It was too on the nose that I had run from an arranged marriage in a past life. Way too on the nose. We got out of the hypnotism session as quickly as we could once it was over. In fact, Devon had gotten so overwhelmed that he had left a bit early.

There were quaint little bistro tables lining the sidewall of the ship outside the dining room. It seemed no one else wanted to take advantage of this duck-off. So, Devon, Lexie, and I followed the narrow walkway away from the frenetic pace of dancing throuples and quads trying to have a good time on the open deck. Jangling music reminiscent of Key West piped from a covert sound system, but the noise faded once we were alone, which was a godsend after the weighty Past Life Regression.

Anxiety still fluttered like moths in my stomach. At least I could blame the heat and humidity for my flushed look. I tried to avoid glancing at either Devon or Lexie, hoping they were avoiding studying me, as well. Instead, I pinned my eyes on the sun-bejeweled sea and the faint merging line of the blue horizon as I pieced together the fragments of memories and the subsequent discussion about that with Simico, the hypnotist. I guessed we were all trying to process the weirdness that we had just experienced because a silence descended that was thick and awkward.

Back at the peaceful room with the four divans and perfect ambiance for sleep, Simico had counted down to our past lives. I hadn't expected anything of consequence to happen. At most, I thought Simico would plant stories with leading questions.

Yet, once I fell under the hypnotist's spell, I remembered his lips on mine, the forbidden love that wasn't my wife. The man who had brought tears to my eyes at the very notion of losing him once I got married to her. Then, starry clandestine nights in a garden, quoting love poetry. Memories, memories, memories. Dancing to the music of a sitar. Praying to Shiva that his undoing of me would be gentle.

I had remembered the gradual slow burn of passion that finally ignited between the woman I was supposed to give my loyalty to from the very beginning. Falling in love with my actual wife had been unexpected. More surprising, the baby growing round and full of life within her belly. I had felt the push and pull yearning to be with both her and my lover pitted against the need to be upstanding and responsible. Keeping secrets had been hard.

Then came my harsh wake-up call, the war. I had been drafted, rendered once again incapable of choosing what I wanted to do with my life. I had died young. Had it been a relief to have the choice taken from me?

It felt like Devon, Lexie, and I had always been in this love triangle.

I forced myself to peek at my companions. Lex was radiant and stunning. She was such a stylish woman, manicured nails resting on the white tabletop. Balmy wind toyed with her shiny black hair, and strands floated across the fine-boned features of her face. My gaze slid to Devon, who was athletic and statuary. Dressed in casualwear that wouldn't have looked out of place on the cover of a high fashion catalogue, he looked dapper.

However, I realized I was enmeshed in them for more than superficial reasons. While my infatuation with Lexie had begun years ago, punctuated by a ghosting that made it impossible for me to find closure, my feelings for Dev had grown steadily over the course of our friendship. I had to admit to myself that the sex we had, had been a longstanding fantasy in my mind for years—even if I had never imagined that it would be the three of us together.

Devon and I related over philosophy and basketball. An odd mix, to be sure. Lexie and I had bonded over mathematics and chemistry. Of the romantic kind, to be sure. Maybe we hadn't intended for the sex to cement things. But the unexpected results of the regression session had called everything into question.

It was Lexie who broke the silence. Clearing her throat, she asked in an overly chirpy voice, "Well, what do you guys think of that session?" I scoffed at the way her eyebrows shot up and her face lit with the hope we'd laugh the gravity of the situation away.

"Seriously? I think we just learned the three of us have been circling each other for lifetimes," I replied. "As much as I want to pretend like Simico didn't hit on some salient points, it's impossible to ignore the past life details that came out of our own mouths."

Lexie tossed her head. "There's no way you believe any of this."

"Don't you?" I asked as I lifted a hand in a shrug. I didn't want to give credence to what we had learned under hypnosis, but it made perfect sense that I would be hyper-focused on self-sovereignty if in a past life I had had my choices taken away from me.

