Say You Swear

She climbs out and Parker pokes his head inside.

“Lolli said you’re headed down to the beach bash?” He looks to Mason, then glances behind him to make sure Payton isn’t in earshot. “What happened, she changed her mind?”

“She only agreed to brunch beforehand, and she kept yawning and shit, so we didn’t push,” my brother tells him.

Parker nods. “She says she’s sleeping fine, but she’s been up as early as Lolli all week. She keeps reaching out to Deaton’s mom and people back home about where he was buried, since there was never a funeral announcement, but no one knows a thing and that shitty woman won’t respond.”

“Can Kenra ask around now that she’s back?”

“She’s asked a couple people but got the same answers.” He shakes his head, knocking on the roof. “All right well, have fun. I’m staying home with her, but Nate and Lolli headed that way about ten minutes ago.”

“Let us know if we’re needed,” Mason tells him, a frown pulling at his brows.

“Yup.”

My brother nods and puts the car in gear. “We gotta pick up our shit at the house. See you later.”

With that we head home.

Cam, Brady, and Chase pull up at the same time, having stopped for gas on the way home from the restaurant.

We’ve got the paddle boards and ice chest loaded into the folding wagons in minutes, and then we’re on our way.

Cam wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Beer, barbecue, and beach boys, here we come.”

An hour later, we’re dancing in the sand to a live hipster band, our paddle boards laid out and ready to hit the waters. The boys decide to have a drink before joining us, so me and Cam head out on our boards to play around.

A little while later, Lolli joins us, so we make our way to the small cove where a large group has formed.

“Okay, Ari,” Lolli begins, dropping back on her board to sunbathe. She cups her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun and looks to me with a smirk. “Share the dirty deets. There’s a reason that Abercrombie model of yours keeps glancing this way and it’s not the same reason Mason and Nate are.”

I grin, glancing over my shoulder, and sure enough, he’s staring, but they all are at this point, each pushing their boards into the water, so who knows. “He has been a little more—”

“Frisky? Touchy? Noticeably horny?” she fires off, making the three of us laugh.

“Something like that.” I chuckle. “I don’t really know what to think of it. On one hand, he’s just Chase being Chase, and on the other he’s…” I lift my shoulders, unsure of how to explain it.

I try not to read too much into things, but it’s getting harder and harder not to wonder what if.

Lolli nods, facing the sun with her eyes closed. “I say you grab his junk underwater and see what happens. Bet he pokes you with it.”

Cam and I laugh, mimicking Lolli’s position on the board, but it’s not long before the others join, and we’re all playing around in the ocean.

Brady and I race from the flatland to the cove, Mason, of course, paddled out to the middle point ahead of us, and hovers there just in case I get a cramp.

Got to love him.

The boys play a game of paddle board dodgeball with a group of guys and we sit back to cheer them on.

Brady is last man standing, so when Chase knocks Mason’s leg with his hand, and the two slowly begin to climb to their feet, Cam quickly pulls her phone up from around her neck—waterproof sleeves are a must when you live ocean life.

Brady faces the crowd, gloating in the way only Brady can, and the boys throw their bodies at him, tackling him into the water.

“You sons of bitches!” He laughs, as he goes down, and then takes turns catching each in a headlock, swiftly dunking them under.

Prepared for what always comes next, we ready for them, quickly covering our faces as we’re flipped into the water and tossed from one to the next like hot potatoes.

Lolli shrieks when Nate does the same to her, and then she’s shoving us. “Thanks for the warning, assholes!” She laughs. “Handsome, you’re so not getting any tonight!”

“Baby, I’m sorry!” Nate grins, grabs her face and lays one on her, effectively changing her mind.

“All right, we ready to hit the sand, eat and toss a couple back?” Brady grips his board, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

“Yeah, I’m starved.” I move toward my board but lay across it longways to use my feet rather than paddle to get me back.

Everyone agrees and it’s back toward the shore we go.

Brady pulls out a few beers, pouring them into Solo cups, so the beach patrol has no reason to come over and question us. They know what’s up, but it’s a ‘no harm, no foul’ kind of thing.