by S. E. Hall
Luckily, Sawyer either catches on to the girls’ fascination or my frustration, and slings out a line.
“You searching for something in there, Zachary?” He rips on him. “Cause I’m pretty sure if that’s where she put it, you would’ve found it by now.”
“So Tia.” Bennett seizes on the interruption, her smile an ambush and one I know to avoid, pure ice behind the facade. “You live around here?” The poor, unknowing woman nods with a friendly, sincere smile that does nothing to deter Bennett. “Yeah, thought I’d seen you around. Housekeeping, right?”
And there it is… the bagged cat has escaped, joined by the flash of annoyance in Zach’s eyes.
Tia’s cheeks flush with the signature red shade of embarrassment and she clears her throat before responding, “Just part time while I save up to move.”
“Why would you ever want to leave this place?” Whitley joins in then. “It’s so beautiful here.”
I pick up on the reassuring squeeze Zach gives Tia’s knee, silently trying to tell her just talk to the blond girl, she’s safe.
“I have family in the states. I’d like to be closer to them.” She heard Zach’s message, avoiding even peripheral eye contact with Bennett.
But… the redhead won’t be dismissed so easily. “Really, where?” Bennett bites out.
What the hell is going on here? Laney’s head is darting between the two like she’s watching a very blood-thirsty ping pong match, hanging on every word. Shane sits silently, at Bennett’s side but no parts of their bodies touching, staring off at the water, more than obviously uncomfortable.
Join the club new guy.
“Florida.” Tia answers.
“Oh, that’s not far from us,” Whitley, as naïve as she is genuinely kind, makes the mistake of exclaiming. Both Bennett and Laney shoot her daggers.
Poor Whit. Even Sawyer has fallen silent at this point. If that doesn’t say “shut the fuck up and be prepared to take cover,” I don’t know what does.
I squeeze Laney’s hip and lean in to whisper, “Mind filling me in on exactly what the hell this is I’m watching?”
“So you and Zach might see each other again then, huh?” Bennett asks as Laney shushes me and nudges me away, much like she would a gnat buzzing around and breaking her concentration.
“Hopefully,” Zach answers for Tia, pressing a kiss to her hand.
“Right.” Bennett mumbles, eyes rolling to the heavens.
“I’m not far from you either,” Shane says, pulling Bennett into his lap as the boat comes to a stop.
“Yeah, perfect.” Is the reply she gives him, polite at best, and even that’s a stretch.
Our gear’s on and we’re ready to actually do some snorkeling. No way I’m the only one relieved to escape the awkward tension on the boat.
Especially Tia. Girl might drown herself at sea just to avoid having to endure another ride back with this crowd.
I pretend not to notice Laney snagging Bennett’s arm and whispering something to her. And when Bennett laughs and dismisses whatever it is with a wave of her hand, I’m hopeful that means my afternoon, with Laney, may be salvageable.
But no. My girl’s still frumpy when she dives in and joins me.
“Alright.” I wrap my hands around Laney’s waist and pull her through the water, out of earshot from the others. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing. I just, thought it’d only be our group, ya know?”
No, I don’t know.
Zach’s brought plenty of dates around over the years and I can’t recall any of them ever receiving the icy reception Tia did today.
“Are ya’ll jealous of her tits? Cause baby, yours are so much better.” I dip my face in between them to show her how much I really mean it.
“You did not just say that!” She shoves my head back.
“Not the first part, nope, you were hearing things. But the second part, absolutely, and absolutely true.” I wink. “Okay, did Tia short sheet our beds and I missed it?” I grin, nuzzling into her damp neck this time.
“No.” She giggles, squirming in my hold.
“Then why do you girls dislike her?”
She sighs, tilting her head to give me full access. “I don’t dislike her, Ben doesn’t really either. It’s, well, it’s a territorial girl thing you wouldn’t understand.”
I wouldn’t understand territorialism? I invented that shit! I scoff, then nip my way up her neck to find her ear. “They’re done ruining my day. Feel me?” I grunt, and push closer, so she can indeed feel me.
“Yeah.” she surrenders in a heavy moan.
