Chapter 4

Several weeks after I saved his family from the scaled terror, Charles was grumbling while we enjoyed beers on my deck. At the last minute, he’d been tapped to host a company get-together.

“How about something simple?” I suggested. “Outdoors, maybe. Weather’s nice enough.”

“Ah, yes. Great idea!” He scanned his backyard. “A pool party. Hmm, a BBQ.” His gaze flicked back to me. “Wanna come? It’d be good to have somebody Mandy knows around. She, uh...”

“Wife still not getting out much?”

“Um, no. No, she’s not.”

“Sure thing, Charles.”

A chuckle escaped me; pretty sure I was the reason she wasn’t wandering far. Curtains swished every morning, and her swimsuits could not get tinier.

Before he could respond, I laughed a little louder. “This guy’s got a rule: never turn down free food.”

As such, the following week, my footsteps crunched across the lawn toward the delightful aroma of grilling meat. Yep, salivating, and my grin broadened.

No sooner had I arrived than Charles waved me into a throng of his coworkers. While conversations at first sputtered, with wide-eyed gazes scanning a battered, scarred, and most definitely non-office-worker physique, soon enough I had them laughing. Easy lies slipped from me, describing places never seen, while being careful to conceal those shitholes leaving darkness in my soul.

Some of those eyes gained an intensity. A good-looking, heavy-set woman with a tinkling laugh kept nudging my arm. Her husband was not so amused, and after a while, I excused myself.

The glittering pool called to me. The chill could be useful; like I said, some of those wandering eyes belonged to mighty attractive spouses, and my trunks were sporting a bit of a tent. Add in the heat of the sun and the coolness had me grinning as I drifted to the far end. While reclining against the wall in the deeper water, my smile widened.

Those other eyes could become as intense as they wanted. My gaze tracked only Mandy. In a loose flower-print sundress, she navigated the crowd, offering food and drinks while Charles schmoozed his bosses.

Her husband had been wrong. As a host, she appeared happy and attentive, ensuring guests wanted for nothing. Earlier, she’d been cordial to me, although her cheeks gained a bright red glow, and her gaze darted away.

A raft of vibrant pink caught my attention. The translucent plastic was drifting from a sizeable crowd of noisy party-goers clustered in the shallows. As the craft slid closer, moving through a collection of abandoned floats and large, colorful inflated balloons, details arrived.

With a nervous grin and long, blonde hair fanned across the surface behind her, Susan was pushing the auburn-haired friend atop the raft. The other girl wore a tiny black bikini and lay on her stomach, leaving perfect, tanned buttocks to glisten in the late afternoon sunlight. The same glow filled red hair with bronze sparkles.

“Gonna introduce us this time?” I said, as Mandy’s daughter paddled nearer.

“Desi.” Susan chewed her lower lip.

A quiet moan brought my focus to the redhead right as she jolted. Delicate eyelashes fluttered, and her tongue flickered into view. Another whimper drew me to further details.