Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
He extended a hand to Ducky, doing a quick motion with his fingers. “Come here. Watch me. Tell me what I need to change.” He heard the pleading in his voice and the not so silent chuckle from Kruger’s coach, standing in the distance. Whatever. Ducky wanted to dive. He’d help him with the courage part. “They’re going to bring our stuff down. Take off your shirt. Get ready. We got this. Come down right after me.”
Ducky stood, doing as Chad asked. He removed his ball cap and sunglasses. The tank top followed. “Be careful. It’s high. Watch the water,” Ducky said, handing his belongings to the coach.
“Pfft. It’s only high the first time,” Chad teased then swung back toward the ocean. He stared at the hypnotic motion of the small waves and cleared all thought from his head. His body vibrated with excited energy. His training took over, the actions drilled into him. He extended his arms, taking a deep breath.
“You got this,” Ducky encouraged quietly. His soul responded, giving a full body flush of adrenaline as he released the breath and jumped. A smile spread across his face as his feet left solid ground and the breeze flew over his body.
His life was perfect.
Ducky leaned over the rocky edge, watching Chad execute the roll he’d practiced before aligning himself with the water and dropping in. Of course, the dive was perfect. He’d been dumb to worry for Chad for even a second.
“Here you go,” Kruger said from behind Ducky, handing him back his shirt. Ducky yanked on the tank, stepping several inches from the edge, watching Chad get congratulations from those watching on the shore below. When Chad looked up, he gave a giant arm swing wave from the ocean, wanting Ducky to join him.
Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen. Ducky took the ball cap and sunglasses back. He added those to his face and head as he started for the jeep. Kruger followed behind him. “I thought when you asked if I was going to jump that you blew it.”
“Nah,” Kruger said as if he knew exactly what he was doing. “He watches you all the time. He’d have asked if I hadn’t. Then you’d have to lie. This way, you never really confirmed. It’s all on me.”
Ducky only grunted a reply. Nice try, but Kruger, and the coach for that matter, hadn’t watched as he’d beg for release this morning when Chad held him off until he’d promised to dive today. He let that bit of information go unsaid.
“He’s gonna be pissed,” the coach said, sliding into the driver’s side of the jeep. The whole experience seemed hilarious to both the coach and Kruger, based on the way they cackled. Pissed wasn’t quite the emotion he expected to get when he saw Chad next. Probably more like disappointment, concern, or super attention as he tried to pinpoint Ducky’s exact reservation and fix it.
“He’ll get over it. I do this all the time,” Ducky said, taking the front passenger seat. Kruger jumped in the back seat. “At some point, he’s gonna figure out I’m more a watcher than a participant.”
Kruger bowled over in the backseat, laughing uproariously.
“Don’t bet on it. My wife says I never learn,” the coach said.
Ducky was perfectly fine with that. It spoke sweetly to his heart with how badly Chad wanted him to experience all the things he loved. But diving fifty feet didn’t bode well for his intense fear of heights. It was damn hard to walk to the cliff’s edge and look over. He felt that was accomplishment enough for this adventure.
“It took me time, but I figured out who you were,” Kruger’s hand clasped his shoulder from behind. “You’re the guy in the fitness commercials.”
Luckily Kruger couldn’t see his eye roll behind his sunglasses. He was never going to live down those ads.
Unfortunately, the drive down didn’t take much more time than the dive itself. When they took the last curve, he spotted Chad on the back of a jet ski, coming to shore.
Their gazes locked as Chad received his congratulations. His boyfriend gave nods of appreciation, otherwise ignoring everyone other than Ducky.
“What the hell, Reigns?” Chad called out, still dripping water. Ducky grinned, not feeling one ounce of remorse in his decision to ride down with Kruger and the coach rather than fling himself off the cliff. He watched as Chad stalked toward him. The jeep barely came to a stop before Kruger jumped out from the back, the coach grinding the gear shift in place before he exited the jeep. They clearly expected something raw and rough to go down.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Ducky explained with patience in his tone.
“But you wanted this,” Chad countered, coming to his side of the jeep.
“Did I?” Ducky replied, looking as quizzical as Chad looked certain.