His Glorified Maid

Twenty-Two

"Michaela, are you ok?" Carlos asked, concerned.

Was she ok? No. There was Simone, her replacement looking every bit the beautiful damsel in distress and wearing the most inappropriate red bikini top with short white shorts. That was not a part of the crew's swim uniform when she had worked for the Zephyr.

But she didn't feel a panic attack coming on and that was progress, she decided. And then to her dismay, Simone shrieked out Carlos' name.

Michaela whipped her head to look at Carlos. How did he know her? He was frowning, his attention still on her, but she didn't know what to think right now.

Carlos was obliged to take Simone's outstretched hand so she could cross over to their tender. That small action hurt her, and she didn't have the skills to hide it from him.

Simone shamelessly threw herself into his arms and immediately started to talk about her 'ordeal' with a dramatic flair that had Michaela rolling her eyes. She wasn't even surprised she got knocked out of the way as if she didn't exist. Simone wasn't the type who had time for those lower than herself.

The jealousy was eating away at her. Simone had stolen her last life and worry gnawed at her that she might take this one too. She and Carlos obviously knew each other, and he hadn't dumped her on her ass when she threw herself at him.

Fighting the need to rip the manicured hand that gripped his arm as she stole her seat next to Carlos, she swallowed her bitterness and joined Carter. She told herself she didn't actually have Carlos, so she wasn't losing anything. Still, her heart was splintering because she had fallen for him like an idiot. Days. It only took days for him to wear down her carefully constructed walls that were supposed to keep her safe.

Yanking her eyes and attention back to Carter who looked at her with pity, she said, "I'll get their tender started and you can follow me back to the Zephyr."

"The Zephyr? But isn't that where you used to work?

"Yeah,"

"Is that...? He finished with a nod at Simone.

"Yeah," she said cutting him off sadly. "How did you know?" She knew Dan wouldn't have told him. He was her friend and would never use her pain as idle gossip.

"Sonja," he said guiltily.

Why didn't that surprise her?

"She has been making some bitchy comments about you chasing money and how you lost your last job when your boss fired you after discovering your intentions weren't genuine. I reported it to Dan. It's why Lawrence wasn't with us this afternoon as he had to deal with her."

Michaela had to brush tears threatening to fall. "You reported her?"

"I have no time for fake people, and idle gossip, Mike," he said pulling her into a quick hug.

She didn't know what she did to deserve a kind friend like Carter, but she was grateful that he was here. "Thank you," she said.

"We can talk about it more later."

Jenny approached them, and Michaela did her best to look like she wasn't feeling a million different emotions. She needed to remain professional.

"How can I help you, Jenny?" she said, confident her mask was in place when she didn't read any worry from her.

Jenny was still frowning at Simone and Carlos together. "Do you mind if I join you? It's a good learning opportunity for me, like changing a tyre."

Michaela got the impression Jenny would like to see Carlos toss Simone on her ass too and the knowledge surprised a chuckle from her.