Stand Close 3 (Stand Close New Adult Romance Series) Read online

  “I can’t make it!” Steve yells. “You go!”

  “Fuck if I’m going to let that happen!” I argue, grabbing his arm. “Sean, go!”

  “I want to help!”

  He and I exchange a look knowing the truth. I’m trying to get him to go because Steve and I might not make it. But he’s not having it. Making up a reason, I shout, “I can’t drag both of you! Now GO!”

  “Look out!” Steve yells, pointing behind me with his chin.

  I don’t even look. I know what’s coming, the rise pushing my body up and warning me about the inevitable fall. “Go under the water!” We all breathe in air and dive under just before the crash hits. Our bodies ricochet around but it’s nothing like it would have been if we’d stayed on top. Gasping for air, we resurface one after the other, and start kicking. Sean and I flank Steve, with me pulling on his vest as his arm floats painfully like it doesn’t belong to him anymore.

  I call out the plan: “When a wave comes, do that again! Go under the water!” They nod understanding and the next wave wastes no time. We all dip under before it has a chance to throw us around like rag dolls. Clawing our way back up, we gasp for air, and continue the swim. The technique works and though none of us can believe it, after awhile we finally make it to the raft, hoisting Steve in first. “God, I feel so pathetic,” he says loudly as Terence scoops him up.

  “Go, Sean! Get in.” He glances at me, hair matted to his head. Pulling himself up is a struggle after the ocean robbed us of our strength, especially with the waves that still haven’t let up. He grimaces and Terence reaches under his arms, using his body weight to fall both of them backward into the raft successfully. I see my brother’s feet go over and notice he’s only got one shoe on. Shaking my head, I go to pull myself up but a wave tears me away before I make it even halfway up.

  “JACK!” They all yell, Sean and Terence reaching out for me. I stretch my arm but I’m being carried away. I don’t think I have the strength to do this one more time. Powered under by another crash, I’m at the mercy of the ocean. I choke as my body gets tossed. Remembering Rue at the bottom of the pool, I feel a sense of urgency overtake me from deep inside my soul. Praying to a God I don’t even know I believe in, I battle my way to the surface and explode out of it, sucking in air and coughing out the water I took in. Crashing my arms and legs as fast I can, I make it to the raft and reach my right hand out to grab Terence’s. Sean latches clawed fingers into my shoulders, his body bent far over the raft. Together, they hoist me over, panting.

  “You had me going there,” Sean mutters.

  “The ocean had me going there,” I joke, coughing.

  He shakes his head, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Terence laughs from sheer relief. But another wave nearly knocks us over and we all hold onto the sides. As it tries to turn us over, we shift our weight, Steve in the middle of us on the floor off the raft, crying out from a pain we can only imagine.

  As it levels out, Sean shivers and says, “We made it. I can’t believe we made it.”

  “We haven’t made it yet,” Steve calls up from where he lies, gloom overtaking him.

  I shake my head and exchange a committed look with Terence. “Are we going to let this storm win?”

  He grins. “Fuck no!”

  Sean laughs and with his knuckles tight, prepares for the next blow. We’re all drenched, our bones nearly frozen, but it doesn’t matter. We’re alive.

  Chapter Ten

  Jack

  The rising sun is a welcome warmth we all very much need. My teeth are past chattering. Everything is numb, even the ache in my muscles. The waves have finally died down, retreating to the hell from whence they came, leaving behind a docile flicker of light blue surrounding us as we lightly float along. I wish that’s the last we’ll see of the storm, but with our luck, we’re not hopeful. The co-pilot is lying on his back in a puddle of water, ears-deep and snoring. There’s only a slight rocking now, tiny aftershocks of what was, and it’s enough to soothe his pain away with blessed unconsciousness.

  “You know what I want to do when we get back?” Terence asks.

  I’m eager for the idea of survival, but I can’t hide the skepticism in my voice. “No, what?”

  He smirks, kneading his hands. He’s a good man. I hired him because he was a family man, and a loyal one at that. I figured a family man would be more careful with the plane because he always had someone he cared about to go home to. I should have interviewed weather conditions, too. I wonder if a thunderstorm has a list of references. “When I get home, I’m going to take my wife on that vacation to Australia she’s always wanted to go on. I’ll take her there, show her some kangaroos and then fuck her senseless.”

