Chapter 6
Marlow
White water rafting on the official third day of camp was definitely the last thing I expected to walk into upon arriving at our meet up spot for the day.
After roll call, we were all squished into a couple of golf carts and driven down a long path that followed the lake’s edge until it branched off into a river heading south.
The area was beautiful, lush foliage and trees that lined the riverbank, and the rushing water that kicked up a cool breeze, chasing away the heat already starting to stick to my skin the minute the sun popped up over the horizon.
I never minded the summer sun, as I was a sun worshiper as much as the next guy, but sometimes being around a significantly cooler climate was a nice change of pace.
Once we arrived at the docking area, we were gathered in front of a few rafts already set out on the bank with life jackets draped over the sides. Couples quickly grouped together, each of them snagging a life jacket and helping to put it on while I lingered in the background.
Where was Blake?
“Hey, Marlow?” The man from the first day, Talos, hopped off of one of the golf carts. He held out his hand to shake mine as soon as he was close enough. “I’m going to be partnering with you today.”
The second the words were out of his mouth, I was shooting back with, “Where’s Blake?”
His brows shot up over his aviators. “He’s got a camp to run.”
Ah, right. Duty called. Late last night, actually.
Reluctantly, I took his hand and shook it, my mood suddenly plummeting.
There wasn’t a reason for me to take it personally after our nice night together. I hated letting him leave even if I had no grounds to stand on when it came to holding him hostage inside of my cabin.
Funny enough, at the time, I could tell he wanted to stay, too. He’d dragged his feet getting to the door, had a hard time saying goodbye, and instead, continued to quip back and forth with me until he forced himself to run out my door and disappear into the dark night.
Was there a chance I was reading into all of that?
Yeah, maybe. But on the other hand, there was a possibility that Blake was also picking up on our insane chemistry and fighting it in the name of—what I could only theorize—keeping things professional.
Funny, since that was quickly becoming less and less easy to do the more I got to know him. I’d gotten him to open up a little bit, had cracked that shell apart just enough to peek inside, and liked what I saw.
I’d left the bonfire early for a reason that, at the time, I wasn’t too sure about. However, the second that knock on my door came around and I found Blake standing on my porch looking a little frazzled and wide-eyed, I knew the universe was pointing me in the right direction.
Hitting it off with Luke and Aimee seemed like a preamble to what I really wanted.
If I could get Blake to drop down his walls for one night, just one, and get him into my bed, I think we’d both walk away happy and satisfied. I’d get him out of my system and be able to move on to the next person and he’d get an unforgettable night.
I’d make damn sure of it.
“You ever white water raft before?” Talos asked, gesturing for me to follow him to one of the rafts where a few spare life jackets were hanging.
“Can’t say I have, but I hear it’s like riding a bike.”
“Something like that. We’re going to take you all through a two-hour crash course and then we’ll take a few rafts down the smaller swells.”
I patted my chest the second I got the life jacket strapped around me. “Count me in. I’m always down to get a little wet.”
Since Talos was doubling as my partner and one of the guides for this expedition, a lot of my ‘training’ was done alone or latching on to another couple also learning the ropes.
As I’d suspected, rafting was pretty much self-explanatory in the sense of, you paddled, you kept your weight distributed properly when going through large swells, you listened to your guide, you didn’t do anything stupid like try and lean over the side of the raft to scoop up whatever fish or creature decided to float on by.
“All right, everyone! Head to your assigned raft and climb in! Wait for further instruction from your guide!” Talos’s voice bellowed over the rushing water behind him.
There were four rafts in total, mine being the last of the bunch with an older couple as my companions, and a couple that looked around my age.
“Marlow, you’re going to be in the back with me,” Talos said, tossing me a helmet as the others grabbed their own.
“Wow, I’m honored. Does this mean I get to hoist the sails, too?”
He gave me a weird look and then shook his head. “Blake mentioned you were a jokester.”
I fought the immediate urge to ask him what else Blake said about me and focused on climbing into the raft as Talos held it in place from floating out into the channel.
It wouldn’t exactly do me any good to be getting goo-goo eyed in front of his coworkers.
Treating this situation delicately meant I needed to keep my trap shut until I got Blake in my bed.
Then maybe I’d go gung ho and figure out what that little minx was saying about me.
As soon as my hands were wrapped firmly around my paddle, Talos asked, “We all ready?”
My stomach twisted in excitement. This was my kind of adrenaline rush.
