The Keys to Jericho (42 page)

Kat makes no move to let go of me as we all start walking. Dash walks in front of us, rambling about Liberty’s horoscope, in which he seems to have an interested audience this time. Apparently, she was born under a moon in the third house of the rising sun when the Devil went down to Georgia in August, which makes her a raving Lunatic. Definitely her astrological sign.

Bored with their goddamned chatter, and since I don’t have the nail gun to end it all, with us heading up the rear, I bump Kat’s arm. That makes her retaliate in kind, so I bump harder, and she sways with a laugh. When she looks up, and before she has a chance to react, I glance ahead of us before bending to kiss her.

I raise my head just as Dash turns his, asking, “You two still back there?”

I drone, “Yep.”

He grins at Kat. “You can always walk with me if you want. My arm is cozier.” I know he’s taunting me. The fucker will pay for that.

She shakes her head. “I like it back here. I don’t have to endure a horoscope recap.”

He gawks at her in surprise as I loudly laugh, impressed that she shot him down on all levels. “What the…? I thought you liked the reports!”

She cringes. “Not really, so just—”

“Shove them up your astro chart, Calder.”

He pouts as he yanks out an orange sucker from his pocket. “Jericho is rubbing off on you, Merrick.”

I smirk. “Maybe she wants to rub me off.”

Kat laughs, and this time, it’s Dash who’s shocked, gaping at us. Even Rio laughs, but unfortunately, so does his bitch.

She glances back at me and says, “You’re kind of funny, Jared.”

When she turns around, I scowl at the back of her head. As a rule, she should never talk to me.

Something catches her eye, and she stops, which holds up all of us. She flits to shirts on a rack, showing some to a boringly patient Rio, while Dash checks his phone.

Lifting her sunglasses, Kat lets go of my arm to go in the store, and I follow. Inside, we walk down the seashell aisle, where she stops at the starfish, picking up one. She says, “Look. It’s like the one you found. Even the tip is missing.”

I reach up to touch it, but stroke her knuckles with my thumb instead. “I still have that starfish. It’s in my room.”

Her brown eyes shine from the overhead lights as she looks up at me. “You do?” I nod and she smiles before returning to the shell display.

Glancing behind us, not seeing our warped posse, I move up against Kat, and from behind, I lingeringly kiss her cheek, making her contentedly hum. Liking the sound, I kiss her more. When I kiss down to her jaw, she looks toward the door, and I automatically step away from her.

Kat says, “I swear I just saw—”

Rounding the corner, Liberty smiles, and in her grating voice asks, “What are you looking at in here?”

Dash follows, saying, “Jericho, come look at these lures.”

I sigh as Kat and I are separated by annoying forces. Dash leads me to where Rio is searching through tackle, but I’m distracted, watching Kat from three rows over, through display openings. She doesn’t see me, but she appears as distracted as I do, looking around. Finally catching my eye, she brilliantly smiles at me, as I vaguely notice Liberty’s mouth yakking next to her.

“Right, Jare?”

Shaking my head, I glance at Rio. “Huh?”

Rio peers past me, but doesn’t seem to notice where I was looking. “I was saying how saltwater lures are different than freshwater. The metal should be a stainless steel or galvanized metal.”

Dash takes the empty sucker stick out of his mouth and blows out a petulant sigh. “And
I
said that the paint should be more durable because of the saltwater, but Diet DP says the kind of metal is more important. Settle this.”

Incredulous, I scowl at the both of them as I push up on my fitted cap. “You called me over to argue about this shit?”

Dash laughs as he tosses the stick into a nearby trashcan. “Why? What were you doing over there? Picking out a new set of seashells for your kitchen in Philly?” In a nasally voice, probably imitating me badly to piss me off, he says, “I’ll take the scallops in a place setting of one, please.” He laughs more, smacking Rio’s arm, but Rio doesn’t join in his merriment. He knows better.

My frown escalates. “No, but I’m sure I can figure out how to use a conch shell as an ignition source, so if I were you, I’d shut the hell up.”

