Dreamboat Ch. 10

Usual standard declarations about age, ownership etc. apply here. All parts and sections of this story are copyright to the author (2019).

Welcome back once again to this, the new record holder for the longest chapter. At first it was almost twice as long as this, but I eventually cut it into two for ease of reading. For those who like a heads-up, yes! Sex in this chapter too.

At this point, we're pretty far into the story -- somewhere between a third and half way. So I thought a recap might help those faithful readers who have stuck with this over the past few months.

RECAP:

Homeless friends Lachlan Reid and Wren escape a murderous assault by boarding a handy deserted boat at the ambush site. With Reid wounded, the two find themselves out at sea, Wren caring for him and stitching his wounds. The two bond and enjoy some mildly untraditional loving as they discover the boat comes well stocked with provisions, but no way to start, or even find the engine.

To their bemused delight, the boat drifts into a harbour further down the coast, and they discover -- to their bewilderment -- that they have arrived exactly at the pre-booked appointed time to accept a delivery of further supplies, all paid for by an unknown benefactor. However, the person who has made the delivery has stowed away on board to escape a sociopathic step-father who has a history of taking part in state sanctioned torture back in Ukraine. Reid discovers the stowaway to be Sasha, a young mechanic, who uses her skills to get the engines started after unwittingly forcing them into a high speed escape across the ocean. However, in the chase, Reid is badly wounded.

The boat, out of their control, comes to a halt near an inflatable which carries Honey, a war medic who was kidnapped and sold as a slave to sex traffickers, only to escape and flee before ending up drifting out into the Atlantic Ocean. She is rescued by Sasha and cared for, only to mistakenly assault and further exacerbate Lachlan's wounds. She uses her skills and some surprising home-made surgical tools to extract a bullet from Reid, who slowly recovers.

By this time, they are convinced that the boat is under the control of some unknown agency and they are being used as pawns or guinea-pigs for some unknown reason on the boat, which is hardly under their control and seems to stop and start randomly. At the same time, they have growing suspicions that the boat itself might be being altered without their knowledge. Cleared of a mild infection misdiagnosed as an STD, Wren seduces a more-than-willing Reid into having full-blown sex with her as the first step in claiming his 'crew' as his own.

All this, while they are being traced and chased by the men from the person who had set up the initial assault, with direction and assistance from the mysterious chairman of a large corporation, and by a suspicious-minded agent of the DEA who has started to take an interest in them as well.

So, my friends, pull your cars up to the drive-in screen of your imagination, cuddle up close to the warm body next to you, dole out the popcorn and, now that the trailers have finished, settle down for our feature presentation:

CHAPTER TEN

Suddenly awake, Reid leapt to his feet on the bed, automatically steadying himself against the gentle sway of the boat as it powered over the sea. He couldn't help wondering what crisis -- apart from the obvious travel plans -- had brought his crew here to line up along the bottom of the bed. Two of them, Wren and Sasha, were naked. Honey just looked guilty.

Three pairs of eyes automatically dropped from his face to his groin, taking in the view of his manhood, and all three appreciating it in different ways. He looked down and blushed, despite himself, as he realised he was still naked from making love with Wren the previous night.

He went to cover himself up, and then realised it was a pointless gesture. Wren and Sasha were also nude, and all three of the women had seen him naked and completely vulnerable after Honey had operated on him, so what was the point in being bashful now?

As he grinned in a self-deprecating way, Wren wore a secret smile, almost glowing in the fashion of those who have been well-fucked by someone they love. Sasha's mouth was slightly open as she stared unabashedly at the object of her desires, her tongue peeping out for a moment as she wet her suddenly dry lips.

Honey found herself blushing like a horny teenager and berated herself for her stupid reaction -- he was a man, and yes, admittedly a fairly well-endowed man, but just a man. And even if he had a very beautiful cock, he was just a man -- a man who would simply take what he wanted without asking, although to be fair, Reid would probably ask first. But she knew she would refuse any man, every man, even if a man wooed her and took her in his big strong arms and kissed her and stroked her and touched her and licked her and...

