Oh, Bite Me (Guardians of the Deep 1)

Are we going to have this conversation this early? I’m so not ready for this.

She still had no guarantee that Thane and the woman had been together, but her womanly instincts told her to tread carefully around this one. Penny opened the front door and as soon as she did Kalina sprung to her feet and turned around. The woman smiled, but then when she saw that Penny only wore a bedsheet, her lips went tight. She wasn’t happy, and Penny knew she should have only pulled the door open a crack instead of swinging it open all the way.

“Hi,” Penny said. “Kalina, right?”

“Yes,” she said. “I hope I didn’t wake you. We all get up so early here and I was kind of excited to stop by and chat.”

She was so sweet it nearly made Penny wince. Kind of like she’d bitten into one of those chewy Sweet Tart candies. Her sweetness made the spot beneath Penny’s ears ache.

“Do you want to come in?” Penny asked.

Kalina looked like she was thinking about it. Her mouth turned downward in a bit of a frown and she shook her head. It was the look of sadness.

“No,” she said. “Maybe we can talk out here?”

“I don’t have any clothes,” Penny said. “That’s why I’m wearing a sheet.”

Both women laughed.

“Oh,” Kalina said. “I got you, girl. Here.”

She held out the big red beach bag. Penny accepted it and held it open to peer inside. It was stuffed with clothes. Shirts, jeans, dresses, and even a pair of sandals.

“Really?” Penny said. “For me?”

“For you,” Kalina said. “All for you. I figure we’re about the same size and well, I’m sure Thane told you about us…”

She let the word “us” hang for a bit, and at first Penny thought she was confirming that she and Thane had been in a relationship.

“About our…way of life,” Kalina added, waiting for Penny to confirm that she was aware of their abilities.

“Sharks,” Penny said, instantly relieved. “Yes!”

“Tiger sharks,” Kalina reminded her. “So many sharks in the sea, you know? It’s kind of like calling all Americans New Yorkers or Marylandians, whatever you call people from Maryland.”

“Tiger sharks,” Penny said.

“Yeah, so…we uh…we go through a lot of clothes,” Kalina said. “I try my best to go in the water naked, so I don’t rip anything, but in a rush…shit happens.”

Kalina had a way of pausing a lot as she spoke. Penny thought it seemed as if she was always carefully considering what she was about to say, either not to offend or not to sound stupid. Penny decided she liked her. She would need to be careful with her, but she liked her, and she needed a friend on the island.

As they stood on

the porch talking, a man yelled somewhere out in the woods. A few seconds later, Hailey ran past the cabin, laughing hysterically.

“What did you do now?” Kalina asked.

“He is so pissed!” Hailey yelled.

“Hailey!” Kalina yelled. “What did you do?”

“Jagger was taking a shit,” she said as she stopped and bent over to catch her breath.

“And?” Kalina asked.

Hailey looked up at them both and smiled wide, her pearly white teeth on full display. She was so proud of whatever she’d accomplished.

“And I snuck up behind him and dropped a bee hive on his head,” Hailey said.