Page 9 of Fire Fight

Her eagerness makes me laugh. “In the hour since I arrived? No.”

“Ugh.” She stands, tugging at the elastic base of her suit while Salesi’s eyes glue to the sight. “Where’s he gone, anyway?” Then, before I can answer. “You’ll have to invite us all over once he’s back.”

Another boy, a few inches shorter than Salesi, but otherwise his doppelganger, looks disgusted. “We’re right here, ready to service your needs. You shouldn’t be talking about another boy when you asked us out today.”

“Forfun.”

His voice drops half an octave. “It would be hella fun. I’d make sure.”

“Chill, bro,” Salesi drawls, then glances at me. “This is Viliami. He got the slow sperm.”

I ignore the brewing outrage his words engender. “You’re twins?”

“Yeah.” Viliami squints as he gives me a slow once over. “That interest you?”

“No one is interested in banging either of you, let alone both.” Gretchen clicks her tongue, and I wonder what the hell they’ve done to her because they both look plenty tempting. “That’s Pete, Erik, Darian… and Darian’s friend,” she says, pointing to each boy.

“Hudson,” the boy supplies over their laughter. “Hudson Carter. Apparently, forgettable.”

The calm jade of his eyes doesn’t look forgettable; especially paired with his strawberry blond ringlets, ruched by the salt air until they stick out in a fluffy halo.

A delicious shiver unfurls as he scans me with the same level of attention I show him.

Yes,please.

“Nice to meet you, Hudson.”

Darian immediately parrots my intonation in soft hoots while the twins wrestle each other into the water.

“You want to grab the jet skis?” Pete asks, swivelling his gaze to encompass everyone.

“They need refilling,” Gretchen warns, not moving an inch. “There’s a tank in the floating garage. Grab the binoculars for me if you’re going.”

The boys depart in a group, swimming behind the rocky outcropping at the edge of the bay.

“Ignore them,” Gretchen says. “They might as well still be in year ten the way they act.”

I nod, turning aside so she doesn’t see my smile. Viliami’s indignant claim sounded genuine, even if things have gone south since. “Your house is the next bay round?”

“Yeah.” She points a little farther to the left. “And that’s Felicity’s. Rox lives over the other side.”

“The wrong side of the tracks,” she intones with such menace I burst into laughter, relieved when she joins in a moment later.

“Can’t say I’ve seen any wrong tracks around here. These hills are like a separate world.”

“We do like to look down on the plains dwellers,” Gretchen agrees. Then she taps my knee. “But I’m serious about inviting us over.”

I pull a face as she hands across sunscreen, and I slather it across my shoulders and chest with a smile of thanks. My earlier worries were apparently baseless. Even if it’s early days, I have a genuine sense that I’ve landed among friends and the relief makes me giddy. “There’s no problem on my part, but I’ll need to check. Arnold hasn’t really laid out the ground rules.”

“Eh.” She waves a hand. “He’ll be sweet. But if not, it’s my birthday in a few weeks. If I haven’t made headway before that, I might throw a party so you can bring him along.”

“Wouldn’t he come, anyway?”

Her eyes swivel back to the outcropping, tilting her head as the faint whine of engines deepens as they round the miniature heads. “Would you look at that?”

I wrinkle my nose at the blunt redirection, turning to wave to my mother. A gesture that goes unreciprocated as her attention is buried in a cheap paperback. Probably one of mine.

My eyes close as I tilt my head back to let the sun caress me. The engines grow steadily louder, the boys showing off their moves. A sigh drifts from between my lips. I can’t remember a time I felt more content.

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