Page 46 of Starfish and Coffee
“Then have fun babysitting. I doubt Tarrington knows what the fuck he’s doing.” Will walked past him toward the bathroom down the hall and called out, “No one’s going to be out on the water on a Monday. Be safe.”
“I always am.”
Alex went to Will’s closet that was so much more organized than his and found Will’s gear easily. He gathered it up before heading back to his room where he discovered Holly curled up on his bed despite the fact she slept in Will’s bed now.
“Just ask him.” Alex started putting his and Will’s gear together next to the bait cooler and other supplies, making sure he had everything he needed from the house. “Put yourself out of this misery.”
Holly rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand. “What if he says no.”
“I highly doubt he will.”
Holly raised her eyebrows hopefully. “How do you know?”
“’Cause he puts up with hearing my shit all the time. That has to be true love. Trust me, I’ve tested it for you. I use it to my advantage on a daily basis. I even got him to loan Matt his gear for the day.”
“Wow, that is amazing.” Holly laughed. “How’d you manage that?”
“I just told you, I played the Holly card.” Alex gave her a grin. “It’s my new favorite ploy to manipulate my brother.”
“Alex, that’s not—”
“Ah, nope. You were my friend first. That means you can’t take his side on everything just because he’s got some skills I never want to hear about.”
“You got to stop torturing him with all that,” Holly went on as if she didn’t hear him. “It really stresses him out. He thinks you’re mad at him for stealing your girlfriend.”
“He knows you weren’t my girlfriend. Hell, you cried over that guy in Key West for a full week, and all I did was sit there and rub your back. Obviously not something a boyfriend would do.”
“Well, he thinks we weresomething.” Holly sat up and folded her arms over her chest. “When are you gonna tell him?”
“Soon. I am doing it, Holly. I’m so tired of hearing his crap about Matt. I want Will to know what he means to me.”
Holly beamed and said in a singsong voice, “You love him.”
Alex turned to look past his bedroom door when he heard a honk. “There’s Matt. Help me carry the gear?”
“Sure.” Holly bounced off the bed and started helping Alex gather everything up.
When they got outside, they found Matt had borrowed a large white truck from one of the guys who worked for his mother. He parked it on the street behind Will’s Jeep and Holly’s Volkswagen Bug that had seen better days.
“Where are the tanks?” Matt asked as he came around from the driver’s side and eyed both Alex and Holly weighted down with gear. “I can go grab them.”
“No tanks,” Alex said as he worked on putting the stuff in the back of the truck. “The wreck where we’re fishing is shallow, thirty or forty feet at most. We’re free diving.”
Matt took the gear from Holly but then turned back to frown at Alex. “Thirty or forty feet?You can’t dive that deep without tanks.”
“Sure you can,” Holly answered for him. “Alex can hold his breath for over five minutes easily. I’ve seen Will do it for over six.”
“No shit?” Matt looked back and forth between them as if looking for a lie. “You can do that?”
“Oh yeah. They’ve taken certification courses for it.” Holly gave him a broad smile and tilted her head before asking, “Can I ask you a question? I need a man’s opinion.”
Matt frowned. “I guess.”
“I’m going to get the rest of the stuff,” Alex said quickly, knowing exactly what sort of question Holly was going to ask him.
He gathered the rest of the fishing supplies and walked past Will’s room on the way out.
“Hey, Alex.”