"So, you don't think the staff keep notes on the passengers to use it against them in these so-called sessions?" Lexie countered. By the faltering tone of her voice, I knew she wanted to believe her paranoid conjecture, but we both knew it took plenty work to ensure each and every group of lovers was watched to that extent. I simply raised an eyebrow at her and waited for her quizzical gaze to drop.

"Wild thought, but bear with me," Dev swung off-topic. "Lex, what were the odds of your girl being put on the schedule to work, forcing her to miss this trip, even though she specifically put in to be off?"

"What are the odds?" Lexie laughed. "I gotta be honest and say that the odds of that happening coincidentally were slim to none, meaning Breanna more than likely made that shit happen."

"But what were the odds Devon would invite me without knowing that you and I had history?" I countered.

"Precisely!" Dev said excitedly. "Look, what if we were meant to be together on this trip?"

Lexie shook her head adamantly as she leaned back in her chair. "Okay, as exciting as things have been, I have to drag you both back to reality. We're on this trip together because we planned it, and despite Vic not being a part of the original plan, it's no big deal that they ended up joining us. I hesitate to attribute anything mystical to this. Are you guys sure the wacky spiritual leanings of the cruise aren't getting to you?"

"All I'm saying," Devon sighed, "is that I just went through the lifetime of a slave seeking freedom and falling in love with the abolitionist and the conductor who helped him along the Underground Railroad. Trust me, I wouldn't have picked a past life like that in my wildest dreams. Yet, I got the distinct impression that I recognized you and Vic in those characters. How do you explain that?"

Lexie crossed her arms, resistant. "The simple explanation is that we had a good time in bed last night, and it didn't take much for a hypnotist to have us thinking we had past lives together. C'mon, you're both too educated to believe the things conjured up in a dream were factual."

"Are you saying that you were coerced into believing that you killed a man in a past life?" I countered.

"Yeah," Devon added. "So very coerced that you told half the story in French?" His nose scrunched on the last word. Lexie shook her head more adamantly.

"Hey, I can't explain how he got me to speak French, but the bottom line is that I'm not convinced that in a past life I fell in love with my jailer and the person who helped me escaped execution, even if they did sorta remind me of you guys. My take is that if we start drinking the Kool-Aid on this cruise ship, we'll lose sight of the ultimate prize."

At this, Devon sat back in his chair with a whooshing sigh. I knew enough about his situation to understand that winning the money might promise more to him than love and romance. Bluntly speaking, I needed a cash cow just as much, considering the possibility I wouldn't have a home to return to after the trip. At the same time, I felt like we were glossing over important details of our wacky experiences with the mystical characters of Three's Company.

"But what if," I broached tentatively. "What if we really did know each other in our past lives, just as each us experienced under hypnosis. What if we're deeply compatible, just like we heard in our astrological report?"

"And what if Samentha was right?" Lexie pushed back, clear skepticism in her voice.

"Okay, how else would you explain the mad chemistry between us?" I asked with a grin.

"I would explain it," she laughed, "as three people with varying degrees of history, locked in proximity and exploring their sexualities, but I wouldn't read any further into it than that. Samentha, herself, told me that I needed to choose between the two of you. I would say I haven't been any more successful at choosing than you've been at fulfilling whatever her maxim was to you, or Dev has been at completing whatever task she set out for him. Isn't it enough that we're having a fun time exploring all the 'pitch-and-woo' they're throwing at us?"

"Ordinarily, I would agree with you," Devon said with a nod. "But after what just happened in that hypnosis session, you can't tell me you don't see the parallels between our past lives and our current lives. I mean, I was on a quest to find freedom. That checks out perfectly with my current fear of being contained, even in a relationship. Vic had to fight against the wishes of their parents, which explains why they're so determined to make their own choices this time around. And you, Lexie, made the absolute wrong decision, which puts into perspective why you prefer to let others make important decisions for you, rather than trusting yourself."

