“I swear, Grey. You did that on purpose.” She flicked the water with her fingers. The large fin broke the surface as the beast allowed itself to be stroked, and then disappeared back into the deep. “One day, I’m going to get some scuba gear and check out where you stay. One day.”
She hopped out of the boat and turned the light on. Blood smeared the side and floor of the boat, and she collected a rag and jumped back in. The seawater was adequate enough to remove the stain. At least there were no body parts on the deck. She checked the water, making sure pieces of Chet hadn’t bobbed to the surface. She’d have to check again in the morning, as Grey was good, but sometimes he got a bit sloppy with his eating.
She cut the light out and shut the door to the boathouse. What to say about Chet? Mandy asked herself as she made her way back to the house. Sometimes the easiest thing would be to tell the truth. She had time for that and wasn’t ready to divulge any secrets. The new day would begin soon enough.
New day, more fun.
She stopped and turned, heading back to the dock to look out over the water. She heard a splash and knew Grey was swimming around somewhere. Visions of her predator stepdad being pulled under and her mom snapping in half by the voracious jaws of her savior flashed. Her own personal God. The urge to feed him again was strong, and she felt the connection they shared, like electricity popping in the air. A link between her sophisticated mind and the creature’s primal brain.
Tomorrow, you’ll get your fill.
She walked to the beach house, her eyes already welling with tears as she rehearsed the story of Chet leaving her for good. Loss could be so painful sometimes.
Chapter 13
Mandy sat at the kitchen table with a mound of wadded tissue piled high. The table was large enough to seat 12 and was empty, save for a large bowl of fresh fruit. Apples, oranges, grapefruits, and bananas had been tastefully arranged, making the display look too pretty to eat. She rolled a banana back and forth in her hands, convincing herself to eat something, but the urge faded every time she considered bending the peel.
Feet pounding the stairs alerted that the solitude would soon end. Two pairs of pasty white legs followed by a long set of black ones entered her view. Glenn, Luke, and Desmond arrived and hovered over their heartbroken friend. She produced fresh tears upon their arrival.
Mandy raised her head. Her nose glowed red, and her eyes were puffy from crying.
“Damn, Mandy. You look worse than I feel.” Glenn winced as he spoke.
“Cut it out, Glenn. Can’t you see she’s upset?” Luke made a weak attempt to lay his hand on her bare shoulder but stopped just short of touching her.
“I take it you and Chet had some words,” Desmond said.
“Yes.” Mandy struggled to speak.
“Where is he? He has to face me now. I don’t think I’m going to be the one doing the crying when it’s over.” Desmond spoke devoid of emotion. His eyes scanned the room, as if expecting Chet to appear at any moment.
“We had a fight. I pressed him real hard, and he confessed. He told me about the others. All the others he’s been with since we’ve been dating. Did you know he fucked some other girl the day of my parents’ memorial?”
“I can’t believe anyone would do that,” Luke said.
Desmond let out a huff of air. “I knew about the others. Not about the day of the memorial, though. That’s cold, man. I can’t believe he’d do that. Then again, I didn’t know he was such a scumbag that he’d go behind my back and mess with my girl. He’s going to pay for that.”
“Why bother? You’re better off cutting him out of your life, like me. He must be sick or something.” Mandy blew her nose with a fresh tissue.
“So, where is he?” Desmond asked.
“He yelled something about hitching a ride back to the public beach and calling someone to come pick him up. Cops are always passing up and down the main road. They probably gave him a ride, and he’s home by now.”
“Well, he ain’t getting off that easy.” Desmond pulled out his phone and hit speed dial. The phone went straight to voicemail. He hung up and tried again with the same results. “His phone’s off.”
Glenn took that as a break in the moment and opened the refrigerator, finding a bottle of water. He opened it and turned it bottom up, gulping noisily.
“Is there anything I can do?” Luke asked.
“No. No, there’s nothing you or anyone can do. I just have to give it a little time, that’s all. I’ll be okay.”