  Sean and I laugh. Rubbing my hands together, I pick up the cue, and take a deep breath. “Okay, since we’re playing the we’re-going-to-be-rescued-somehow-miracle-game, I’ll bite. When I get home, I’m going to direct one of Sean’s screenplays into a feature film. I’m going to hire Emma Stone as the lead, and we’re going to fall in love on set. I’ll definitely without a doubt fuck her in her trailer while people whisper outside.” Sean and Terence laugh, and I add, “And maybe we’ll even get married.” Sean’s eyebrows go up over a wide grin. Terence chuckles, throwing me a knowing look. With comedic flare, I admit dryly, “And then we’ll get divorced of course. That’s how we do things in Hollywood.”

  We wait for Sean to throw his hat in the ring. The sky is brightening with every passing second and the knowledge that we’re going to be at the sun’s mercy next, with no water or food, has just occurred to all of us. This little game is a welcome distraction.

  Sean inhales and closes his eyes for a second. Then he opens them like he’s looking to heaven for courage. “I’m gay.” He sighs. “When I get back, I’m going to have sex.” He looks down at his hands. “For the first time.”

  I blink and my jaw slackens, completely taken off guard with this one-two punch revelation. He turns his head and slowly meets my eyes, resigned to whatever is about to come. I’ve always known Sean didn’t date a lot of girls. There have been a few, but compared to the multiple notches tagged in my bedpost, they were nothing. But I always attributed that to his romantic, idealistic nature. I thought the guy wasn’t satisfied until he found one he truly cared about and that just hadn’t happened yet. I had no idea he was a virgin… and I never in a million years would have guessed he was gay. My own brother, who I spend most of my time with, and I didn’t know.

  Shaking my head at myself, I push his shoulder, making his body sway back. “You’re a virgin and you’re gay? What the fuck, Sean? So… that means you’re an idiot, too?”

  His blue eyes ice into narrow slits, ready to fight me. “Jack… I knew you would never understand. That’s why I….”

  I cut him off. “Damn right I don’t understand. If I was gay, I’d be fucking EVERYBODY. What have you been doing pretending you’re straight and not taking advantage? Never having to worry if you’re going to get laid or not? Do you know how much ass those guys get? Excuse the pun.”

  Surprise lights him up and he laughs. “Fucker! You had me going there.”

  I grab his head and grate my knuckles into his head. “Yeah, you were going to fight me, weren’t you? How would that have played out, do you think?”

  He’s laughing hard, years of pent up shame released. I let him go but not before mussing up his hair and looking at him like I can’t believe you never told me. He’s smiling from ear to ear, tiny lines creased into the sides of his eyes, but his expression shifts as he looks at Terence.

  Terence gives him a cockeyed smile and shakes his head. “Don’t look at me. You like what you like, and that’s how God made you. But wow… since we might just die out here, can I be candid?”

  “Lay it all out,” I say.

  Terence looks up at the sky, then back to alternate between us. “I’ve always been a little jealous of you two. I’ve been taking you all over the world, and yeah, that means I go there
, too, but I can’t take my wife with me, and you know, it’s different without her there. Lonely. And I’m on the clock. But the photos of you guys with all these women and parties–your youth and everything laid out in front of you. It looks incredible. But here you are Sean, this whole time, you’ve been a virgin and lying about your sexual preference. And Jack, you’ve been wanting to make films, is that it?” I nod, finally admitting it without hesitation. “I guess no matter where you are in life, you’ve got dreams you’re not fulfilling. Why is that? I mean, what are we waiting for?” He glances down to Steve sleeping in the raft, and quiets his voice out of respect. “I’ve been telling my wife someday for Australia for over a decade now. What the fuck am I waiting for? It’s always been there! What if I don’t make it back and can’t take her?” He gets choked up, and like a man does, he quiets himself before it gets out of hand.

  “You think we’re going to survive this?” Sean asks.

  I exhale deep and long. “I don’t know. I keep expecting to see fins circling us any minute.” I begin humming the theme song for Jaws.

