Yep, I’m feeing agitated. I gesture at Sky and me. “Have the Wise Ones forced this on you?”
He raises his hands. “Easy. I have no idea what’s getting you riled. Talk to me.”
I can feel my face flushing as I point at Josh. “Are Sky and I causing him to miss out? Because if that’s true, you and I are done.”
“Wait—”
“No. I mean it. I’m not sucking years from you, too—”
“Serenity, no one has forced you on me.”
I growl, “Someone just asked if I was your little sister.”
“Fuck her. This is the reaction she was hoping for. Don’t give it to her.”
“Then what about Josh and Jolene? Why the need to be so ‘parenty’ to us?”
He inhales.
I start swimming away.
Dereck grabs onto my life jacket and yanks me back. He clutches the back of my neck, and we’re now face to face. “They love you. Why are you trying to make this ugly?”
“Because I’m starting to feel like I’m two. And you’re my new pacifier.”
His hand tightens, and he grits his teeth. “Yes, there is a pull to the Shorties that the Crew doesn’t quite understand, but no one has forced you down my throat. I’m with you because I’m crazy about you.” His mouth crashes to mine.
And through all my new frustrations… I devour him. I’m gasping for air. “I need to be alone with you.”
His heavy breathing makes him hard to understand. “I feel the same.” He’s holding me, looking around for privacy, but people are everywhere. I just need one minute—
“What are you doing with my baby girl?”
I go to scream, but Dereck hollers over his shoulder, “Ravaging her body. Any questions?”
An empty beer can bounces off Dereck’s head.
That breaks the tense moment, making both Dereck and me laugh as he throws the can into his boat. He grabs the back of his head. “Bastard has phenomenal aim.” Then he rests his forehead to mine. “I mean what I said. I’m nuts about you. You know that, right?”
I kiss him. “I do. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand why I’m so—” I pause.
“So what?”
I whisper, “Weird. And why you guys recognize it.”
“First of all, you’re not weird. Second, I wish I knew why we feel protective, but it doesn’t change our feelings for you. Those are true, Baby Doll.” After a minute, he asks, “Wanna take a break? Go back to the boat?”
I nod. “Go beat Josh for throwing that beer at you.”
“Deal.”
“Delivery.”
Dereck and I turn to see Rocco piggybacking Sky over to us. Sky has her arms around his neck as if he were her personal chariot. Dereck lifts a brow at me. “I see some are enjoying the princess treatment.”
She’s hand delivered to the ladder, mumbling, “Don’t fix what ain’t broke, freak.”
I can’t help wondering if she and I are the freaks as I follow her onto the boat.
Once we’re aboard, the guys are swimming away, and Jolene is still on Sean’s boat, a little tipsy. It’s different from my mom, though. Jolene is smiling at us, very aware of our existence. “There’s my baby girls.”
Dereck is right. No one could look at me so endearingly and not mean it from the heart.
A girl screams, “Rocco!”
Sky and I turn in time to see a girl leap from one of the newly arrived boats and land directly in Rocco’s arms. Before he can even react—other than catching the body—the girl has her lips to his, forcing a kiss with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Even though Rocco is desperately pulling away, the damage is done.
Rocco pries this girl off—“Tammy, no”—and looks over his shoulder. “Sky. Wait!” He swims toward the boat. “This is not what it looks like!”
Sky crosses her arms.
He stops swimming and stands. “It wasn’t me this time.”
“I know. The last time it was your mom’s idea. Roc, if this isn’t you”—she points at Tammy—“then why would she leap off the boat, expecting open arms? She must know you well.”
Tammy covers her mouth. “Rocco, I’m so sorry. You and I hook up every now and then. I didn’t know—”
Josh is eagle eyeing Roc but says, “This isn’t your fault, Tammy.”
I’m confused about why Sky is blaming Roc for another’s actions. So, while taking off our life jackets, I try, “Sky—”
“No, just have my back. Please.”
Standing with a concerned Jolene, Sean says, “I bet you could use a drink.”