“That’s my girl.”
The water I’m treading for both of us as I hold her to me is crystal clear and the bright red scraps of fabric she’s calling a bikini are taunting me. God damn but I could look at her forever. She’s always been gorgeous, but now with a more womanly body, she’s magnificent. Her breasts are larger, heavier, and her nipples are begging to poke free of their confines, the pebbled tips rubbing against my chest. Her curves are more pronounced, full and feminine, and her plump ass that I’ve always loved... even better. Wouldn’t have thought it possible, until it happened right before my very pleased, eager eyes. I slide one hand down to grab more than a handful of that ass, watching as all but lust leaves her eyes.
“Babe, they can see us.” She pretends to protest in a raspy moan.
“Hold onto me.”
She curls her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, perfect fit, and I swim us over to the more secluded spot I’d already been eyeing, dark and shaded by the veil of overhanging foliage.
“Can you see any of them?” I ask and she looks, then shakes her head. “Then they can’t see us.”
I find my footing on a rock ledge and make better use of my hands, lifting her just slightly out of the water by her hips. She knows exactly what I want, her chest already heaving as she arches it toward my face. But I tell her anyway, because I know, she loves hearing it, and when I get there, I’ll find her all the wetter for it.
“Pull it down baby, both sides, now.”
By the time I’ve sucked down her neck, she’s got her tits out for me, pushed up and out by the material tucked underneath.
“Look at those.” I groan, dipping my head for a taste. I tease her first, savoring the whimper that escapes her as I slowly trace a nipple with the tip of my tongue. “What’s wrong, not enough?”
She’s not the only one who likes hearing it. Through extensive training, of which I have enjoyed every second, Laney has developed quite the dirty mouth… and it’s all mine.
She grabs the back of my head and shoves it harder against her right breast. “Suck it,” she pants. “Hard.” And I all too willingly comply, moaning my approval around her flesh.
And when I’ve succeeded in making her forget any petty, earlier concerns, and all her inhibitions, I slink my fingers in the side of her bikini bottoms and give her a lesson of my own: deep sea diversion.
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s an Urchin
Despite the bumpy start, snorkeling turned out to be one of Sawyer’s better plans, not that it had a lot of competition to crack the top of the list. Everyone seemed to forget the tense boat ride to get there and thoroughly enjoy the snorkeling lesson. Have to say, I really enjoyed my time in the water… and I saw some cool fish too.
In fact, we all had such a good time, that after the boat brought us back (still an awkward ride but less so than the first; I mean, we had nowhere to go but up) to the dock in front of the resort, the Crew opted to stay in the water. Lounging, horsing around fun, out of the heat. Oh, Shane and Tia stuck around too.
Of course that “fun” meant several rounds of “Chicken,” because I just can’t seem to ever spend time with my friends in water without challenging them. The men quit “trying” years ago, nowadays just merely standing under us and serving as our base as us women go at it.
I still beat Whitley and Emmett every time with little to no
effort, but Bennett’s gotten better. Maybe it’s her new, more aggressive side, or the fact that Zach’s big ass makes an unshakeable foundation, but she puts up a fight… that I thrive on.
But Zach isn’t her base today, Shane is, and that fact, coupled with other extenuating circumstances, has her on one. So she takes full advantage of the game as an outlet for her downright scary mood, and beats me twice. I finally call “mercy,” which tastes like shit and shame coming out of my mouth, and things calm down, everyone doing their own thing.
Dane’s happy with my forfeit, wasting no time pulling me flush against his gloriously wet body, rubbing on me in all the right places. He’s looking around, no doubt to find us another secluded spot for some privacy, when a blood-curdling scream pierces the air.
Dane and I both jerk our heads toward the sound and find Bennett in obvious pain, crying and begging for help at the same time as she pushes people away, not wanting them to touch her.
“Bennett, what’s wrong? What happened?” I’m somehow managing coherent questions despite my panic as I fly through the water to my friend’s side.
“Something,” grimace, “bit me,” sob, “my foot. Hurts,” Ben can barely manage to articulate. Her face is a pasty white, teeth grinding loudly and green eyes red with impossibly dilated pupils.
