Slow No Wake - By Dakota Madison Page 0,50

left. He glanced over at me and gave me a dimpled grin. My breath caught reflexively and I immediately hated my body for responding to him.

I glanced at Daniel and he was scowling. He put his left arm around my shoulder and pulled me in as close as he could. It was just enough so that my leg was no longer touching Eddie’s.

“You can lay your head on my shoulder if you get tired,” Daniel said quietly.

Apparently it was not quiet enough, because Ricky yelled back, “Whose shoulder can I lay my head on? Joey-G is driving and I don’t want him to run off the road.”

The guys all chucked at Daniel’s expense, but he didn’t seem to mind. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

I could see Joey-G looking at us in the rearview mirror. “No making out in my car,” he yelled back to us. “I’m the only one allowed to score in this vehicle.”

Daniel flipped him the bird.

“I saw that,” Joey-G said.

“You’re just jealous,” Daniel said. 8Y

“Hell, yeah,” Joey-G said. “Lexie’s hot.”

I could feel my face getting warm with embarrassment. Daniel pulled me even closer to him, which I didn’t think was possible in such a confined space. If I was any closer, I would have been in his lap.

The rest of the trip the guys talked about kites and wind and waves. I could feel myself getting tired. As I lay my head on Daniel’s shoulder, I could feel his breath catch. As I snuggled in even closer and placed my hand on his muscular chest, his heartbeat quickened. Daniel felt so warm and I felt so secure in his strong arms, it didn’t take long for me to drift into a peaceful sleep.

***

A kiss on my forehead woke me up. “We’re here,” Daniel said softly as I opened my eyes.

Joey-G and Ricky were already out of the car and Eddie was stretching out next to me. He must have fallen asleep at some point, too.

Daniel opened his door and we both hopped out of the car. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the beach.

“Wow,” I said to Daniel. “This is wonderful.”

He smiled. “Yeah, we like to come up here every few months, if we can. The waves here are a bit different than they are further south.”

“And so are the chicks,” Joey-G said. “What’s that saying about variety…it’s the seasoning of life.”

Ricky frowned. “Dude, variety is the spice of life. And you call yourself a chef. Ha!”

The guys all laughed.

“We’d better get the tents set up first,” Eddie said. “The last time I tried to set up a tent drunk, it fell down on me in the middle of the night.”

We unloaded everything from the back of the SUV and then the guys got to work setting up the tents. I asked Daniel if I could give him a hand, but he told me he could handle it.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked. I was feeling strange just standing there watching everyone else work.

“You can do the most important job,” Daniel said, removing his wallet from his pocket. He handed me a ten dollar bill. “Walk up to the concession area and get two bags of ice, then fill the coolers with ice and beer.”

I had to grin. Of course, getting the beer ready for consumption would be considered the most important job to these guys.

I headed over to the concession area. It was 11:00 a.m., so the breakfast crowd was long gone and the lunch crowd hadn’t started yet.

A young blonde was at the counter. I thought she was around my age, but she was overly tanned and it seemed to be prematurely aging her. When she approached me, she had a strange expression on her face.

“You here with Eddie?” she asked, her tone harsh. I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by the question.

“Eddie’s part of the group I’m here with,” I said. I hoped that would appease her.

She looked me up and down as if she was sizing me up. I felt extremely uncomfortable. “Eddie and I usually get together when he’s in town,” she said.

“Okay.” That was really too much information, but whatever. “Would it be possible to get some ice?”

“I’ve never seen them bring a girl with them. They usually hook up with girls in town.”

It was becoming increasingly obvious that I was going to have to hear whatever this young woman wanted to tell me before I had any