Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Just Another Day at the Beach

Even before she opened her eyes Ayden heard voices.  They were all around her.  She could feel the wet sand against her cheek and lips.  The gentle surf washed against her ankles.  Slowly opening her eyes and pushing up on one hand just to roll her aching body over took all the effort she could muster.  She moaned and closed her eyes against the brilliant sun threatening to blind her.

Ayden heard a woman ask, “Is she alive?”

The voice of a small boy very near her face said, “Look mommy she moved and her eyes are opening.”  She felt a finger that slowly slid down her arm, the fingernail gently skimming the surface of her skin and as she carefully opened her eyes she saw the small boy put the finger in his mouth, licking at the nail bed, before making a face and trying to spit out the foul flavor which must have been from the baby oil she had put on before coming to the beach.

The mother gasped and grabbed the small boy by the arm pulling him away from the crowd, indignantly scolding him, “Mason!  You can not just go around licking people that you do not know!”  Trailing off as she stormed up the beach with her son in tow Ayden could hear her complain, “Someone really should do something about these girls on the beach”

An elderly woman to her right said, “Wyatt, do something about this.”

Suddenly there were hands lifting her to a sitting position.  Then came the sting to her face.  The elderly man, Wyatt, had just slapped her gently, but not softly, on the cheek and was looking at her with concern asking, “Are you alright?”

Ayden looked up at him puzzled answering, “I think so,” as her hand rose to rub the sore cheek, sure that it had left a mark.

The elderly woman was smoothing Ayden’s ponytail back away from her face and inquiring, “Did you do this on purpose or have you just arrived?  Where do you live?”

By this time Ayden was on her feet and brushing away a bit of loose sand from her hands, “No, no, I just slipped and I am staying…” as she raised her hand to point in the direction of the beach house she noticed the shops looked different and the record store was not there.  On this corner stood an old style, corner market with fruit displayed in boxes lining the front of the store.  Confused she stammered, “I… I… um,” looking up and down the beach front for something familiar.  As she struggled to figure out how far she was from the beach house the crowd began to disperse, many of them shaking their heads, some looking back at her with pity in their eyes but most focused on their feet as they trundle through the deep sand back to their own activities.  “Wait!” she frantically called out to them but not even the elderly couple would look back to help.

Searching for any marker along the shore that looks familiar she sees a jogger coming towards her, but before she can utter a word he alters his path and jogs behind her.  As he races past behind her he slaps her firmly on the derrière, so hard he nearly knocks her over again.  She instantly grabs her behind and rubs the burning sensation, looking towards the man who is still jogging down the beach but is now running backwards smiling and shaking his finger at her.  She is not sure why but she blushes and returns his infectious smile.

To her left is a group of young men, about her age, laughing loudly and passing a football back and forth.  Still feeling a little dazed she approaches them and calls out quietly, “Excuse me, can you help me?”

The man with the ball plants it firmly on his left hip holding it casually in place with his wrist and he smiles as he strides over to her.  He is tall and tanned, with dark hair and eyes the color of dark chocolate.  It is obvious he has spent some time on the beach.  She had not noticed how attractive he was until he smiled at her.  The muscles of his arms are not the sort you see on men who spend too much time worrying about how they look, but they are the kind a man who is very athletic would have.  Her eyes are drawn to the strong muscles of his chest.  There is just a touch of dark hair in the center and a matching bit just below his belly as it slides down into his bathing suit between the prominent ‘V’ of his hipbones.  His three friends approach behind him.  They are equally athletically built, with varying hair and eye color, but each one as attractive as the man with the football.  Her breath catches in her throat as they approach.  She blushes and drops her eyes to their feet as she sees she has been caught admiring their physiques.  The man with the football reaches her first and in a deep voice says, “Sure, what kind of help do you need?” simultaneously his free hand comes up and softly cups the underside of her breast.