“They don’t drink,” Jolene says.
Sky’s lips purse as she thinks. She walks to the side of Dereck’s boat that is closest to Sean’s. “I do now. Whatcha got?”
“Here are some fruity ones, since it’s your first.” Sean hands us cocktails in plastic cups with straws.
Jolene taps her chin. “Um, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Sean waves her off. “Oh, stop, I made them super weak.” He tells us, “Then we’re moving you two to Jell-O shots. Jolene’s already started them for you.”
Maybe it’s her buzz, but Jolene says, “Oh, what the hell. Go for it.”
Sky looks at me. “Bottoms up?”
I shrug. I have no idea what to expect. We take one sip, and it’s delicious. Sky and I smile at each other with straws in our mouths and begin sucking down the drinks.
Jolene winces. “Eww, be careful. You two haven’t had lunch yet.”
I don’t know what that means, but it sure doesn’t take long before I start to feel funny. Stepping over the border, Sky and I enter Sean’s boat like hungry fiends. Sean hands us each a little cup of Jell-O after removing the lids.
Sky beams at it. “I love grape.”
“Then stick your tongue in there and scoop it out. Like this.” Sean gets very personal with the poor little plastic cup and sucks it dry.
Sky giggles, following his lead.
Jolene slams her palms over her face. “Oh, shit.”
While her eyes are covered, I quickly French kiss the cup and swallow its goods. I cough because this shot tastes a lot different than the yummy juice. Gasoline and grape… Yuck! But soon I start to feel the effects, and the gasoline is no longer so terrible. And once people in the line of boats learn about the Shorties never drinking before, we are invited aboard for more yummy gasoline-Jell-O shots in assorted flavors. Soon, I’ve had orange, pineapple… and I’m six boats down the row, Jolene far behind us.
Seven boats… eight… nine… uh, what boat are we on? Guys on the boat alongside the one Sky and I are currently on start getting quite rowdy. “Ladies!”
A girl I’m standing next to quietly says, “Serenity, you and Sky shouldn’t go to their boat. Stay with us.”
I turn to thank her, but her boat shakes, startling me. Before I lose my balance completely, someone is picking me up from behind. As soon as he throws me over his shoulder, I know it’s a guy because of his brute strength and bare chest. It all happens so fast that in my Jell-O haze, I don’t have a chance to react before I’m now on the rowdy boat.
In slow motion, I push up from the sweaty back I’m hanging over. I gasp when I gaze around and notice the whole boat covered in some sort of volcano ash. It doesn’t look natural or of this world. That means I’m the only one who can see it and the only one to know what trouble I’m in. As he spins around with me still over his shoulder, I see more guys on this boat, laughing at my fear. They all have the same dust in their eyes. My heart pounds. I feel as if I suddenly have no voice. I’ve never been surrounded by so much darkness in my life.
It sounds far away, but I hear, “Let her go, you freak!”
My heart sinks. I don’t w
ant Sky anywhere near this. “No, Sky. Stay back.”
No such luck. “Hey! Put me down!” Sky says.
The boat shakes again. Now Sky is on this horrible boat with me. Still hanging over shoulders, we reach for each other but can’t quite touch. The two guys keep moving around the boat with us captive, so I see her in intervals.
A guy that gave us a Jell-O shot moments earlier, Dave, says from his boat, “Rick, stop messing around.”
My brain is spinning from the alcohol and being held upside down and manhandled all at the same time. “Sky.”
From the boat on the other side of us, a guy says, “Rick, stop playing. They look scared.”
The stranger couldn’t be more correct. The next time I see Skyler, dark, misshapen shadows are floating around her—almost examining her.
My stomach tightens. I reach for her again. “Skyler.”
Her words rip at my heart. “Please, let me down. I need my friend.” Her haunted eyes terrify me. I think she senses the danger lingering.
Dave speaks with more attitude this time. “Rick, hand them to me. These are Josh’s Shorties.”
