Page 91 of As a Last Resort
Babe?
Sam turned around to face him.“Do not call mebabeever again or I will cut your balls off.”
Robby peeked around her.“She’s a feisty one.”The way he spoke, like he knew her better than I did, made my blood boil.
“You must be Robby.”
“This your rig?”he asked me, looking behind me to theSea King, Captain Harold’s monster of a fishing boat with at least twenty rigged poles poking out of the top.
“Nope,” I responded.“Just helping out Captain for the day.”
“You are?”Sam asked.I may have made it up, but I swore there was a tiny current of hope in her voice.“I thought you had to run the ferry today?”
“Patrick’s on point today.”
“Yeah, so you’re like, the fish assistant?”Robby puffed out his chest and chewed his gum with his mouth open.
I blinked.Sam rolled her eyes.Was this guy trying to be funny?
“They usually call it first mate.”
He gave a huff and looked around through his mirrored aviators.The small urge to punch him brewed somewhere underneath the surface.
“I get the delightful pleasure of showing Robby around theisland today.”Sam clenched her teeth.“We’re starting with the fishing charter around the point of the island.Captain Harold said he could squeeze two more of us on short notice.”
Robby’s gum bubble popped obnoxiously loud.“Sam’s going to show me all the make out spots on the island.”
Yep.That urge was growing stronger pretty quickly.
“You’re not even remotely funny,” she snapped back.“You’re lucky I even acknowledge your existence after the stunt you pulled this morning.”
Stunt this morning?
Starting off the day with this guy would be rough, let alone spending the whole day with him.I didn’t want her anywhere near him.
“Hey, why don’t you come with me first?”I asked her, acting like the idea had just come to me.“I’ve got some water errands to do for Captain and we’ll meet up in a couple hours.”
“We’re heading out on the chartertogether,” Robby answered for her.He draped his arm over Sam’s shoulder, which she immediately swept off her.
“We’ll meet up with Harold’s crew for the second half of the trip.I need to run out to catch Captain some live bait first.”
His eyes narrowed in on me and a shit-eating grin crept across his face.“Nah, we’re good, man.”He draped his arm over Sam’s shoulder, which she swept off.Again.
“Splitting up and covering more ground would be beneficial to your project.You probably want to map out the best places for bait fish.Right, Sam?”
“Yes.Yes, it totally would.”She finally saw the out I was giving her.“I’ll go check off the bait… places… with you, and Robby, you can head with Captain Harold and check off the first few fishing spots.”
“Wait, what are you going to do?”he asked as she jumped on my skiff.
“You know, fish assistant stuff.”
“Well, I’m coming with you,” he argued.“Do you even know this guy?”
She looked right at me and answered, “It feels like we just met.”
I swear the boat caught fire underneath my feet.I started up the engine once I remembered how to breathe again.“Boat’s pretty small.And you need to get your sea legs first.That’ll be easier on the bigger boat.”
“I don’t get seasick,” he called out over the motor as we pulled out.