“Okay, I’ve got you,” I assure her, bending over to pick her up.
“No, no, Superwoman. I’ll get her,” Dane says, but Shane, no Zach, make that… both, beat him to it.
“I’ll carry her.” Shane’s adamant, but unknowingly mistaken, because by the time he turns his attention from Dane back to Bennett, Zach’s got her cradled in his arms and is already halfway to the beach.
“Thanks, bro, but I’ve got her,” Zach yells at him but doesn’t look back, laying Bennett gently on the sand. “I’ve always got her.”
I grin at that. Seems territorialism is a Crew epidemic.
“Left, my left, foot, oow,” Bennett’s wailing as we all circle around them, writhing in evident pain, Zach dropped to his knees beside her.
“Breathe, babe. Try to stay calm for me, I’ll fix it,” Zach tells her in a voice I’ve never heard him use, the worry on his face in complete contrast to the velvety strength in his tone.
“Jesus Christ, Sawyer! Why is your dick out?” I screech louder than I mean to, but not a complete overreaction, seeing as how Sawyer’s semi is out and looming over Bennett like a heat-seeking missile. You know, because we didn’t already have enough going on.
“What the fuck?” Dane too asks him, head turned away from Sawyer’s junk on display.
“Dude, you gotta pee on a jellyfish sting. Everybody just stand back, I got this. I piss excellence.” Sawyer takes his chub in one hand, widens his stance and is all but urinating on Bennett when Evan has the good sense to step in.
“I’m sure you do, but put your cock away, Dr. Dumbass. It’s not a jellyfish sting. See those little quills sticking out of her foot?” Evan points. “She stepped on a Sea Urchin. No amount of your excellent piss will help. But thanks for scaring off the crowd, gives us more room to work.”
I honestly wonder sometimes what would become of our crazy conglomeration of misfits if it weren’t for Evan.
“Oh, yeah, I read about this in the tourism guide.” Emmett finds room for her sweet lil’ voice in the chaos. “First, you have to pull the spines out, then soak her foot in hot water. We’ll also need to get her something for pain and use ointment to guard against infection.”
“See, Sawyer? Sound medical advice, with no private parts poppin’ out,” Whitley chirps in her run along children and let the adults handle it voice. “And thank you for getting, things, put away so quickly. Great job.”
“What Emmett said, can we do all that now?” Bennett screams, her pain clearly increasing, and probably more than a little annoyed that Sawyer’s impromptu peep show halted our progress of getting her out of agony.
“Yeah angel, we’re on it. Just hang tough for me a little bit longer. Sawyer, go ask the resort for anything they have for pain and some ointment. Evan, get a hot bath ran for her in one of the rooms. Em.” Zach tones down the harsh direction in his tone as he speaks to her. “Do I just pull them out with my fingers?”
“Yes.” She kneels beside him, “the shallow ones for sure. The more of them you get out, the less venom’s going in, which is what’s causing her the most pain. But any deeply embedded ones, leave until we soak them loose in the hot water and we’ll use tweezers.”
Shane appears out of nowhere, kinda forgot he was still here to be honest, and squats down on the other side of Bennett. “Has this same thing happen to a buddy of mine when we were in Aruba. I’ll take care of this, gorgeous. Let’s get you up to my room, sound good?”
“Fuck no it doesn’t sound good!” Zach speaks quickly before Bennett can, in nothing shy of pure venom. “Sounds like you didn’t hear me the first time, when I told your ass, I’ve. Always. Got. Her. Always includes now.”
“We gotta problem here?” Shane stands… about four inches short of what Zach will if he decides to, and bows out his chest.
“We sure as hell do. That problem is my girl laying here hurting while you waste everybody’s time. As if I’d let you, a stranger, take her up to your room even when she’s in the best of health.” Zach actually cackles, a crazed warning in his eyes. “Shut the fuck up and stay outta my way or leave. You understand me this time?”
