Read Wet: Part 1 for Free Online Page B

for a while, thinking she might learn how. It looked simple enough, and if she could figure it out before she played, she might be able to join on another night. It didn’t take long to give up—not going to happen.
    She’d convinced herself she had some sort of mental block about games. Growing up, it seemed everyone, except her, knew how to play every game already. When she did play, they would tell her she should have made this move, or she couldn’t make that one, and she always came in tease-worthily last, even on the games she thought she understood.
    She finally got to the point where she’d freeze up inside and fill with dread whenever someone suggested a game night. She’d become an expert at coming up with excuses for staying home with her parents instead of hanging out with friends. Even that wasn’t always safe. Her parents often badgered her to play with them—some made-up version of Rummy, their favorite Friday-Date-Night activity. 
    Rhees wandered around the bar again and found a bookcase filled with books. The sign said, “Take a book-leave a book.” She’d just finished a book on the plane and needed another, so she looked the titles over and took one, making a mental note to bring her old book back the next time she came to the bar.
    The sun set around five thirty, all-year-round, she’d been told—the island’s proximity to the equator, and no Daylight Savings Time changes, meant that by eleven, it seemed like it had been dark for a long time. Rhees moved outside, found an empty table on the edge of the water, and sat down. The bar had lights in the water around the deck, which offered a comforting glow against the dark night. She stared out for several minutes, taking in the beauty of the clear blue water. It almost made her excited to start diving—almost.
    Movement in the water startled her and she saw a flash of black dart by, into the light and then out again, just as quickly. She heard splashing beyond the lights but couldn’t see what caused it. She stood and moved to the edge of the dock and squinted, trying to see. Suddenly, the reason for the disturbance came into view, and she froze.
    “Reef shark.” Paul came up behind her, startling her, and making her lose her balance. His fast reflexes helped him grab her before she fell into the water.
    “Shark!” She hung on to him, scared to death that she might end up in the water with it. “I didn’t know there were sharks here . . . except for the big, docile ones that don’t eat people.”
    “We don’t see them often. That one’s just a baby looking for table scraps.”
    “I want my money back. I can’t get in the ocean with sharks.”
    Paul laughed and his eyes seemed to sparkle more than usual in the glow of the lighting. “You’ll be lucky to see any sharks while you’re diving, except maybe one or two of ‘the big docile ones that don’t eat people’. We do have quite a few whale shark sightings here.”
    He took a couple of steps back, with her in tow until they were away from the edge before he let go. She pulled her chair a little farther from the edge and sat down, watching the water warily. He sat in the chair facing her.
    “If you get eaten by a shark, I’ll give your money back.”
    “Thanks. If I’m inside the belly of a shark, I won’t have much need for my money anymore.”
    “That’s the policy and the very reason for it.” He laughed again. “I don’t make promises I don’t keep, and I promise, you will nawt be eaten by a shark.”
    She noticed the way he drawled on the word not , but her heart still raced, her fear of the ocean overwhelming her thoughts at the moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You can do this!” she said under her breath.
    “You’re still alive, by the way.”
    “Barely. I almost fell in. He’d have eaten me and I’d be the inspiration for the next Jaws movie—which one are they on now, Jaws Thirty ?”
    “I’m not talking about the little