Page 13 of Malice and Surrender
There, parked on the beach, were three pickup trucks with their tailgates down. That on its own wasn’t unusual. There were always tailgate parties along this section of the beach that went unchecked. What was mind-numbingly shocking were the six girls naked from the waist down, sitting two per truck bed with their knees spread open. As soon as a girl was free, a new guy would step up and stick his fingers in her pussy to take a selfie.
“Do they even know or care where those fingers have been?” I was unable to stop myself from asking the obvious question. Raine looked up at me. “What? It’s unhygienic.”
Raine laughed, a smile breaking out across her face that made the rest of the madness fade away.
“All I know is that I will not be hopping up there to join them. The last thing I want is my kitty plastered all over social media for the rest of my life. Thanks, but no thanks.”
The crowd was getting rowdy with the alcohol flowing. With the overly testosterone-infested situation, there would be a fight yet. I could feel the charge in the air.
“Over this way.” I nodded toward the shoreline, where fewer people gathered. We veered in that direction. “I can tell you one thing for certain. I wouldn’t want to be the cop sent here to shut this down.”
“No kidding,” Raine said.
Movement caught my eye. Some guy was running in our direction but not looking. A football soared through the air, and there was no way he would get to it in time. I instinctively wrapped my arm around Raine’s waist. She tensed but didn’t jump away as I pulled her away from the torpedoing ball. I smacked it out of the air and glared at the guy that almost ran into us, my muscles ready for impact.
“Oh shit. Sorry, man,” the guy said as he bent and picked up the ball. I cocked a brow at him as I told him to get the fuck away from me with my eyes.
I hadn’t always been tough. In fact, one would say that I used to be the nerdy kid who got shoved in lockers and books knocked out of my hands or money stolen at lunch. The only thing that saved me from any of those things was Jace. We were polar opposites when we first met, yet we became fast friends. He only needed to look in an asshole’s direction, and they would run the other way. I hadn’t mastered that yet, but I was getting there.
“Thanks, I didn’t even see that coming,” Raine said when the guy jogged away.
“No problem.” I kept my arm around her waist and counted down in my head till she pulled away. She was tense at first, but I couldn’t contain my smile as she relaxed into me.
“What are you smiling about?” Raine asked.
“Just enjoying the beautiful day with one of the best people I know,” I said, dancing around my words carefully.
“We’re almost at the festival. Did you want to remove your sandals and walk in the water?” I suggested.
“Sure.”
It felt like a race to get them off. As Raine picked up her shoes, and I gripped her hand, making her squeal as we ran for the water.
“Oh my god, nooo,” she said. The protest was half-hearted as she laughed and squealed when the next wave crashed into our legs. We were soaked to our knees in a blink. She glared up at me, smiling with fake anger. “Jerk.”
“I wanted to get you wet,” I said, and her face turned every shade of pink before her eyes flicked away from mine. “Do you like to swim?” I quickly asked.
“Not really, at least not in the open water like all those people.” Raine pointed to the large group of swimmers floating on inflatables, splashing, or playing water volleyball. “I do like pools, though. Less likelihood that I’m going to run into something creepy.”
I smirked. “I guess that depends on the pool.”
We looked at one another as that comment filled our minds with whatever terrifying images we conjured, then laughed hard.
“It’s great to see you smile for real. You have a beautiful smile,” I said.
My lips tingled with the urge to kiss her, but I held myself in check. Today was already a big win and a step forward. I had plans to push more tonight and hoped that she would be thinking about today when tonight finally came. Everything inside me was a jittery mess with the thought of Jace and Raine in the same room. I wanted this to go well.
No, I needed this to go well.
Raine
I wasn’t sure what had gotten into Avro. I was shocked when he showed up at my door, but I couldn’t say no to a day out with him. He was like a supermodel and could have posed for any magazine or book cover.
Yet, as we walked along the beach, he seemed completely oblivious to the stares he got. Could he be interested in me? No, that was a ridiculous thought. Or was it? Did I want him to be? I was nervous to admit that I did. It felt like I was setting myself up to be hurt if I let him in and created this whole idea of what we could be, only to have him laugh and say, ‘I only meant as friends.’
The meter other people had to tell them that someone liked them was all skewed in my head. Mine spun in confusion all day long. We stopped and watched the long line of professional belly dancers. I wiggled to the music while Avro tried to match them, and of course, he was freaking amazing at it. Once again, I wondered why the hell this guy stuck around here, working in a club as a bartender when he was so talented. I tripped over my own feet while walking. He probably knew ballet. I’d been terrible at sports in school, while I knew he loved basketball and had been offered a full scholarship because he was that good.
Everyone clapped as he joined the line, earning heated stares from those watching. A tug of jealousy bloomed in my chest. It had flared before at work, but it was part of his job to flirt with the patrons and keep them buying drinks. Out here, he was sort of with me. At least, that was how it felt. This feeling was something I hadn’t had for a very long time. Annoyed with myself, I swept it aside. There was no point in fantasizing about something that was never going to happen.
