Cleansed and slightly euphoric, with my newfound freedom, I ran back towards the guys.
Ryker was waiting with his hand out.
“What?’ I asked.
“You owe me ten bucks. I bet you that you would get nude before the weekend was over.”
“I remember that and that I did not take you up on the bet. What’s more, I reckon you owe me a heap of money for all the perving and entertainment I’ve been giving you. At ten dollars an hour, I calculate you owe me about $240.”
They laughed, “I think that body of yours is worth more than ten bucks an hour. But you are going to have to take me to court to get it,” joked Ryker.
Then he stood, started packing the lunch stuff away and told me to get my gear down to the dinghy as we were off to get some crays for dinner.
He didn’t put up the sails. He said we would just motor, as where we were going to was only half an hour away. Then he asked if I had my mobile with me, and I told him it was down in my bag.
“Well, you should tell your mum or dad what happened to Max and that you are alright. While you guys were fooling around, I’ve been thinking; Max was pretty pissed and might call in on your parents to try and stir some shit. I don’t think he will, but I’ve seen people do sillier things. So you should call.” Aaron was nodding, indicating that the thought had also crossed his mind.
So I went below and got my phone, then went up the bow to talk without them listening. I phoned my Mom; after our heart-to-heart a few weeks ago, I knew she would be much more understanding than my dad.
When she answered, I gave her a brief account of what had happened, and that the boys were concerned Max may drop in on them. She said they had heard nothing from Max but was pleased I had called, as she had seen on the news that a big storm was coming, and Great Barrier was mentioned specifically.
I told her that Ryker was a very accomplished sailor, and I was sure he would be okay, but I’ll mention it to him. Then she asked, “So you’re on the boat with just two guys?”
When I said I was, but that they were both really nice. Mum replied, “You lucky girl! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I was stumped as to how to answer that. It was new to me; my mother acted more like a girlfriend than a mother. But she responded to my silence with a statement.
“You already have, haven’t you?”
I tried to splutter out a denial; but was met with, “You’ve done both of them?”
“No! I haven’t,” I shouted down the phone. “I’m hanging up now; I’ll talk to you when I get home.”
“Okay, but phone me again, and let me know you are okay with the storm and everything.”
I told her I would and hung up. Then went back to the stern and told Ryker about Mom’s worry about the storm.
“I’ve been watching that. Have you not seen me listening to the Marine weather forecast? They say it won’t get to us until late Tuesday, so we should be just about home by then.”
When we got to Green Island, the guys put their dive gear on but didn’t bother with wet suits. The spot they wanted to dive was about three hundred yards from where we had moored, so they put the outboard on the dingy, instructed me on how to start it and took them out to the point where they wanted to dive.
Aaron had brought a mask and snorkel for me. So I got in the water with them, and he had me hang onto the dinghy’s anchor rope to watch them dive.
The sunlit water was so clear I could see kelp forests clinging to rock outcrops. There were sandy patches in the valleys between the rock outcrops, and many fish were moving around. The guys dropped down to a rocky ledge, almost directly below me, and they started reaching into a hole. Some of the fish had moved away when they appeared, but others had come over to check them out, whether from curiosity or looking for food, I did not know.
There were schools of blue maomao, demoiselles, pink maomao, and butterfly perch. I also saw a couple of Butterfish. I remembered my father bringing these home from a dive trip once. They were greenish-blue in colour. And out further, where the rock outcrops dropped away into a dark blue void, I could see the iridescent pinky colour of snapper, and the odd larger dark shape, that I thought was kingfish. With a clenching in my stomach, I hoped like hell it wasn’t a shark. The whole scene was stunning. I felt so privileged to be witnessing all this.
I looked down and saw Ryker pull a cray from the hole and place it in the catch bag that Aaron was holding. It looked like there were already a couple of crays in the bag. Aaron looked up and saw me watching, then motioned for me to come down and look. He gestured to me that I should pull myself down the anchor rope.
They were only four or five meters below me, so I thought I could make that. I took several breaths of air, then as large a breath as I could, and dived towards them. When I reached the bottom, I let go of the rope and found Aaron waiting for me. He gave me his mouthpiece and indicated for me to take some gulps of air. Then holding me down by my shoulder, he guided me over to the hole and held the kelp aside so I could look in.