“Sure you will. Other guys will be lining up at your door now that Chet won’t be hanging around,” Desmond said.
Luke went to the refrigerator and pulled out a Coke. Glenn searched the cabinets until he found a bottle of Advil and popped a few in his mouth. He offered the bottle to Luke, who counted out three pills and chased them with a chug of Coke.
“I think I need to go back to bed,” Glenn said.
“As much as I’d like to stay up, I’m feeling way too bad. Sarah and Serena are still asleep. I think I’ll go see if I can grab a couple more hours and maybe I’ll be ready to party again after noon.” Luke watched Mandy as he walked toward the stairs.
Mandy continued to stare at the table with Desmond acting as if he was waiting for her instructions.
Glenn followed, and the two headed up to their rooms.
Desmond picked an apple from the bowl and went to the refrigerator. “You want something?”
“Diet Coke.”
He picked up two cans in one hand and set them on the table. Mandy opened hers and took a few swallows. Desmond bit into his apple and crunched loudly with an open mouth.
“You know, I’m tired of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I’m going to take a walk. Maybe even go for a swim and wash all my troubles away.” Mandy rose from the chair. “You want to come? It’s a beautiful day.”
“Sure.” He put the apple down and opened his Coke. “It beats hanging out around here waiting for Serena to wake up so we can have a knock-down drag-out fight. I’m starting to think it’s not even worth it. Like you said, ‘why bother?’ ” He picked up his apple and followed Mandy out the door.
“I used to think that Chet and I would always be together, even get married one day. That’s such a childish thought. I’m starting to understand what growing up is all about. Seems you have to realize that your friends in high school won’t always be around.” Mandy headed toward the boathouse.
“Not so much with me and Serena. I didn’t see us staying together past this summer, to be honest with you. I certainly didn’t expect this to happen, though. I wasn’t ready to break up just yet.”
It was a little after 9 A.M., and the sun in the cloudless sky had already warmed the sand. It felt good underneath Mandy’s bare feet as the sand always brought a sense of freedom. Barefoot and care free. Chet was gone and could never do her or any other girl wrong. She wished she had videotaped his death. The horror and shock contorting his face excited her all over again. She imagined masturbating to that image burned in her mind.
“Hey, looks like your smile is returning. Are we going for a walk or did you still want to go for a swim?” Desmond had finished the apple and tossed the core into the sand. A seagull dipped down and carried off the remains of the fruit. He brushed his hands on his shorts and wiped his mouth with his shirt.
Mandy led him to the end of the pier. The waves bumped the pylons three feet down. “Does this answer your question?” She was wearing an orange and aqua bikini top and pulled her shorts off, exposing her bottoms.
“I see you already have your suit on. Mine’s back in my room.”
A devilish grin grew across her lips. She untied her top and let it fall to the pier. Her firm breasts hung as if supported by an invisible bra. Her pink nipples stiffened as the breeze tickled them.
She pulled off her bottoms. “You’re the one who wanted to go naked on the beach. What are you waiting for?” She turned and poked her perfect ass in the air as she dove int
o the Gulf. Mandy popped out of the sea-green water and pulled the hair away from her face.
Desmond looked down the coast both ways before pulling off his shirt and tossing it on the pier. He shucked his shorts, taking underwear with it, and strode to the edge, posing like an Adonis ready to be worshipped. His chest muscles tightened above a hard six-pack, and his biceps bulged, wrapped in veins thick as rope.
“Your dick is so black it almost looks blue.” Mandy giggled.
“Cannon ball!” Desmond leaped into the air and came splashing down a few feet from Mandy.” He quickly came up for air. “This water’s cold!”
“It’s a little cool, but you’ll adjust to it before you know it. It helps if you move a little bit. Come on, let’s swim. Follow me.” Mandy kicked her feet and swam fish-like through the waves.
Desmond chased after her, falling behind despite his best effort to catch up. Football and basketball were two sports he regularly practiced. Swimming was only something he had learned to do as a child. He hadn’t spent much leisure time in the water.