Rollercoasters were boring in comparison and didn’t have that same ‘near death’ tease that an outdoor sport like this had.
Sure, we were going down the more tame part of the river with hardly anything too wild, but there was still that element of danger I craved.
Once we were pushed off, Talos hopped into the raft and sat on the bench next to me.
He helped guide us to the main channel of water, right behind the other rafts, and kept a modest distance between us all.
As the last in line, we were probably going to take this thing slow, and while I’d normally be a little bitter, the older couple in front of me were clearly shaking like leaves the second we hit the first swell.
“All right, everyone! Paddles up!” Talos shouted. “Let’s work as a team and have a good time!”
My face hurt from how hard I was grinning.
Sinking my paddle into the water, I drove it back, pulling the water along with me.
Feeling the power of a raging current fight back against you was impressive.
The commanding presence of a body of water giving no mercy to how it would flow reminded me of my own temperament—giving way to no one and nothing no matter how much they begged or howled.
I used to think it was a negative trait of mine to not bend the knee to anyone, even my own family. However, over time, I began to see it as a blessing. A way to give me the sense of control I needed in order to feel safe.
Growing up in a financially unstable household had done a number on the inner spirit.
The constant fear of eviction and food shortage was scary.
And when my dad finally hit it big and moved us into a mansion compared to the cramped apartment I’d grown up in for half my life, it seemed too good to be true.
Getting sent off to boarding school, attending an Ivy League, landing myself a seven-figure career—all of it was one single decision away from becoming life ruining.
I could appreciate the gamble that was life, now that I’d had plenty of experience living it. No one was guaranteed a soft and cushy existence, and the more that fact was realized and appreciated, the easier it was to connect the dots to keep the lifestyle you got comfortable in.
Much like the raging river. A beast of a force that had no qualms in taking what it wanted. You could be the best swimmer in the world and still be swallowed up by the current.
“River left!” Talos called out. “Rock ahead!”
Driving my paddle down into the water once more, I curved it toward the boat, helping steer us out of the path. For some reason, though, the older couple in front of me began to frantically paddle in opposite directions, creating a counter balance to the motion of what the rest of us were doing.
“River left! Rock!” Talos called out again.
The thing was huge and hard to miss. Even hard to intentionally drive a raft into it with enough warning ahead of time.
And yet, we were heading right for it.
“Shit,” I mumbled, jamming my paddle backward.
My shoulders ached from the force of the water fighting against my paddle. Miraculously, the raft shifted the other way, moving the nose of it away from the rock’s direction and scooting us around the other side of it.
Unfortunately, it seemed the river had different plans for us and ended up depositing us toward the rock anyway.
A cruel mistress, indeed.
As soon as our raft slammed into the rock, the woman in front of me screamed.
“All right, calm down!” Talos lifted himself up from the bench to see where the front of our raft was lodged onto the rock. “Paddle backward, everyone! This is an easy one to get out of.”
My foot jammed up against the bench in front of me, giving me more leverage to drive my paddle back and scoop more water forward. With the river fighting us from the side, and our raft stuck from the front, this was going to be a bitch to get out of.
“Stick together!” Talos called.
The couple in front of me was clearly panicking, their paddles splashing up more water into the raft rather than pushing it out and away from us. I felt bad for them, as they were obviously not at all equipped to be going through an adventure class like this one.
I was surprised they weren’t pulled from it and sent back up to camp to tag along with another group doing something way less stressful.
“That’s it! One more big tug!” Talos heaved himself backward, slamming into the back of the raft to give us more momentum in dislodging ourselves.
With one last shove, the raft finally scraped away from the rock. We tipped dangerously to the left, leaving us all to grab onto the handles on the sides of the craft quickly.
“Hang on!” Talos stood up again and used his paddle as a rudder against the rock, shoving us out and away from it. Water kicked up, spraying us all right as we hit one of the rapids dead on.
With one last severe dip, the raft was righted and finally we were back in the main channel.
“All right, nice work, everyone!”
“Ellen!” the older man shouted, his face drawn back in a panicked look while his finger pointed out into the water.
My head snapped back, following the line of his finger to someone in a life vest floating down between the rapids. Their arms waved frantically, disappearing beneath the swell and then popping up a harrowing three seconds later, the coughing and sputtering barely heard over the rush of water.
“Ellen!” the man called again, careening toward the side of the raft and tipping the entire party in that direction.
Oh fuck.