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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“He’s not that bad.”

“No?” Buddy laughed. “I think you underestimate how protective he feels about you. Any way you look at it, it’s better if he doesn’t know.”

“He has to find out at some point,” she said, testing the waters.

“Why?”

It wasn’t the response she was looking for. “Because I’m not going to creep around in the shadows for the rest of my life. If we’re going to be together, we’ve got to figure out a way for him to be OK with it.”

“Your father controls the entire harbor. He decides what he’s OK with. You and me don’t have any say in that.”

She was frustrated that Buddy didn’t seem to be budging. That frustration bred anger, but she knew that anger wouldn’t advance the discussion. She decided to take a different approach. “Do you remember the first time?” she asked.

He was quiet for a second. “Yeah,” he said at last. “Of course I do. I remember everything about that night.”

“Where were we?”

“Is this a test?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s a test. You better not fail.”

He gave a soft, low chuckle. “This summer. The last week of July. It was as hot then as it is cold now. It started at Lucky “O’s,” he said.

She gasped. “Oh, my God, you fucking failed! It was at the Horseman!”

He chuckled harder. “No, that was where we first met,” he said. “It started at Lucky “O’s.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You were there with that friend of yours, the one with the bright red hair … what’s her name?”

“That’s Jess.”

“Right, Jess. You were there with her before you went to the Horseman.”

“Yeah, we were. It was lame there, though. Too crowded to move around. But you weren’t there.”

“I was. That was where I first saw you. You were leaning against the wall, swaying to the music with this look on your face. It was part boredom and part disgust. I remember guys kept coming up to you, and you kept blowing them off. But there was something about you that I couldn’t stop staring at. I was with Nate and a couple of the other guys, and he couldn’t figure out what had gotten into me. There were these three girls at the bar and we were hitting on them. Or maybe they were hitting on us, I don’t know, but after I saw you, I couldn’t keep the conversation going.”

“You’re lying.”