Still fucking laughing, he says to Rio, “By the way, I caught Jericho and Kat in the Jacuzzi together.”

I’m not amused.

Rio raises a surprised eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

Looking around us, noticing Kat isn’t at the shells, I growl, “You didn’t catch us doing anything. We were talking. What’s the big deal? Wasn’t she invited here for me to hang out with? There. I’m hanging.”

Rio grins, which unsettles me, so I search our area again to see where Kat went.

Dash shakes his head. “You’re hiding something again.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I nod. “Yeah. Apparently, the wrong bodies.”

Liberty comes up behind Rio, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You getting some fish thingies?”

Still laughing, Dash says, “I think only the pros call them that, Liberty Island.”

I roll my eyes and look around us for Kat. I see her leaving the checkout counter with a small bag, tucking it into her loose pocket.

Liberty squawks, “Ready, Kat?”

She nods and follows Rio and Liberty out, with me trailing behind, but as soon as we’re outside, Kat falls back to walk with me.

I ask, “What’d you buy?”

Kat shrugs. “A thimble for my mom. She collects them.”

I nod as we walk beside each other. She puts on her sunglasses and the air between us feels cooler.

Unexpectedly anxious, I lift my hat, running my hand through my hair, and when I drop my arm back to my side, Kat grabs my hand. I instantly look at her as she intertwines our fingers together, but doesn’t look at me. It’s unbelievably absurd how just the feeling of her fingers locked between mine makes me smile, and fight a goddamned erection, especially when she slides her fingers back and forth over mine. I squeeze her hand, while we both watch the three snoops in front of us.

With Liberty’s senseless babbling, and Dash’s phone ringing, distracting him, I take the opportunity to land my mouth on Kat’s, feeling her surprised gasp when I deeply tongue her, taking more time to do it, but still keeping it quick and covert. Moving away, I instantly look to check if any of them had seen us, but not really caring if they did. Yet, I need to watch myself more so I don’t blow it for Kat.

When he hangs up his phone, most likely talking to Mommy, seeing a multiple passenger, double-bike contraption filled with people approaching us on the boardwalk, Dash laughs. Putting us on guard, we loosen our grip on each other. As he turns to watch them drive past us, Kat and I completely drop our hands at the same time.

“Jericho, does your training include showing Kat how to drive one of those things? She might want to bring her husband and kids here someday, and she’ll need to know how to handle one.”

I scowl at him and Kat says, “I’m still trying to get him to show me how to handle his stick.”

Liberty snorts, as again, Dash is rendered speechless. After a lot of gaping and backward glances at us, he dubiously laughs. “You’re on it, Merrick. What’s gotten into you?”

Liberty laughs. “Maybe you should ask
who’s
gotten into her.”

Kat winces, shaking her head. “Okay. That’s enough. I meant his car. I was only joking anyway.”

Dash says something to Liberty and I lean to whisper in Kat’s ear, “You handle my stick like no one else, Kitty Kat.”

She giggles and checks for clearance, before returning the French kiss I gave her earlier, slowing us somewhat, but since we have to keep our kisses short, I maintain a cool level, and we catch up with little effort. However, it seems we’re inspired to push the boundaries more.

Picking up my hand, Kat coaxes me to her. Raising her mouth to my ear, I lean closer and she says, “I want your kisses all over me.” I groan and promptly jerk my head away, eyeing the audience in front of us.

Inclining to her again, I whisper, “They’ll get suspicious if we’re gone long. Look what happened earlier.”

Dash shouts, “I’m hungry! Who wants pizza?”

Liberty shrieks, “I do!”

Rio nods, and before Dash turns to us, we drop our hands, with Kat shoving hers into her back pockets, as I push my bill up and mess with my hair again. He asks, “What do you two want?” Not
this
shit.

“A burger and fries.” I turn to Kat, vaguely seeing her eyes behind her sunglasses. “What about you?” Hoping she again can read my mind, but knowing she can’t, I subtly dart my gaze behind us.

