The early summer breeze blew through my windows as I blared the radio and sang along. I pulled Cherry Anne into the parking spot by the shop, ran my fingers through my tangled hair then pulled it into a pony before threading it through the back of my dishwasher detergent-smelling hat.
“Hey, where’d you get a new uniform?” Shayla asked when I walked into the room.
“My mom made some alterations.”
“It’s unnatural to look that good in such an ugly piece of clothing.” She shook her head. “Think your mom can fix mine too?” She looked down at her too-tight shirt, the buttons straining to hold the two sides together over her belly.
“I can ask her.” I was sure she’d welcome the challenge and the attention. “Why don’t you come to my house after training today?”
“Sure! Sounds fun.” It was impossible to hate Shayla, even if Luke had some weird connection with her that raised my hackles. She was so sweet and unassuming.
“So you’re the bitch who broke my record?” A high-pitched voice stabbed at my ears.
I whipped around to see a woman tall enough to be a model and beautiful enough to give Gal Gadot a run for her money. Her flowing auburn hair sparkled in the sunlight, and if it hadn’t been for the evil glare on her face, I’d think she was a fairy-tale princess.
Shayla and I looked at each other, unsure who she had been talking to.
“Rylie, right?” The redhead stuck out her hand and shook mine with ferocity.
“I don’t know about bitch, but yeah, I’m Rylie. And this is Shayla.”
She shook Shayla’s hand without taking her eyes off me.
“And you are?” I asked.
“Nikki, Ranger Twelve.” She pointed to the badge pinned to her perfectly pressed uniform. I silently thanked my mother for my own wrinkle-free state.
“What record are you talking about?”
“The pepper spray course record. I’ve held it five years running.”
“Er—sorry?”
“Oh you will be,” she hissed.
“What?” Was she threatening me?
“Oh good, you’ve met Nikki,” Greg walked in and looked around. “We’ll wait for Brock, and then we can get started.”
“I can’t wait to take the boats out today!” Nikki’s entire demeanor went from snake to bunny rabbit.
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I had absolutely zero experience driving a boat.
“Nikki has been a summer ranger for five years, and she’s quite adept at boating, so she will be helping with training today.”
Of course she was ‘quite adept’ at boating. I tried not to roll my eyes but failed.
“I’m here. I’m here.” Brock burst into the room gasping for air. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was shit.”
“Not at all, Brock. We were just discussing boat training for the day.”
Brock’s face drained of color. “Boat training?”
“Yes.” Greg sounded way too excited. “Since you will primarily be assigned to our three reservoirs, you will need to know how to operate our boats.”
He droned on for a few minutes about patrolling on water and how we still had to check licenses and talk to fishermen. Once he was done with his speech, he showed us how to connect the pickup to the trailer, drive it down to the docks, and launch it into the water. Then we all left the security of dry land and boarded the two massive patrol boats. At least they were bigger than the boat my dad had when I was growing up. The one that only went about five miles an hour.
I was on one boat with Shayla and Nikki, of course, and Brock and Greg were on another.
Nikki threw a couple of life jackets at us, and we eagerly buckled them on. Greg and Brock sped off, leaving our lives in Nikki’s hands.
“Greg wants me to show you the ropes and then give you each a chance to kill us. Do either of you have any experience on a boat?”
We both shook our heads.
“Perfect. Every year, they hire the idiots who know nothing.”
Before I could throw back some witty retort, she jammed the throttle down making the front end of the boat rise up out of the water and the engines roar. It was all I could do to grab a handhold before we were tearing across the pristine glass water.
Shayla, thankfully, had found a seat and was holding on to the side of the boat for dear life. Nikki threw her head back and laughed. Her hair flowed dreamily in the wind. Gag me.
Finally, we came to where Greg and Brock had stopped, and Nikki pulled the stick back into a vertical position, bringing the boat to a perfect stop right next to Greg’s.
“Very nice, Nikki. It seems you haven’t lost your touch,” Greg praised.
“I get lots of practice with our family boats on Lake Powell.” Her tone was once again sugary sweet, and her smile as white as the fluffy clouds.
“First thing we need to do is discuss how boats are operated. As you see, the throttle is the stick on the right of the steering wheel . . .”
Greg went over every aspect of the boat while I wished I had put on more sunscreen and worn sunglasses. The sun was bright and my skin was scorching. By the time my turn to operate the boat came around, I could barely move my crispy limbs.
“Okay, now gently push the throttle forward,” Nikki said, still in her sweet voice as Greg was watching. “Good job, Rylie.”
She slapped me on the back with a bit more force than necessary. My whole body tensed. How dare she touch me?
“Now, I want you to make a circle out in the open water and come back to the side of Greg’s boat.”
It didn’t seem so hard at first. There was no breeze, and the boat seemed to respond to every motion I made. That was, until I tried to come up beside Greg’s boat. I turned the wheel too
