The Bad Boys of Eden (91 page)

Tilting my head up, I inhaled deeply through my nose. I hated this swimming crap; I had to consciously try and breathe. Modeling, tuition, and an education didn’t matter. Not anymore. I was focused on staying alive. “I’m rested now. Thanks for the break. We should swim.”

“Follow me.” He picked up speed.

We swam, maybe another hour. The moonlight illuminated the water, making it appear from a distance almost like snow. Regardless, up close, we swam in black waters. Cold, I tried not to shake. While following behind him, I thought about having him inside me to keep me warm. That togetherness was the most intimate experience I’d ever felt.

Leading the way, every so often he’d turn around to make sure I was okay. Sometimes he’d shout for me to keep going. Leon motivated me to not give up, but more of the accident played in my head too. I couldn’t make it stop.

Images of Blake and the fire made me almost sink to the bottom of the ocean. I practiced what Leon taught earlier, visualizing my GBF in a good place. Blake survived. He had to.

And Vive with her desire to die. I still couldn’t believe she’d unfastened her seatbelt. I had to make this swim to Eden, just so I could slap some sense into her.

The last few years had been hard on all of us. Vive’s scars were cut deeper than mine. She’d buried her only boyfriend and had given up their baby for adoption. I tried to keep that in perspective.

Suddenly, something—unfamiliar and slimy—smacked against me.

What the fuck!

At first, I thought it might be my own limbs. I’d been swimming hardcore and couldn’t tell if I was coming or going.

Shaking it off, I kept following Leon.

Then it slammed into me.

Skin-like.

Leathery.

Screaming for Leon, I practically jumped out of the water.

He stopped, turned around, and swam back.

I knew what it was. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Oue—”

“Shark.”

A fin reflected in the moonlight between us.

Then a second one came up diagonally.

“There are deux sharks.” Leon’s voice for the first time expressed fear.

We’d survived the plane crash. There was no way in hell we were going to get past these two sharks without being eaten alive. This was two sharks too many.

Chapter Five

Jaws Syndrome

“Stop moving!” My heartbeat thumped in my ear, deafening me. Itchy nervousness ran over my face and scalp. I resisted the urge to move my legs. Plain and simple, this was a panic attack. I’m sure of it. Inhaling deeply, I tried to control myself.

I couldn’t relax.

Soon I’d be nothing more than a slice of bologna. In my head, the theme song to
Jaws
played on repeat. Aside from not having a gun, there were also no fire extinguishers to shove in their mouths to blow them up, like they’d done in the movie. We had nothing but ourselves.

Separated by their fins, Leon swam a few feet away trying to get to me. I assume so did the sharks.

Damn.
I knew I should’ve taken that marine biology class at Avon Porter my junior year. Lex had though. Thinking back to what she’d said about her studies, I wondered if sharks could smell. Or is it our vibrations telling them where we are? Could they see us at night through the water? Why aren’t they asleep in an underwater cave somewhere?

The life-jacket kept me afloat. Making myself as small as possible, I tucked my legs up and crossed my arms. Maybe, just maybe, they’d pass us.

“Stay calm.” Leon paddled closer.

What was he gonna do? Knock ‘em out?

The second fin brushed my butt.

“Ahhh!” Shivering, I held back a scream. My ass is so gone. Closing my eyes, I prayed…

God…

It’s me, Taddy Brill. We haven’t talked in a while. Well, not since I was thirteen.

Listen, I get that you’re livid ‘cause I applied to work at the pole-dancing place and also at that chicken wings joint. But come on, what other choice did I have? As Leon says, I gotta work with what I got.

Thank you for this modeling gig, by the way.

Now, you want me to get an education, don’t cha? Help me out here. Enough with these low blows already. Three hot men—teasing me—all week long is cruel. A plane crash? I mean really. Now these sharks!

Aside from giving Leon what my BFF refers to as her Lady V (which was the most amazing six or seven minutes of my life), this trip goes way beyond punishment. You’ve completely changed my thoughts about hell.

Yes, hell!

I’d imagined damnation a lot like one of those designer discount outlet stores in the burbs. You know, where people are fighting for deals, there’s never anything in the right size, it’s always winter merchandise being sold during the summer months, and ya can’t find a sales clerk to save your flippin’ life. Let’s not forget the fact that it’s always a final sale and there are never any refunds, only exchanges.

But this plane crash thingy is waaay worse.

