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He grinned. “As much as you want.”
“Are you guys coming in or what?” Spencer asked, still holding on to the water gun and his alligator raft. His head looked hilarious pressed next to the giant painted eye of the gator.
“Hell yes!” I shouted like a five-year-old before running upstairs to change.
Jack came upstairs a few seconds later, and pulled out his phone to type a quick text.
“Cassie?” I asked.
“Gran. I wanted to let her know we’re here. And Cassie, because I fucking miss her.”
“Does Gran actually text you back?” I asked with a laugh.
“Not usually. But I know she reads the ones I send her. That’s all that matters,” he said before tossing his phone on the bed and pulling off his wet shirt.
“How are we going to get Spencer back?” I asked with a sly smile, reminding Jack of our ambush as we walked outdoors earlier.
“I was just thinking about that.” Jack smiled back. “He’s already in the pool, so getting him wet seems counterproductive at the moment.”
“We could steal his alligator. Make him swim without his little floatie?” I suggested as Jack’s phone beeped from the bed and he dove to grab it.
As he read the text, his face formed a love-struck smile with those trademark dimples that all the girls loved. “Goddamn, I love that girl,” he said as he typed something quickly before dropping the phone and pushing up from the bed. “Let’s go.”
We trotted back to the yard and Jack jumped into the pool, right next to Spencer, and the giant wave he created almost knocked Spencer off his gator. Almost.
So I leaped from the side, grabbing my knees with both hands in perfect cannonball form, aiming for the same vicinity. Not only did Nick fall off his precious floatation device, the force of my wave sent it flying far enough away from him that Jack could snag it and hop on.
I spat out some of the water that had entered my mouth before I realized it was a saltwater pool and not chlorine, and laughed when Spencer whined, “Hey! My gator.”
Tyler was still in the hot tub nursing his beer, and Nick observed the chaos below from his perch at the top of the slide. “I’m coming down,” he shouted before disappearing.
When he shot around the curve, this time he was flat on his stomach with a beer in his hand. He splashed into the water hard, the hand clutching his beer shooting straight up into the air as high as it could go so the bottle wouldn’t go underwater. The sight of it reminded me that Jack and I had left our beers upstairs.
Gripping the edge of the pool, I pushed off with both hands, lifting myself out so I could go find the slide. I climbed the slight incline to the top and peered down, noticing a rock cave that the slide went through before plunging you into the deep end.
I sat down at the top of the slide, the water splashing against my back before I pushed off, racing toward the bottom. The cave was a lot bigger than I’d imagined, and longer. Cloaked by darkness for a second, I was momentarily blinded by the sunlight as I shot out and landed in the warm water.
“Awesome!” I yelled to no one in particular, and Jack laughed, now clutching the gator floatie with both hands as Spencer tried to flip him off and win it back.
“Not gonna happen for you, Spence. I’ll never let this gator go!” Jack yelled as he pushed at Spencer’s shoulders and splashed water with his feet.
“Jack’s very attached to reptiles,” I said as I swam up from behind, and Nick appeared, downing the rest of his beer before placing the empty poolside.
“Really?” Nick asked. “Reptiles?”
“No. My brother’s a dumbass.” Jack pulled the gator from between his legs and tossed it at Spencer’s overjoyed face.
“Gator!” Spencer cheered and clutched the thing like it was his girlfriend.
“I think he’s in love with inanimate objects.” I pointed at Spencer, who sat petting the top of the blow-up gator’s head like it was his favorite dog.
“I can hear you, ya know,” Spencer said with a big grin. “Gator here doesn’t talk back, doesn’t argue with me. And we never fight, do we?” He went on and on, talking nonsense to the float while we all stared at him until he started cracking up.
“You’re a sick fuck.” Nick splashed him before getting out and wrapping a towel around his middle. “I’m starving. Tyler?”
Tyler hopped out of the hot tub. “I’ll fire up the grill. Burgers and dogs okay with you?” he asked, and Jack and I nodded enthusiastically in unison.
• • •
