Zack began with seeing Rachel through the window of the café. How something about her had inspired him to walk inside and start sketching her intriguing profile.
Going back to ask her out. Her telling him that she would rather have friends than lovers.
Going out with her twice. Kissing her last night… having her kiss him back, knowing full well what was about to happen if they were never interrupted.
“What’s wrong with a little nookie, son?”
Zack scoffed. “That’s not why we went out.”
“Sounds like that’s why you went out with her.”
“I mean… I don’t want to sleep with her unless she’s 100% on board with it. Based on how she took off last night, I’m guessing it wasn’t something she actually wanted to do.”
Roy shook his head again. “Why are you wasting your time on her like this? Don’t tell me she’s the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen in your life. I would find that hard to believe, based on some of the women I’ve seen you post to your Instagram.”
“I… wait, what? You follow my Instagram?”
“Son, I like every single thing you post! What the hell!”
Zack pulled his phone out again. “What in the world is your username? Because I don’t recall this at all.”
“Spoonertime376.”
“Spooner… what?”
“This explains why you’ve never followed me back.” Roy slammed his hands against his thighs. “Thought maybe I had done something to hurt your sensitive feelings.”
Zack brought up his uncle’s Instagram account. Most shots were of the open sea, ports, docks, Caribbean villages and the occasional selfie. At least his uncle had invested in a good selfie stick. Then again, he probably used it to swat seagulls away from his lunch more than for taking selfies.
“Women.” Roy scoffed. “They’ll be the end of all of us. Either that or money. You’ve got both twofold.”
“You never got married.”
“Nope. And I never went into the family business, either. Both were a huge waste of my time. Not saying it’s not worth it for other men, but…” He shrugged his bony shoulders. “I want to be a man of my own volition. That means no career tying me down. It definitely means no women for more than a weekend.”
That’s usually how I see the world as well. Then again, Zack had never found a woman worth more than a weekend at least, a month at the most. The women he dated were beautiful, funny, intelligent… some great combination that made them both stand out from the next and blend together into a seamless line of women, women, women. How could women be so tantalizing but also bore him half to tears?
So far, Rachel didn’t bore him. Let’s be real. It’s because she poses a challenge, and I’m the one who is bored already.
“Tell you what,” Roy continued, “you find out what this woman is thinking right now. Don’t wait another second, because if there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that ruminating for so damn long will be the death of you. That’s not the life you want to live, son.”
“You want me to text her right now?”
“Yes. Better yet, invite her down here. I want to meet the woman you’re willing to bend over backward for and make a damn fool of yourself over.”
Invite her… Well, he had promised to invite her to the marina sometime. But he had been holding off unless she expressed interest because the Priss & Moan was the kind of vessel he invited certain women to. Women he was either already sleeping with or planning to sleep with.
He had no idea what his status with Rachel was right now.
***
Her alarm had long gone off, but Rachel couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed.
She continued to replay the night before in her mind as if it were the only movie she had ever seen. No, scratch that. Felt. I felt that moment with every fiber of my piss-poor being. She had been shocked when Zack kissed her. Infuriated. Disappointed. What else had she expected with a man who had made it clear he wanted to date her? Sleep with her?
Use her?
But I kissed him back. And. How.
Rachel wasn’t a demure virgin. She had slept with enough men to know what that was about. She had also made more than a few mistakes regarding those same men.
And some women, too.
Kissing Zack had been a mistake. But it was the kind of beautiful mistake that Rachel could see herself making again. Continuing to blur the line between sex and friendship. She didn’t want to date Zack, per se. She had also promised herself to not sleep with anyone until the end of August, when she could take better stock of her life. So far she was barely holding on.
Who knew that the moment she made that vow of celibacy that one of the hottest men she had ever seen would walk into her life?
I’m so sad and pathetic. If that neighbor hadn’t interrupted them… would she be waking up with Zack right now?
Hell, she already was! Just not in person!
What the fuck? A text had come in from Zack the moment Rachel tried to put her phone down again. “Hey,” it began. “About last night…”
Rachel didn’t immediately respond. She wanted to see what else he would say first. Meanwhile, my heart is about to explode. And her pussy. Because she really was that pathetic.
“I’m sorry about that. Honestly. I overstepped my bounds. I know how important it is to you that we keep our relationship friends-only. I respect that. That’s why I want to make it up to you. Can we go out today… hang out?”
Rachel swore she wasn’t in control of her fingers as they sleepily typed out a response.
“Sure.”
She continued to think of the kiss they shared the night before while waiting for his answer.
“Meet me by Fifth and Sequoia. One hour?”
It took Rachel a moment to remember where that was. Only a few blocks over from Opal’s, wasn’t it?
“I can be there in forty-five minutes.”
“Even better.”
Boy, she hoped she wouldn’t regret this.
***
She regretted it.
Rachel should have recognized the intersection of Fifth & Sequoia. Everyone who lived in the city long enough would learn the location by proxy. Because it was one of the biggest areas of congestions in all of downtown.
Why? Because that’s where the main marina entrance was.
The marina was a place Rachel conveniently forgot existed. Opal’s was as close as she got to it. Once she was able to start seeing it, however, old fears and phobias reared their ugly heads like a hydra from the river’s depths.
Fuck rivers. Fuck the ocean. Fuck water!
To say that Rachel Taylor was hydrophobic didn’t tell the whole story. At the tender age of five, she had fallen into a hotel swimming pool and only made it out alive by the grace of her mother. Rachel hadn’t known how to swim. She didn’t even know what hold your breath! meant yet. Her lungs, her throat, and her nose burned for the rest of that sad night. She suffered no lasting physical damage, but from that day, Rachel refused to get into any body of water.
This included baths, for fuck’s sake. If I can float in it, it’s too deep! I could drown!
For the most part, she didn’t care about being wet. A shower was survivable if she kept her mind on other things. God knew she was the first to start rubbing ice on her skin when it was a hundred degrees out. Water was one of the only liquids she enjoyed drinking. (Tea was a requirement for staying in cafés, since she detested coffee. Beyond that, however, Rachel wanted nothing to do with water, and that definitely meant getting on docks boats or – heaven fucking forbid – walking on docks at all.
Especially floating docks!
“What’s wrong?” Zack lifted his sunglasses and looked at her at the top of the wooden ramp leading down to the floating docks that weaved between private vessels of all sizes. How could he stand to bob up and down like that? He was bobbing, right? “It’s fine. You’re not going to fall in.”
“Um…” Rachel held her knapsack closer to her body. The cool breeze washed over her sandals, chilling her from toe to fingertip. “We don’t have to go far, right?”
Zack looked down the rows of boats. “Mine’s at the far end there. One of the best slots in the whole marina.” He extended his hand up to her. “I won’t let you fall in.”
He said it so assuredly! As if he could really prevent God from shoving poor Rachel into the nasty river water! Is this water even safe? Didn’t they used to dump garbage and sewage into it? Oh, sure, the city claimed to have cleaned that up in the late ‘80s, but they were probably lying! How many dead bodies turned up around here? People who ended up in there by accident? People who actually knew how to swim, for fuck’s sake!
“I…” She took another step back from the ramp. Her hand grabbed the nearest railing. “I don’t know about this.”
Zack came back up the ramp. “You’re that scared of the water?”
“I’m not scared,” she squeaked. “I’m fucking petrified. I can’t even swim!”
He put a hand on her shoulder. The only comfort it brought was reassuring Rachel that someone would catch her if she fell. Too bad her brain was too jumbled to get that message.
“You’re not going to fall in. I won’t let that happen.”