Swallow Me Whole novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Whole Dock
He came over at four o'clock with six teammates behind him.
My family was on the dock with the grill going.
Dad flipped burgers in his terrible apron.
Mom sat in a lawn chair with her feet in the water.
Keeva lay on a towel with a paperback over her face.
Ashton stood at the grill beside Dad, handing him a plate, with a stillness in his shoulders I knew by now.
I sat on the dock's edge in my bathing suit with a root beer.
"Sadie Haldane," Trent called from the shallows, grinning. "Small world."
I did not stand.
"Hi, Trent."
"Nice place. I didn't know your family had money."
"We don't. We have a leaky roof."
His teammates laughed.
He took it as a good sign and climbed up onto our dock with water running off his shoulders.
He is six foot one, and he used to feel enormous to me.
Now he looked like a tall boy in wet shorts.
"I heard you've been busy," he said, low enough for me but not for the dock. "Heard you finally found someone to try."
My dad stopped flipping.
Behind me, I heard Ashton set the plate down.
"Don't," I said, without turning. "Please."
He didn't move.
I could feel him wanting to.
I put my root beer down and stood up, and I walked past Trent to the middle of the dock where everyone could see me.
My heart was going a hundred and twenty.
I knew exactly what number it was.
"Okay," I said, loudly. "Since you brought the whole team."
Six rowers went quiet.
Trent's smile held.
"I want to say something to Trent, and I want you all to hear it, because he already told you his side."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Swallow Me Whole are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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