She gave a nervous giggle, and then blushed again at her stupid reaction. For god's sakes, he was just a man! Was this survivor's guilt, or PTSD or some other crazy psychological hang up that had been foisted on her during the past few months as a sex slave? How could she be reacting like this, after all she had gone through? It was just wrong! No man could fix what had happened to her, even if he had dreamy eyes, and scars on his body that somehow made him even more attractive and a cock that...

Defeated, she turned and sat on the end of the bed, refusing to look at him anymore. Wren and Sasha took over the burden of her share of the view.

"Ladies, a status report please!" he requested.

Wren and Sasha continued in their silent observation of his tackle, both swaying from side to side slightly in perfect synchronisation, only part of which was due to the movement of the boat. Their breasts swung slightly from side to side as well, which in Sasha's case meant quite a lot of movement. Reid swallowed hard.

"Ladies?" he finally asked again.

After a further moment of silence, the tension grew too much for Honey, who flung herself around. "Oh for... The situation is this. Wren wants you to fuck Sasha. Sasha wants you to fuck Sasha. And I may have accidentally set the boat off on a new heading."

She kept her head down, not wanting to embarrass herself by staring at his shaft, and also feeling guilty about playing with the boat's controls while taking her turn on watch.

"I didn't mean to do anything wrong," she mumbled. "I was in the pilot's seat and I thought the controls were somehow keyed to you and wouldn't operate if I did anything to them. So I may have fiddled with the joysticks slightly. And then the boat was up and running again."

"Thank you Honey," Reid said, for some reason wanting to offer her a slight bow. "Okay, so where are we headed?"

"Some place in Bahamas," muttered Sasha, still staring. She hadn't blinked for over a minute.

"Sasha," he said.

Reluctantly, she dragged her eyes back to his face.

"Sorry, Captain. I check the AIS, and course is set to west of Castaway Cay."

He rubbed his chin in thought as Sasha's eyes slowly dropped down again.

"Castaway Cay... where have I heard that name before?"

Honey opened the laptop that she had started to carry everywhere with her, as nobody else seemed too frantic to use it. She tapped a few keys, read quickly and burst out laughing.

"I think we're going to be Pirates of the Caribbean," she sniggered.

"What?" Wren asked, puzzled.

"Look!" Honey urged. She turned the laptop so they could all see it, Reid kneeling to get a good look.

"Oh you're kidding me," he said. "We're heading for Disney Island?"

Sasha's eyes grew round. "I would love to go on Disney Island. I have seen all films of Disney since coming to America. But that is not route of boat."

She prodded at the touch screen which flicked to a map of the area. "We go here!"

The place she indicated was at the leftmost point of a triangle on its side, with Castaway Cay as the lower right vertex and Moore's Island forming the third point directly north of that. The two islands were twenty kilometres apart and the destination point of the boat was some thirty kilometres from each of them.

"What's there?" asked Honey.

"As far as I can tell, nothing," stated Reid. "Although it's uncomfortably close to the Bermuda Triangle, if you believe in that crap."

Wren looked alarmed, while Honey seemed amused.

"What is Bermuda Triangle?" asked Sasha.

"It's a part of the ocean where ships and planes supposedly disappear mysteriously," Wren said in a hushed voice.

The Russian girl sat up, alarmed.

"Relax Sasha," Honey said. "It's all a load of bollocks, made up by writers and film-makers to sell their stuff. Sure, ships have sunk, and planes disappeared there, but no more than you would expect in an area that develops tropical storms as a fun hobby."

Sasha looked to Reid for verification.

"I think Honey's right, Sasha," he said, putting his hand on her head and stroking her hair, while trying not to stare at her amazing, incredible, stupendous and most importantly; naked breasts. "I don't think we have too much to worry about if we watch the weather. I don't think the boat has plans to sink any time soon. And we're basically along for the ride, so I guess we have to trust that it wouldn't get us into the middle of a cyclone and leave us there."

The brunette brought his hand down to her cheek, then twisted her head and kissed the centre of his palm. The simple gesture of affection, along with the spectacular view of the naked assets of the two younger women, had an immediate effect on him and he hurriedly placed a pillow on his lap to disguise it, although Wren's eyes danced with laughter. When it came to sex or the possibility of it happening, she seemed to miss nothing.

