Free Perilous Waters by Diana Paz Page A

it obvious? “David,” Julia declared, hearing her voice squeak. “David should stop being friends!”
    Angie’s face fell, but her eyes remained fixed on Julia. “You really want me to ask him to do that?”
    A soft, thoughtful pout formed on Angie’s lips. Her giant, shining eyes vanished behind lowered lashes. Geez, way to suck as a friend. Julia instinctively reached for Angie’s hands. She bit her lip and glanced over at where David and Brian stood talking. Brian’s blond hair looked longer and more unkempt than usual. But he smiled at David. They looked happy to be talking to each other.
    Julia slumped. Angie and David weren’t the kids in some custody battle. “Just forget it,” she said tightly. “I’ll be okay.”
    Angie blinked up in surprise. A smile touched her lips. “Wow. That showed maturity.”
    “I kissed Brian’s brother. Maturity has nothing to do with it.” She released a breath that didn’t seem to fully leave her constricted lungs. “Don’t you watch movies? Not even adults act mature about this.”
    Angie’s smile broadened, her eyes returning to their usual sparkle. “I guess you’re right. You’re ahead of most adults, then.”
    Julia didn’t think so. If she had a way to never see Brian again, it would be just fine with her. Not that this was possible thanks to her Ethan-guardian-for-eternity connection.
    “Does Brian know about you and Ethan?” Angie asked, breaking into her thoughts.
    Julia’s heart tripled its output. “No, and he can’t know. Not ever.”
    “But—”
    “Don’t start with your honesty bunk,” Julia said, brushing the sand off her hands. “Honesty can’t be the right thing. Not when it would make Brian hate his brother. Intra-family hatred would be way worse for my karma than lies.”
    The tide rolled up and Julia backed away. Angie stood her ground, the water brushing past her ankles before receding again. She cast a glance at the boys before returning her level gaze to Julia. “You ought to be honest. These kinds of things have a way of coming out, eventually.”
    “No. They don’t,” Julia insisted as Brian looked at her across the sand. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered, spinning around to hide. Way to be obvious! She needed to get out of here, but the ocean spread out in front of her. There was nowhere to go. “I, uh, feel like swimming,” she stammered.
    Angie’s eyes rounded in surprise.
    “What? I like swimming. Sometimes. The icy-cold ocean… with its sea creatures… and… drowning potential. What’s not to like?”
    Okay, that was a flat out lie. She loved the beach, but she hated swimming almost as much as she hated running. What did it matter what she liked? She had to find some reason to get away from Brian, and swimming was the only thing she could come up with. She wriggled out of her tank top and tossed it out of reach of the rising tide, dressed now in a sunset-colored bikini top and matching boy-short bottoms, the set trimmed in deep oranges and bright tropical pinks.
    “I’ll join you,” Angie said, her face lighting up as she shrugged out of her beach dress, skipping toward the sea in a pale, aqua-colored tankini that only left a strip of midriff showing on her perpetually underdeveloped body.
    Julia followed her into the ocean. “Ho-ho-holy crap, this is arctic levels of cold.”
    “It’s refreshing,” Angie called out.
    Julia’s teeth chattered and her legs prickled with goosebumps, negating the shave she had given them this morning. “This was such a stupid idea,” she muttered to herself. She jumped a wave, nearly toppling over. Angie made it look so fun. The waves practically moved aside to let her through. Meanwhile, Julia plodded through the waves like a three-legged llama. Her heart hammered as another swell formed, and this one looked like it would be ginormous. She had to stay in the water… the alternative was facing Brian, and she couldn’t handle that.
    The swelling wave turned into a falling