Please, I’ll do anything you want. Just make the sharks disappear. When the semester starts, I promise that I’ll be nicer to Vive. I’ll help Blake find a boyfriend. I’ll personally give up my quest to get laid. Wait…I can cross that ‘effer off my list, now, huh? Well, going forward, no more sex. How ‘bout that? I swear it. Cross my heart but I do not hope to die. Not yet. Please.

Leon snickered at me.

Did he hear the silliness going on in my head?

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, opening my eyes.

“Mademoiselle—” His baritone chuckle bounced off the water.

Circling us, the fins didn’t go away.

“How is this funny?” I resisted the urge to reach over and whack him one. We had to stay perfectly still.

“Those are not sharks.”

“Are you blind?”

“They are dauphins.”

“Whaa?”

“How do you say in English? You have a place—SeaWorld.”

“Dolphins,” I repeated. Leon’s accent is sexy as hell, except in times of crisis.

“Look,” Leon swam toward one and pointed.

I stared at them.

The larger of the two came up to Leon, making a high-pitch squeaky noise.

He put out his hand, patting its side. “See, dauphins. They are harmless.”

“Do you think they know?” I asked, extending my hand to the smaller one who chirped in a different pitch. Its head was round. Its body appeared in the dark waters to be a few feet longer than mine.

“What? That you are the next supermodel of the world? From the big city? In need of getting back to the mainland for a photo shoot?”

“Leon, I think I liked you better when you were mute.” Nervous energy bubbling over, I giggled.

“Maybe.” Swimming up beside me, Leon placed his hand on the small of my back. His touch reactivated that tingle throughout my body. “They sense we do not belong here.”

One nudged me, and I grabbed onto the fin. Unintentionally, I rode him a bit of a distance, then let go. “Whoa!” Talk about exhilarating.

The dolphin circled around. “They’ll take us to Eden. Stick out your hand.”

“What?”

“Watch…” And just like that, the dolphin took me. It swam steadily in the direction we were headed, toward Eden. As my feet and lower body floated along, I pulled my torso up on its back and rested my face against its smooth skin.

Leon shouted behind me to wait. I couldn’t but eventually he got the larger dolphin to take him.

Unsure of how far we’d gone, I didn’t let go. I couldn’t. Something told me to hold on. Hope? Must be. My spirit felt filled with hope. My heart told me my friends were okay. I’d see them again. I pictured their happy faces, and I focused on getting to Eden.

The dolphins swam as a pair, side by side.

With the moonlight casting a haunting light around us, Leon appeared magically perfect to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

When my feet scraped the sand, I let go of the dolphin and stood.

“Do you believe in miracles?” Leon asked, coming up behind me.

“No…can’t say I did.”

He held me close. We watched the dolphins turn back out to sea.

“And now?”

I nodded, buried my face in his chest, and wrapped my arms, as best as I could, around his broad back.

Together, we waded our way to the shore and collapsed under what appeared in the dark to be a palm tree.

“This can’t be Eden,” I said in disbelief. “Where is everyone?”

From what I could make out in the moonlight, this place wasn’t inhabited. There were no lights, no noises, only us and paradise.

“Close your eyes, Mademoiselle. We will find them at sunrise.”

“What if we’re the only…survivors?”

“Do you remember what we talked about?”

“Sorry.” Naked, I curled up against him. His magnificent chest rose-up high as he inhaled. I kissed his flesh. First his chest, then I found my way up to his face. We locked lips. He turned my body around and spooned me protectively into a tight hold. On land and in his arms, Leon felt different than in the water. Leon seemed confident of his abilities yet still I got a sense of apprehension from him.

Moments past, and I thought he’d fallen asleep. I lifted one of his heavy arms. I never slept locked body-to-body before. Foreign to me, I could get used to it.

He cupped my breasts, pulled me close, and spoke more lyrical French words in my ear. Leon comforted me. We made love in the dark. Unlike before, he came when I did, filling me with him.

* * *

“Will you hide this for me?” My BFF asked, handing me a large bag of candy. It made a noise like loose change in a pocket.

Dreaming, I had to be; we were in my childhood bedroom.

“Sure, Lex.” I said, sliding the jellybeans, licorice, and Lord only knows what else, under my bed. We must’ve been around ten because I was wearing a training bra. I hated the way it felt, like a Band-Aid.

Lex had started to fill out that year, not just in her chest but also on her hips and thighs.

