Even
before she opened her eyes Ayden could hear voices. They were all around her. She could feel the wet sand against her cheek
and lips; the gentle surf washing against her ankles. Slowly opening her eyes and pushing up on one
hand just rolling her aching body over takes all the effort she can
muster. She moans and closes her eyes
against the brilliant sun threatening to blind her.
Ayden
hears a woman ask, “Is she alive?”
The
voice of a small boy very near her face says, “Look mommy she moved and her
eyes are opening.” She feels the
sensation of someone running a finger slowly down her arm, the fingernail
gently skimming the surface of her skin and as she carefully opens her eyes she
sees a small boy put the finger in his mouth, eagerly licking at the nail bed,
before making a face and trying to spit out the foul flavor which must be from
the baby oil she put on before coming to the beach.
The
horrified mother gasps and grabs the small boy by the arm pulling him away from
the crowd, indignantly scolding him, “Mason!
You cannot just go around licking people that you do not know!” Trailing off as she storms up the beach with
her son in tow Ayden can hear her complain, “Someone really should do something
about these girls on the beach”
An
elderly woman to her right chastises, “Wyatt, do something about this.”
Suddenly
there are hands lifting her into a sitting position. Then comes the stinging slap to her
face. The elderly man, Wyatt, has just
slapped her gently, but not softly enough and it is enough to bring her into a
full upright position, her eyes wide open in shock and he is standing over her looking
down at her with concern asking, “Are you alright?”
Ayden
looks up at him puzzled answering, “I think so,” as her hand rises to rub the
sore cheek, sure that it has left a mark.
The
elderly woman is 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 is 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 notices the shops look different
and the record store was not there. On
this corner stands an old style, corner market with fruit displayed in boxes
lining the front of the store. Confused
she stammers, “I… I… um,” looking up and down the beach front for something
familiar. As she struggles to figure out
how far she is from the beach house the crowd begins to disperse, many of them
shaking their heads, some looking back at her with pity in their eyes but most
focusing their gaze on their feet as they trundle through the deep sand back to
their own activities. “Wait!” she
frantically calls out to them but not even the elderly couple will 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 circling 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 as 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
surface of her 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
can do nothing but bob her head forward slightly.
Danny
cocks his head to one side 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 eyes 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 gaze and gives her a wink as a
gleaming smile spreads across his face.
She quickly turns her eyes 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 radiating through 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 leans forward, with
one hand on his right knee and on the left knee he has his elbow propped up
with his palm facing up slowly extending out in her direction. She is still looking for a seat, scanning
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 scolds her. Whether it is the heat of the day, nearly
drowning, or the strange way that people are behaving she finds herself slowly
bending her knees and lowering herself down just as she has been asked to
do. Once she is awkwardly balanced on
his outstretched hand, just the thin layer of her bikini between his warm flesh
and the moisture that is barely hidden away in the folds of her own he leans
close to her face, still smiling and asks, “What is it you need help with
again?”
Flustered
and blushing Ayden stumbles 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 fall out
in a frantic jumble. The life guard just
smiles at her, obviously amused. Looking
her directly in the eye, holding her gaze as his outstretched hand begins to
slowly close over her mons he brings his other hand up to cover her mouth and he
lets out a deep low, “Shhh.”
Immediately, she stops talking and takes in a deep breath of air,
letting it out slowly, finally feeling her body relax as a tingling begins to
radiate up from her belly. She knows
that she should not, but his strong hand feels good against her body and she does
not dare move, but instinctively kisses the hand that was still holding her
silent. Gradually, the hand that is
grasping her releases and the life guard tells her to stand. 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.
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You can continue reading the story at: http://jssince2012.blogspot.com/2012/10/chapter-3-pier.html
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