Don’t Blink

“C’mon up here, sweetheart!” he bellowed, standing up straight and proud on the captain’s deck. He was wearing a faux white naval jacket replete with shoulder boards and a sleeve insignia. Two blond women flanked him, both very pretty, and I figured they were his PR team. Was this guy for real? I couldn’t understand what Courtney saw in him. Not even when I tried extra hard.

As she made her way to join him, Ferramore thanked everyone for coming on such short notice “to this wonderful celebration of love.” That brought a rousing cheer from the entire crowd. Minus me, of course. I had one hand in my pocket and I was wiggling my middle finger at him.

Ferramore took no offense and continued: “Courtney and I wanted to make it very clear this evening that no rumor, no unfounded gossip, no nonsense whatsoever, will ever get the better of us. We can ride out any storm that comes our way!”

Ferramore turned to face Courtney, pulling her tightly into his arms. As the two of them kissed, he thrust his hand high in triumph. An even louder cheer erupted from the crowd of his friends, or whoever these hordes of overdressed people were.

Right on cue the first firework exploded in the night air, a beautiful collage of rainbow colors mixing with a sea of stars. It was an amazing spectacle, actually.

But the real spectacle that night was yet to come, and of course, I would be part of it.

Chapter 55

I’D SPENT THE afternoon with Hoodie.

Now here I was with Houdini.

Thomas Ferramore had just pulled off the impossible, a trick for the ages. He had escaped the seemingly inescapable bind he’d been in, and he’d made it look easy.

Deep down, Courtney may have still had some suspicions, but there on his yacht, for all of Manhattan ’s glitterati to see, Ferramore still had his prize. That’s all that mattered to him.

And me.

I should’ve stolen a page from Courtney’s playbook and put everything into a box.

Instead, I put it all into a glass… and drank it.

After about an hour at the party, and after the youthful rent-a-bartender decided that my drinking two-thirds of a bottle of whisky was clearly one-third too many, I decided I would tell Thomas Ferramore exactly what I thought of his marrying Courtney.

Only I couldn’t find him. So I did the next worst thing.

I told Courtney.

Cornering her along the starboard railing, I slurred the truth to her in a voice somewhat louder than it should have been. “You can’t marry him! You’re making a mistake! Don’t you see what a mistake this is? You’re smart – so act smart, Courtney.”

Her eyes filled with tears as everyone within earshot turned to gawk at the scene I was making. Courtney was so upset, she could barely get the words out.

“All I see is someone drunk who just broke his promise to me,” she said.

She walked away then, leaving me alone – unless, of course, you count all the lookie-loos still watching. That’s when I really gave them their money’s worth. All that whisky in my otherwise empty stomach churned and sloshed its way up past my heartache and back out through its original port of entry. Right there over the starboard railing, with an ear-wrenching heave-ho, I power-fed the fishes.

I should’ve been embarrassed to death, but that’s the temporary beauty of being drunk: complete lack of self-awareness. Still, I did manage one decent decision – to go find a bathroom to wash up so I could hail a cab home without scaring off the driver.

Parting the deck crowd like Moses with the measles, I babbled while stumbling and bumbling off. “A bathroom… a bathroom… my kingdom for a bathroom.”

No one laughed, and I guess I couldn’t blame them for that. I had let myself become a complete horse’s ass on Courtney’s special night. I had let my best friend down.

I entered the main galley and immediately began twisting every doorknob in sight down a long hallway. It figured that every room was locked.

Finally one door opened. As I groped for a light switch, all I could think was, Please, Lord, let this be a bathroom!

But as the room lit up, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I blurted out. “This can’t be for real!”

Chapter 56

IT WAS LIKE the game of Clue, only the sex-addict edition. Thomas Ferramore… in the supply room… with his pants down around his ankles.

In front of him was a young and very pretty blonde on her knees. Needless to say, she wasn’t praying. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she was one of the PR ladies who had been with him on the deck.

Panic flashed across Ferramore’s face, but amazingly, it vanished almost as fast as it had arrived. Apparently you don’t get to be a billionaire without being able to think quickly on your feet, even with your dick hanging out.

“Get up, honey,” he said calmly to the young blonde. “Go enjoy the rest of the party.”

She quickly buttoned her white blouse, dabbed at her lips, and hurried out the door. I suppose I couldn’t blame her, but not once did she look at me.

Meanwhile, that’s all Ferramore could do. His dark eyes bored straight into mine. He was staring, unblinking. And of all goddamn things, he started to smile.

“So, you caught me,” he said, the second we were alone. “Now what are you going to do about it? You have a plan of action yet?”

The son of a bitch hadn’t even bothered to pull up his pants.

“What do you think I’m going to do about it?” I shot back. “At your own engagement party? After what you said to Courtney up there?”

He shook his head and laughed some more. “It’s your word against mine and your word is pretty drunk, isn’t it?”

“Not so drunk that I’m blind, pal. I saw what I saw.”

In fact, I suddenly felt as if I’d downed a dozen cups of coffee. Not quite sober as a judge, but the thoughts and words were forming just fine.

“Do you even love Courtney?” I asked.

“Does that even matter?”

“It does to me.”

He laughed again. “Yes, I know it does,” he said. “You love her madly, right? That’s probably why you felt it was okay to fuck her when you knew she was engaged to me.”

That stopped me cold. How did he know that?

“She told you?” I asked in disbelief.

His laugh grew louder, a booming cackle now, and it dawned on me that there was another explanation.

“Christ, you had her followed.”

“I always look after my investments, Nick – force of habit. In a way, all it proves is that Courtney and I are meant for each other. In fact, for your sake, you should feel lucky I was okay with it.”

“Tell you what, then,” I said. “Since you know about Courtney and me, why don’t we go tell her about what I just walked in on and she can decide for herself.”

“You do that and you can kiss your sweet job at Citizen magazine good-bye.”

“Yeah, but I’d sure be going out with a bang.”

“Yes, you sure would. Too bad about Courtney, though. She’d be out of a job, too. You understand that, of course.”

Checkmate! And he knew it, too. Citizen was Courtney’s baby, the joy of her life.

Ferramore finally reached down and pulled up his trousers. “To show you there are no hard feelings, though, how about I cut you a check and we forget this whole thing ever happened.”

Was this prick really trying to buy me off? That was the worst insult yet.

“That depends,” I said. “What does your being caught getting a blow job go for these days?”

“That’s a very good question,” came a trembling voice over my shoulder. “What does it go for, Tom?”