Birdie hated that. She’d taken desperate measures such as locking the refrigerator.

“Why don’t you just stop eating sweets?” I asked in my-ten-year old voice, not knowing any better.

“Dunno. I can’t seem to stop myself.” The hurt became evident in Lex’s watery eyes.

Not seeing it till now, Lex filled herself with sugar in place of the love she so desperately wanted from her parents, mostly her father. He hadn’t been home much in recent years. His success as a rocker was global.

“Whatcha doin?” Lex asked as I returned to putting the Candy Land board game in the trash.

“Mom told me to get rid of everything in my room that’s for kids. She wants this place to look like the daughter of a countess and not a toy store.”

“Why?” From her front pocket, Lex withdrew a small box of gummy bears, her secret stash. She chomped with a smile.

“We’re having a party this weekend. Mom’ll give one of her usual tours of the place. It’s like a museum around here.”

“Your parent’s parties are weird.”

“Weird how?”

“Both of our Moms get trashed and act silly.”

“My dad says that’s what ladies do.”

“Well, you can count me out. I’m not coming.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing…”

“Liar!”

“I don’t wanna be around your parents when they have their parties.” Lex turned her back to me and faced the window. A view of Central Park West stared back at us.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” She wiped her eyes.

“Okay then.” This meant tough love time. “You’re not getting your candy back.”

“That’s not fair.” Whipping around, her face revealed that she was more upset than I realized.

“We don’t keep secrets from one another.”

Balling her hands into fists, Lex pouted.

“Spill it…”

“Fine.” Lex’s porcelain face flushed. “Last month, when your parents had that dinner for the people from Washington, DC, I drank too much soda and had to pee. All the bathrooms were full. People were shoving stuff up their nose.”

“So, Eddie does drugs.” Her father was a major coke-head. We’d figured that out last year.

She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, tying it with a band she had around her wrist. Whatever she was going to say made her uncomfortable. The redness on Lex’s pretty face traveled down her neck showing large blotches.

“I went to your parent’s bedroom to use their bathroom. I walked in and Countess Irma was naked with my mother.”

Fast, hard, I slapped Lex across the cheek. “Don’t say that.”

Stunned, Lex held her face. “I knew you’d be mad. That’s why I told you not to make me tell.”

We stood in silence for a minute and collected ourselves. Lex dried her face on my pillow. I didn’t cry.

“I’m sorry I smacked you.”

“I’m sorry I saw them.” Her face became serious. “You believe me don’t you?”

“Maybe,” I said, knowing Lex could be dramatic but she’d never lie about this. Usually Lex didn’t admit her parent’s shenanigans. “What exactly did you see?”

“My mother and yours in bed together, with your father somewhere underneath them.”

“Where was Eddie?”

“On a chair in the corner of the room…watching.”

“Gross!” We both made sick faces at each other and sat on the edge of my bed. I had a pink canopy back then.

“Do you think we’ll grow up to be like them?” Lex asked.

“You mean naked and in bed together?”

Lex dipped her chin into a nod.

“Never! Why can’t our parents just be normal like everyone else?”

“I don’t think they know how.” She reached into the box for another gummy.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I said, looking up at Mom entering my room.

The smell of gin came with her. Ugh. Hating that smell, I’d forgotten how bad it was. After lunch is when it seeped out of her pores.

“Tabitha Adelaide, our jeweler Harry is downstairs. He’s brought some wonderful sparkly baubles that I want you to look at.”

“Why?” Since when did I sparkle?

Irma bounced her hand on her hip surveying the room. “For the party, this weekend.”

“Baubles?” I asked.

“Earrings and a necklace. Something small and dainty.”

Glaring at me, Lex wasn’t having it. “Countess Irma, why are you making Tabitha toss her Candy Land game?”

Mom stepped closer into the bedroom. In a swift motion, she extended her hand, open palmed. “For the same reason Birdie doesn’t want you eating that anymore, Alexandra. You’ll get fat and dumb.”

“No.” Lex tried to hold onto the box but Mom was too fast.

“If Tabitha Adelaide continues to play silly board games, she’ll become stupid.”

“Mom!” My jaw hung open in shock. Hearing her words, I realized this was the gin talking.

“I will not have a dumb child for a daughter.” Irma marched over to the trash bag, and threw Lex’s candy inside. The sound of the sugar pellets smacked the Candy Land box. “Now come downstairs and pick out your jewelry, Tabitha Adelaide.”