Uncharted Waters
372 Bayside Boulevard was packed by the time I arrived promptly at eight. It had taken a while to bike here from work, on the opposite side of the island, with sore and tired legs from my shift.
Declan mentioned it was a pool party, so I had my suit on under my bright pink halter top and jean cut-offs. My ever-present belt bag was slung over my chest.
The noise only grew as I wound my way through the house and to the backyard, finding a large pool surrounded by dozens of people.
I had never been to a Bayside party before, and instantly felt out of place. Gennies had parties too, but not with a full DJ on one side and a buffet of snacks and drinks on the other.
Before I could try to pinpoint anyone, someone bumped into me from behind, sending me stumbling forward a few feet. Hands circled my biceps, stopping me from falling flat on my face.
“Hey there, Crash. Glad to see you’re living up to your nickname.”
I heard the smile in Declan’s voice before I saw it on his face.
With a groan, I looked up, but I didn’t catch his eyes right away. My gaze traveled over his bronzed torso, his pecs looking as hard as stone. His perfect chiseled surfer body gleamed in the sunlight. Even his shoulders were broad and wide, looking even bigger without a shirt on.
Finally, my eyes reached his, finding them twinkling. A brow lifted, having caught me ogling him.
My face flushed, but I stood to my full height. “This time wasn’t my fault. Someone—”
“Jordan. Yeah, I saw. He never looks where he’s going. Ignore him,” Declan said, leaning in to talk close to my ear, as the music was so loud, I probably wouldn’t have heard him otherwise.
His hands left my arms as he turned to the side, wrapping one arm around my waist and guiding me further into the backyard. The scent of the pool mixed with the saltwater off the beach.
I shivered at his touch, a small jolt coursing throughout my body, yet my gut still told me not to get too comfortable. This was a Bayside party, and I knew what that meant.
The other reason my worry radar was going off?
Grace, currently shooting daggers at me from across the pool. Being able to find each other no matter where we were was a long-ingrained sensation, one that came in handy when we were best friends.
Right now, though, I would do anything to stay on the other end of the yard from her.
Declan guided us to the food area, grabbed a few sodas from a cooler, and gestured to some empty chairs around the pool.
He waved to a few people, but made no move to introduce me to any of them. Of course, I recognized most of them from school, but it still wasn’t my normal crowd.
Right then, a shadow crossed over me as a few people walked between our chairs and the pool.
“Excuse me, who let you in?” a snide, nasally voice said. The undertone of the high-pitched voice could have been sweet, had it not been dripping with venom.
I lifted my hand to block out the sun and see who spoke, but it wasn’t necessary. I knew who it belonged to.
“This is a Baysider party, in case you couldn’t tell,” Grace stated. The girls around her laughed. I kept my jaw tight, even though everything inside of me crumbled at her words.
“Then why are you here?” I retorted, throwing the sass right back at her. Two years ago, we would have been laughing while chiding each other, but now, the sass was lethal.
Her glossy lips snarled as she looked down her nose at me. I had to admire the way her bright pink bikini top popped off her dark skin, but I would never admit it. Not anymore. Even if it was an exact color match for the bright pink halter top I had on. It was like we were still on the same brainwave.
“Ugh. It’s pathetic that you’re basically, like, stalking me.”
Stalkingher? Because I showed up at a party I wasn’t even sure she would be at? How was it considered stalking if I had barely seen her in the last year or so?
“Grace, don’t be rude to my guest. She’s with me,” Declan announced, scooting over a bit and throwing his arm around my shoulders.
I shuddered a little, not liking the claim, but kept my seat and looked up at her.
Her lips flapped in disbelief for a moment as she shot a look across the pool. I followed her gaze, finding her boyfriend, Sean, watching. “With you, Declan? Did you lose a bet or something?”
If I hadn’t been looking directly at her, I would have missed the brief flash of worry that crossed her face. She masked it quickly, but it made me narrow my eyes and wonder.
