Page 31 of Burn It Down

Knox twists, looking over his shoulder to confirm with Jake, whose lifejacket is helping him stay afloat in the water. He pulls himself along the rope until he plants his hands on the platform and muscles himself onto the boat’s platform. He sits on the little deck undoing the buckles on his boots before calling for a towel. Phoenix throws Jake the bookbag he brought and Jake immediately pulls out a towel and rubs it over his hair. Unfortunately for me, he reaches back in and grabs a hat and slides it on backwards, putting his sunglasses on before dragging the towel down his wet body.

RIP nut sack.

Without saying anything, Jake leans over and grabs the nearly-full can of beer I’ve been holding ever since he got in the water. I watch as he puts his mouth right where mine had been and takes a swig, immediately spitting it out over the side.

“Bleh.That’s warm. How long have you been nursing that?” he asks. The smile on his face shines even brighter in his eyes.

“Honestly, I forgot it was in my hands.”

“If you don’t like beer, we have other stuff you can drink.”

“Not if anyone else is getting on the board,” Knox barks. “You know the rule. No liquor unless we’re done behind the boat. Drunk spotters are useless to me.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jake says quickly. “Phoe, you want a run?”

“Hell yeah,” he answers, climbing toward the platform to get situated. Sliding past me, he chuckles. “Aren’t you sweating balls, man?”

Shit. How can he tell?

My brows furrow, but before I can ask what he means, he tugs on my shirt sleeve. “It’s already ninety-two degrees out here. How the fuck do you still have this on? I’d have already taken my goddamn trunks off if I didn’t think Jake would do it too and put me to shame…again.” He laughs and scans the front of my shirt. Looking back up at me he asks, “Did Jake buy you that?”

“Why would Jake buy me clothes?” Is he implying that I’m poor and can’t buy my own? I hadn’t really gotten that vibe from Phoenix, but then again, I don’t really know him.

“I wouldn’t.” Jake flashes a look at Phoenix and subtly shakes his head. Turning back to me, he smiles. “Ignore him.”

Weird moment over, Phoenix plops down and straps his feet into the boots. “Jakey, do me a favor and have my liquor ready when I get back.”

“Hud, you boarding today?” Knox asks Hudson.

“Na, I’m ready to chill. That last call we took yesterday fucked something up in my back.

Knox nods.

Phoenix pushes off into the water, Hudson keeps his spot at the back of the boat and Jake thumps my shoulder. “Come on, you can be forward lookout with me.”

We take seats on opposite sides of the bow and the words rush out of my mouth before I can stop them. “That was really fucking hot. I mean your boarding skills. They’re good.”Christ, Dylan.“Where’d you learn to do that?”

Thankfully, Jake either doesn’t notice the blunder or doesn’t care.

The boat starts gaining speed as he begins to answer and I gesture to my ear and shake my head letting him know I can’t hear him. Next thing I know, he’s hopping from his seat to mine, keeping his eyes on the water as Knox’s lookout. Just as he’s about to land on the seat, Knox turns the boat and Jake loses his balance, toppling into me.

I grab his torso to keep him from smashing his face into the side of the boat and my fingers dig into his flesh. He plants a hand high on my thigh to catch himself and gain purchase anywhere he can, and holy fuck it feels good to have him touching me.

“Shit. Sorry,” he apologizes, backing up. “A little warning next time?” he yells at Knox.

“How was I supposed to know you were going to play flying squirrel right when I turned?” Knox yells back over the music which has changed to country and is currently beltingAin’t No Love in Oklahoma.

Jake rolls his eyes and turns to me, close to my face. His gaze dips to my lips so fast if I had blinked, I would’ve missed it…but I didn’t blink.

“I, uh, learned how to board after meeting these guys a few years ago. Growing up, I was expected to know rich kid shit: tennis, golf, chess, sailing, polo, fencing…you get the idea, but I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie so every chance I can, I try to learn something new. I like doing things other people can’t.”

“Polo?Fencing?” I ask, latching on to literally anything in an effort to hide how turned on I am.

He shoves my shoulder. “It wasn’t my choice, but I’ll have you know, I’m a state champion in fencing. I figured if I was going to be forced to do it, I might as well be the best at it.”

“Impressive. Are sword jokes tooon the nose?” I ask in a really bad, fake British accent.

“Tell me the truth. Have you ever used the expressionon the nosebefore this conversation?”

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