"Hang on," said Honey. "Look here."

She had been flicking through the icons on the main screen of the laptop, and seen one with a little red dot in the upper corner. When she touched it a message appeared.

They all stared at it.

Departure in 3:00 minutes.

It was the same message they had got when they left Sasha's harbour.

"When did that appear," Reid asked. Honey tapped the keys.

"It came up at 06:00. About 30 minutes ago. That's when I was on the bridge. Oh thank god! I thought I'd done something, but it was scheduled. The boat did it on its own."

Reid could see her relief, and touched her shoulder in acknowledgement of her innocence in the matter. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"I was so worried."

Wren had fished out her phone. "Yes, it's on the phone as well. We must have missed it while we were sleeping."

"Other phone is in front cabin. I didn't hear it. But I was sleeping also."

He thought about it. "Okay, from now on, I want Wren and Sasha to keep the phones with them at all times, and Honey -- you do the same with the laptop. You seem to be the most knowledgeable of the four of us when it comes to computers. It seems that the boat is communicating with us and we need to know what it says. Whoever sees a message first, tell me and I'll make sure the others get it as well.

"Honey, if you could, would you mind teaching the rest of us how to use the laptop as well. I haven't had any opportunity to learn about computers outside of military usage and I'm pretty sure that what I learned then has become obsolete anyway. Sasha's experience seems to be limited to the cash register at her father's garage, and from what she's told me, Wren has had very little contact with them at all."

Wren looked away as Reid mentioned her computer experience. For a moment, he thought her face showed a flash of annoyance, regret, anger, guilt, embarrassment? He couldn't read it. There was something there, but he dismissed it for the moment. She had her secrets and he had his. She would open up when she was ready, and then he would quietly and calmly draw everything from her. He owed her his complete understanding of her problems. Although she had been the catalyst for their sojourn out to sea, she had stood by and fed, watered, nursed and supported him in every way. He owed her.

The blond turned to start the coffee machine percolating, avoiding his eye.

"None of us has any idea of what is going on with the boat" Reid continued. "But if there's a way that we can do some research and get some answers, then I think we have to do that as soon as possible."

Wren nudged Sasha and repeated her familiar refrain. "This is why he's captain."

Honey mentioned her concern about searches being tracked back to their source. Reid's eyebrows rose.

"I didn't know that that was possible. I mean, I've read about hackers, but that seems very specialised."

"It's just a possibility that I think you should bear in mind," she said. "You're the captain, so you have to make informed decisions."

He squeezed her hand, which was still locked onto his. Honey realised at that moment that she had been holding hands with him for several minutes, but was strangely reluctant to let go. She glanced at Wren who raised her eyebrows and gave her an encouraging smile. Her confusion grew, but in the end decided that it was simply a demonstration of her support, and kept her hand in his. It seemed tiny within his big paw, and made her feel almost like a little girl with a loving parent. His hand seemed gentle as well as strong, and was somehow intensely comforting.

Wren poured and served the coffee for each of them, and Honey knew she wore a smug look on her face that she still managed to hold onto Reid's hand while they drank it, but couldn't help it.

"I've been thinking about how to tell whether the boat is growing or not," Reid continued. "Has anyone found a measuring tape, or ruler, or anything with measurements on it?"

There was no positive reply, and he frowned.

"Okay, then we'll need to use string. We take measurements with the string and simply cut it to length or make a knot in it. That way we can measure it again at intervals and see whether the lengths or knots still match up -- and if not, by how much."

"I haven't seen any string so far," remarked Wren, looking around at the others with a questioning look. Each of them agreed that there was no string to be found.

"We could use wire," suggested Sasha with a smile, "Plenty of wire in the workshop and ..."

She broke off with a frown and shook her head. "No, this is not working."

"Why not," asked Reid. "It sounds like a great idea to me."

The Russian looked downcast. "If boat is growing longer then wire is growing longer also. Otherwise electrical systems stop working."

Reid's head drooped. For a moment he thought they had found a way to confirm their suspicions. But Sasha was right. If the boat was growing longer and wider, then the networked harness of electrical wiring would have to extend as well.