With the pier a good 50 yards away, Mandy floated on her back in the Gulf, waiting for Desmond to catch up. He swims like a buffalo, she thought. Without the grace of a dolphin or the discipline of a shark. When he reached her side, he splashed water in her face.
Mandy abandoned her floating position and wiped her eyes. “About time you got here.” She heard Desmond’s labored breathing. “Take a minute and catch your breath. Do you need to hold on to me?”
He took a few quick breaths. “No. At least not to catch my breath.”
Mandy instantly picked up on his vibes. “Really? Did you see something you wanted to hold on to?”
“A couple of things come to mind. You are one fine woman.”
“You think so, huh?” the tops of her breasts floated above the water.
“I can’t believe Chet would look for strange while he had you. I think you’re right. That boy is sick.”
“With Chet and Serena cheating on us, it only seems right for us to…you know, get revenge.”
“I’ve gotten revenge before. But it always involved violence. I wouldn’t call us being together revenge.”
“Call it whatever you want to. I just want to feel your dick inside me.”
“You have a way with words. I like that.”
“You know what would be fun?”
“I can think of a few things.”
“That’s not where I’m going. When you said revenge it made me think of Serena. Do you want to play a mind game on her?”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ll go back to the house, and you make her feel guilty for fucking Chet. She’ll say she’s sorry and will try to make up. Tell her the only way to make it even is for you to make love to me.”
“Whoa. Sparks would fly over that.”
“You haven’t heard the best part. You tell her she has to watch.”
“What? Are you serious? You’d do that?”
“I would. You’ve got nothing to lose. If she gets pissed and leaves, we’re still together. If she agrees, we still have sex. Either way, we both get what we want.”
“I’m getting all worked up just thinking about it. Oh look, someone’s over at the end of the pier waving. Too far away for me to tell who it is.”
“You need to get your eyes checked. It’s Sarah.” Mandy was surprised to see Sarah up this early. She had handled her liquor a lot better than Mandy expected. Another course of action crossed her mind. “Say, Desmond, what if I could get Sarah involved in a three way? You’d be into that?”
“A three way with Sarah? That would be freaking great. Do you think she’d go for it?”
“If I know Sarah, and I do, she’ll go for it. She really gets off taking things to the limit. You wait here, and I’ll swim over and talk to her. We’ll join you back here.” Mandy didn’t wait for an answer. She swam to the pier and met Sarah at the dock. She reached up and gripped the sun-warmed wood.
Pulling herself up, she stood naked on the dock with water droplets slowly tracing their way down her body. Sarah’s gaze did the same thing.
“You’re in the water early. No one else is up at the house, so I came out here. Skinny dipping without me? I’m hurt.” Sarah looked around. “I don’t see Chet. Where is he?”
“We had a big fight this morning, and he went back home. Called Steve to pick him up.”
“It’s just as well. I’m glad to see him go.”
“Really? After playing footsy with his dick at the restaurant.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Sarah. I saw you. Trust me, I’d have to be pretty stupid to not know what that big goofy grin on his face was for. I even know you aren’t a total lesbian like you claim. How many times did you fuck him?”
“I didn’t ever care about him! I…I only did it to break you two up. To make you jealous so you would leave him. Fucking him was horrible. I used to throw up after doing it. I just want us to be together…always.” Sarah eyes pleaded for Mandy to believe her.
Mandy moved closer to Sarah. She placed her hands on Sarah’s arms in a gentle embrace. “Oh, Sarah. I had no idea you loved me so much to go through that for me.”
“Then you forgive me?” Sarah smiled with hope.
“You’re forgiven.” She pulled Sarah to her, and they kissed. Tongues entwined and saliva mixed as Mandy felt Sarah shiver with pleasure. She broke the kiss. “There’s only one small problem,” Mandy said.
“What’s that?” Sarah asked.
“I’m not gay.”
Mandy twisted her body, catching Sarah off balance, and pushed her off the pier.
