Page 38 of Stay Toxic

Even her legs were puffy from what looked to be her brother’s hunting coveralls.

Her hair was blowing in the wind, and the cute little fuckin’ crocheted duck hat she was wearing was really cracking me up. The flaps hung well past her ears, and the orange bill of the duck hung across her forehead.

“Are you even listening to me?” Nastya asked angrily, casting her bait so far it landed in the trees.

Artur helped her get it out, and the bait fell into the water right beneath it.

She started to reel it in, and a fish came out of nowhere and swallowed her bait.

She squealed and reacted, yanking her pole backward in surprise, inadvertently setting the hook while she did.

“Reel it, Nasty!” I yelled, laughter in my voice.

Nastya reeled it in, her eyes huge as saucers, and started to jump in excitement as Artur used the net to get it out of the water.

Eyes huge at the tiny little bass she caught, she said, “I win!”

“You didn’t win.” Artur laughed. “But I’m just fuckin’ happy we landed a fish. We can go home now.”

I discreetly turned to look at the woman a couple hundred feet from me.

Again, she was casting, but this time she was doing it with a donut in her mouth.

“What exactly does that mean?” Nastya asked. “We can’t win a bass fishing tournament off of only one fish.”

“Artur has a rule that you have to catch a fish before you can leave. Even if you’re not catching shit,” I said as I cast my own bait out there again.

Artur moved us along, and I casted, reeled. Casted. Reeled.

But while I did this, I kept an eye on the woman to the left of me.

I memorized her every facial expression.

In fact, I was watching her when I felt my pole jerk in my hands.

I cursed when it nearly slipped right out of my fingers and yanked it backward.

A cry from the woman in the next boat over had me glancing her way as I reeled my own pole in.

She was leaned way back, and her pole was bent much the same as mine was.

She got her fish into the boat by reaching down and lifting it up, and I had to laugh at the contradiction that she and my sister made.

Nastya wouldn’t touch her fish if she was forced. Meanwhile, there was Brecken, uncaring that the fish was slimy and cold.

“Holy fuck,” I heard Artur say.

I looked back to my own fish to find that Artur was holding up a massive fish in his net, his eyes huge.

“Is that good?” Nastya asked. “It looks so gross.”

“It’s fuckin’ great,” Artur said.

Artur quickly removed the bait from the fish’s mouth and said, “You want it?”

“No.” I shrugged, looking around now. “Have you seen Falliday yet?”

“Not yet,” Artur said. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for him, but there are a fuck ton of people out here. I know he checked in.”

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