Will I ever see him again?
When she finally decided to get up and go outside, she found Penny sitting with Ruby already. It seemed pregnant women didn’t sleep so well. Sylvia wondered what it must be like to have a shark baby inside you. Not that she’d had a baby of any kind ins
ide her, but still…was there any difference? She couldn’t help imagining this baby in there swimming laps back and forth, preparing for its time to be a big bad shark roaming the ocean like Coby.
He was so strong. All man.
Sports stars and musicians always tried to act bad. They tried to be thugs when around their friends and alpha males around their women, but nobody she’d ever met in her entire life exuded the confidence and overall courageous cool that Coby had. Sylvia had started their conversation doing all the talking. He hadn’t said a word at first, and even then, his lack of words revealed so much about him. She missed him already and had decided to suck it up and deal with the knowledge she wouldn’t see him again. He’d gotten the information he’d come for. He had wanted to know about Poet, and he’d found out that his death had nothing to do with anyone on the island. A great white had killed his brother. Sylvia had been the one to tell him.
Maybe if I’d kept my fucking mouth shut.
It wouldn’t have mattered. If she hadn’t told him, someone else would have. She hoped he hunted down the beast that had butchered his brother and then came back to her, the way guys always did in the movies. They went off to battle, exacted their revenge, and then rushed back to their lady in waiting, to make love to her. Only Sylvia didn’t want to make love. She wanted to fuck. This wasn’t one of those stories where they’d waltz by candlelight, kiss gently, and then climb into bed together in the missionary position and kiss each other into romantic bliss. No, this was the other kind of story, where he’d put her on all fours, grip her hips, and drive into her from behind. He’d fuck her into oblivion.
A woman can only hope.
“Enough action for you last night?” Ruby asked as Sylvia climbed the few steps at her front stoop and sat down next to Penny on a swinging bench.
“Please,” Sylvia said. “My people party twice as hard. You haven’t seen havoc until you’ve partied with a group of hockey players doing keg stands.”
They all laughed.
“I’m sorry you had to see Evelyn,” Penny said. “That was a shock to us all.”
“I figured she’d be back eventually,” Ruby said. “If she wasn’t dead.”
“And that bitch definitely doesn’t like to die,” Penny added.
“She seems strongly opposed to it,” Sylvia said.
“That was brave what you did with Poet’s brother,” Ruby said.
“He saved my life,” Sylvia replied.
“And you saved his,” Ruby said. “I know it looked like he was kicking Thane’s ass, but Thane has this thing about him. He can take punishment. Sometimes I think he enjoys it. But at some point, he snaps, and it can get ugly.”
Oh, please. Coby was kicking his fucking ass.
Sylvia was surprised by how defensive she’d immediately gotten about the man. As if he was hers and Ruby was insinuating that Thane would have taken down her man.
My man. Not yet. Maybe one day, but not yet.
“If Thane wouldn’t have been able to take him, the others would have ripped him apart,” Ruby added.
Sylvia couldn’t put her thoughts into words. If she did, she might say something offensive and she couldn’t afford for that to happen. These people had taken her in so easily. They’d welcomed her into their group and she needed to be nothing but gracious and grateful.
“I think Coby is going to hunt down the shark that killed Poet,” Sylvia said. “I told him you’d said it was a great white and you should have seen the look on his face.”
“Poet,” Penny said and stared off into space.
Sylvia knew how badly it bothered her friend to think about it, so she draped her arm over Penny’s shoulder and pulled her in close, hugging her as tightly as she could from the side.
“Want to go for a walk?” Sylvia asked. “You can show me around.”
“Sure,” Penny said. “I guess that would be a good idea since I’m hoping to convince you to stay. And this little one must be tired of sitting here. He needs a walk.”
She stood and rubbed her belly.
“You’re thinking of sticking around?” Ruby asked.