Sarah landed on her back and slapped the water with a sharp clap. She came up startled and spitting water. “Hey! Why the fuck did you do that?”
Sarah swam toward the ladder and began to pull herself up. Her weight was too much for the loosened bolts, and the girl and ladder crashed down into the water. Sarah resurfaced; her face a mix of anger, fear, and confusion. Mandy stared down, evil intent twisting her lips.
“My cousin, Grey, arrived last night. He’s been waiting for you. It was a long trip, and he’s very, very hungry.” Mandy giggled.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I—” Sarah’s words were cut off when her head disappeared beneath the Gulf’s surface.
Desmond treaded water, too far away to see what was happening by the pier.
The water turned dark above Sarah’s head. Her hand broke the surface. Her white skin in stark contrast to the red blood. Soon, her head popped up, and all she could do was gasp for air. The color had left her face, and her mouth was fixed in a silent scream.
“Grey really likes you, Sarah. He’s a good listener, too. Why don’t you tell him all about how we’re in love and are going to spend our lives together?”
Sarah went under again and, soon, bubbles flooded to the surface.
Desmond called out, “Hey? What’s going on over there?” He waved his arm in the air.
Mandy waved back, and then watched the water churn in front of her. When the water finally calmed, Sarah’s left foot floated to the surface. Mandy grabbed a fishnet from the railing above a long metal box containing a speargun. She leaned over the pier and scooped the foot out. Grey’s massive head rose to the surface, far enough that she was able to pat his blunt nose. “Good boy. Now, go take care of Desmond.” She pointed toward the athlete and watched as the shark sped off.
Desmond kept calling. She saw the dorsal fin of the bull shark getting closer. His yells for attention turned into screams of panic as the predator was almost on top of him.
Mandy watched Desmond swim frantically as the shark approached. Soon, Grey overtook him in a spectacular splash of thrashing water. In no time, the waters calmed. The shark continued heading out the bay toward the Gulf. It would be the last time Desmond would ever be seen again.
She looked at Sarah’s foot still in her han
d. Her toenails were painted green. Mandy sneered. Sarah had never had any taste. She put on her clothes, and gathered Desmond’s, before heading for the boathouse. She could feed Grey the foot later.
If the others weren’t awake by now, she would give them until noon and get them up. Half of her plan had been executed, and the other half remained. Things were going smoothly, and she couldn’t wait to see the shocked faces staring back when the truth was revealed. Mandy was nearly ready to release her true self on the world. It brought an indescribable exuberance—a blast of raw energy. Better than sex or any orgasm. A high greater than any drug would bring.
Sarah’s foot went in the cooler, and Mandy skipped back to the house. Memories of Chet’s face frozen in horror returned. She felt herself getting wet.
Chapter 14
The only thing Mandy had on her mind was a hot shower and a few rounds with her vibrator when she entered the beach house. The sight of Serena sitting by herself at the table surprised her. Serena gazed up, and Mandy closed the door quietly.
“How do you feel?” Mandy asked, walking into the kitchen.
“Emotionally or physically?” Serena said. She faced down at the table and tapped her fingers rhythmically.
“I guess emotionally.”
“I’m a wreck, Mandy. I’m a little pissed off at you.”
“Me? What did I do?” Mandy fought off a laugh.
“Why did you bring up that question for Truth or Dare? You knew it would just start shit. This whole weekend is ruined, and it’s all your fault. I think you did this on purpose—get us out here and fuck around with us because you’re bored. Well boo-hoo, the poor little rich girl is bored. Fuck you.”
Mandy was stunned. A wave of anger rushed over her, and she was tempted to grab the copper pot hanging over the stove and beat Serena’s brains out until there was nothing left in her head. She fought the urge. That wasn’t the plan. Not like that.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Serena, I really do, but Chet needed to be called out. Besides, it’s not like you care that much about Desmond anyway. You cheat on him.”
Slipway Grey: A Deep Sea Thriller Page 7