She eagerly nods with a sudden grin. “That’s what I want, too.”

Smiling back, thankful she got my message, I say to Dash, Rio, and the nameless wench, “I saw a place back there. We’ll meet you guys here in 30.”

Dash skeptically tries to figure us out, Liberty’s eyes widen, while Rio coolly grins. He holds my gaze, giving me a slight nod. Feeling like he sees through my scheme, I avert my gaze to Kat, who smiles and says, “Come on.”

Turning the other way, we separately dodge among the thick horde of people, losing sight of each other, before we come up for air in a clearing. Even though we cleared a mass of tourists, we still look behind us for spies, and I think we both breathe a sigh of relief when we don’t see any of the three.

Seeing a hamburger and fries stand without a line, I grab Kat’s hand, leading her to it, not wanting to eat, but since we’re in the sun so much, and even though Kat’s a teacher herself, having an ex-lifeguard/gym teacher, and a faux doc for best friends, who will undoubtedly ride us all day if we don’t eat, sucks. Assholes. At least we’ll be alone.

After we get our food, we cross the people stream at our own risk, landing on the other side of the walk, and finding an open space on the gray wall. Setting down our food, Kat takes in a deep breath.

“What?” I spin my hat around and she smiles as she puts her sunglasses on the wall.

Kat tucks stray purple stands behind her ear, but the breeze unpins them anyway. “I love the smell of the ocean. Don’t you?”

Chewing on a fry, I shrug. “It’s nice. It’s not my favorite.”

“What is? French fries?” Picking up one from her cup, she contemplatively looks at it before turning to me, wistfully saying, “I love…these fries. I would die happy if they loved me back.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s quite extreme.”

“Not if you love French fries that much.”

I uncertainly laugh. “I’ll pass on laying down my life for them.” I shrug. “Maybe hot wings, but definitely not fries.”

She heaves a sigh and I laugh, feeling more relaxed now that we’re alone.

Taking another one, Kat teasingly clamps one between her teeth, dangling it at me. Dropping the fry I’m holding, I impulsively swoop in, biting hers, but laughing as I chew it. She laughs with me, but when I begin to talk, she suddenly grabs my face, pulling my mouth back to hers. Forgetting the food, I kiss her without restraint, since we’re not under scrutiny for the time being, except for the public, but fuck them.

These French fries taste a million times better with Kat Merrick.

Needing to take a break before bystanders see how turned-on I’m getting, I cut off our long kiss, with a short one, then moving my lips to her forehead. Leaving my lips against her, I watch how the sun plays upon the purple in her hair, making it glow.

Kat asks, “What is with you today?”

Genuinely stumped, I straighten and step back to see her face. “What do you mean?”

She laughs and puts her hands on my chest. “You can’t keep your lips off of me.”

I shake my head over hers. “I told you that I’m obsessed, and you taste good.”

Her tempting lips smile. “What do I taste like?”

“Kat Merrick.”

She quietly laughs, but scrunches her nose. “I don’t taste gross?”

I smirk and grabbing her waist, I whisper, “Nope, and I intend to taste more of you.”

Leaning down, I kiss her neck, hearing Kat’s faster breathing, even over the crowd and the ocean. I move to her ear and whisper, “I want you to fuck my tongue.”

She clutches my shirt and moans, “God, Jared. You can’t say that to me here.”

“I know. Shit, it’s backfiring on me.” I shift her so her back is against the wall, and my back is to everyone. Kat heavily sighs, releasing my shirt, appearing to be in sudden thought.

Staring at her lips, I whisper, “What am I going to do with you?”

Looking up at me, Kat smiles, though, seemingly in resignation, as she softly says, “Anything you want, Jared.” It doesn’t sound like a sexy tease, but more like an endured fact.

Knowing there’s something wrong, I anxiously press her for the truth. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

She shakes her head and looks to the crowd behind me, but I steer her chin so she looks at me, and raising my voice, I implore, “Tell me. Are you hiding something from me, Kat?”