Secrets Aboard!, page 1
SECRETS ABOARD
PRIDE CRUISE 2024
BRINA BRADY
Copyright Text by Brina Brady © 2024 All rights reserved.
Cover Art by Jo Clement
Editor: Anita Ford
Disclaimer: Any person depicted on the cover is a model used for illustrative purposes only.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This book contains graphic gay sex.
DEDICATION
Thank you to all my exceptional Beta Readers for helping me out until I finished my novel. Your help has been invaluable to me, and I don’t know how I would have managed without your help and support. Again, thank you so much. I appreciate your help.
Ida Sue Umphers
Brei-Ayn Nichole Moscato
Secrets Aboard Blurb
Luka trades the short-term thrill of helping his lover with a home robbery for the gilded cage of Captain Clarke’s cruise ship. A year of servitude, a court-mandated reprieve from prison, all thanks to his influential father’s deal. Sadly, Luka’s immediate future includes scrubbing the decks and hauling suitcases, a stark contrast to the prison sentence he could have faced alongside his lover, Maleko. Haunted by the ghost of his lover’s absence and his own guilt, Luka grapples with newfound tenderness coming from the person least expected.
Captain Westly John Clarke, an experienced maritime hardliner, enforces the court’s contract with grim adherence. Beneath the surface, something shifts. Luka’s boyish charm chips away at the older man’s icy exterior. Still, he keeps Luka at arm’s length, unable to forget the bitter memories of the young man’s past. As the captain battles his own awakening heart and hidden secrets, his compass spins out of control, adding to the chaos.
As the love story etches in the shadow of a criminal past and the unforgiving grip of duty leaves them both adrift in uncharted waters. Only time and the churning sea will tell if they admit what’s in their hearts.
Age Gap, Hurt to Comfort, Forced Proximity, Gay Pride Cruise, Cabin Boy, Cruise Captain, Opposites Attract, Workplace Romance
Pride Cruise 2024!
Where the water is crisp, the men are HOT, and the party has started! Each book is a standalone but feel free and dive in and binge them all. You won’t want to miss a second of their naughty antics. If you think they’re silly when the sun is up, just wait until it goes down.
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
Secrets Aboard Blurb
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Luka
Chapter 2 Luka
Chapter 3 Luka
Chapter 4 Captain Clarke
Chapter 5 Luka
Chapter 6 Luka
Chapter 7 Captain Clarke
Chapter 8 Luka
Chapter 9 Captain Clarke
Chapter 10 Luka
Chapter 11 Captain Clarke
Chapter 12 Luka
Chapter 13 Captain Clarke
Chapter 14 Luka
Chapter 15 Captain Clarke
Chapter 16 Luka
Chapter 17 Captain Clarke
Chapter 18 Luka
Chapter 19 Captain Clarke
Chapter 20 Luka
Chapter 21 Luka
Chapter 22 Luka
Chapter 23 Captain Clarke
Chapter 24 Luka
Chapter 25 Captain Clarke
Chapter 26 Luka
Chapter 27 Captain Clarke
Chapter 28 Luka
Chapter 29 Captain Clarke
Chapter 30 Luka
Chapter 31 Captain Clarke
About Brina
Connect With Brina Brady
Brina’s Books
Chapter 1 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? He said he tried, and he couldn’t. It was out of his hands. Or was that a lie?
His father frowned as he spoke. “He’s paying his debt, Luka. You can’t both drown in the same tide.” He paused, a tremor running through the rough hand that rested on Luka’s shoulder. “Promise me, boy. No letters, no calls. No contact with him.”
Coated with his father’s love, the demand hung heavy, weighing on his heart. Luka knew it was the only way, the only path back to some semblance of normalcy. The ache of separation slicing through his heart threatened to tear him apart.
“I promise, Papai.” Then Luka pleaded, “But…can I just…keep one picture?”
Rafael hesitated, then nodded, a flicker of understanding in his eyes. “One,” he said in a gruff voice. “But you bury it deep, Luka. This ocean’s big enough to drown anything eventually, including his memory.” He pulled out a picture of Maleko he had found in Luka’s suitcase and returned it to him.
“This means a lot to me.” Luka’s voice was steady. “I’ll do what they tell me, but I won’t be their cabin boy.”
“This isn’t about pride, Luka. It’s about keeping you safe. You think that prison is going to be kind to Maleko?”