That was something Lexie couldn't refute. I couldn't help but feel she was going overboard with trying to prove us wrong anyway. Earlier that morning I had watched her play things way too cool, and I had watched Devon lose his head behind the sex we had had last night. I knew the explosive event had had the same impact on them as it had had on me, making it crystal clear that there was something between us. Love, lust, or folly, though?

Before I could rejuvenate the conversation about our past life stories and ask more questions about what my counterparts had experienced, I looked up to see Shane, our teammate/nemesis, striding toward us, sans his partners. I forced the annoyed scowl that twitched my lips into some semblance of politeness.

I nodded in Shane's direction to give Dev and Lexie a heads up. Predictably, Devon's body language instantly reflected ire. His shoulders dropped, and he cracked his neck, but he pasted on a neutral expression. Lexie resettled in her chair, sitting up straighter.

"Hey, you three!" Shane greeted us with an edge to his voice.

Each interaction with him had made me less and less trusting of the narcissistic chauvinist. But we were teammates, whether we liked it or not. If we wanted to take home the prize money, we had to find a way to work together.

"What brings you this way?" I asked tightly.

"Just found out we'll be making port soon," said Shane. "That means we'll be going on our first expedition as a team."

Devon crossed his arms. "Good deal. We'll carry our weight."

"Well, see," Shane cocked his head to the side, "that's what I'm worried about. I checked out the leaderboard a moment ago, and you know what I discovered? Somebody on our team ducked out of a group session early."

I froze. Lexie sat up even straighter. We hadn't known that Devon checking out early from the Past Life Regression would dock points from the whole team. I refused to give Shane the satisfaction of learning which one of us had been the culprit. "What about it?" I asked. "We established as a team that we would let each other know if we had to bail on a session completely, but no one said anything about leaving early."

Shane placed a meaty knuckled on the table and leaned in uncomfortably close. I could smell the bourbon on his breath. "That was before we knew that ditching early would cut points. I'm here to tell the three of you that I don't intend to lose that money. Now, at this moment, we're tied with two other teams. Thanks to whichever one of you cut us out of the lead, we have to get creative about how we retain the upper hand."

"What do you mean by that?" Lexie asked uncomfortably.

Shane looked around to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. I loosened the collar of my shirt as I studied his determined face. He appeared cocksure and full of himself, as usual, in a polo shirt and Bermuda shorts. His wayward hair rustled in the breeze. But it was the slightly malicious glint in his eyes that gave me pause.

Shane dropped his voice an octave and replied, "We're gonna have to sabotage a team or two. Nothing serious. Leave it to me. All I need the three of you to do is make sure that you show up to the rest of your sessions and don't cut out early. Understood?'

The gravelly threat lacing his voice did little to soothe my nerves. I couldn't believe he was taking this competition so seriously, and I prayed to the heavens he wasn't planning anything that would get someone hurt.

I convinced myself he wasn't that stupid. Was he?

I darted a glance at Dev. He peered at Lexie. I didn't know what to think of Shane's proposition. As uncomfortable as I was with the thought of sabotaging other teams, I wasn't certain we could go against Shane. I simply inclined my head in tacit agreement as I swallowed past my distaste at the prospect of cheating. 

"We don't condone this, but we can't stop you. Just promise no one will get hurt," I thought to add.

Shane jerked back with a feigned look of surprise as he clutched his chest. It was so over the top, I fought not to roll my eyes. He asked, "Do I look like the kinda guy to hurt anyone? No. We're talking missed appointments, at worst."

Lexie glowered. "Whatever. We're gonna continue to do things the right way. We can't control whatever you have up your sleeve, but don't expect us to cover for you if you get caught."

Shane smirked and rapped the table with his fist. "Try not to forget what I said. Pull your weight like you promised and stay out of my way. Losing ain't an option."

He strode off as the three of us watched him go matching worried frowns. I glanced at my companions and shook my head. "Something tells me the cruise line shouldn't have put so much money on the table," I muttered.

"He wouldn't do anything too dangerous. . . would he?" Lexie asked.

Devon frowned sternly. "The real question is what do we do if he does?"