

"Sky, my marriage was over before this ever happened," I said. "For the past few days I've been analyzing our relationship and I guess I noticed that something was missing in it. I've always heard about how great it is to be in love and all of that bullshit, but the problem is that I just hadn't felt any of that. Sure Danielle is pretty in that obvious sort of way that most guys find attractive, but I just don't feel a strong emotional connection with her. I guess you're wondering why I married her, aren't you."

Sky folded her arms across my chest and nodded her head but she didn't say anything.

"To tell you the truth, it was a mistake. It was piss poor timing. It was fate or serendipity or whatever the hell you want to call it. We'd been dating for a long time, over a year. All of my friends, at least my male friends told me not to let her get away. She was always telling me that she loved me. So I guess I started telling her that because, it just seemed like the thing to do." Sky's mouth dropped open.

"Okay, stop, don't say anything let me finish," I said. "Sky, I didn't know what I was supposed to feel like. I've never been in love, so shit, how was I supposed to know what it felt like? I actually believed that it might come up later, or that maybe I was just immune to it. At any case I intended to spend the rest of our lives together taking care of her. Hell, I even came on this fucking cruise for our honeymoon because it was what she wanted. I've spent the past year doing a lot of shit that I don't want or like because she wanted it."

"Why didn't you want to come on the cruise?" asked Sky.

"Because I hate boats," I said. "I'm deathly afraid of drowning when this thing goes under. I'm also afraid of heights, so being on a boat this big is..."

"A double whammy," she finished for me. "And you did this for a woman that you really didn't love?" I nodded.

"So how do you know that you don't love her now?" she asked. "Maybe you do love her but since you don't know what love feels like, you don't recognize it for what it is."

"Unh uh," I said. "I'm a hundred percent sure that I not only don't love her, but I never did."

"How do you..." began Sky. This woman really did like to beat a dead horse.

"Let's save that discussion for later," I said. "Besides, it doesn't matter whether or not I loved her. She never loved me. She was just using me to improve her lifestyle. I overheard her and her best friend talking about it yesterday before any of this happened. It really sucks ass to hear the woman you married telling her friend that she only married you so she wouldn't have to work. She also told her that she needed to get pregnant as quickly as possible."