“Nah.” Ty waves her away. “If he were better at oral, maybe.”
Bo starts sneering. Maddy chuckles. And in seconds, the entire table bursts out laughing.
“Fuck off,” I blurt, turning red. He is such a liar.
“What’s up, sunshine?” Ty looks at me, feigning surprise. “Is that chili too hot and got your face all red?”
I shake my head, avoiding looking where Callie is, and wanna kill the bastard.
“Just spread that lobster tail shell wider and dive in with your tongue,” Ty teases.
Everyone is laughing loudly. The other table turn their heads and grin in our direction.
Fucker.
I throw the shell down onto my plate. “Thanks, bro. Ruined that one, didn’t you?”
“A little fishy, you say?” Ty carries on.
And then everyone roars with laughter.
I tackle him, we both fall off the bench, and we wrestle, goofing around as everyone cheers or boos.
This feels like family.
The sunset.
The breeze.
Reggae.
Smoke from the grill.
Laughter.
Happy faces.
I catch Ty in a headlock, which takes me only seconds.
“Hey,” he says in a strained voice as I strangle him playfully, making him helpless. “Wrestling won’t get you a girl, you know?” he says, and then I break down in laughter.
I love this human being. And tonight, I love life.
We get up, pushing each other, both grinning.
“Awe, hell,” Ty exhales, looking down his bare torso.
We are both covered in sand and streaks of oil from greasy fingers.
“Maddy, darling,” Ty coos, “will you wash our dishes? Droga and I gonna go take a dip.”
And then he is running toward the water, his blond hair flapping in the breeze. I am right behind him. Several others follow.
He turns, running backward, his forefingers pointing at me as he shouts, “I love you, baby boy!”
Fool.
Laughing, we dive into the orange-pink sunset water.