Page 65 of The Rising Tide
“What else?” Scout asked, staring from Piers to Larissa in horrified fascination.
“Steals my”—Larissa turned pink—“underwear. Only the pretty lacy ones. They just disappear.”
All of the men wrinkled their noses.
“I’m so sorry,” Scout told her. He’d grown up without any expectation of privacy. The idea that someone could have privacy and have it ripped away seemed horrifying.
“Thanks, Scout,” Larissa said soberly. She was a pretty girl, maybe eighteen or so, with a long chestnut-colored braid, freckles across her cheeks, and large brown eyes. Scout felt a surge of protectiveness in his chest. Kayleigh had all that suppressed rage to keep her safe, but Larissa seemed so vulnerable.
“Did he do anything else?” Lucky asked.
“Killed all my plants,” Larissa said sadly. “I don’t know how he did it. It was weird. It was like, I’d walk into my parents’ house and think, ‘He’s been here,’ and then their plants would be sort of droopy, and by the time I got to my room, my plants would bedead. And my parents have a plantservice.Nothing should have been dying atall.”
“Not fabulous,” Scout muttered, looking at Piers and Miller, who both nodded.
“Stalker with a mechanic power,” Miller muttered. Then he brightened. “Which, you know, maybe now that I have people I can talk to aboutmypower, I can figure out how to sniff this guy out.”
“Oh please?” Larissa said, looking at Miller with begging eyes. “It would begreatif I could feel safe again. I was supposed to start college this year. Piers was in his last year to get his law degree, and I was going to attend the same school for a year. We both had to put it off because of this, and I wasreallylooking forward to it.”
She smiled prettily, and Scout smiled back, enchanted. It was like being begged for help by a fairy princess. There was no sexual attraction involved; it was sheer charm.
“I can’t make any promises,” Scout said, looking at Miller, Piers, and Lucky, “but now that we all know what to look for, we can at least keep an eye out.” He paused, chewing his lip. “And maybe the island is too. I mean, Lucky got a warning when his trouble was nearby. I’m thinking maybe running into Miller is a good thing. Miller can keep an eye on who gets on the ferries and such, and, you know, if his mechanic is knowing who’s armed and crazy, maybe he really is our secret weapon.”
“I do feel safer now,” she said, inclining her head regally to the young peace officer, and he smiled, obviously as enchanted as Scout, and tipped his imaginary hat.
“So now that we’re a secret club,” Piers said, “do we do something? Invent a password? Meet once a week and have an agenda? What?”
Scout blinked at him. “Well, meeting once a week wouldn’t suck,” he said, “but that’s just because Kayleigh and I aren’t used to having a peer group we don’t have to like because we live with them.”
Kayleigh looked up from where she was obviously doing something complicated with her hands that would probably look a little better with the stage props and an audience.
“You all don’t suck,” she said shortly. “Dinner, mine and Scout’s apartment, every Tuesday night. Club meetings may commence. It would be great if you brought extra food.”
Scout laughed a little, and they all heard the ferry horn from the port outside. He stood and looked at Lucky, who smiled back.
“We’re going to go check out Charleston for the day,” he said. “We’ll be back on the last ferry. Kayleigh, do you want me to pick up dinner to cook?”
She shook her head. “I have a thing I want to—”
“Wants me to make,” Piers interjected smoothly. “I’ll do the shopping.”
They all looked at him in surprise, and he managed to look sheepish. “You all have been very hospitable. I’d like to return the favor.”
Scout grinned. “Excellent. We’ll see you back at the apartment.” He stood. “Have a great day everyone!”
And then he turned and grabbed Lucky’s hand, and together they ran for the ferry. They were both wearing jeans and hooded sweatshirts, and the wind whipped around their faces, tossing Scout’s hair to a thousand different places and making Lucky look tousled and sexy. As they rushed up the on-ramp of the ferry and to the prow, where they could look out into the vast blue and anticipate their destination, he felt an absolutely glorious burst of joy.
Moments from their lovemaking that morning flitted through his mind—from the taste of salt on skin as Scout had skated his lips along Lucky’s neck to the soft gasp Lucky had made as Scout had taken his cock into his mouth to the brightness of Lucky’s muddy green eyes and the silk of his body as Scout had possessed him.
That had beenthem, brilliant bodies, unfettered spirits, and this wasthemnow, under a dazzling October sky.
He closed his eyes and turned his face to the sun, keeping tight hold of Lucky’s hand.
“Happy?” Lucky asked in his ear.
“So happy. You?”
Lucky let go of his hand and moved close enough for Scout to drape his arm over Lucky’s shoulder.
