Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

HELP

LUKE

The grains of sand bit into my back as I lay sprawled out, limbs. heavy and aching. Every inch of me was soaked, raw, like I'd been dragged through a wave of razors. I tried to focus on breathing-one sharp, salty breath after another- but each inhale scraped down my throat.

To my right, Josh flopped beside me with a grunt, looking just as beat as I felt. He let out a long sigh and stared up at the sky, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. "Never... flying... again," he muttered, half under his breath as if the words themselves took too much effort.

I chuckled, my voice rough. "Yeah, and the company better pay us overtime for this...assuming we live to collect it."

Josh gave a tired laugh, the sound barely there, but it still managed to make me grin. "If we make it out of this alive, Jess and Laura will probably kill us anyway. I might just stay on the island. Laura has good aim. I don't feel like a paintbrush in the eye." Josh checked, and For a moment, we just lay there, staring at the endless blue above us, both of us too exhausted to care about the sand itching under our backs or the sun baking down on our soaked clothes. Just breathing. Just...existing after whatever the hell had happened out there. 14:03

HELP!

204 Moucher

Then, the quiet was broken by a high-pitched scream, faint but unmistakable, slicing through the air like a knife.

Josh and I jerked upright, every ounce of exhaustion shoved aside as adrenaline kicked in. Out on the water, a pair of hands flailed desperately, fingers clawing at the surface as the figure. sank and rose again in the rolling waves. "Shit," I breathed, pushing up on my elbows. "Someone's drowning."

to our feet, but the moment I

turned around and noticed my leg. "That looks worse than your face, man."

wasn't time to worry about it. Josh looked over at me, his

hand against my thigh, trying to stop the blood, but finally tore off the trunk of

ras!

feeling like an hour, as I watched his form moving against the pull of the ocean, closing in on the

18

moment, they disappeared

what felt like an eternity, they got close enough for me to see them clearly, and I dragged my ass up to meet them halfway. The person he'd rescued

flight attendant." He sputtered just as I got to him and

gritting my teeth against the pain, but my leg gave out

a moment, neither of them moved, both of them looking half-dead after

to ask, still trying to catch my breath. Josh leaned over to look at her and nodded,

to a sitting position, eyes flicking between me and the woman, his gaze settling on my leg. "You're bleeding like hell, man.

shrugged, though the movement sent another stab of pain through me. "It's fine."." I gritted

1. it.