Chapter 3
Charlie
The girl was hot as fuck and I almost didn’t want to go get Kevin. The lucky bastard didn’t deserve such a hot assistant and I wanted to sweep her up and have her work on one of my boats. If I had her to look forward to, I think I would be able to get my ass up a little earlier than usual. Merle was a sight for sore eyes and it almost helped me to forget about another new person to the community that was off limits. If Merle wasn’t here with someone, it meant that I would have a chance.
I walked onto the other boat and looked around. The place was a mess and maybe I wouldn’t have to do anything at all. The girl might get an eyeful of the place here she would be expecting to work at and she might decide that it isn’t for her. Not unless she isn’t too keen on safety. I saw many problems with his rigging and worried about the woman. It wasn’t that safe when the equipment wasn’t taken care of properly.
“Kevin, are you in here?”
I heard a slight sound of waking up and I could have guessed that it was already happy hour somewhere for Kevin. He was inebriated and I didn’t even have to find his slumped over body that was in and out of it to know. He was never sober for long and today wasn’t one of his sober days.
“What do you want Charlie? It’s too damn early for all of that hollering.”
“I’m here to get you up because you have someone waiting for you. A diver.”
He popped his eyes open and nodded his head. “That’s right. So how does he look?”
It told me that Kevin had no idea who he’d hired, though I was sure that he was going to be just fine with who showed up. Merle was gorgeous and even if she can’t dive, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t be something pretty to look at for everyone else. She would be a good addition to any boat and I didn’t even have to see what she had to offer to know that I wanted her on mine.
“Well, I will say that the person is a little small. I don’t know how they are going to be diving, but the weight issue may come up. I don’t know if they can even pull the dredge.”
“I was told that the diver was small, but assured that the weight wasn’t an issue. Damnit. I don’t want some fairy boy making me look like an idiot.”
I wanted to assure him that it wouldn’t do him any good to get all upset about it. If Merle said she could dive, I was inclined to believe her because she didn’t seem like the type that would lie about something just to lie.
“Seems to have a good head on their shoulders. Why don’t you meet them and then you can decide if the wait for the diver was worth it. Said that you two have been talking since back in September.”
“Yeah, I have to do better this year or I am going to lose my slip. You know that can’t take my house, but they will take my boat.”
“I’m sorry; I didn’t know that it was that bad for you. Are you sure you don’t want anything bought for the boat.” If he didn’t find some gold, enough to replace what he lost, then what are we going to do? I didn’t want to imagine a day that I wasn’t running into Kevin on the shoreline, talking about the next big score that was just moments from getting pulled out of the water. H seemed like a lifer and I didn’t like the idea of him getting pushed out.
“Well I am not throwing in the towel yet. Thought I would bring some young blood in and see if that helps at all. Merle sounds like a stand-up guy and I look forward to meeting him.”
“Well he is outside right now if you want to finish what was started.”
“I will. Thanks for waking me up. Are you actually going to go out yourself and get some work done?”
I told them that I wasn’t sure because I really wasn’t and it started to rub on me. It is definitely not a subject I like to think about.
“You know that I try to stay off the rigs if I can. I like the gold they bring back, but I am still not a fan of all of that freezing water and waves. I feel myself getting sick just thinking about it.”
Kevin chuckled as he got up and wiped his mouth. From everything that was going on and more, I wanted off of the raggedy boat that was making me a little uneasy. I had been told more than once that I was in the wrong business because of my dislike of water and the feel of it around me. It was devastating to have a fear of it because I was surrounded by water. It was something that I really needed to get over.
“Well I guess it is as good of a time as any to get up. What time is it?”
I looked at my watch and gave him an answer. It didn’t faze him that he had been awaiting for her for an hour. I almost tried to get him up again, but I was convinced that he wasn’t as bad as he appeared. I’d seen Kevin function on far more in his system, I was sure of it. Kevin finally wobbled up, even though he was swaying badly.
I went out to the top side and breathed a sigh of relief when I was off of the boat and my back was to the water. The dock moved underneath my feet and it was like before. This time the woman was in front of me and instead of it doing what I was supposed to, I felt the queasiness take over. So I went to follow her and the dock moved again. I tried to steady myself, but I was going face first into the water before I knew it.
The water was so damn cold, an immediate shock to my system. Damnit, it looked like my day had just taken a turn for the worst. I sputtered out the cold water and tried to push back the flash backs that they caused.