Fight the Tide (22 page)

Parker groaned. “Fuck, that feels good.” A set of little waves passed by, and he blinked the salt from his eyes. “When we have some real privacy again, I can’t wait for you to fuck me.”

“Yeah?” Adam’s eyes gleamed, the moon rising behind him. “Tell me how.”

“Mmm, let’s see. So many possibilities. First, I’m going to get inside you again.” Adam’s cock jumped in his grasp. “Yeah, you want that? Fist fuck you until you’re coming and coming. You’ll be so wrung out, but I won’t let you rest. I’ll suck you and get your cock hard so you can fuck me. God, I need you to fuck me.”

“On your back, so I can see your face,” Adam muttered. “So I can kiss you.” He did kiss him them, and they splashed around, tongues thrusting.

Gasping, Parker pulled back and looked to the boat, hoping Craig was keeping those kids busy in the kitchen. He couldn’t see anyone watching, so he kissed Adam again, jerking him roughly as Adam did the same. Fire lit his veins, pressure building wonderfully in his nuts.

“And you’ll pound my ass, my ankles up around by ears,” Parker whispered. “Bend me right in half. Split me with your huge cock.” He squeezed it, stroking harder, teasing the foreskin. “Your cock’s perfect. I love it in me. My mouth, my ass.”

Groaning, his legs moving faster, Adam reached down with his other hand and caressed Parker’s balls, the water and his fingers sending incredible tingles over Parker’s skin like electricity.

When they came, they swallowed their moans with kisses, panting quietly in the night. He pressed a wet kiss to Adam’s cheek, circling his limbs lazily. “That’s one way to feed the fishes.”

Adam chuckled, and they bobbed on the tide. As the pleasure faded, worry returned to fill its corners, but as Parker’s pulse rabbited, Adam pulled him fully into his arms, taking his weight and keeping them both afloat.

*

“But I can
see it. It’s just sitting there.”

Biting back a surge of irritation, Parker glanced from the bow to where Jacob stood by the boat’s wheel, the binoculars up to his face as he peered off toward land. Lilly sat at the table, her pigtailed curls waving in the breeze. She was supposed to be doing her times tables per Craig’s instructions, but was doodling little trees on the blank sheet of paper instead. Parker let her because times tables sucked.

He told Jacob, “We’re staying here. Craig and Adam will be back soon.”

“But you said we need a lot of gas,” Jacob insisted. “It’s a gas container. Even if it’s empty, we could use it to siphon from a car. The gas is going to run out. We should get every bit we can now.” He tugged at the neck of his black tee. His cargo shorts were too big on his narrow hips. “I’m tired of sitting here doing jack shit.”

Parker turned back to the mouth of the harbor. “I know. It sucks, but we have to be smart. Too risky to go ashore.”

“There aren’t any creepers. Come on, just drive back to the dock and let me off. I’ll go get it and come right back. It’s right over that fence.”

“
No
. You heard what your…Craig said. Let me have the binoculars back.” He held out his hand. Jesus Christ, kids were a pain in the ass.

“Why should I listen to you?” Jacob grumbled. “You’re not that much older.”

“Because I’m in charge.” He gestured impatiently. “Binoculars.”

Muttering under his breath, Jacob stalked across the deck and shoved them into Parker’s hand. Parker ignored him and peered out to the gray sea. Adam had spotted two sails on the horizon that morning beneath the thickening clouds, but they hadn’t come any closer. Parker couldn’t see anything now, but he scanned back and forth, listening to the chirp of birds and scratch of Lilly’s pencil.

The splash was so small he almost didn’t notice, but when Lilly gasped softly, Parker whirled to find Jacob gone. His feet slapping on the wood, he rushed to the stern to see Jacob swimming to the dock.

“Son of a…” Parker’s nostrils flared as he choked down a blue streak. He didn’t want to shout too loudly, but called, “Jacob! Get back here.”

Of course Jacob ignored him, resolutely powering to the dock with a steady front crawl. Sopping, he pulled himself up the ladder and ran without even a glance back.