Ayden’s hand instinctively jerks up to push it away as she takes a step back losing her balance in the soft sand and landing in the waiting arms of the tallest of the quartette; the blond with the deep blue eyes.  She had not noticed him circle around behind her.  He stands her up and with her back still held tightly against his strong chest he whispers in her ear, “Naughty, naughty you little spitfire and what are you doing down here all alone?” as he deftly spins her quickly around and holds her torso against his waist pinning her there, bent at the middle, with his arm firmly holding her in place.  Quickly her feet are kicked apart and three swift ‘whacks’ land hard on her bottom.  The first one makes her cry out in surprise, it lands hard and the hand is large, nearly covering both sides in one strike.  The second one comes before she can catch her breath and she tries to squirm away from it so it lands on one side sending a sharp sting followed by a warm heat that spreads slowly over the skin.  It is now that she raises her face to the crowd realizing that all eyes on the beach are turned towards her.  Many of the men have stopped building sand castles with their children and are standing with their arms crossed nodding their approval at the young men scolding her now.  The women are smiling and trying to distract the younger of the children away from the scene at the shore.  The third strike is the hardest of all and her knees buckle as tears form in the corners of her eyes.  Ayden is panting as she is righted, the blond still holding her in place with a big strong hand on each of her upper arms as he slowly whispers in her ear, “What do you say to the nice man?”

Ayden’s mouth gapes open, dumbfounded.  Her mind is racing trying to make sense of what is happening to her and where she is.  Her mouth pops open and closed so that she looks like one of the guppies in the pet shop that stood on Main Street, of her hometown when she was a young girl.

The tall dark haired man just laughs and waves the blond off, “Danny, it’s okay.  Don’t worry about it.  We are just here to have a little fun.  Hell, we didn’t even ask her permission first.”

The blond, Danny, relaxes his hold on her arms and turns her around to face him.  With his thumb he gently reaches up and swipes away a tear from her cheek and asks quietly “Are you okay now?  Feel better?”

Ayden could do nothing but bob her head forward slightly.

Danny cocks his head and brings his hand up to cup his ear saying, “What?  I did not hear that.”

Ayden is able to gulp out a squeaky, “Yes.”

Danny does not let go of his grip, in fact, it tightens slightly as he corrects her drawing out a, “Sir….”

Ayden’s mouth falls open in shock and her eye are as wide open as a child who has just had their lollipop ripped from their hand.  In barely more than a whisper she manages to choke out, “Yes, Sir?”

Danny’s face lights up in a bright beaming smile as he pats her on the bottom releasing her arms saying, “See that is a good little spitfire.”  The tall dark haired man and his two friends have already gone back to their patch on the sand and Danny follows behind them. 

As Ayden looks along the beach all faces are on her.  “Excuse me.  Could someone please…” but before she can finish her sentence they have all gone back to what they were doing before and are too preoccupied to offer her any assistance.

Unsure of where she is and completely baffled by the behavior of the people on the sand she turns to search for her towel and bag, but not before looking over her shoulder to be sure the four men are focused on their football game and that she is heading away from them.  As she is glancing at them the tall blond catches her glance and gives her a wink as a gleaming smile spreads across his face.  She quickly turns her gaze forward feeling the blush rising in her cheeks.  Ayden raises a hand and touches her cheeks feeling the heat and wipes away the wetness of the remaining tears wishing she did not blush so easily.  She then feels the heat on her bottom and thinks those cheeks must have a bright pink blush, as well, and rubs at the heat, tugging to reposition her bikini into place as she searches for her towel.  The beach stretches on as far as she can see.

Ahead of her she can see the light blue, sloped-roof of a life guard tower and begins working her way towards it.  It is a simple wooden structure with windows on three sides, a door in the front, with a ramp leading up to it, and a deck that runs along the side facing the shore, where the life guard can stand under the over-hang that provides a little shade during the heat of the day.  The entire building is supported by wooden pillars which keep it up off the ground so the life guard can see out over the crowds.  It all looks about as cliché as her bathroom back at the beach house, except at the base of the tower, where the four pillars support the small room, there is iron meshing on all four sides and a small opening where a metal gate hangs askew from one hinge.  Around the outside of the tower are small wooden posts that stand about as tall as her waist.  The posts surround the life guard tower and stand about 1 meter apart from each other and are about 1 meter from the base of the light blue tower so that they form a little square of twenty-one posts.  Each post is topped with a black iron ring and there is a man using a heavy grinder on some of the rings that appear to have begun to rust.  As she approaches he stops his work and grins up at her with his toothless smile.  She takes a step back, but as he chuckles and returns to his work she presses forward to the young man positioned on the front deck of the tower.  At the base of the ramp leading up to the deck she calls out to the life guard who looks down at her and smiles as he turns and goes back inside the small room.  Hesitantly, she climbs the ramp calling out, “Hello?” hoping to draw the lifeguard’s attention.  Reaching the top she peers through the doorway and he is sitting on a small stool at a table that is stacked with first aid equipment.  Ayden smiles and breathes a sigh of relief and quietly asks, “Excuse me but could you please help me.  I seem to be lost.”

