AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, thanks.” Filipe started wiping the sand off my back and bottom but I stepped out of his reach. “I got it, man, but thanks.”
I felt Matthias’s eyes on me, but he remained mute.
“Did Matty try to give you mouth to mouth?” Filipe put an arm around my shoulder, leading me to the cliffside stairway. “Word of advice, Matty drinks surf water, so, you know, stinky breath.” He waved a hand in front of his mouth. “I’d think twice if I were you.”
“I wasn’t—” I stopped once I saw the sparkle in his umber-colored eyes, so I played along. “Matthias tried, but I pushed him off right on time. Thank God you came when you did.”
“I got you, my man.” Filipe smiled the smile of sun gods at me. I found myself smiling back. I admired his easy, laid-back nature.
Frowning, Matthias was observing me, like he was reconsidering all his previous assumptions about me.
A petite woman came running down the staircase. She also wore a wetsuit. Her long dark hair hung damp at her shoulders. She handed me a large beach towel. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I muttered as I wrapped it around my shoulders. They were all dressed for the chilly water and I was shirtless and goose pimpled all over.
“Are you Ciaran?” I nodded at her question as I dried my face. “Matty’s told us all about you.”
I glared at Matthias. “He knows nothing about me.”
“Oh, that doesn’t stop Matty from voicing an opinion.” She punched Matthias in the chest, her eyes suddenly accusatory. “What you left out is that your little brother is a hottie.”
That took me aback. No one had ever called me a hottie before.
“I—uh…” I stammered. “I’m not his brother.”
“Give it a rest, Joan,” Matthias said through his teeth. “What he is, is shit for brains.”
“Let’s get you inside, Ciaran. When it’s a double flag, don’t go out into the ocean, okay? It isn’t safe.” She beamed at me like a protective older sister, which took the sting out of her chastisement. “I’m Joan, by the way.”
Joan and Filipe carried the conversation, asking me about Las Vegas and my hobbies, while Matthias brought up the rear, grunting answers here or there.
One thing was for sure, I liked Matthias’s friends a hell of lot more than I liked him.
14
MATTHIAS
Ilistened in as Filipe described how we knew the brat was in the ocean. The embellishments, while funny, weren’t that far off. I was mostly thinking about Ciaran’s freckles and the fact that he clearly had an erection back on the beach.
What’d it mean?
Did it have something to do with me, or being manhandled, or his body warming up after being in the cold water for too long? Ciaran didn’t seem to mind danger, that was for sure. Or maybe he was just reckless.
Filipe said, “Matty noticed a missing surfboard from the patio. When your room was empty, he sprinted down to the beach like a mama hen, didn’t you Matty?”
“Don’t make me chuck you from the cliff, Filipe.”
He left out the part about me cursing like a sailor, threatening to throttle the damn kid the second I spotted him. Storm clouds were rolling in off the ocean and I knew we had to get Ciaran out of the water as soon as possible.
If Ciaran had encountered a rip current, we’d be pulling his lifeless body from the ocean instead of chatting like nothing alarming had just happened. I didn’t care how strong a swimmer he might be, you can’t outswim those dangerous currents.
“Matty adores me,” Filipe said dramatically to Ciaran. “Has since we were like twelve. The three of us go way back.”
“How have you managed to put up with his prickly nature for so long?” Ciaran asked.
“Matty has a gooey center once you get to know him,” Joan said with a laugh.
I punched in the pin code for the gate and led everyone into the guesthouse through the patio’s wide-open door.