  Sean pushes me. “Stop it! Not fucking funny.” We all quiet, looking out at the blue horizon, infinite in all directions. Fiddling with the tattered belt of his life vest, Sean admits, “I’m glad it’s finally out.” He straightens his shoulders, leans over and lands his elbows on his knees, the vest pushing up around his shoulders. “I’m gay. I’ve known it forever, but it’s finally out there. For whatever it’s worth, I feel good. It’s been really hard hiding that from you.” He turns his head and looks at me from the corner of his eyes.

  “Yeah, well I wish you would have given me a little credit.”

  His eyes narrow on a smile. “I never know with you.”

  “So you keep telling me,” I mutter, slightly annoyed. I shake out a leg that’s falling asleep, and bring my ass of the raft to punch it a few times, get the blood moving.

  Sean stares out and his eyes narrow as he leans forward. “Hey, look!” His arm shoots out to point. “What’s that?!”

  Terence and I look to our right and squint into the distance. It takes me a second to see the thin line stretching up out of the ocean. We watch it grow taller and Terence’s spine lengthens with it. Mystified, he whispers, “Holy shit. That’s a submarine’s periscope!”

  Sean and I look at each other in shock. “Is it one of ours?” We all wait in suspense. A few moments later a U.S. Navy submarine breaks the silvery surface, ripples cascading off from it, the dark shadow of its hull like a whale under the ocean’s top layer.

  The three of us rise up and yell, laughing and waving our arms wildly in the air, as the raft rocks beneath us. Steve wakes up with a jolt and cries out from the horrible ache in his arm. Staring up at us, and waking up to what’s happening, he marvels in disbelief, “What’s going on?”

  Laughing from our guts, we all yell at him, “We’re saved!” “We’re fucking saved!” “I can’t believe it! It’s a submarine! Look!”

  His face lights up and he rises up on his good arm. “Oh my God!” He laughs, eyes wide with joy. He joins us yelling.

  “HEY!” “OVER HERE!” “WE’RE HERE!” “HALLELUJAH!”

  The sub’s cockpit opens and an officer rises up out of it, waving at us as the hull makes its way steadily toward our raft. “You okay?!” he calls over through cupped hands.

  We explode. “YEAH!!” “WE ARE NOW!”

  Terence starts to weep. “I get to see Cory again.” He screams to his wife loud enough that she might just hear him, “I’M COMING HOME, CORY! Don’t give up on me, baby! And warm up those sheets because we’re not leaving that bed FOR DAYS!!”

  Sean and I clap each other on the back, grinning. “We’re gonna make it,” he whispers, astounded.

  With adrenaline pounding, I wipe away the wetness from my eyes with one hand, the other around my best friend. “We sure are.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Rue

  Alec and I are on the couch in the sitting room with Mrs. Stone still asleep upstairs. It’s dark outside, after 3:00 a.m. on the longest night of my life. My feet are tucked under me and I’ve got my head on Alec’s strong shoulder, his arm around me. We’ve been silent for a very long time. The curtains are open and Alec and I have been watching the palm trees sway in the warm night’s breeze for hours, illuminated by tall security lights. We watched the news for a time, but it got too painful. We knew that Jack and Sean would call if they were alive, and hearing the news regurgitate all of the crash’s details only struck greater fear in us that that call would never come. I’m sure Alec can see it all happening just like I’m able to. We were in the plane, too. We can imagine it falling apart like no one else can. Getting the image of Jack and Sean terrified, out of our heads is just impossible.

  Their landline phone rings and Alec leans over to look at it. A number lights up without a name to signify who’s calling. He blinks at the area code and frowns, unsure of where it’s from. “Maybe it’s family,” he mutters. As it hits the third ring, he slowly reaches out and picks it up. “Hello?” He listens. After a moment, his arm tightens around my body, fingers pressing into me. “Wait, say that again!” His spine shoots up and he twists to look at me with happy disbelief.

  “What? Are they okay? Did someone find them?” I cry out.