Eyeing the receding tide, Parker decided he couldn’t get any closer. The dinghy was tied by the dock, waiting for Adam and Craig to return. He’d have to swim. He stripped off his shirt and turned to Lilly, who watched him with wide eyes. She sat frozen, clutching her pencil.

“Parker, don’t…” She swallowed thickly, her eyes wet.

Shit
. He glanced back to where Jacob was already scaling the chain-link fence separating a storage shed from the main area of the ramshackle marina that probably hadn’t been much to look at even before everything went to hell. The harbor mouth was still clear, but what if he went after Jacob and someone showed up? Clutching his tee, he sighed.

“It’s okay. I won’t leave you.” He squinted. “He’ll be back any minute now.”

The seconds ticked by like hours. Jacob disappeared into the shed, and Parker and Lilly stared intensely. Parker made sure to check the sea approach so no one could sneak up.

Tick, tick, tick…

He exhaled when Jacob appeared at the fence, the gas can in one hand as he clambered up. There was movement behind him, and Lilly shrieked, Parker’s heart stopping as he spotted the creepers swarming after Jacob, reaching up for his bare feet with bloody hands.

“Jacob!” Parker yelled. “Faster!”

He struggled over the top of the fence, dropping all the way to the ground with the red container still clutched in his grasp. The fence rattled with the force of the creepers, a dozen now grasping for him.

Miraculously, the fence held. Jacob thundered down the dock, jumping back in the water and swimming hard, the container floating along with him.

“See? That’s why we stay on board!” Parker yelled as he climbed down to the dinghy launch platform to haul Jacob up. He grabbed his thin arm and held him steady. “Are you hurt? Did they touch you?” He barely resisted the urge to shake him.

“No.” Jacob shook his head. Then he grinned crookedly and hoisted the can. “I got it. There’s gas in there too! About half full, I think.”

“Was it worth dying for? Because you just about bought it. Jesus fucking Christ. Don’t ever do anything so stupid again!” Parker spun on his heel, gritting his teeth as he climbed back up to the main deck. He forced out a breath and tried to smile for Lilly. “He’s okay.”

Jacob followed, and Lilly launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Please don’t die.”

With the grace to at least look guilty, Jacob hugged her back. “I won’t, Lil. I promise. I’m fine, see?”

Lilly stepped back. “You’re bleeding.”

Parker’s stomach flip-flopped. “Where? Let me see.”

“Just scraped my knee on the way down.” Jacob shrugged, but there was tension to the set of his mouth. “I’m fine. I’ll put a Band-Aid on it.”

“You want me to help?” Parker asked.

Shaking his head and flushing, Jacob backed away, hugging himself. “If you want to help, don’t tell Craig or Adam. Maybe it was dumb, but I’m fine. And I got the gas.”

“It was definitely dumb.” Parker clenched and unclenched his hands, adrenaline still pumping through his veins. The whole incident had only taken minutes. By the fence, the creepers chattered, the sound floating over the calm water and setting his hair on end. “You get that, right? Like, you
really
get it? You promise to never do something like that again? Even though you didn’t get hurt this time, that doesn’t mean next time will be okay.”

Jacob nodded. “I promise.” With a guilty pinch of his mouth, he patted Lilly’s shoulder. “I just wanted to do something to help.”

“Look, I get it. I do. But it doesn’t help anyone to risk your life like that.” Parker’s anger ebbed, and he nodded. “Okay, we’ll keep this between the three of us for now. But if you ever pull another stunt like this…” He could almost hear his dad’s voice echoing in his mind. “I’m not covering for you,” he finished lamely.

“Deal.” Jacob retreated to the steps to go below decks, wincing.

Parker frowned. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. It just stings. My knee. I’m fine. My mom used to…” He shook his head. “I’m fine. No big.”

He disappeared below, and Parker picked up the binoculars. Lilly stood there, staring at the creepers, who rattled the fence with a drone and the odd shriek. Soon enough they’d go back the way they came, but in the meantime…

“Hey, can you help me out, Lilly? I’ve got something in my eye.”