Shane laughs, you know the one, where a guy makes that I’m gonna act like I don’t have time for this shit and I hope you buy it noise. “Tia.” He looks at her, who I’d also forgotten was here (much like Zach obviously did as well) and holds out a hand to her. “Allow me to take you home, or wherever you wish to go, since your date’s obviously not gonna do it.”
Zach’s face falls, telling me what I already knew. He feels bad. He’s a wonderful man and would never treat a woman badly on purpose… but priorities prevail. “I’m sorry Tia,” he tells her with sincerity. “I hope you understand.”
“Completely. All of it.” She grins. “It was nice to meet everyone. Feel better, Bennett.”
Zach’s attention is already back on Ben before Tia and Shane have even walked away.
“Sorry I ruined your date,” Bennett grumbles.
Zach chuckles. “No you’re not. Not any sorrier than I am that I almost beat your date’s ass.”
“Agreed. Now fix me!”
“Okay, I’m gonna start pulling ’em out. Dane, give her your hand to bear down on.”
Emmett scoots out of the way and Dane takes a spot beside Bennett, grabbing one of her hands in his. “Do your worst,” he teases her.
I count nine spines stuck in her foot, and six of them come out pretty easily. She puffs out a gush of relief with each one and I can see Zach start to calm down along with her each time, his hand getting steadier with every removal. He’s working on number seven when Sawyer returns, handing Bennett two pills and a bottle of water, tilting her head up for her with a hand behind her neck so she can take a drink.
“What were those you gave her?” Zach barks at him, never taking his eyes off task.
“Fuck if I know dude, but a lady who spoke English said they’d work. Oh, shit, lookout.” He jolts back, pulling Emmett with him, as Bennett turns her head to the side and starts violently shaking and dry-heaving. Thankfully, she doesn’t actually throw up, keeping the painkillers in her system.
“Alright, you’re alright.” Zach soothes her, grabbing his shirt off the sand nearby and using some of the bottled water to wet it, wiping her cheeks and forehead to cool her down. “There’s two spines left in there, but they look pretty deep and the skin around them is purple. Let’s take you to the bath and soak those out. I know you’re hurting, but the pills will kick in soon. You’re doing great, precious.”
She nods, but barely, pale and weak. He scoops her up in his arms, cradling her while being mindful of her foot, and rushes toward the resort.
I see Wh
itley meet them halfway there, on her way back out, I assume telling them which room is theirs where they ran the bath.
Zach’s got it under control, like amazingly so. Maybe it was just the stress of the situation, sheer panic, or for the sake of comforting Bennett, but don’t think I missed the several terms of endearment he used.
Or the way the muscled strung tight in his locked jaw ticked and the vein in his forehead throbbed when he used every ounce of restraint in his body to concentrate on Bennett instead of throttling Shane.
“Come on.” I take Dane’s hand. “Let’s go gather up everybody’s towels and stuff.”
After a shower to wash off the salt and sand, which Dane actually did for me, all too gladly, we get dressed and go check on Bennett.
I feel bad knocking and making her get up on her injured foot to answer the door, but I needn’t have worried, because it’s Zach who opens it.
“Hey,” he speaks softly, stepping back to let us in.
“How is she?” I ask, looking around and not seeing her.
Zach motions us back to the bedroom, where Bennett is sawing, no, make that super-turbo chain sawing, logs. “Oh, my God.” I giggle, no longer concerned about anything, the apocalypse included, waking her up. “I was her roommate, and I assure you, that thing she’s doing now, did not happen. When’d she become such a snorer?”
“Today.” Zach sounds angry, but is gentle and concerned as he brushes the hair off Bennett’s forehead. “Pretty sure those pills Sawyer gave her were actually horse tranquilizers. I’ve been laying here timing her pulse and listening to her breathing. Both seem fine, and she’s definitely not feeling any pain. Fucking Beckett.” He shakes his head.
Man, if we had a win for every time I’ve heard someone say “fucking Beckett,” my softball team would be Conference Champs… every year.
“I can get one of the doctors on the island here,” Dane says with absolute certainty; because he can. “Get her checked out, prescribed something recognized by the FDA.”
“I think she’ll be okay. And I’m not just real confident in what a local doc would give her either, if ya know what I mean.”
