Burning Heart // CL16

Sixty Nine

Alessia's POV

The boat is rocking softly underneath us as I change Ruby below deck. Her day so far had been spent chilling in diapers in the shade and this one now needed changed before I went back upstairs, the flowing linen black tunic cover up I'd worn all day was firmly upon my body. "C'mon baby girl - mama's trying to enjoy the sun!" I urge her as she continues wriggling on the bed I'd never known existed under the main deck. "Bee! Come on! I bet you weren't this difficult for Charles!" I say, pulling her back towards me as I try and fasten it up. "Bee! If you don't cut it out we can't get back to papa," I threaten her and watch as she almost instantly stops moving, rendering me both victorious and frustrated as I finally fasten it. "Predictable," I tell her grumpily as I lift her up to my eye level and watch as she giggles at me, forcing a smile out of me as well. "Why are you like this, huh? Remember when it was just us?"

"Papa boat!" She tells me and I groan as I bring her into my arms and clean up with one hand before walking up the stairs. "Sa!" She says as we get onto the main deck and she sees Isa with Carlos, instantly reaching her arms out to where she is sitting in the shade. I put down, making sure her feet are firmly on the floor and watch as she potters over towards Carlos and Isa who quickly take her into their lap with smiles on their faces and not much other concern. It had been a quiet morning so far but Charles was gone, where exactly I wasn't totally sure, so it was just Kiraz, Carlos, Isa and I on the boat now and had been for a while now. 

"Anyone know where Ki is?" I ask the pair who just point at the vast ocean around us and I chuckle sarcastically before quietly thanking them and leave Ruby in their capable hands, walking to the front of the boat, looking for some sunshine away from the eyes of anyone else. I sit down at the very front of the boat and let my legs dangle over the edge as I lean against the railing, enjoying the heat of the sun hitting my skin.

It was two days since the date-not-date ended in... what can only be described as a confusing way. The whole thing was just replaying in my mind over and over again as I scrutinised every moment of the night, looking for a way to get back to the way things were before. It was something I hadn't stopped doing since the following morning when I woke up in bed alone. So far... no solution was made clear to me.

"Bitch - the point of this was that you would be forced to be into a swimming costume and accept how freaking awesome you look. You'd also get to spend the day doing a bunch of fun things I've spent the day doing in an attempt to entertain your 'life partner'," Kiraz whines as she comes to sit next to me and I chuckle as I shake my head, ignoring the pang in my chest as she talks.

"He's not my..." I trail off, not saying the end of the sentence because in all honesty, I wasn't entirely sure what the end of the sentence should be. When I give up looking at her, I notice a familiar little speedboat on it's way towards us. Easily distinguishable because we were the only boat around, the coast literally and metaphorically clear meaning that we weren't going to be papped by anyone. "I was busy with Bee," I default to, the excuse pathetic as I lift the sunglasses off my face and squint at the boat that was gradually gaining size as it got closer to us and I tried to figure out who the people on the boat with Charles were as they get closer. I hadn't known that anyone else was coming to join us on what could only really be termed as a medium/ large sized yacht. "Who's joining us?"

"I don't know," Kiraz says and I finally look towards her, noticing the gorgeous baby pink bikini she was wearing. "What's up Lace? Talk to me."

"It would be easier to take this cover up off if you were less fucking hot," I tease her, finally replying to the other part of her statement, ignoring the question as I look out at the water. The teasing was really half hearted though and I can feel the moment she follows my lead and looks back out at the ocean before sighing as she shakes her head, as we both look towards the boat on it's way to us. "Max, Kelly, Penelope and... Lando?" I ask as I look over the faces that are starting to come into focus and the small hands of Penelope are waving at us as we wave back.