Sharks, Matt Rogers [shoe dog free ebook TXT] 📗

afternoon swim. She padded across the tiles with damp feet and disappeared into her and Slater’s room to shower. Violetta couldn’t help noticing Alexis’ physique. It was hardening, ever so subtly turning from putty to concrete. It was no wonder, given all the hours Alexis was putting in, simply trying to get on the same playing field as her housemates, let alone the same skill level. It’d take some time, but she was evolving fast. Rock-hard legs, toned arms, a washboard stomach. She’d already been in stellar shape when she’d left the civilian life behind, and now Slater was moulding her into something she had the potential to be all along.

Violetta veered away from that train of thought when Alexis came back out, her hair tied back, her face glowing from sun exposure. It only made her green eyes starker. She wasn’t wearing much — a tube top and tiny jean shorts.

She said, ‘Was that them?’

It took Violetta a second to bring her head back around. ‘The phone call?’

‘What else?’

‘Yeah, it was them.’

‘Any progress?’

‘Slim.’

Alexis rolled her eyes. ‘Come on. You can be a little more specific than that.’

Violetta told her everything.

Alexis mulled it over, then said, ‘So they’re doing exactly what I suggested we do.’

‘They’re not looking for trouble,’ Violetta said. ‘They’re walking around for a couple of hours so they can lay heat off the tiki hut. It’s nothing more than that.’

‘Sure it isn’t.’

‘Alexis…’

‘It’s Jason and Will,’ Alexis said. ‘You can be sure they’ll find trouble.’

Violetta shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

Alexis snatched a set of keys off the kitchen island.

Violetta said, ‘What are you doing?’

‘Taking one of the mopeds out.’

‘Alexis.’

‘What?’

‘You know what.’

‘So I’m a prisoner here?’ she said. ‘I can’t go for a drive?’

‘You can go for a drive. But that’s not what you’re going to do, is it?’

‘I know you think I’m some renegade,’ Alexis said. ‘But honestly, I just need to clear my head. It’s a strange time for me. I’m sure you can understand. This place is stifling if I’m cooped up all day.’

Silence.

Alexis said, ‘Is that a yes?’

Violetta shrugged. ‘If you’re just gunning it up and down the beach, you don’t need my permission.’

‘That’s what I’m doing,’ Alexis said. ‘I’ll be back soon.’

‘Jason and Will will be out for the rest of the day, so don’t rush back.’

Alexis smiled. ‘I won’t.’

Violetta rounded the kitchen island and spontaneously pulled her into a hug.

When Alexis stepped back, she said, ‘What was that for?’

‘You’re handling this better than I ever would have,’ Violetta said. ‘I’m proud of you.’

‘Handling what?’

‘This transition.’

Alexis smiled again. ‘Thanks. I’m trying my best.’

‘Keep trying. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.’

Alexis walked out with her shoulders straight. She held her head high. Violetta watched her go, and thought maybe this might all work out after all.

Besides, some alone time seemed like just the remedy.

She held the laptop in one hand and her Glock in the other and took them both out to the wraparound porch so she could watch the waves.

A bit of light investigative work would make the afternoon go by in a flash.

If she had to shoot an intruder in the middle of that, so be it.

28

The sun hit the horizon a shade after seven p.m., and for what might be the first time in their lives King and Slater had stayed true to their word and purposefully avoided trouble.

They’d strode through town, they’d checked for sideways glances, they’d looked over their shoulders at regular intervals, but nothing needed an urgent response. A couple of shady characters eyed them from laneways and shopfronts but they never took the bait. Instead they let the day pass by veering all over Freeport, getting their bearings in case they needed to navigate the maze of streets in a hurry.

They were sure that would happen eventually.

They weren’t here to make friends.

After they’d gorged on grilled fresh fish from a roadside food truck, they noticed the sun beginning its race to dip below the water, and made their way leisurely back to the hut.

Vince was gone.

The old server was still there.

They ordered drinks, took a perimeter table, and relaxed for the first time since they’d stepped off the plane.

King sipped a beer and watched the water, and Slater sipped a water and watched King’s beer.

Eventually King peeled his eyes away from the surf gently lapping at the sand and caught Slater staring. ‘You good?’

‘Yeah,’ Slater said. ‘Just miss it sometimes, you know…’

‘I wouldn’t judge you if you had one.’

‘You don’t understand alcoholism, then.’

‘Functional alcoholism,’ King said. ‘You never went off the deep end.’

‘But if I had one here,’ Slater said, ‘it’d become two, and that means a third, which implies a fourth. You see?’

‘Just stop at two,’ King said. ‘Like I do.’

But he said it with a wry smile of awareness, and Slater smirked back.

It was the same thing as saying, ‘Just cheer up,’ to someone with clinical depression.

King said, ‘I get it. You’ve revoked your own alcohol privileges.’

Slater said, ‘Would be nice to have one every now and then, though.’

The old British server approached their table, dutifully tucking his old cleaning cloth out of sight so he could take their orders. Trying to pretend he hadn’t noticed them earlier in the day, hadn’t interfered as they followed Vince out of the hut. It seemed it was water under the bridge if they were paying customers. But King had seen the look in the man’s eyes when they’d left, the genuine concern. The guy knew more about Vince than he was letting on.

The man turned to Slater and said, ‘A drink for you, sir?’

Slater smiled. ‘No, thanks. I was just reminiscing on the good old days.’

The guy was intuitive enough to put two and two together. ‘You don’t drink?’

‘Not anymore.’

‘Then you’re a braver man than me, I’m afraid.’ He turned to King with a reassuring smile. ‘And for you, sir? Another Modelo?’

King said, ‘Do you owe money to that man we spooked out of here earlier?’

A pause.

A pivotal moment where the guy tried to figure out whether to deny the accusation,