Chapter 7

Suddenly what he thought sounded like a dog barking caught his attention, he looked over only to see two people arguing at the edge of the party deck next to him. A man and a woman, he was a big burly man with his hair in a ponytail and tattoos covering his jacked physique, she was a babe, with half her hair shaved and a sexy tattoo of a skeleton on her leg, (Joe did not find skeletons sexy but her leg was). After pulling his attention away from her sexy legs he looked back to where the figure was standing and it was gone, vanished like a ghost.

"I smelled him Clayton! His scent is on board this cruise!" He overheard her say.

"He's dead Diane, you have nothing to worry about." Clayton said.

'What in the world could they be talking about?' thought Joe.

"I caught his scent." She sniffed the air, and upon sniffing her gaze was brought to Joe, she seemed confused at the smell as if he had flatulence. He looked away pretending not to be eavesdropping, and they spoke in hushed tones to one another. Joe finished his drink and was about to head over to the bar for another rye and ginger (it was keeping the dread away) when Clayton stopped right in front of him, sniffing him.

"What are you?" asked Clayton, half quizzical and half threatened.

"What do you mean?" said Joe trying to put some distance between he and Clayton, backing up into the railing.

"Your scent, I've never come across it before, Are you a hunter?" Clayton growled, literally.

"My scent? I've never gone hunting, I like animals!" said Joe as he held on to the railing tight, afraid his ass was going over, head first for real this time.

"Animals!? who are you calling an animal!?" Clayton got right in Joe's face before Diane stepped in, pulling him back.

"Let's go Clay, you know what Alpha says about fighting on board these things." She said.

"This guy is hiding something, he's not telling us! You smelled him!" argued Clayton.

"We'll keep an eye on him, Clay lets go to our cabin." She pulled away the brute and looked him dead in the eyes calming him down, Clayton looked back before they headed for the cabins.

"I'll be seeing you." Clayton said. He turned and left, Diane looked back at Joe curiously, she smiled to him, Joe smiled back. He didn't know what to do, apparently he had a smell? He sniffed under his arms and smelt only the 'cool breeze' deodorant he had put on, "maybe this scent was stronger than the usual one ?" he thought.

He replayed the events that had just occurred in the last minutes, the figure in the window watching him, the two tattooed buff couple talking about smelling a dead man on board and then sniffing the air and coming over to him.

That's three people including the bartender that had sniffed him today, four if you count the red-haired vixen Maria before taking his nap. What was going on? "I'll be seeing you" played again in his head, and then "you know what the Alpha says about fighting", and the dog barking and growling.

Maybe they were furries? Joe thought. He would never have been able to guess what they actually were, or why people seemed to be sniffing him, he wouldn't have guessed it in a million years.

The gut sinking dread soon came back after all of these 'interesting' social interactions he had been having this afternoon and Joe needed another drink. He had been feeling on the edge of drunk before the growling man had sobered him right up, and as soon as Joe had another drink all the tipsy came rushing back. He was at the bar outside watching people swim, then he spotted her, Maria in the pool.

She got out and grabbed a towel, Joe couldn't take his eyes off her, she had the body of a 'dancer' and he wondered what she looked like without her red bikini. She spotted him next to the bar and smiled, then she walked over and Joe had a different feeling in his stomach, the feeling of nervousness, the type of feeling you get when a super attractive woman smiles at you and makes her way toward you dripping wet. She was hot, red hot.

Joe said nothing as she approached, he just stared at her magnificence, she was a goddess. Her scent of coconut and cocoa lingered over toward him, he got a big whiff, it smelled delicious. "Now I'm smelling people" he thought.

A few men tried to stop her on her way over to the bar area, she brushed them off, it seems whoever she walked near noticed her close and drooled over her, even with a girl on their arm. She stopped next to the bar, next to Joe and licked her lips, which caused Joe to tremble.

"What are you drinking?" She asked him.

"Uh-rye and ginger" said Joe, stammering, trying to find his cool again. he did. She ordered two rye and gingers and two shots of tequila.

"Tequila Joe, that's what they call me." Joe sounded like an idiot he thought. She laughed though, and handed him one of the shots.

"Here you go tequila Joe, drink up!" then she got close to his ear and asked "What should we cheers to?"

"To you!" Joe said "and that red bikini!" He couldn't help but picture her naked again, the bikini didn't leave much for imagination. They touched the tips of their shot glasses together.

"To you!" She said "Being the only guy outside wearing a shirt!"They took the shot and shook off the after taste, then she assisted Joe's shirt off of him. "That's better she said. She put her hands on him and Joe was helpless, she felt his muscles and bit her lip as she looked into his eyes, Joe was putty in her hands, he could only smile from ear to ear.