Her All Along

“Angel, you’re with me!” I yelled.

She dodged Ethan’s grasp and dove sideways under the water.

“Ave!” Ryan shouted as he resurfaced.

I jerked my chin and held up my hand, to which he threw the ball back to me. Darius stopped trying to drown his brother, which was nice.

“Get on him, Elise!” Darius commanded.

But why? Why her?

I ran as well as I could in the waist-deep water and dodged both Ethan and Lias, and Ryan hadn’t been kidding about Angel. She rammed her elbow into Ethan’s gut when he grabbed at her.

“Motherfucker,” he coughed.

Angel and Pipsqueak reached me at the same time, and as my new nightmare climbed up on my back once more, I discreetly passed the ball to Angel under the water. Then I went for mayhem and threw myself toward Ethan. The distance had all but vanished, and everyone was within six feet of one another. If we wanted to get the ball to Evelina, we’d have to space out a bit more again.

Ryan, who’d caught up to my strategy, helped me distract Ethan and Pipsqueak. It dragged Darius into the huddle too, and everything became the workout of a lifetime. I couldn’t fucking shake the girl on my back.

Evelina and Angel would have to handle Lias themselves.

“Who has it?” Darius snapped, frustrated.

Just then, Evelina shouted, “One Mississippi! Two Mississippi!” Fuck yeah, she was holding the ball in the air. It changed everyone’s plans, and it became our mission to keep Darius and Ethan away. While I locked an arm around Ethan’s neck and wrestled him into the water, I sucked in a labored breath and grabbed on to Pipsqueak’s arm too. Now she was suddenly very interested in getting away from me to catch Evelina.

“Get her, Lias!” Darius yelled, busy wrestling against Ryan.

“Let go of me,” Pipsqueak panted. “Fuck!”

“Six Mississippi, seven Mississippi!” Evelina continued.

Before I went under, I spotted Angel in full attack against Lias.

Holy fuck, I needed this to end. I was spent. My lungs burned for air, my heart hammered, and I had enough scratches on my body to make people believe I had fourteen cats.

“Nine Mississippi, ten Mississippi—we win!” Evelina shouted.

Thank God.

I was fucking done for. With my chest heaving rapidly, I moved to shallower water where I could catch my breath. Even though everyone had let go of one another, I could still feel their grips, and I didn’t like how Pipsqueak’s hands on me had burned differently.

“Fuck me, I think I’ve outgrown this game,” Ry groaned breathlessly.

I bent over at the waist and gripped my thighs. “I second that.”

“That was so much fun!” Angel exclaimed. “When can we go again?”

Oh God, never.

Ryan chuckled and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Maybe later. We need to get some food in you first. You can head up and get started.”

She was off with a cheeky, “Yes, sir.”

Darius, Ethan, and Pipsqueak were on their way out of the water too, and I kept my gaze fixed on the damn seafloor.

Then I gave Ryan my attention instead. I straightened and pushed back my hair. “Can you be my daddy too? I wouldn’t mind someone telling me when to eat.”

He barked out a laugh and gave me an amused once-over. “Angel and I wouldn’t kick you outta bed, but you’d probably be traumatized for life.”

Jesus. “I have no doubts on that matter,” I chuckled. “On a more serious note, I’m happy for you. She seems good for you.”

He smiled and glanced up at the beach. “I’m gonna marry that girl one day.”

Damn. Must be a nice feeling. I remembered when marriage became a topic between my ex-wife and me. Her happy, “We should get married!” had completely blindsided me, and I’d mustered a, “Should we?” My response had hurt her, so I’d tacked on, “I mean, yeah, we probably should.”

“By the way,” Ryan went on, “if Elise fesses up before she joins us in California, let her down gently, all right?”

I furrowed my brow, missing the joke. “What?”

“The crush,” he stated.

I still didn’t get it. If she was infatuated with someone, why would it involve me? She knew she could come to me if she needed comfort; I didn’t have to tell her that. She’d come to me before. But who the fuck was this motherfucker? I’d been relieved when she’d stopped by after prom night and announced that her date had been one sandwich short of a picnic.

“Goddammit. I thought you knew, buddy.” Ryan winced and rubbed the back of his neck.

Okay, this was just going to frustrate me. “Knew what?”

He sighed and threw another glance up the beach, maybe to make sure we were alone. “In my defense, she only confirmed what I already suspected when she visited us in San Francisco. She’s carried a torch for you since before Grace was born.”

No.

He was joking. There was no way.