Night Watch

an excerpt

Megan dangled her feet off the dock as she gazed across Koshlong Lake, remembering fond memories of Camp Wanakita. She picked out some red and yellow craft beads and seven white beads with letters that spelled out two words. Threading them onto the elasticized string, she tied a knot at the end just like she did at camp over a decade ago. She stood and slid the creation onto Austin’s wrist.

Austin pulled his eyes from his cell phone and stared at her shapely-tanned body. She wore only a teeny tiny string bikini, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. He drew a deep breath, grazed his teeth across his bottom lip, and shook his head. His eyes moved from the sweat trickling toward her pierced belly button to the childish art creation beside his Rolex. The phone dropped to the arm of the Adirondack chair. He removed the beaded bracelet like it was a piece of brown sticky paper covered in dead flies that he found hanging from the kitchen fan above the old stove in the cottage. He dangled it in front of him.

Hands moving to her hips, she inched closer, the wooden dock swaying. Megan bent over to show him more cleavage. “Did you even read what it says?”

“Yep. You’re creative,” Austin said, “and funny.”

“Don’t forget, I’m also sexy as hell.”

“You don’t have to remind me.” He leaned ahead and dropped it through a crack between the wooden planks. The splash echoed between them.