Chapter 119

As Becca and I looked out over the railing Leia and Heels were doing the same thing, all of us drawn by the loud voices.

Thankfully it looked like it was just some playful roughhousing. JC was down there, goofing off with a couple of the guys as they were swapping out the tubing rope for what looked like a handle for waterskiing.

What looked less good, at least to me, was the stance Zenya had as she was sitting and being chatted up by another of the college guys. She didn’t look like she was feeling threatened or anything, but I felt like judging by her body language she would rather just ... not be talking to him. I had a feeling she’d gone out on the boat to enjoy the wind and the waves out on the open lake, and she was putting up with the guy trying to chat her up.

“Hey, Zen,” I called down. She looked up, shading her eyes despite her oversized sunglasses to see me in the glare of the afternoon. I waved her up. “Want to do that thing?”

It was a calculated ask that I’d developed over time at work. A customer who wasn’t being handsy or rude, but was clearly hitting on a staff member, needed to be handled delicately. Especially if they were a high roller. So ‘Hey, did you do that thing I asked you to do?’ was enough to give a coworker an out if they wanted it. A waitress or dealer could say ‘Yeah, I got it done’ if they thought they were working towards a good tip, or they could say, ‘Oh, no, I forgot’ and they could get out of the situation without the customer feeling slighted.

Well, it usually worked anyways, but when it didn’t the customer was generally progressing from ‘mildly annoying’ to ‘a problem.’

Zenya, bless her, immediately caught on and stood up. “Yes!” she called. “I’ll be right up.”

I ducked back out from the railing so that she could make her excuses without the guy being able to interact with me or ask questions.

“That thing?” Becca asked.

“Total bullshit,” I said.

“Ah,” Becca smirked.

Zenya joined us on the top deck half a minute later, giving me a thankful look and squeezing my arm. She was in a full bikini with a pretty and colourful silky robe cover-up hanging loose from her shoulders. “Thank you,” she said. “That guy didn’t know when to stop talking.”

“No problem,” I said with a smile.

“I had a thought,” Becca said. “What if you did have a thing to do?”

“And what thing would I be doing?” Zenya asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, if you want to get in on the Massage Shoots, I think Cassidy isn’t busy but I could be the photographer. Do you have a white swimsuit to work with?”

“Oooh,” Zenya said looking excited. “I do want to get in on that, but I didn’t bring anything plain white. Do you think anyone might have something that would fit me?”

Zenya was the bigger girl on the trip with full hips and a broad chest. Heather was her closest option but I doubted she would be willing to help out if I was involved.

“I think Ami has a white bandeau top we could try, and then I know Leia has a white suit and I bet the bottoms would fit you,” Becca said.

“OK, cool. Let’s ask,” Zenya said and the two of them immediately went off to start piecing together the outfit.