Demetri shrugged. “So, it’s not very touristy for me anymore.”

“You?” Sam sputtered. “Work?”

“I sing the jingle. Wanna hear it?” Demetri looked dead serious. I laughed again. Why the heck was he being nice to Sam, when Sam was being a genuine ass?

Sam nodded his head. “If it makes you leave, I’ll hear it.”

“No such luck, friend.” He jumped down from the concrete step and went to wash his hands. “I’ll leave on my own. I don’t need to sing in order to gain permission to do so.” He winked at me. “Pleasure seeing you again, Lyssa, and Sam, nice meeting you.

We should hang out sometime. I’m gonna go into the aquarium.

You know since I paid to see fish and all.” With a grin he walked off.

Sam and I stood in silence.

“He’s, uhh…” Sam scratched his head.

“Not nearly as hostile as you,” I pointed out.

“I was being protective.” Sam’s eyes flashed as he grabbed my hand and pulled me close to his body. He’d never acted like this before, and I didn’t like it. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Since when did I nominate you as my protector?” I jerked away.

He glared. “You didn’t. But I’m sure it’s what Brady would have wanted. After all, I’ve been protecting both of you for years now. And now he comes into the picture?”

I tried to pull away, but Sam’s grip tightened. “What would Brady think, Lyss?”

“I have to go.” I threw the bucket down and ran into the aquarium. I wasn’t sure why I was running toward Demetri, but I was frantic.

Chapter Ten

Demetri

So, I officially looked like some creepy stalker. Really, it was a first for me. I mean, I liked Alyssa, but not enough to actually stalk her every waking move. She must think I’m a total and complete lunatic. I wouldn’t blame her if she burned my numbers tonight in a trash can and cast a spell over the fire to render me unconscious.

I tapped the pamphlet against my leg as I walked slowly around the darkened aquarium. It wasn’t very impressive for being the one tourist attraction. In fact, it was quite small. But the seals were kind of cool, and they did let you touch a lot of the animals.

The five-year-old inside of me was pumping his fist in the air when they said it was okay to touch the octopus.

I sighed and walked by the miniature sharks, or whatever the heck they were called. My thoughts took me back to meeting the guy Alyssa had been with. Was he a boyfriend? Maybe I read her all wrong. She didn’t seem to appreciate his protective stance.

But even I had to admit he was some serious competition in the looks department. Obviously I needed to be lifting more and stop being so lazy after work.

“Demetri?” I heard my name, and then a body ran into me so fast I nearly fell into the glass aquarium, to release the tiny shark to feed on every human in its wake.

“Lyssa? What’s wrong?”

Her face was flushed, her nostrils flared. Was she crying?

I leaned in closer. She backed up as if scared. “I, uh, I’m scared of sharks.”

“It’s in a glass cage.” I pointed out.

“You nearly broke it.”

“Because you ran into me.”

“Do you want to hang out or not?” she huffed.

What. The. Hell.

Something was up. But at least counseling had taught me one thing: when girls were upset, you didn’t make things worse by forcing them to talk about it, and then you didn’t try to fix everything and give them a slap on the back when they were done.

So I nodded my head and grabbed her hand. She didn’t pull away. Thrilled that she actually let me hold her hand, I led her out of the aquarium straight by Sam, who looked like he was getting ready to sic Sally on me.

I was never one for drama with other dudes.

Maybe it was because I always won, except when it came to my brother. Hence the need for drugs in the first place. I wonder what that said about my personality? Rejection leads me down a path of destruction? Awesome. At any rate, my motto had always been that when women someday take over the world, I’m going to need all the testosterone on my side that I can get. It was never wise to make enemies with those who’d protect your manhood when a girl wanted to take a machete to you.

“So where to?” I asked once we were out in the warm salty air.

Alyssa looked down the boardwalk. “Wanna go for a swim?”

“Do you have wetsuits?” Last year I tried to get Nat to swim with me in the ocean and nearly froze my toes off. She thought it was hilarious. I wanted to die and was pretty sure my voice, as well as other parts of my body, didn’t return to normal for hours.

“Yup, follow me.” She led me down a few steps, then walked into a surf shop. “I need an extra large and an extra small.”

“The extra large is for me.” I winked at the lady behind the desk. She blushed.

Alyssa hit me. “Pretty sure that’s obvious, Dem.”

“Aw.” I tilted my head to the side. “I have a nickname too!”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it kind of sounds like damn, which means to go hell. I thought it fit.”

God, she was beautiful when she was feisty. “You care.”

“I don’t care.”

“Admit it, you kind of do.”

Our argument was interrupted by the sales lady. I insisted on paying for the rentals.