She turned, a little furrow between her brows. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just have an eyelash. But can you do the sweep for a minute?” He extended the binoculars.

Taking them, she nodded and lifted them to her face. They looked ridiculously huge. “I don’t see anything?”

“Pull the sides down a bit to reduce the space. So the eye holes fit better. There, that’s it.”

“Oh!” She pressed the black plastic against her eyes, moving left and right slowly. “I can see all the way out there.”

“Pretty cool, huh? So go back and forth, and tell me if you see anything, like another boat.”

“Okay.” Lilly did as she was told, clearly concentrating very carefully, her tongue sticking out between her teeth. After a few moments, she said, “I only see water and the red and green things.”

“The buoys. Good. Great.”

She lowered the binoculars and peered up at him. “Is your eye okay?”

Oh, right. “Yeah, it was just an eyelash. I got it.”

“Do you want these back?” She held the binoculars to her chest.

“Nah, why don’t you patrol for now. Is that cool?”

With a smile that dimpled her cheeks, she nodded and went back to it. Parker glanced at the shore. The creepers were still there, clawing ferociously, grasping at the air.

I
t wasn’t so
much the number of infected swarming Daytona Beach that made Adam’s stomach roil, but the dead. Flesh rotted in the sun, creepers competing with flies, birds, and other creatures for the spoils of war.

They weren’t close enough for the others to be able to see even with the binoculars he held, and they didn’t seem bothered yet by the stench that practically singed Adam’s nostrils. The decaying of the dead and the infected were distinct, but equally sickening, especially as they combined.

There was smoke spiraling into the sky too, but no one was surprised by that anymore.

Rain had come again for two days, the high winds battering them where they waited in the harbor. When Adam and Craig had returned with as much gas as they could carry, a group of infected had surged toward them, rattling a metal fence.

Adam had let them be, although when the rain had come in hard and fast, forcing them back to the harbor, he’d swum to the dock with the machete and gone to dispatch them, the chattering setting him on edge. They were rail thin, but stronger than they should have been. Adam wondered how long they could go before starving.

Now he wondered what excuse he could give to shoo Craig and Lilly below to spare them. He’d try to spare Parker as well, but knew Parker would stubbornly stand fast. Then he remembered there was no need for an excuse now. What a strange and sweet feeling it was to have so many humans know his secret without running away or treating him like some kind of freak and burden.

Parker called out to trim the jib sheet, and Adam hurried to help Craig, getting close to murmur, “You should take Lilly downstairs. Daytona’s bad. Maybe…do a food inventory?” Jacob was still sleeping—fitfully, but Adam figured that was normal. He could barely remember the haze of days after the accident that killed his family, and at least Jacob was eating a bit. If the kid wanted to sleep away part of the day, they’d let him.

Craig peered into the distance. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.” His smile was strained. “Does come in handy, huh? Your…you know.” He waved his hand.

“Yeah.” He didn’t take offense at Craig’s lingering uneasiness. He and the kids were trying their best, and they’d certainly taken news of the truth better than Adam’s foster parents had. Not that they had much of a choice, to be fair. Parker had made it clear acceptance was the only option.

While Craig hustled Lilly down, Adam watched Parker at the wheel. His dark blond hair was growing out over his forehead, and he brushed a hand through it as he examined the fluttering telltales on the mast. He spread his legs wide as they rolled over an ocean swell, his feet bare on the deck as always. His shorts and T-shirt were getting ratty with use, and Adam wanted to poke his finger into the hole in the cotton under Parker’s armpit. He wanted to tear it wide and press his face there, inhaling deeply.

“What?”

Blinking, Adam licked his lips. “Nothing.”

Parker gave him a distracted smile before leaning down to peer at the instruments. Adam thought of what Craig had said about Parker being a kid. It was hard to believe this was the same cocky little shit who’d knocked on his office door in September. Funny how important it had been to both of them, that grade in an intro film class. It was all so meaningless now. God, what a luxury movies had been.