The sudden realisation that he was actually considering that wires were extending by themselves started to send his thoughts into a spin. Then he grabbed at a thought. What if the wiring had been installed with plenty of slack? That would allow extension. Hell, you could build in as much extension as you liked. It would take some incredible design work, but from what he had seen the boat had an incredible designer anyway. But why would someone want to build something like this?

Feeling a moment of panic, he fought it back. On this boat, things were as they were, and if they weren't what he thought, then there was little he could do about it. It was what it was! Even if none of it made sense.

"Very well, we can put measuring on the agenda for when we find a way to do it properly. Finally, I think we need to do a full boat inspection regularly to try and take mental note of what we find and see, to discover any differences from time to time."

He lowered his voice and they all leaned in to listen. "And while we do that I want you to keep a lookout for hidden cameras. Whoever is in control is going to need to see what we're doing, in order to make us do what they want. If we can disable any cameras or microphones that we find we might be able to establish some sort of autonomy. Okay?"

The women nodded. Reid sighed and rubbed his chin again. Damn, he needed a shave. Perhaps he should grow a beard. He considered that and then shook his head. He had tried to grow one while in Iraq. The heat made it prickle and maddeningly itchy. Somehow he didn't the Caribbean was going to be a much better proposition heat-wise.

"Anything else on the agenda?" he finished off.

"Yes," said Wren. "Sasha."

She looked very serious. "She's been extraordinarily patient, but you really do need to do your duty by the crew."

The Russian was a shade of crimson, but she held her head high and locked eyes with Reid as he swung to face her. Honey released his hand.

"Sasha, I'm so sorry. I haven't been fair on you this morning," he said after a long moment. He held his arms open and she sprang into them, raining kisses on his face. He whispered in her ear and she looked astonished for a moment and then nodded eagerly.

"Wren, Honey, please excuse us. We're going to take a shower," he said. "Miss Korova, if you would kindly do me the honour of this shower?"

He stepped down from the bed and took Sasha's hand, holding it high as if formally leading her onto a dance floor. Side by side and in step, they marched very slowly to the bathroom door and then squeezed through. Sasha's giggle floated back as the door closed behind them.

Wren gave a laugh and shook her head. "And I thought I was the crazy one here."

"No," Honey replied. "I think we're all crazy here. Otherwise we'd have to go crazy just to keep up."

Wren gazed out of the doors of the cabin at the wake of the boat. "You know Lachlan's going to take her virginity?"

Honey nodded. "I saw that her hymen was still intact when I gave you both a check-up. Are you alright with him doing that? Is she?"

Wren looked puzzled to be asked such a question. "Of course! You saw how happy she was. And I couldn't be happier for her."

"Is Lachlan a good lover? Will he be gentle?"

"Yes on both counts. Last night was the first time I ever made love with a man of my own choosing. So it was almost like I was a virgin with my very first boyfriend. Lachlan was better than I ever expected, and seeing as how we had had some spectacular oral and anal sex before, my expectations were already pretty high. I'm certainly not antsy this morning. A little achy perhaps, but definitely not itchy."

Honey gave a nervous laugh. "Yes, I can see how that would happen."

The thought was interrupted by a sudden loud noise from the shower. Noisy sex might have been expected, or complaints that the water had suddenly gone cold would also have fitted the situation, amongst several other alternatives -- but two voices singing the chorus of Chandelier by Sia at the top of their lungs and in almost perfect harmony definitely wasn't one of them. Honey and Wren stared at each other, wide-eyed.

"I didn't know either of them could sing," whispered Honey. "Lachlan and Sasha, live on stage at the boat shower. Not something you'd expect to see on a poster every day."

"I've never ever heard him even hum a tune before," responded Wren, tears suddenly springing to her eyes. "You know, I think he's happy. I think they both are. If nothing else, no matter what happens in the future, the boat's given us at least a chance for some happiness here and now."

The shower door finally opened and Reid and a giggling Sasha exited, wielding towels.

The girl saw Wren and Honey staring at her with wide eyes and grinned at them, giving a slight shake of her head. Wren looked disappointed.

"Breakfast ladies," announced the captain. "Today it's my treat so let me know what ..."

"Pancakes," called Wren instantly.