Page 45 of Stone Deep
TWENTY-FIVE
SLADE
Agood hour into our ocean excursion on theSea Empress, I was ready to head back in. Stupidly, I’d forgotten how annoying Stewie could be, especially in the small world of a fourteen-foot boat deck. Cleveland always managed to sink to Stewie’s level of lameness whenever he was with the guy. Melonie and her friend, Kristy, were equally irritated with the boat captain. The three of us had planted ourselves on the seat running along the stern in an attempt to put the most distance between us and Captain Stewie.
Melonie and I had gone to school at the same time. She had been a cheerleader and a straight A student and an all around good girl. So, she’d never been anywhere near the circle of people that I’d hung with. Her friend, Kristy, was cute but didn’t have a lot of personality. But after a few hours with Stewie and Cleveland, I preferred boring to clownish.
“I know what I was going to ask you,” Melonie piped up from behind the glass of wine she’d been nursing for the entire trip. “Is it true that Colt has a steady girlfriend? What with me always being on the east coast, I miss all thejuicy gossip.”
“Yep, Colt is a taken man.”
“Oh my gosh, I’ll bet there was a simultaneous, long sigh of disappointment in town when that happened.” She turned to Kristy. “Colt is Slade’s younger brother, and oh my god, is he gorgeous.” She smiled and reached over to pat my arm. “Like you, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m the guy who walked in Colt’s glowing shadow all these years. Save your baloney for someone who believes you.”
“I’m having a hard time believing that your brother is even more handsome than you,” Kristy added politely.
“Thank you for your nice attempt at saving my honor, but Colt looks like he was created just to be on magazine covers.”
Melonie laughed. “I’ll say. That boy would walk down the hallway, and every girl, even the female teachers, snuck glances around lockers and office doors. He was only a freshman when I was a junior, but I still had to steal glimpses. It’s good that someone finally netted him.”
“Yep. And Jade is amazing.” I looked out at the clouds that were closing in on us quickly. I turned back. “Hey, Stew, let’s get this thing moving again. That storm is closing in on us.”
Stewie shaded his eyes with his hand, and, dickwad that he was, he stood at the railing to see if my prediction was true. “Those are some heavy clouds.”
“Hey, Captain Crunch, stop second guessing me and let’s head back to the marina,” I said sharply.
“Yeah, all right.” He went back to his captain’s chair.Four attempts at turning the engine failed.
I shook my head at Cleveland. He lifted his hands as if he’d had nothing to do with dragging me along.
Stewie got up and walked to the engine compartment. He stared at all of us. “The door opens that direction.” He pointed toward the seat we were sitting on.
We got up and moved our little party to the bow. Cleveland joined us.
I opened my mouth to say something, but he put up his hand to stop me. “Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say. But what would you have been doing anyhow—sitting on the couch playing video games?”
“I just hope he gets this thing started. It’s a long fucking swim back to the marina.” Almost on cue, as I mentioned a long swim, the current started churning up from a mild afternoon ruffling to a choppy, stormy layer of chaos.
The wine Melonie had been holding the entire trip sloshed up and over the side of her glass and onto her leg. “Come on, Stewie, we need to head back.”
Stewie lifted his face from the engine compartment. “No shit.”
“You need some help?” I called back to the stern.
“Think I know my own boat, Stone,” he barked back.
I shot another annoyed look at Cleveland, and he avoided it by turning his focus to the approaching storm. The seagulls had begun to raise the alarm with their screeches. They were hovering above the water surface as it quickly became more turbulent.
Kristy, a midwest girl, who had mentioned that she’d only been on a boat twice looked worried. I scooted closerand put an arm around her. “This storm isn’t anything a boat this size can’t handle.”
She nodded, but her face was slowly draining of color.
Cleveland got up with a grunt. “Stay here with the girls. I’d better go help him.” He walked back to the stern and leaned down into the engine compartment with Stewie.
I decided a conversation might lighten the worry. “When do you two go back to college?”
“Next week,” Melonie answered. She cast a scowl her brother’s direction. “Hopefully.”
