Someone rustles up a cell from a dry bag and hands it to me. I turn on the camera and face it toward me. “Goddammit,” I mutter. “This isn’t good. Anyone remember how long Ben’s was?”
Everyone is telling stories about friends they know who have gotten mask squeezes, and it makes me feel a little better, but then a thought hits me.
“Caroline.”
Leif cackles. “I bet she likes fucking a demon.”
They still don’t know I haven’t had sex with her. I’d catch a rash of shit if they knew I was professing my love before I’ve sampled the goods.
“Role play,” Aidan chimes in.
“She could be an angel. A little white nightie. Think of the possibilities,” he explains, holding one hand over his heart.
“Stop thinking about Caroline,” I mutter. “How long?” I ask, pulling up Google on the cell phone and tapping my question into the search bar. “Maybe it’s just a little one,” I pep talk myself. A barrage of horrible, scary images glare back after my search, all I can do is shake my head. With my light blue eyes, it might look a little less atrocious than if I had brown, because then the whole eyeball would look black, the iris blending with the blood shot white.
Leif stops laughing long enough to call my name. When I look up, he snaps a photo with his phone. “This is your right-after-it-happened photo. We’ll take one every day until your whole eye looks like a hickey.”
I make a grab for his phone, but he’s too quick. “You guys are the worst friends ever,” I say.
“She’s going to be scared of this. Any normal person would be.”
Leif claps back. “Okay, Ben just texted back and said the one he got off the coast of Catalina Island lasted seven weeks. He also said to call him. He hasn’t heard from you in a while.”
Scrubbing my palms into my eye sockets, I try to remember how many pairs of sunglasses I have.
Aidan walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder. “No one will notice.”
Such a fucking bullshit artist. “Fuck you, Aidan.”
Aidan’s eyes light up as he remembers something. “Oh, while I have everyone’s attention, or while Tahoe has everyone’s attention, I’d like to announce that we will be attending the local party at The Spot tomorrow night. This will serve as the before-mission celebration, so tie on your motherfucking drinking shoes.” Everyone lets out a cheer in agreement. There’s always a shit show of a party before a mission. The last hurrah. The importance of camaraderie and brotherhood wrapped into a liquor-festooned vomit session. It started when the war did because the unknowns are larger than the knowns these days.
“How did you manage that? Did they invite us?” Even I don’t believe that. Aidan probably threatened someone. The animosity aimed our way from the locals isn’t a secret. It’s not supposed to be. They honestly thought they could get the town hall to stop us from moving forward with plans for our base. While it was laughable, we’ve learned that a little respect goes a long way.
Aidan tells us he made friends with someone who was helping at the airport, and he invited him, and that is basically the same thing as inviting all of us. Everyone agrees it’s a good idea merely from the standpoint of checking out the party place heralded as the most fun in Bronze Bay. I get a little excited at the prospect of letting loose. It’s been a long, concentrated month with all of my efforts zoned in on one thing.
“You can even invite Caroline,” Leif says. “I want her to bring her friend.”
“Which friend?” I’m almost positive he means Shirley. That one is down to fuck, one hundred percent.
Leif describes her, and I’m surprised he’s describing her other friend. “Malena,” I deadpan. “Why her?”
He tilts his head and starts listing things he likes about her using one finger at a time. The list is all physical, of course, but he’s remembered features about her that I didn’t, so he’s really into her. “Sure. I’ll ask,” I offer. Caroline might not be down with the idea at all. The last time we were all together at the bar, those people ate her alive in that twisted frenemy way.
“They’re already darker, dude. I bet by tonight you’ll be a right fine monster,” Leif says, admiring my face.
Groaning, I tell them to take me back to land. “I need to work out or something,” I say. “So she’ll look at other parts of me instead of my face.” No one ever questions their vanity until something happens to their fucking face. I went and cock-blocked myself.
“Sound logic,” Leif replies, coughing. Once everyone is onboard, he starts the engine and we head back to base. I debate going to visit Caroline at the airport office before my eyes get worse, before I’m more monster than human, but I actually have a bit of work to get done before I leave work for the day.
And I do need to work out.
FOURTEEN
Caroline
He lookslike a female wet dream as he walks toward me. He has on a pair of cut-off khaki shorts, flip-flops, and a black tee that shows off every rippled muscle. I didn’t see him yesterday after work because he was busy, nor earlier today because we both had a busy schedule. I expected him to pop into the diner for lunch with a friend like he would do from time to time, but he didn’t. Tahoe did text me almost every waking second all night long. When I broached, as delicately as I could, the voice message I accidentally sent, he said he had no idea what I was talking about. I was relieved, yet suspicious. He called me three times today to make sure we were still on for the party at The Spot tonight. While it’s not my typical choice for spending my free time, the fact that we’ll be together changes everything. I’m pretty confident he could lead me up to the gates of hell with ease. It’s not something I’m proud of.
Holding my door open, I lick my lips when he gets close enough to see my face. I want more of what he gives before we leave.It is part of my reasoning for having him come over so early. Tahoe is wearing a pair of dark aviator sunglasses. That’s not something I’ve ever seen him in before, but we are in Florida, where most of the inhabitants wear sunglasses ninety-nine percent of their lives.
