Secrets Aboard! (PRIDE CRUISE 2024) by Brina Brady EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Brina Brady
- Language: English
- Genre: contemporary romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.8 MB
- Price: Free
Luka
Salty mist stung Luka’s eyes as he stood on the sunbaked pier in Fort
Lauderdale. The scent of diesel fuel battled the gentle ocean breeze in his
nostrils. Suitcase in hand, twenty-one-year-old Luka stared at the hulking
silhouette of the cruise liner. Every fiber of his being screamed against
being on that godforsaken ship. The Pride Cruise, a fifteen-day voyage to
the Caribbean Islands, was exclusively for gay men, whether single or in
couples. But Luka wasn’t going on vacation.
Standing beside Luka was his Brazilian father Rafael, a bear of a man
with salt-and-pepper hair. Out of nowhere, a noisy group of men dressed in
women’s clothing carrying brightly colored suitcases shattered their silence.
They lined up together, supporting each other as they boarded the ship. He
had no friends on that ship.
“Look at me, son.” Rafael broke the silence between them.
Luka forced himself to meet his gaze, the defiance simmering in his
belly threatening to boil over. He hadn’t seen his father since he was ten
years old. The man sent his mother and him to the United States for
protection from the Brazilian cartels. Instead of moving in or visiting them
as promised, he faithfully sent money every month, ensuring his mother and
he were taken care of. Lots of dirty cartel money.
“Think of it as an island vacation, Luka,” his voice echoed in the wind.
“Sun, sea, and…dishwashing.”
The bitterness twisted in his gut. “Dishwashing? Do you think that’s
the extent of it, Papai? I saw the schedule. I’ll be doing a lot more than just
that. I’ll be cleaning toilets all day. Whatever they want.” He spat the
words, each syllable a shard of rebellion. “I don’t know how to do any of
that stuff.”
Rafael let out a weary sigh, and the lines around his dark eyes grew
even more pronounced. “It’s your only choice. Those cops were ready to
throw you away like that jackass boyfriend of yours. I barely pried you
from their clutches.”
Luka clenched his fists at the memory of the cold steel handcuffs biting
his wrists raw. He’d been an idiot, driving Maleko to that damn Palmetto
Bay home, blinded by love and misplaced loyalty. Maleko, now rotting in a
cell for a robbery gone wrong, and Luka…sentenced to scrubbing toilets on
a cruise ship.
“And the price? Never seeing Maleko again?” The questions tumbled
out, raw and desperate. Maleko, with his beautiful long Samoan dark hair
and crooked smile, was the only man who’d ever loved him. The man who
protected him until he couldn’t.
Rafael’s jaw tightened. “It’s the only way, Luka. He’s going away for a
long time. Clean yourself up, start over. No contact, no distractions, just
hard work and the sea. Think of it as…cleansing your soul.”
“Cleansing? With mop water?” He felt completely powerless.
“Someday, you’ll understand what I’ve done for you.”
Luka winced. The weight of his actions by agreeing to help Maleko left
him owing his father for the chance to salvage the wreckage of his life. He
wondered what kind of deal he’d made with the court.
But the thought of Maleko, stuck in that concrete purgatory, choked
Luka. “What about Maleko?” Why couldn’t he help Maleko?
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