  An incredulous smile builds to a grin on his tired face, and Alec nods. “It’s President Obama.” My eyes go wide. “Sir, can I please put you on speaker and get Mrs. Stone? This is Alec Gabriel, sir.” He laughs and hits the speaker button. “You’re on speaker, Mr. President. Hold on, please. I have to wake her. Rue Calliwell is with me, sir, she’s part of the family now. She’ll be very happy to hear what you have to say.”

  “Hello, Ms. Calliwell, this is President Obama.”

  Alec jumps off the couch, leaping into the air as he runs up the stairs, shouting for joy all the way up, “They’re alive! THEY’RE ALIVE!!”

  I grin at the phone, humbled and overwhelmed. “Hello, Mr. President. This is Rue, erm…Ms. Calliwell. You found them?”

  “One of our Navy submarines found them, yes. They’re dehydrated and one of them has a broken arm, and one has a broken nose, but other than that, they’re alive and very excited to be coming home.”

  I clap my hands together. “Whose arm is broken?”

  “Steve Lathem, the co-pilot. And the nose belongs to Jack Stone. I’m afraid he’s pretty bruised up.”

  Concerned, I ask, “But they’re going to be okay?”

  “Yes, all four men are in the hospital now. They’re going to be fine.”

  “Oh my God! That’s amazing!!” Overcome, I lean back with my hands over my mouth. Alec’s running down the stairs followed by a very groggy but excited mother. “Here they come, Mr. President! Just one more minute. I know you’re busy.”

  He laughs, and I have to love him for that, even if I am mad at him for a lot of other things. “It’s okay. I want to give her the good news about her boys.”

  “What’s going on?” Mrs. Stone asks with her hands in the air like a blind person looking for something substantial to hold onto. “They’re alive?!! You found them?!”

  “Mrs. Stone, I’m happy to report that your boys are very much alive,” comes the President’s sure, clear tone through the speaker.

  She claps her hands over her mouth and screams pure joy. Falling into Alec for support, she stares at the phone, and looks to me, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it.”

  Alec’s got the clearest head of all of us. “Where are they, Mr. President?” I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask.

  All business, our President informs us, “They’re in Miami, Florida. They were found floating near Cuba and due to unfriendly waters and the boys’ public and financial personas, their rescue was kept a secret until they were on American soil. I just found out myself. They’re in the hospital and doing fine. We’ll be flying them back to Los Angeles in the morning. I have to get back to my affairs, but I hope you all have a wo
nderful day.”

  “Thank you!” “Thank you, Mr. President!”

  “Thank you, Barack! You made me a very happy woman tonight!” Mrs. Stone calls to him, clearly having met him in person before. I stare at her in awe a moment, taking that in.

  I lock eyes with Alec. “It’s a miracle. I thought for sure they were…” I stop myself, and they know why.

  Alec grins. “Anybody as starving as I am?”

  “I couldn’t possibly eat,” Mrs. Stone mutters, holding her stomach with a smile. “I think I want to go back and lay down for awhile. I might have taken a pill to calm my anxiety. Will you let me know when they call?”

  I pause, surprised the question was directed at me. “Sure. Of course. I hope you feel better.”

  “Thank you.” She exhales, turning to walk away and resting a hand on Alec’s shoulder as she passes. “I love you, kid.”

  He beams at her. “I love you, too, Connie.” After watching her exit, he turns to me and holds out his arms. I rush into them and we laugh, holding each other tightly and rocking from side to side, so grateful. After a few moments, the laughter subsides as we both become aware of each other as we haven’t been since the tragedy happened. Goosebumps spread across my skin as he rocks me and kisses the top of my head. He pulls back so he can look into my eyes, the bags under his evidence of what we’ve been through.

  “Rue,” he whispers hoarsely.

  Rising up on my tiptoes I rest my forehead against his and close my eyes. “We were being stupid.” He knows I’m talking about us.

  He kisses my cheek and I can feel a difference in him, a chastity and restraint that can’t be ignored. Tucking my head into the nook of his neck, I wait for him to say what’s on his mind. “I didn’t protect you from Jack, and you…” he struggles to say it, “…almost drowned because I wasn’t there. I haven’t forgotten. This all made it more clear, actually, how much things have to change. This can never work otherwise.”