Rick speaks with venom, “Fuck Josh and Prince Charming.”
My breath stops. Prince Charming? Now I know we’re in real trouble—this is way beyond drunks on a dirty boat. Suddenly, the effect of the alcohol clears from my mind, and pure panic sets in. I scream at the top of my lungs for the only one who has faced this mist and prepared to battle it. “Dereck!”
“Fight, Serenity! Fight!” His voice sounds as if he is already running to me.
My body reacts to his words as if it has been programmed to do so. I begin kicking, swinging, hitting, and fighting—an absolute Shorty showdown. I can’t believe no one has done more to help us. Is the alcohol blinding them about the bad guys’ actions?
“What the hell?” Rick yells because of the strength of my fury. He drops me. My body slams to the deck, my face wincing in pain.
I hear Josh getting closer as he yells to the drunk mummies, “Move!”
I stand up, look at Rick, and gasp at what I see in his eyes. The ashes are rolling around like snakes. When the boat shakes, my feet struggle to stay under me, but the power Dereck summoned is still present. Instead of cowering at the snakes, I smack Rick across his face as hard as I can.
“You bitch!” he yells, taking a step toward me, preparing for retribution.
In a flash, Dereck’s arm appears over my head. His hand grips Rick’s neck, driving him backward. Josh’s arm wraps around my waist, fast as lightning, and spins me away from Rick. My cavalry has arrived, and that’s why the boat is swaying heavily. Voices are boisterous, and bodies are everywhere, bumping and slamming into each other—like an energy explosion on this floating vessel. Josh sets me down, speaking in a hurry. “Go to her.”
There she is, swaying with the boat, mist still challenging her own light. “Skyler!”
Rocco’s big paw pulls me past Marcus—who is scaring one of the instigators and doing some manhandling of his own. I’m in her arms—her soft, kind arms—and I feel and see the mist evaporating. My eyes shut as I feel her fear subside. We stumble left and right, struggling to stand with the rocking boat, but we are together again—in our own world—our own joining light. I’m too engrossed with her to listen to all the yelling and decipher who is saying what. Not until, through all the noise, I hear one voice ring clear.
“Serenity!”
Dereck.
My body reacts to his call. I loosen my hold on Sky as I become spellbound.
“Serenity! Where is she?” Dereck’s temper is beyond flared.
The small crowd parts, and there stands Dereck, staring at me. Rick is in the background, bent over, holding his jaw. Dereck’s shoulders and hands remind me of the night he climbed the tree to my balcony. Rising, falling… Opening and closing. His reaction seems to have purpose and meaning beyond my comprehension. As though something brewing inside him, waiting to be released, has indeed… been released.
Chapter Thirteen
Monkey’s Silence
With everyone lost in their own thoughts, the drive home is quiet. Dereck’s hand grips my knee. I’m in the front seat with him, and there’s nowhere else I want to be. Being next to him is a requirement now, especially after what just occurred on the boats. Jolene rides in the back with Josh and Sky. Rocco is next to me, staring out his window.
Still deep in thought, Dereck pulls into Sky’s driveway. “Serenity, why did you call Rick’s boat the dark boat?”
“Isn’t it?”
Rocco shakes his head, weighed down with more than just his size. “It’s yellow.”
Our eyes search each other’s. My shoulders slump. No one voices thoughts, but I can feel their questions, their worries… their doubt over what they may be involved in.
Skyler quietly says her goodbyes. She’s halfway out of the truck when Rocco asks, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She looks drained. “Roc, I’m just not the kind of girl who will ask you to change. I won’t ever be her. Thank you for being there and for helping me with those creeps. That means more than you know, but… I can’t compete with all your girlfriends.”
Roc’s eyes close. Guilty as charged.
Jolene’s jaw unhinges. She quickly peers at Josh. He looks away.
“It’s okay, Jolene,” Sky says weakly. “I didn’t have to be told. I can practically smell them on him. We’re not dating, Roc, but that’s why we won’t. I deserve better than to be mixed into a pool of females that don’t see your full potential… not like I do.” Skyler steps out and shuts the door.