There had to be thirty crayfish in there, mostly small ones, but he leaned in and pushed the little ones aside, and I saw a large cray that was attempting to get down lower under all the others. Aaron swept some more little ones aside, and another giant crayfish was on the other side of the hole.
The sight was so amazing that I forgot about breathing, and I got a fright when Aaron handed me his mouthpiece again and found I was gasping for air. He calmed me down and indicated we should go up. But stopped me and indicated that I had to breathe out. Which was the last thing I wanted to do, but he was insistent. So I released some air, and then he took me over to the anchor rope and stopped me about halfway to the surface.
He gave me more deep breaths of air, then again insisted that I breathe it out as we ascended. Finally, on the surface, he removed my mask and snorkel and held me tight.
“Good girl, I was a bit naughty, but I wanted you to see that. Not many people get to see a hole that is full of crays. But if you hadn’t breathed out, your lungs would have exploded with the pressure of the compressed air.”
Back on deck, they proudly showed me what they had caught, four good-sized crays.
“We’ll have two for dinner tonight and take the other two to Tony and Valerie,” said Ryker.
My heart fluttered; I was going to see Valerie again. I was intrigued at the thought of meeting her now that I knew so much more about her.
“Why did you not take those two big crays?” I asked.
“Because one of them was a female laden with eggs, and you need to leave the big ones anyway so they can breed.”
Then Ryker and Aaron discussed that the big female cray had pushed the little cray up to be caught to save herself. They had never seen that before.
When we returned to the yacht, it was only 4 o’clock and still really hot. So we put the crays in the live bait tank, threw the towels into the dinghy, and headed ashore for more sunbathing.
They laid out a beach blanket and placed the towels on it, then dropped their board shorts and lay on their backs. I noted they had left a space for me between them. I hesitated; lying between two naked men bothered me; if I were to do it, was I giving an open invitation? But standing there hesitating would just bring ridicule, so I slipped out of my bikini and lay down.
They didn’t give any reaction but started talking about the dive and asking me if I had dived before, as I seemed so confident.
“Not really.” I replied, “I represented my school at high-board diving, so I’m aware of clearing one’s ears as you dive deep, and I have always snorkelled on our summer holidays.”
Aaron replied that he helped run the dive courses at the Orakei dive shop and asked if I would want to do a dive course.
“Of course, but how much do they cost? I’m saving all I can to go on a trip to England. I want to make trips over to France just like my parents did. My mother still corresponds with the woman she billeted with in Tahiti. They moved back to Paris. She has invited me to stay with them for as long as I like.”
Aaron replied that he would sort it out and he could get mates rates. Again I felt the surge of excitement at the thought he wanted to see me some more. Then I became aware that he was stroking my side, and his fingers were straying to the side of my breast.
I thought about pushing his hand away, but it felt so good. Then Ryker asked me where I worked, which gave me a start. I had temporally forgotten about him lying beside me as Aaron’s hands were kindling naughty thoughts.
“I work as a Laboratory technician’s assistant at Auckland Hospital. I’m doing papers at Uni to become fully qualified, but my boss and some other senior technicians are trying to convince me to attend medical school and become a doctor.”
“Why don’t you?” asked Ryker, “you clearly have the brains for it.”
“I want to travel overseas. But, unfortunately, I will be tied up for at least five years if I go to Med School, Also my parents couldn’t afford to send me to Med School and I don’t have the money.”
“I’d like to see you tied up,” replied Ryker, laughing.
I had become distracted talking with Ryker but became aware again that Aaron was still stroking along my body, his fingers openly brushing over my breast and continuing down to my legs. I lay back, knowing I should stop him, but it felt so good. Lying naked on this beach, I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere in the tropics.
Aaron took my lack of resistance as consent, and the next time his hand stroked over my hips, his fingers moved over to come back up slightly inside my legs and brushed very close to my mound, then on and lingering seductively around my tummy button. It seemed innocent enough for him to touch me there, but then his hand moved up to caress my breast. I knew that if I didn’t stop this now, I would be unable to stop him, as he was making me horny again.
I turned to him. “That feels very nice, but Ryker’s here. You need to stop.”
I was very aware that I did not sound convincing at all. And I sure as hell did not want him to stop, but I was worried about what he would think of me, being so easy.
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