“Another mystery.”

“Yeah. The swamp is full of ‘em.” Paci reached out and playfully slapped me on the upper arm. “So let’s get back to that slut thing.”

I frowned at him. “No, let’s not. It wasn’t one of my proudest moments. I’d rather not re-live it, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m just curious why she called you that name in particular. I mean, it’s not like you go around sleeping with guys here. I’d know it if you did.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Isn’t that kind of a personal question?” I was trying not to smile, but it struck me as pretty ridiculous that someone would sleep around in the swamp. It just seemed funny for some reason.

“Yeah, it’s personal. But we’re friends, right?” He took a step closer to me. He wasn’t in my personal space yet, but I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to be.

I took a step back. “Yeah, Paci. We’re friends. But that’s it. Right?”

He shrugged. “Sure. It’s whatever you want. I’m here for ya.”

“Good.” I uncrossed my arms. “Come on. I’m tired. I’m going to go lie down and go to sleep. Alone.”

“It’s only ten o’clock.”

“Yeah, well, I tire easily these days, I guess. It’s too frigging hot to do anything else anyway.”

“We could go swimming,” he said, in a teasing voice.

“Yeah, right. I love being gator bait.”

“We have a gator-free swimming hole. Wait… haven’t you been there yet?”

I stopped and turned to face him. “Are you messing with me right now?”

He put his hands up in surrender. “No, I swear. I wondered why I hadn’t seen you there before.”

My face fell as soon as I realized why he’d never seen me there before, and I started walking again. “No, thanks. Go have fun. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Paci rushed to catch up with me. “Why are you so bummed all of a sudden?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No. Enlighten me.” He grabbed my arm and made me stop walking.

“No one wants me there. That’s why I haven’t heard of it.”

“Oh, bullshit. Don’t talk like that. Everyone wants you there.”

“Everyone?” I looked at him, challenging him to argue.

“Well, okay … one person doesn’t. But she doesn’t matter. I’ve invited you, so you can come.” He grabbed my hand and pulled. “Come on. Come with me, right now.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Why not? You think I’m going to make a move on you? Come on. Trust me. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

“Bodo’s not out of the picture, Paci.”

“Nobody said he was,” he responded, speaking softly. He pulled on my hand once more, a gentle tug. “Come on. You’re not afraid, are you?”

I smiled. “I’m not that easy, Paci.”

“That’s not what I heard,” he said, before he dropped my hand and ran away.

I couldn’t resist; I ran off after him, stopping from time to time to grab a branch or rock and throw it at his back.

“Can’t catch me! Too slow!” he yelled over his shoulder.

We ran for five minutes before a circle of huts appeared in front of us, all of them connected by a raised, circular walkway. Torches were lit along the way, but the place seemed deserted.

“Where are we?” I whispered breathlessly, finally catching up to him because he’d stopped to wait for me.

“This is part of the old Miccosukee Village that used to be for tourists. We still use it for making cloth and stuff, and some of the kids crash here sometimes. But mostly we use it for this.” He pointed down at the space beside us.

“What is it?” I asked, leaning over. All I could see was blackness. He didn’t answer so I looked at him. He was busy pulling his shirt over his head and stepping out of his shoes. “What are you doing?”

“Going swimming,” he said simply, dropping his pants right in front of me.

I stood there speechless as he dove into the water that I couldn’t see.

***

I bit my lip. It was so humid, and the mosquitoes were out in full force. I was miserable and the idea of a pool was so tempting.

Paci had surfaced and was splashing around. “Come on in, chicken. Water’s perfect.” He swam over. I could see his face now, reflected in the torchlight. “You’re safe with me. Come in. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself. Just get in here and float for a little while. It’ll help you relax.”

It was too tempting to refuse anymore. “Touch me and I’ll drown you.”

Paci laughed. “Trust me. I won’t be touching you until you ask me to.”

I smiled with him. “Don’t hold your breath on that.”

Paci took a deep, loud breath and disappeared beneath the surface.

I quickly undressed down to my sports bra and underwear while he was out of sight, tearing the rubber band out of my hair and jumping in before I could second-guess my decision.

The cool water closed in over my head, and my hair swirled around my face like a mass of seaweed. I could feel the heat that had been trapped in my hair dissipating into the space around me. It sent a shiver over my body, to be finally free of it. I’d been so hot for so long, I’d forgotten what it was like to be submersed in coolness. The shower couldn’t cut it for this level of refreshing feeling. I was so glad I hadn’t let my fear of what people would think stop me from coming in.

I surfaced, shaking the water out of my face, looking for Paci. He was about ten feet away, smiling like a fool. It was much easier to see him from down here.

“Nice, eh?”

