Page 12 of F*ck You

A grin lit up his face. “So you do remember my name, good to know.”

“Of course I—whatever.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Look, I just need to know how to plan my day. I have a lot of wallowing in self-pity and drinking away what’s left of my sanity to do before I need to get my fucking life together. I’m afraid I’m pretty booked up as it is.”

“Sounds like a hectic schedule.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” I gave him a serious look as I tilted the bottle up and took another sip. At this rate, I was going to be hammered well before lunch.

Water flew at me as he kicked against a wave, and I ended up spitting a mouthful of whiskey into his face in response. Fucking hell, what a waste. “What the hell, man?”

His head was thrown back as he laughed hard enough to shake his entire body. “You’re hilarious. Look, Lee, I don’t know what’s going on with you or what you’re running away from, but wallowing in self-pity like you are won’t help you get past it. All it does is dig your hole deeper. Rock bottom does have a basement, and you don’t want to get locked in there.” The light blue of his eyes darkened a shade. “Believe me, I know.”

“So your solution to my problems is to drown me in the ocean? What makes you think I even know how to swim? That’s a pretty dangerous assumption for you to make.”

“If you didn’t know how to swim, you would’ve been kicking and screaming while I dragged you out here. Instead, you sipped your drink and enjoyed the ride.”

Okay, fine. Dickhead one, Lee zero.

His face turned serious as he pointed at something in the water, and I turned around to see what spooked him. “You don’t want those to touch you. Take my word for it, the sting is no fun.”

Hanging out just under the surface of the water were around a half dozen translucent beings. I stared at them, mesmerized. “Are those jellyfish?”

“Yeah. They’ve been coming up with the tides a lot lately. Most mornings you can see them lying in the sand, so be careful when you walk around or sit down. Sitting on them wouldn’t be very pleasant either.”

I snorted. “You’ve got jokes.”

The water came and went, taking the little translucent creatures along for a ride. I knew they were dangerous, and I should have probably been running back up to shore, but this was pretty cool. I was too mesmerized by the sight to remember that I was supposed to be drinking my problems away. Instead, I watched the swirls of the current as it dragged the jellyfish away to terrorize some tourists instead.

“This is pretty cool.” The water receded to mid-calf as it went back out, then came back in and splashed around my knees. The whole experience gave me an idea, and I was tempted to start the dreaded adulting part early. Suddenly, I wanted to learn more about the ocean and this area in general.

“What are you thinking?”

My eyes snapped up to his. “What?”

“A smile crossed your face just now. I know I don’t know what all is going on and we only just met, but from what I can tell, you’re not the biggest fan of smiling.”

“Fuck you.”

“Promise?”

I blinked, unsure what to say to that. Before I could decide on a response, he laughed.

“Chill out. Enjoy your day and try not to worry so much.” He gestured toward the shore and then moved his hand in an arc to indicate the beach and ocean. “You have a condo on the beach, open your eyes and take in how amazing that is. Too many people focus on nothing other than their problems to the point where they’re blinded by the dark. Don’t let it swallow you whole.”

“If it does, then I’ll kick its ass. Don’t underestimate me.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll hold you to it.”

I took another sip and began to move farther out in the water, but all the previous sips must have started catching up to me because even without a wave creating an additional obstacle, I lost my balance and toppled over.

Rough hands shot out and grabbed me by the shoulders before I could nosedive into another pool of jellyfish. “You doing alright?” His voice sounded far away, even though his mouth was right next to my ear. My vision was blurring, but the concerned look on Chase’s face somehow cut through the fog.

“I’m fine, just let me get to shore.” I turned and made my way through the water to head home. Wow, the tide must have been really coming in, it only kept getting deeper. Or maybe it was because I couldn’t seem to stand upright. Lifting the bottle to my lips, I downed another sip of liquid energy and kept walking.

Chase’s hand slid into mine, and he tugged me toward him with my back going flush against his chest as the waves pelted my stomach. That was an odd direction for the waves to come in at. “That’s the way to go farther out into the ocean. Here.” He turned us around so the waves were now hitting his back. “This is the way to the shore.”

Concern laced his tone—it was the only thing I could hear even if I couldn’t make out all the words.

“Oh.” Maybe I’d taken a few more sips than I thought. I should probably drink some water soon.

With that thought, I lifted the bottle, but a strong force prevented it from reaching my lips.

“Let’s get you back on land first and maybe get some food in you.” His voice was a whisper by my ear, but it thundered through my mind like a tractor. I nodded in response, and he guided us both through the water until I could feel the granules of sand sticking to the soles of my wet feet.

We must have kept going, because the next thing I realized, I was lying in bed with the pillows and blankets surrounding me like I was lying on a cloud. I could still feel the waves around me as I closed my eyes.

I reached out a hand to look for my phone so I could tell Asshole he was a dumbass since I never responded to his last message, but I couldn’t find it. Instead, I welcomed the darkness and embraced the comfort of an actual bed.

---