Taken By The Shark

Of course, she was too embarrassed to bring up that particular subject with Mark, despite the fact they seemed to be able to talk about pretty much everything else. It didn’t help that most of the time they had no chance to be alone until everyone headed for the village, and two out of the three times they had been there, they were unable to lose all of the others either. After the first visit, Mark kept being invited to join one group or another, and Chelsea wanted to tell all of them to get lost, but how obvious would that be?

This evening was about to be their fourth visit, and already the wolves—in the form of Erik and Ross—were already gathering around them. However, this time Chelsea had a plan. She’d asked Angel and Nancy to invite them somewhere instead, and then they’d be able to excuse themselves at some point for a little bit of alone time. The two women approached, and Chelsea smirked.

“So, you guys are going with us tonight, right?” Nancy said.

“Yes, that’s the plan,” Chelsea agreed, casting Mark a look of expectation.

“Why don’t you girls go ahead, and we’ll be just guys tonight?” Erik suggested. “We don’t always need Chelsea hanging around with us every time, right?”

He looked at Mark expectantly as well, and Mark stared at him like he’d bumped his head. “Sorry? You didn’t get that Chelsea was the person I’m trying to please, and not you?”

“We didn’t get that memo,” Ross chuckled, pulling on Erik’s arm as his expression began to darken. “So, we’re just gonna go now, right, Erik? We sure don’t need to have any kind of disagreement with the guy in charge of who gets on the final team and who doesn’t, right?”

“Right,” he agreed through gritted teeth. “You’re a bit of a downer anyway. I think Ross and I could have a lot more fun without you.”

“Hey, well just remember we’ve got a dive tomorrow,” said Mark sternly. “Don’t be getting drunk if you expect to participate.”

“Yes, sir,” he practically seethed. “Have fun with the ladies.”

“Oh, I will,” Mark said, casting Chelsea a smirk. “It’s not every day a guy gets asked out by such a lovely trio.”

“Give it a rest, will you?” Ross said pointedly as he managed to push Erik in another direction. “We’ll see you later, sir.”

“See you later,” said Mark with a nod. The rest of the group, who had pretty much been gathered around Steve and Gayle, broke off into their own groups and headed off as well, leaving the four to their own devices.

“Well, come on, Nancy, we know when we’re not needed,” Angel grinned. “You guys can catch up with us at the inn in a couple of hours.”