12.     Trust Me

It was afternoon by the time we were near the islands. Pelin and Zerrin had locked themselves in one of the staterooms. Eric and Zayn had started on a game of cards in the saloon. Emre hadn’t moved his solitary station by the bow seat since after lunch. Ashton had taken me on a tour of the yacht and then we’d just relaxed on the sundeck where Mert had given us on Melisa’s request some renditions of popular songs. He was pretty great, certainly, Melisa had been impressed.

I could see that something had changed, there was a new kind of intimacy between them now, it was endearing. It was relaxing being with people who were just happy without any undercurrents.

Emre came up to the sundeck after a while and stood leaning at the railing, his arms folded. By that time, we’d moved on to each of us singing some of our favorite songs. Ashton asked Emre to join in but he just smiled and shook his head.

I’d been more relaxed when he’d not