“Yeah. Hell, yeah,” I said grinning from ear to ear. “You sure there’re no gators in here?”

“Yep. The water’s clear in the daytime. We check it all the time. We’ve set up some spikes around the perimeter to keep them from crawling in.”

“Spikes?”

“Yeah. Sharpened sticks pointed at an angle that catch ‘em in the beak when they come near.”

“Ouch.”

“They’ve got plenty of other places to swim around. They don’t bother with places that are hard to get to. Plus we feed ‘em far from here to keep them kind of managed, so it works.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to feed the gators in the Everglades.”

Paci splashed me in the face. “Those were the old rules. We make the rules now.”

I splashed him back. “Says who?”

“Says, me!” he growled before disappearing under the water again.

“Paci?” I called out nervously. He’d been gone for a few too many seconds. “Paci? Where are you?” I patted the top of the water with my palm. “Helloooo? Paci!”

Something grabbed my ankles and pulled me under hard. My scream was lost in the suffocating water that filled my mouth and throat.

I kicked for all I was worth and caught the side of what turned out to be Paci’s face. I felt his hair run through my toes as I floated to the surface again.

My blood pressure was so high and my heart beating so fast, I had nearly no control of what I did next. As soon as he came out into the air I started slapping at him.

“Ow, ow, stop,” he said, laughing the whole time. “Shit, you kicked me in the face … quit!”

“You are such a jerk!” I yelled, my thrashing lessening just a bit. “You scared the crap out of me, Paci.”

“Wuss,” he said, splashing water in my face again. “I told you there were no gators in here.”

I pushed water into his face. “You also promised not to touch me.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him. “I thought you meant this kind of touching.”

Suddenly, I was right in front of him, and I was totally aware of the fact that he was naked and I was nearly so. The splashing stopped and the sounds quieted. A breeze blew across my cheek as I contemplated his face.

His high cheekbones, straight brow, and strong, narrow nose spoke volumes of his ancestry. He was nothing short of beautiful, and I wondered for a split second why I’d never really noticed it before.

“Stop,” I said softly.

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.” He reached out for my waist, but I grabbed his hand and pushed it away.

“I told you I’m still with Bodo.”

“But Bodo’s gone,” he said, pity lacing his voice.

My throat went hoarse. “You don’t know that.”

Paci moved his arms, propelling himself backwards a little. “Do you really mean that? You think he’s still alive?”

“Yes. I do. And even if he isn’t, that doesn’t mean I’m going to just jump into something with the next guy who comes along.”

Paci treaded water for a few seconds saying nothing. His expression went stone cold. “Oh,” he said eventually. “I get it. It’s cool.” He starting swimming away.

“Paci, stop, would you please?” I didn’t want him swimming off in a huff.

“What?”

“Seriously, come back so we can talk for just a second.”

He made a few breast strokes in my direction, stopping about five feet away. “Talk. I’m listening.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” he said casually.

“So why are you being like this? You know how I feel.”

“Not really. You’re not the most open person in the world, Bryn. I just thought … eh!” He splashed off to the side. “Never mind what I thought. It was stupid. Forget I said or did anything after jumping in the water, ‘kay?”

“That would be kind of difficult, actually.”

“Well, yeah. I am pretty handsome, that’s true. I can see how you wouldn’t want to forget and all.”

I laughed. “And humble.”

“Yeah, and humble.” He went underwater to stick his legs up in the air before coming up again. “So are we good? Because this conversation is getting lame.”

“We’re good. Are you going to tell me what you’ve been up all week, then?” I changed the subject since it seemed like a conversation about catching canners was safer ground for us right now.

“Yep. Tons of stuff, actually.” He opened his mouth to tell me more but was interrupted by someone shouting from the edge of the ring of huts.

“Who’s out there? Can we come in?” It was Fohi.

“Yeah, man!” yelled Paci. “Come on in! It’s a swamp party!”

“Whooo hooo!” yelled Fohi and a few others before I heard several splashes all around me. A few people were on the walkway, shucking their clothes. Others didn’t bother, jumping in even with their shoes on.

“Who’s that?” asked Fohi, surfacing next to me. “Bryn? Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“And Paci too?” Fohi looked from Paci to me, back and forth a couple times. I cringed when his next words came out. “Well, well, well. Paci and Bryn taking a little private skinny-dip together.”

“Shut up, dick. She’s not skinny dipping, and it’s not like that,” said Paci, splashing him in the face.

Fohi dove for Paci and they wrestled in the water.

I took the opportunity to swim away, climbing back up onto the walkway near my clothes. I was planning on getting dressed but Winky’s voice stopped me.

“Where are you going? We just got here.” She came up by my feet in the water.

“I’m cooled off. Thought I’d go to bed.”