“I’m getting cold.”
“You only got three clams, you big wuss.”
“CJ, I’m cold,” I whine.
“Stop calling me CJ! Let’s make a deal. If you get eight more, then it’ll be enough for me to cook dinner for you two. Death trippers are good cooks because we eat like we just came back from the dead.”
“Very funny. And it’s tempting…”
“And ifIget eight more, then you tell me what Sam’s power is.”
“I am not agreeing to that.”
“How’s this instead? You tell me what Sam’s power is, or I’ll dunk you in the water.”
“I am also not agreeing to that.”
“But I am.”
He drops the bucket, and I immediately turn for dry land. Before I can take more than a few steps, Costa scoops me up and heads for the water.
I kick my legs, and I cannot stop laughing, but I seriously do not want to get dropped in this bitter ocean. “No, no, no! Please, Costa!”
Water is lapping at his knees when he stops. “So, you’ll give it up?”
“I think I gave it up the other night.”
“Ha! But that’s not what I meant.” He lightly tosses me in his arms, but he catches me just before I go in. “Tell, or you’ll get dunked.”
I give him a fake scowl. Then, I make a point of whispering, “Sam, forgive me, but I’m not going in this ocean. I love you, but I hate cold water more.”
Sam yells from his spot on the sand. “Stell, don’t you dare!”
“Sorry, too late,” I say softly.
Costa looks at me with curiosity. “No way.”
I continue whispering, “Besides, Costa would have found out somehow. He’s a sneaky bastard.”
Costa smiles. “Shut up. Hearing? He’s got super hearing?” He lowers his voice so that it’s barely audible. “Sammy? This can’t possibly be true, or you’d hear that I’ve got my hand on the hook of Stella’s bikini top, and it’ll only take one flick of my finger to pop it open. Also, your sister’s not really a lesbian. It’s all a front to hide the devastatingly erotic and disturbing things she lets me do to her.”
“You are so going to regret that!” Sam shouts, his voice echoing over us.
I giggle and cup my hand to Costa’s ear. “Oh, and Sam? Costa has massive penis envy and told me that he’s hugely jealous of how big your—”
Costa flings me into the waves, and I scream. The cold burns, but I’m still laughing when I surface. And I’m just in time to see Sam tackle Costa, sending the two of them careening into the water.