The life guard smiles and motions for her to enter the small room.  Once inside there is barely enough room for the two of them.  He looks up at her and says, “Won’t your please have a seat?”  Ayden quickly looks around but the life guard is sitting on the only seat in the room.  He has leaned forward, with one hand on his right knee and the left knee he has his elbow propped up with his palm facing up slowly extending out in her direction.  She is still looking from her right where the orange lifebuoy hangs on a nail and to the left where a small refrigerator sits in the corner when she feels his fingertips press softly against her knees.  Startled she looks down at his hand and tries to back up, but her back is against the door, and as she does her legs open slightly allowing his hand to gently slide between her knees.  Her mouth falls open in silent protest as she looks from the hand up into the man’s face.  His gentle blue eyes are looking up sideways at her waiting, when he clears his throat and impatiently asks, “Well?”

Quickly looking around the room again Ayden chuckles softly and says quietly, “I do not see a chair.”

“I have offered you my hand.  Now please bend your knees outward and kindly have a seat like a polite young lady would when a seat is offered to her,” he softly chided her.  Whether it was the heat of the day, nearly drowning, or the strange way that people were behaving she found herself slowly bending her knees and lowering herself down just as she had been asked to do.  Once she was awkwardly balanced on his outstretched hand, just the thin layer of her bikini between his warm flesh and the moisture that was barely hidden away in the folds of her own he leaned close to her face, still smiling and asked, “What is it you need help with again?”

Flustered and blushing Ayden stumbled over her words quickly trying to get her story out.  Trying to explain that she had nearly drown and she was lost and could not find her way back, but her words just fell out in a frantic jumble.  The life guard just smiled at her, obviously amused, looking her directly in the eye, holding her gaze as his outstretched hand began to slowly close over her mons bringing his other hand up to cover her mouth and let out a deep low, “Shhh.”  Immediately, she stopped talking and took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly finally feeling her body relax as a tingling began to radiate up from her belly.  She knew that she should not, but his strong hand felt good against her body and she dared not move, but instinctively kissed his hand that was still holding her silent.  Gradually, the hand that was grasping her releases and the life guard tells her to stand and she silently obeys his command.  He stands up, as she does, and smiles down at her, “Now then, we are closed today as you can see from the repairs going on outside,” there is a quick slap on her rear as he continues, “so now off with you young lady.”  Bewildered she slowly inches back down the ramp looking over her shoulder as the life guard shoos her away with the back of his downturned, open fingertips that where only a few moments ago wrapped so snuggly around her.

Still struggling to make sense of all that has happened; Ayden looks around searching the sand for some familiar landmark, something that will point her in the right direction.  When her stomach rumbles, she instantly brings one hand up to stop the noise and uses the other hand to shade her eyes from the sun as she searches the sky and guesses it is getting late in the afternoon, but she is not prepared to trust any of her senses, at least not yet.  Ayden wishes she had eaten something before getting into the water this morning and wonders just how long she was in the water.  The heat of the day is radiating down from her scalp and she knows she cannot go much further; her mouth is feeling dry and she can still taste the salt water she must have swallowed.  As she scans the beach trying to determine which way to go, she looks back to where the elderly couple, the families, and the young men were gathered on the beach and decides not to go back that way.  Ayden looks longingly at the life guard tower she just left.  She wonders at the captivating life guard and the enthralling effect he had on her.  She knows she cannot return there for help, but does not know where to turn.  Off in the distance she sees a pier with what looks like a considerable amount of activity and begins the long trudge down the beach towards the pier.