Luka’s throat tightened. Maleko. My Maleko, trapped in a cage for a mistake we made. Luka had been at the wheel, but it was Maleko’s desperation that fueled the robbery, Maleko’s whispered pleas to save his mother from the loan sharks. And he’d believed him. Maleko would have done the same for his mother if it were turned around.
“He would want me with him no matter where he was,” Luka choked out, the words scraping his dry throat.
Rafael’s expression softened, a flicker of the man Luka used to know, the man who taught him to read and sing sea shanties. “He wants you alive, Luka. He wants you to live a life he can’t.”
Silence settled between them, thick and suffocating. The salty wind whispered impossible choices and broken dreams. Luka’s resolve crumbled, the anger giving way to a hollow ache.
“Will I ever see him again?” Luka rasped, his voice barely a whisper.
“One year, Luka. One year on that ship, then you come home and can visit him in prison. No contact before then. You understand?”
Luka swallowed the lump in his throat, the taste of salt and regret. “Yeah, but he’s in Florida, not California,” he mumbled, the words a surrender. “One year.”
“It’s not a prison, son. It’s a chance. A chance to learn, to grow, to earn your way back to yourself.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You know nothing about me or Maleko. All you know are the dates I cashed your checks.”
“I know something you don’t know about Maleko.” His voice turned dead serious, as did his expression. That identical look years ago when he told Luka he had to move aw ay from Brazil. He’d never forget that day. The endless tears changed nothing then, nor would they today. Nothing has changed.
“What is that?” Luka held his breath for the onslaught of terror.
“Maleko’s mother is dead and has been for five years. That dirty bastard lied to you. He was a bad influence. Even your mother hated him, and she loves the world. Learn from your past mistakes and refuse to allow anyone to turn you into a blind fool again. Trust no one, son.”
Ashamed, Luka broke eye contact with his father and faced the vastness of the ocean, the skyline blurred by tears of betrayal and foolishness. He didn’t know if he could survive a year away from Maleko, a year away from himself. But his lover had betrayed him. Maleko was a big part of the reason he was here. Looking back on their relationship, he truly was Maleko’s fool, as his father had said.
With a deep breath, Luka straightened his shoulders, a new resolve hardening his voice. “I won’t ever be a fool for anyone. But promise me when my year is up, you’ll be here to bring me home to California and have a proper relationship with me. I miss us.”
The ghost of a smile touched Rafael’s lips. “I miss us too. This ship is a chance to steer yourself towards something else. Something better.”
Luka looked at the ship, its polished exterior a stark contrast to the storm raging within him. “I promise I’ll make you proud again, Papai.” Luka’s throat dried up in the heat.
“I know you will. You’re a Batista!”
“Thanks for the confidence in me.”
“Stay safe, my son.” After all the years of separation, his father finally hugged him. If only he could have been there for him while he was growing up, he might have made better choices than he had.
Luka glanced at the small picture, pressed it against his heart, then stuffed it into his suitcase with mixed emotions, somewhere between love and hate for Maleko. The cruise might be a paradise for others, but for him, it was exile, a prison of hard labor paved with the broken pieces of his past. And yet, somewhere beneath the despair, a flicker of hope ignited. He would survive this. He would learn to scrub floors or toilets. He would earn back his father’s trust, prove himself worthy of redemption.
Confetti rained down like a ticker-tape parade, landing in their hair as others passed dragging suitcases. Luka watched the festive chaos, feeling a knot in his stomach. Everyone else wore smiles of wide-eyed anticipation, but Luka felt a leaden weight in his chest, anchoring him to the cold concrete.
As the ship’s whistle shrieked, announcing the last call to board, Luka felt a tentative hope and moved towards an uncertain future without Maleko. He squared his shoulders, feeling the calloused wood of the handrail beneath his palm.
With each step onto the cruise ship, Luka’s heart grew heavier, a whirlwind of emotions swirling within him. Turning one last time to see his father standing in the same spot, watching him, the weight of guilt and sadness burdened his soul. Resigned, he boarded on his journey as a crewmember to serve Captain Westly John Clark.
Chapter 2 Luka
As Luka stood holding onto his new suitcase and overlooking the pier, his father stood in the same spot waiting for the ship to leave the port. Haunting memories of the past relentlessly pursued Luka, making it impossible for him to break free from their grip. His father’s words about Luka being Maleko’s blinded fool were completely correct. Luka hoped his father wouldn’t disappear for years again. Going over their conversation, he realized he needed him now more than ever, but he hadn’t promised to be here in a year to take him to California.
