Darryl stood up, towering over Roscoe who was over a foot shorter than him. “You’re not here to bribe me with beer and brats, are you?”
“And a bratty half-turn.” He nodded to me with that shitty grin of his.
I shot up out of the chair. “Now wait just a minute!”
“Eh, you’ve been checkin’ him out since we got here.” Roscoe put his arm around my neck and looked over at Darryl. “I’ll never forget the look on that one guy’s face after you shot yer load in his ass. Fuck that was hot, but you sure messed him up.”
The taller werewolf stroked the patch of fur on his chin while looking me over.
“You’re a real piece of shit,” I said, shoving Roscoe away. “I regret this whole thing.”
“Relax, you don’t gotta do anything,” Roscoe said. I glanced up in time to see him wink at Darryl. “The truth is, uh, we’re gonna need a place to crash for a week or so until the government housing thing’s finalized.”
Darryl didn’t respond.
“You don’t wanna see this poor guy out in the cold, do ya?” He wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me close. My vision started turning red again, and I think Darryl noticed. His disposition changed from aggressive to something a lot gentler.
“I hate your guts, but Cody seems pretty cool. Just bought a California king, so we got enough room. I just got one condition,” Darryl said, turning toward me again.
“I can keep the house clean,” I said, trying not to sound desperate. “I can pay my fair share once the money comes in, too.”
“Relax. You don’t have to do any of that, but you do have to take swimming lessons,andyou have to swim naked in the ocean at least once.”
That wasn’t quite what I expected him to say, but at least he was pretty laid back now and not ready to rip Roscoe’s head off.
“Sure, okay,” I said, relieved as I sat back down on the chair.
“We’ll start tonight,” Darryl said, pulling out a package of bratwurst before tossing it to Roscoe. “I’m hungry. Work your magic, chef.”
Roscoe’s tail wagged as he pulled an old apron from my backpack, shook it out, and put it on. It had the wordskiss the cookin bold capital letters, only the ‘o’ next to the ‘k’ had been purposely scratched out to look like a ‘c.’
“You just keep getting classier,” I muttered before turning my attention back to Darryl. “Why tonight?”
“I wanna get to know you a little better.”
“I don’t know about this,” I said, looking down at the empty pool illuminated by a glowing light down at the deep end. The pool belonged to the condo nearby, but Darryl somehow had the keys. “What if someone comes out here?”
“It’s empty,” Darryl replied. “No one’s gonna see, so go ahead and strip.”
Roscoe watched us while laying on a lounge chair next to the pool. I didn’t expect to actually swim, so I didn’t bring a suit. After removing my shirt, I kicked off my sandals and pulled off my shorts and underwear.
“Damn,” Darryl said, sucking back the drool that had roped along the corners of his mouth.
“You’re just teaching me how to swim, right?”
“Yeah, sure.” The tall werewolf prodded me toward the steps going down into the pool. “We’ll start out in the shallow end.”
I stepped down into the surprisingly warm water and waded into it, keeping my feet on the rough bottom. Darryl followed, getting uncomfortably close.
“All right. First thing you’re gonna learn is how to float,” he said in his deep tone before placing one hand on my back, supporting me as he pushed me flat with the other.
I panicked for a moment as my feet left the bottom of the pool, and I thrashed around.
“Relax. I’m not gonna let you sink. Just imagine yourself as a piece of driftwood.”
My entire body tensed as I struggled to keep calm, but as soon as I was oriented, I allowed myself to loosen up. As long as I could feel his arms supporting my back, I was okay. He grabbed a pool noodle floating behind him and placed it under my neck to keep my head from sinking.
“See? Like a duck to water,” he said, gently stroking my chest. He removed one of his hands from my back but the other still supported my rear. The noodle kept my upper body from sinking, but I also couldn’t move much or I’d start to panic. “Close your eyes and keep thinking of wood.”
