Page 120 of Whirlwind

That would be a hell of a shot.

“Violet—” Lars switched out his camera for another, a waterproof one. “Let’s get in the water now.” The two of them slid off the boat into the deep blue.

Stone got the drone back on board as Alessio and I peered over the edge. Swirling forms. Around and around. Irina came up for air, Lars, Violet. Gabriella and Tag. They dove back in one after the other.

We waited.

Tag and Violet crashed through the surface sucking up air. With a shared look, they dove back down again.

Violet and Lars resurfaced and swam toward the yacht. I reached out to her and helped her up. Grabbing a towel from the pile, I wrapped her in it. She planted a kiss on my cheek and I hugged her, she hugged me back, holding on.

And all was right with the world again.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“Good, once I got the hang of it.”

Gabriella and Irina climbed back on board, and Violet got them towels and ushered them down below. They reappeared, the two models with a touch of glossy makeup, wearing see-through long dresses with only a bikini bottom underneath. They pranced around on deck, dreamy, moody looks on their faces, laughs and seductive smiles as Stone and Violet followed them with their cameras from different angles.

Tugging at their sleeves, primping them, Violet directed the girls in a few moves, sending them off once more. Their long hair flying, they touched each other and kissed, and Violet grinned behind her camera.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Alessio lit a cigarette.

“Hmm,” I managed, but my gaze was glued on Violet at work, Violet seeing, deciding, capturing.

The sun was setting. Lilac, orangey pink hues had seeped over our world.

Someone passed around a reefer and I took a hit, passing it on to Tag who stood next to me. “You get everything you needed today?”

“Yeah, it’s been good. Real good.”

Violet slid up next to me, and my arm went around her waist. She leaned over and caught Tag’s attention. “You are such an adrenaline junkie.”

Tag grinned, taking another hit. “Adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, lust. I enjoy maximizing everything—”

“To the max,” I said.

“Why the fuck not, right? What’s the point if you don’t? I don’t want now to slip away from me, so every day I interact to the fullest, whatever it is.” His gaze went to the color saturated sky. “I don’t want to miss out on what this planet has to offer. Every day is a new opportunity for more experience.

“When I was a kid I used to hear you can’t do this, you shouldn’t do that, maybe later, another time. Hell no. That’s what made me quit school. Why do we have to wait? For graduation? Is that some kind of rule or standard we all have to measure up to? Fuck that. And what changes after that anyway? Nothing. So, again, fuck that. I want to grab life now while I have it. Live it, let it loose.”

“Check it out man, looks amazing.” Lars handed Tag his camera and we all bent over toward the screen.

Lars’s camera had followed Irina’s ass as she swam toward Tag, the two of them elegantly tumbling around each other in the water, schools of small fish rushing past them.

Close up shots of Tag with his hands in front of his face, then spreading them to reveal his eyes. The girls’ torsos with their necklaces glinting in the sunlight up by the surface of the water. Violet’s bathing suit looked fantastic as she swam underwater. She seemed naked, but then your eye caught the lines of the bands encasing her body and it gave her length and made her movement in the water intriguing. She circled around Tag until he finally twisted around her, his hand taking hers up to his lips, a close up of him kissing her fingertips, pulling her in his tight embrace, the two of them turning in the water.

“Cool,” murmured Tag, his eyes glued to the small monitor.

“Very.” I knew this was work. I knew that this trip was about me and Violet letting loose and having fun. We’d agreed on that.

“Ah, looks so great,” she said.

My hand curled around hers tightly. She threaded our fingers together, and that ache in my chest eased.

45

Beck

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