Sail away parties surrounded him while the image of the authorities leading Maleko away in handcuffs replayed repeatedly in his mind. He blamed himself for the predicament they’d found themselves in. If I had told Maleko no…
Men were bustling with excitement, but such joy seemed distant to Luka. His vacant stare remained fixed on the massive stretch of the sea, a reflection of the emptiness he felt.
Although Luka was grateful for his father’s intervention with the court, allowing him to work on this ship for a year instead of going to prison, it didn’t alleviate the heaviness of his conflicting emotions. Maleko’s absence weighed on him. A painful reminder of the love he had lost or thought he had and the poor choices he had made. What did he really have with Maleko?
Maleko told me to smoke dope, and I did. Maleko told me to drink more, and I did. I did everything Maleko wanted me to do. Was that even love?
“You must be Lucius Enrique Batista. I’m Captain Westly John Clarke. You may address me as Captain Clarke.” The man snapped him out of the gloomy thoughts that had been haunting him day and night since his arrest.
He nodded. “I go by Luka.” He looked up at the handsome man with sapphire blue eyes. Their color was darker than royal blue and lighter than navy blue. He couldn’t tell how old he was, but he had the shiniest silver hair with a matching trimmed beard. Luka hadn’t expected the captain to have a tall, masculine body or to be irresistibly attractive and radiating primal testosterone. Delicious.
Luka had read an online article about the captain, who had served in the US Marine Corps Special Forces for twenty years, and found he was intrigued by his remarkable achievements. The captain was single, never married, and educated with the highest degrees from one of Florida’s finest universities. Luka wanted to know more about this powerful man commanding the crewmembers as well as captaining a ship.
“I’ve been looking all over for you. I thought you would have boarded earlier than last call.”
“Sorry, sir. I was spending my last moments of freedom with my father, who I haven’t seen in a while.” Luka thought about running, but his father had convinced him to do his time as it was the right thing to do.
“Welcome aboard, Luka.”
“Thanks, Captain Clarke.”
“Follow me.”
Luka trailed behind the captain to the door labeled Captain’s Office. Luka was captivated by the man’s meticulous uniform, full naval style with white trousers, a navy-blue blazer, and a navy-blue hat with a gold braid. The gold epaulettes on his shoulders signified his rank as captain. There was no question who he was and his importance on this Pride Cruise. Everyone else, including himself, dressed casually.
When he entered the office, he was surprised by what he saw. Luka had imagined the captain would have a large wooden desk with a polished surface, a leather chair, and a computer screen. He had expected to see maps, charts, and documents neatly arranged on the desk, along with a few personal items, such as a photo frame or a souvenir. The captain’s desk was not large or wooden, but small and metal. It had a dull, gray color, and a few scratches and dents. The surface was bare, except for a laptop, a phone, and a clipboard. There were no maps, charts, or documents on the desk, nor any personal items. It looked cold and impersonal, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity for the captain, who seemed to have nothing on his desk, and nothing in his life.
Luka wondered why the captain kept his desk so empty and clean. Did he have nothing to hide, or everything to hide? Did he have no hobbies, interests, or memories, or did he keep them elsewhere? Did he care about his crew, or only about his job? Luka wanted to know more about the captain, but he knew he had no right to ask.
“Sit!” He gestured for Luka to sit across from his neat desk.
Luka didn’t like the military order or the tone of his voice. The captain speaks like he’s still in the Marines.
“As you’re aware, the purpose of your assignment here is strictly confidential and should never be disclosed to anyone on this vessel. If you break that stipulation, our agreement ends. Do you understand?”
“Are you going to throw me overboard if I make a mistake?”
Captain Clarke leaned back into his chair and laughed. “We don’t throw wicked men overboard, and we don’t whip them for their misdeeds anymore. Although I could see a reason for whipping some.”
“Then what do you do?”
“Lock the culprit in his cabin until we dock. In your case, the police will take you to prison to serve the rest of your time.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. It’s not something I want to brag about.” The reason he couldn’t ever go to prison in the States was because US immigration authorities would deport him to Brazil. His Finnish mother had never applied for US or Brazilian citizenship, because she was protected through her medical professional visas. Luka had waited for his father to make things safe so he could return to Brazil. Looking back on things, he should have applied for US citizenship, as he no longer wanted to live in Brazil.