Jolene reaches forward in the blink of an eye and smacks Rocco, hard, on the back of his head, then sits back in her seat, elbowing Josh in the ribs. She crosses her arms. “Assholes.”
I guess Dereck is in the clear because he’s been too occupied with me to know what has been transpiring. Josh inhales deeply.
Rocco nods, watching Sky. “Yes. And this asshole doesn’t understand why it hurts that she’s walking away.”
I know why. Rocco is teeter-tottering on changing his ways. So far he’s been caught up in a rat race that offers no prize. If Josh hadn’t seen the grand potential for a beautiful relationship, Roc never would have gotten near her. Josh took a chance. Maybe that’s what his sad inhale was expressing.
Staring out his window, Josh says, “Every man has a time when he stands at a fork in the road. He sees the chance for something great, and then he has to choose whether or not it’s worth the risk.”
Rocco’s hands nervously rub his knees. “I could lose my heart to this girl.”
Jolene leans her head on Josh’s shoulder.
Rocco hesitantly grabs the door handle. “I’m scared.”
Dereck leans on his steering wheel, glancing at me. “I understand, my friend.”
Rocco studies him. “Fuck.” The passenger door swings open. “Sky! Wait.”
Through the windshield, we watch as Roc runs to get between Sky and her house. Sky stops walking, but I can’t see her face. Rocco is talking a mile a minute with his Italian hands in the air. My eyes squint because I can’t believe what I’m seeing—the mist from the boat, forming in a circular motion around her head. I gasp. Did it follow her? Sky shakes her head, saying no to Roc, and tries to walk away, but when he puts his hands on her shoulders to stop her, the mist evaporates.
“Serenity, what’s wrong?” Jolene sits forward again.
I blink, doubting what I think I just saw. Am I just tired? “Nothing. I thought… I saw something.”
On cloud nine, Rocco gets back in the truck. “We’re going to talk more tomorrow, but she believes me.” He nods with a gentle smile. “I want this. I want her—only her.” Rocco’s light begins to beam as he watches Sky enter her home.
/> Jolene asks tenderly, “Why don’t you just stay, Roc?”
Dereck offers, “I can come back for you later.”
Rocco keeps looking at the stairs that Sky has just climbed. “No, she has a late shift tonight.”
Josh grimaces. “Tonight?”
The gas station is old but in a high-traffic spot on a highway, so it stays open all night.
I’m feeling a little lost. “Can I stay with one of you guys tonight?”
“Yes!” Dereck yells.
“No!” Josh smacks him.
I’ve been in this house before, but I can’t remember when. I’m standing in an elderly woman’s bedroom—I can tell by the decor. Antique lace is lying on antique furniture. I can hear Sky outside, swimming in a pool, screaming and laughing as she’s thrown about by our guys. Walking around this room, detached from outside activities, I come across an old-looking toy—a smiling monkey with gold cymbals for hands. I reach out to touch it but catch a shadow in the long, freestanding mirror behind the monkey.
The brown cloak! “You’re here!” I turn around in a hurry, but she’s gone.
Once more, my hand reaches for the monkey, and just as I am about to touch it, it turns on, clanging its cymbal hands together so loudly that I have to cover my ears. The monkey, smiling creepily, now moves and looks very different from the first monkey I had seen. I want to scream in fear, but an invisible hand covers my mouth, preventing me from calling out for help. A large figure—what feels like a man—is behind me, pressing my back to him. I struggle—
Then everything goes quiet, as if the noise never existed. The hand that was silencing me has evaporated. I slowly turn around to see who had captured me, but the only one present is the cloaked one.
Standing by the window, she’s staring out, observing the play in the pool. The sound that breaks the dead silence is her words. “He is gone but hard to let go of.”
My face crinkles, still feeling his presence. “Who was that?”
She points out the window and whispers, “Listen.”
Serenity (Forever Book 1) Page 14
