Page 257 of Barinov

I flip him off.

“Hold that flag up higher, Ellie!” Knox yells, his shoulders shaking as he cracks another beer. “Think we need emergency services for the King’s ego!”

I grab the rope, glaring daggers at the boat as Briggs idles to pick my pathetic ass back up. I look toward the front of the boat where Cade’s got one arm looped around Bella. She’s hiding her face into his chest. Her bare shoulders are shaking with uncontrollable and silent giggles.

“You good there, killer?” Cade calls out, not even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

“Shut the fuck up, Cade,” I bark, swimming toward the swim platform to unstrap the death contraption from my feet. I haul myself up like a drowned rat.

Bella slides out from Cade’s grip and walks down the center of the boat with a towel in her hand. She stops right in front of me and wraps it around my shoulders.

“You looked very strong right before you flipped forward,” she teases, biting her lip to keep from laughing right in my face.

I grab her by the waist and drag her tiny bikini-clad body flush against my chest until she gasps. “Keep laughing, baby. See what happens when we get back to the house.”

Cade’s hand claps me on the shoulder. “Promises, promises, babe,” he chuckles in my ear. “Alright, Caleb. I’ll give it a go.”

Cade isn’t just good. The motherfucker makes it look easy. Not to mention, sexy as hell.

Briggs drops the throttle and Cade pops up like a missile. He carves through the wake with this raw power, flexing every muscle in his arms and legs.

“Look at him,” I whisper into Bella’s temple as Cade launches into the air and nails a flawless backflip.

“I know,” she breathes, biting her lip.

He stomps the landing like it was nothing, spraying water into the sun. Wet hair pushed back and a dark, cocky smirk on his lips—goddammit. Watching him crush it sends an instant wave of heat straight through me. Judging the goosebumps prickling Bella’s skin, she’s thinking the exact same fucking thing.

He rides for a few more minutes, pulling off two more jumps before letting go of the rope and coasting to a smooth stop. He hauls himself up onto the boat, barely even winded.

“Alright ladies,” Briggs calls out. “You girls wanna tube?”

Ty airs up this huge orange and blue tube with a high back so Bella, Haley, Ellie, and Marisol can all sit. I don’t think the damn thing is meant for four riders, but they cram in anyway.

Briggs tows them at a nice, easy cruise, passing this random-as-fuck lighthouse sitting on top of one of the bluffs.

“This is bullshit,” Brett says, standing up and slapping Briggs on the shoulder. “Let me drive.”

“It’s your funeral,” Briggs says before sliding out of the seat.

Brett kneels on the captain’s chair. He turns back to the girls and pumps his fist in the air. Ellie and Bella must know what’s coming because both of them start shrieking NO and shaking their heads in pure terror.

“Hey Z,” Brett says, his thumb scrolling on the phone that’s hooked up to the sound system. “Throw me a beer.”

“Here ya go,” Zeke says, tossing him a cold can.

Brett doesn’t even look up. He catches it blind with one hand. “Ah. Here we go.”

He sets the phone down. The opening beat to “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee blares through the boat speakers.

Brett fucking floors it.

The boat rears back, the engine roaring as he cuts violent S-curves across the glass. The tube whips sideways at terrifying speeds. The poor girls are all four screaming bloody murder. He cranks the wheel all the way to the left, crossing our own massive wake, and the tube hits the wave like a damn ramp.

All you see is four sets of tan legs flying upside down into the sky before four loud splashes hit the water.

I burst out laughing, launching the orange flag high above my head.

Brett swings the boat around tight, glides up to them, and kills the engine. A chaotic choir of soaked, pissed-off women all yell at once as they scramble up the swim platform.