Page 47 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

I wrap my arms around my legs. “What do you think about out here?”

“You always asked the hard questions, Snow.”

“And you’ve always dodged them,” I volley. “It’s just you, me, and the sea. Can you let your guard down for once in your life? We already told each other the worst of the worst.”

He smirks at me. “You think so?”

My life flashes before my eyes, and whatever face I make has Rico chuckling.

“That’s what I thought. I know I ain’t told you shit.”

“Okay, well, get into it. I bet my life was more wild than yours. At one point I was making more money than the guys.”

Rico’s eyebrows pull, but he sighs and moves so that he’s sitting on the deck floor.

Pulling his fishing rod out of the water, he gestures to me. “Fasho. No x-rated shit though.”

I wave him off. “You’re no fun. Besides, randomly, I think most of my exes are dead anyway.”

“Is that right?” he ponders, narrowing his eyes. “I guess, proceed.”

Something is nagging at me, just beyond my mind. I feel like I’m missing something that was said, but with my mind being clear against its will, it’s had to manually sift through and delete shit that could hurt itself.

Still, I tilt my head. “That’s not odd to you?”

He blinks that one good eye slowly. “No. You gon’ start? After I left for Basic Training.”

I shake my head, trying to file that away for later, but it’s a toss up.

“Such a weirdo. Anyway, after you left… I’d just hit a big ass lick.” I grin, holding his gaze. That was when me and Set balled out in the Galleria.

This could be fun.

“So, when did you get your boating license?”

After hours of trading the most outrageous stories back and forth, and a sandwich I made him bite first to see if it was poisoned, Rico spread a blanket out onto something he calls a bow and now we’re here; me laying on my stomach to get an even tan, him gazing at the sunset with his arms wrapped around his legs.

I’m tempted to pull my bikini top off, but I don’t know how weird he is about nudity. So I’ve resigned myself to cute triangle lines.

Too bad I don’t have a phone to take pictures.

“Years ago. I was still in the Marines.”

“Full of surprises, that you are.”

Rico turns his head to face me, a small smile on his lips.

“I wanna say some shit, but I don’t think you gon’ remember. Wassup with that?”

I turn my head and rest it on my folded arms. “Huh?”

“All day I been asking you little shit, and you’ll play along, but you’ve been making shit up as you go, thinking if you get me to talk more, I won’t notice. C’mon, Snow. I notice everything.”

“You are… so annoying,” I huff, turning to face him.

“And yo short term memory is shot. Do you even remember that you did this to me?”

He points to his stupid eye patch, and I bristle.