“Rays. Big fish. They very friendly if you have food,” she says brightly.
“Like…killer rays?”
“Come here.” The hostess lingers back and gestures for us to follow her to the edge of the deck. “Lemme see…hey, Bingo! We call him Bingo, like the dog.”
Ash scrunches his brow. “You have dogs in the water?”
“No dogs. B-I-N-G-O. Come here, boy!”
The sea is clear as Evian, and the sand beneath visible amid the neon ripples marbling the surface. Suddenly, a patch of sand shakes, displaces itself…and a flat, white creature rises up, its black eyes trained toward us as it swims along. It’s the size of a dining table. Jesus Christ.
Harvey leans in to me. “That is one motherfucker of a fish.”
“Awesome!” Ash hoots. “It’s like Squidward, but with no legs!”
“You say you can feed these?” I ask the hostess.
“Oh yeah. When you come eat at restaurant, you see him swim underneath, just waiting for tidbits.”
Ethan can’t tear his eyes away from it. He gulps. Leo steps away from me to clap him on the back, giggling. If he wasn’t already burning like a hipster white boy, he’d be blushing right about now.
“Mr. Underwood? My name’s Amelie. I leave keys in doors of water villas, yes? You all make yourselves comfortable and we serve late lunch at three.”
I shake her gnarled olive hand. “Thank you for the tour.”
“Of course. You need anything, you just come back to reception. We there twenty-four-seven, seven days a week, just two minutes down path. Okay?”
“Duly noted.”
With that, she saunters back down the deck and is swallowed by savage greenery.
I find myself staring into flashing sunspots, wondering how fresh blood would dry in the heat. My mouth is dry with the taste of that lukewarm Coke; heat prickles along the back of my tongue. This is always how it takes me, sudden and unprovoked.
“Mr. Underwood?” Leo whispers, clasping my arm. “Really?”
“Uh-huh. Mrs. Underwood.”
She narrows her dark eyes at me in feigned disapproval. “Right.”
“We’re on our Blood Honeymoon.”
Those eyes widen, and she pales. “Ha fucking ha.”
I grab her around the waist, dragging her back against my sweat-damp torso. She smells like the pink flowers around her neck, notes of sweet pollen mingling with her freshly blown candle scent. “I’m on a roll. Sunshine agrees with me.”
“It’s probably worried about what will happen if it doesn’t,” she mutters, though she lingers in my embrace. Savors it.
It’s our first big display of affection in front of Ash. You’d think he’d be too preoccupied with the massive ray, but no.
“Is she your girlfriend?” he asks pointedly.
Fuck. Well. It was going to happen.
Ethan yanks a Moshi Monsters cap from his rucksack, and pushes it on to Ash’s head in an attempt to distract him. Ash fiddles with it a second and then peels it off.
“Yes, she is,” I reply. “That’s okay, right?”
Leo tenses in my arms.
He chews on his lip with crooked teeth. “She plays good Kraken.”
I snort. “Is that so?”
She brings her sandaled foot down on mine. “Oh, be quiet.”
“Are you getting married?” Ash goes on. “Are you in love?”
Ethan winces in apology. “Ash. It’s rude to ask about stuff like that.”
“I don’t like it when there are secrets,” he throws back. “We don’t keep secrets in our house. That’s what you always say.”
No, Ash, you don’t keep secrets—what with all of mine, there’s no fucking room.
“Nobody’s keeping secrets, buddy. Why don’t you go take a nap, and then we’ll find out what kind of ice cream they have here?”
He sighs, as if this is some great trial. “Okay. But they’d better have butterscotch.”
Ethan takes his hand and starts to lead him toward a villa. “I bet we can see more fish from our room…”
“That went well,” Leo mutters.
“He’s tired.”