Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
As we made it back to the boat my flashlight again caught the yellow eyes of the gators surrounding the boat. One thrashed as it caught a fish in its mouth before diving back under the water with its meal between its teeth. “Great night for a swim,” I sang, looking back at King and Bear.
“You afraid?” Bear said, slinging his empty backpack into the boat.
“You’re the pussy out of the three of us,” I said. “Bet you wouldn’t dip your big toe in the water.”
Bear raised a brow. “Oh yeah? I’ll do you one better, I’ll run in, knee deep if you run in with me.”
“One lap around the boat?” I asked, already kicking off my shoes and rolling up my pants. Bear did the same. We both looked to King.
“Fuck,” he said, tugging off his boots. “The only reason I’m doing it this is so I don’t have to fucking hear about it for the rest of my goddamned life.” He stood at the edge. “Don’t tell Grace a word of this,” he muttered.
The three of us stood at the edge and Bear pushed the boat halfway into the water.
“Ready?” I asked, cracking my neck and rolling my shoulders. “First motherfucker to get eaten...well, dies.”
“I’m not scared,” Bear said.
“Me neither,” King chimed in.
“Okay then,” I said. “Ready. Set. Goooooo!” I shouted as the three of us splashed through the water like a herd of zebra running from a lion. It only took a few seconds for us to round the boat before we collapsed onto the shore, breathing hard from the adrenaline rush.
“All thirty fingers and toes accounted for?” King huffed.
“Yeah,” Bear and I both said at the same time. I held a finger in the air, “But Bear’s pinky toe on his right foot is weirdly smaller than the rest of his toes, so the ‘all finger and toe’ thing is subjective at best.”
“Shut the fuck up, Preppy,” Bear said, reaching for me to hit me but his fist fell short, smacking the ground instead.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said, still gasping for air.
My life would never be like the perfect-looking family eating dinner in that window, but it didn’t have to be, because at that moment, with my friends by my side, I decided I’d much rather live the kind of life that had me splashing through gator infested waters, feeling very much ALIVE.
I glanced over to King and Bear who recognized the look on my face and cringed.
“Wanna go again?”
CHAPTER SIX
Dre
After Preppy left with Kevin I called my dad to reassure him I was okay. He sounded as if he’d been waiting by the phone so it took quite some time to calm him down and put his mind at ease that I was safe, which was hard when I wasn’t so sure myself. Apparently, I didn’t do that great of a job convincing him because he decided to stay in town for a while. At least until he was sure whatever threat was looming out there was gone.
After we hung up and I promised we’d get together in the next day or so, I realized that in all the confusion over what had happened the night before I’d forgotten a few things. Number one, I didn’t get a chance to give Preppy his surprise, but he’d seen it and thanked me for it with his tongue between my legs. The shiny black classic Chrysler was now sitting in the darkened back corner of the parking space under the house, covered with a tarp.
I’d also almost forgot that Mirna’s house was now mine again.
Not mine. OURS.
That thought made me smile from ear to ear.
I don’t know how Preppy and Ray pulled it off, especially without telling me for so long, but I was beyond grateful they had. That house meant so much to me and I couldn’t wait to get back in it. It was like the start of a new life and the rebirth of an old one.
Moving was the perfect distraction I needed to take my mind off the events of the night before. When the rental truck showed up at the house I immediately felt a sense of relief that I could focus on something other than who could be out to get me, although the stinging pain from the wound on my leg and other numerous scrapes and scratches, took the liberty of reminding me every other movement.
Besides one small scrape on the side of his arm you’d never thought that King had been in an accident the night before, never mind one where the truck flipped on it’s side. When I thanked him for coming to my rescue, he looked at me as if my thanks were ridiculous, and then him and Bear started loading up everything from the garage apartment into a we-haul rental truck, including the sofa, and the bed, which had already been dismantled. Come to think of it, the bed being in pieces was probably the reason I’d woken up in Max’s room that morning.