Page 98 of Grace

Yellow fish—wait! Are those purple fish?

I flayed my arms, swimming just below the surface of the cool water. Because we were in such shallow water, I didn’t expect to see as many sea creatures, but this snorkeling expedition had been cool. It was time to call it quits, but I took my time trying to capture all there was to see. I managed a few pictures of the school of purple fish, hearing faint voices from above. Just as I was preparing for a second shot, my legs were spread and an object rubbed against my ass then my sex. I knew it was a human being when I tried turning to investigate and big hands gripped my thighs, preventing me from flipping around. He let go of me after several lascivious rubs against my private parts.

Jas released me and swam backwards, revealing his identity. Heat coursed my body, starting from my feet. It was pathetic how much I wanted him, and the one thing between me having Jas was my stubborn pride. I was over his anonymity. Done with the wall of privacy he erected between us. Jas offered no explanation for slowing his communication since we parted ways a few days ago. Yes, I was feeling insecure about him showing to St. Vincent, something I had to deal with. But I wasn’t sure where keeping so much from me had derived from.

Shaking off my thoughts, and in an attempt to distract my mind from my body’s needs, I swam back toward the boat. Jas had been two feet behind me our entire afternoon of expeditions. It was time to end my anger and embrace his birthday getaway. I went for my towel as soon as I stepped off the ladder and into the boat. Jas was right behind me, going for his when his cousin, Myron, began talking about his ill-experience with reconciling his breathing into a tube.

Jonathan was the last to get on the boat, wiping the water dripping in his face. “Yo, that shit was a’ight! I wanna go back in, my G!”

We cracked up all the way back to the resort as he raved about his experience all the way there. I was happy to see his mood back in upswing after Jas had him in a chokehold just before we left the chow island. It was sudden and shocking to see Jas angry. Man and Jug along with Tanya had to quietly beg Jas to cut him loose, which he did after heavy heaving and successive blinking. I would definitely be asking what that was all about later.

The sun was setting when we were dropped off at the shore where we walked over to the beach, kicking up water. Jas’ family congregated in one area, I noticed. Maybe they were waiting for prompting for the next activity. I needed a break. A shower, a slow fuck from Jas, and a nap were on my agenda.

“Hey,” Shizu announced, waving her little arms to get everyone’s attention. “We’ve just had an amazing array of activities and I’m sure you guys are exhausted, having just flown in this morning. Maybe we can take a breather, go to our rooms and chill. Then we can meet back down by the pool on this side of the resort—hang on.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Where are your rooms? Which side of the resort are you on?”

“Resort?” Jonathan asked.

“We’reabout—” Chelsea was interrupted by Jas.

“We copped a house about fifteen minutes east of here.” He tossed his thumb over his shoulder.

What?

My stomach flipped in disappointment. He was doing it again, surprising me with another secret of his.

My eyes blew the hell up as Shizu’s head whipped my way.

“Oh,” she uttered, blinking. “Did you guys run into issues when booking?” Shizu looked my way again for answers I didn’t have. “I could have helped out.”

“Nah. It’s just that so many people were saying that they wanted to come to the point I thought it would be more economical to rent one unit.” Jas pulled his t-shirt over his head, demonstratively killing my plans for the evening as they concerned him.

It was rejection.

Again.

“It’s lit over there if y’all wanna pull up,” Myron invited us, or more specifically, Shizu. He’d been throwing her the hungry eye all afternoon. He wasn’t alone: Man had, clandestinely, asked her for her number just before we had lunch earlier. “It’s one thousand over at the crib!”

“Word!” Jonathan scratched his head, yawning.

“The resort’s throwing a grand opening party tonight. We’ll be there,” I shared before ambling off for my room.

6:38 PM

Me:Bout to have dinner. You sure you don’t wanna come through?

7:19 PM

Me:You good?

8:21 PM

Me:You at the party? Still?

9:13 PM

Me:Been a long day. I’m dozing off. Please call. I’m leaving my ringer on.

“This shit is sweet?” Corinne marveled, stepping out of theSprinter.

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