Everyone around us burst into laughter. Tears stung at the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away before they could fall.
“She’s with me, Grace. And if I say she’s cool, then you don’t get to argue that, understand?”
I blinked, hard. Did Declan Storms just stand up for me? That was new, but now wasn’t the time to argue against him.
Besides… it felt good to have someone have my back for once. Especially against my ex-best friend.
Grace flipped her oversized sunglasses onto her nose and stormed off. Declan sat back, looking smug, as if he had just won some sort of argument with her.
Feeling slightly uplifted from the way he defended me against Grace, I settled back in the lounge chair and took in the scene around me. As long as I stuck by Declan, it seemed like no one was going to bother me.
“What else are you up to this summer, Crash? Plan on running anyone else over with your bike?” Declan said a moment later, laughing at his version of a joke.
I didn’t laugh, but I did crack a smile. “First off, that wasn’t planned. You were standing in the bike lane, so really, it’s mostly your fault.” I plastered on a smile and looked up at him. “Just trying to figure some things out,” I answered. My mind shifted to a few other thoughts while looking at Declan. Like what we were doing. What I was doing, hanging out with him at a Bayside party.
Reid’s comments flashed through my mind, but I shut them down almost as fast. I didn’t want to be thinking of him. He had moved on. I could too. And even if I didn’t technically want to date Declan, it was still fun to have someone to hang out with.
“Whenever I need to work stuff out, I literally work it out. The gym is a great place to not only sweat, but sweat out your problems.” Declan glanced over at me with the most serious look I had yet to see on his face. Like he truly thought he just solved all my problems by recommending I go to the gym.
“Oh,” I answered, raising my brows and feigning interest. The mere thought of working out for fun made me cringe, but I didn’t show him that. “That’s not really my thing, but it looks like it works well for you.” Based on his body, I figured he had a lot of things to work out in his mind.
“So, what is it?”
“What’s what?”
“What you have to figure out.”
I tucked my lips in. “Right, that.” There was no way I was going to bring up my thoughts on him and Reid, so I went in another direction. While I wasn’t sure if he could help me solve the clue, it seemed like he was interested enough to try. “It’s, um, a scavenger hunt of sorts. I think.”
“You think? You’re not sure?” In a flash, he lifted his arm into the air and caught a ball that had come sailing our way. I hadn’t even noticed it, but was grateful he did.
Declan whooped and hollered, then threw the ball back.
“Well, I haven’t solved the first clue yet, so I’m not even sure if it’s a real scavenger hunt or not. The instructions were… vague. It has to do with Eleanor Covington, though.” I didn’t want to tell Declan everything just yet. I didn’t have a reason not to trust him, as he proved himself kind so far. But… I also didn’t have a reason to trust him completely. “I can’t really say more. But if I tell you the clue, do you promise to keep it a secret?”
A slow grin filled his face as he turned to look at me. “I promise. Your secret is safe with me.” He put his hand over his heart, directing my attention once more to his chest. His tanned, toned chest.
Dragging my gaze away from his body, I unhooked my belt bag, took out my phone, and opened the text. I didn’t show it to him, so he couldn’t see any of the other parts, but read the clue out loud.
“Climb the stairs where memories run free, find the room where nostalgia’s the key.” I glanced up at him when I finished, finding his brows furrowed and his lip slightly snarled.
“Huh? Stairs? Key? What does it mean?” Within a second, he looked completely disinterested, as if not being able to solve it right away made him tune out.
“No idea. Like I said, still figuring it out.” His immediate lack of interest sent up a red flag for me. Either he had feigned interest before, just so I would tell him something, or he never really cared in the first place. The quick turnaround made my head spin.
“Sounds hard.”
I nodded and dropped my feet to the concrete below. “You know, I’m a bit more tired from work than I thought I would be. I think I’m going to go.”
“So soon? You just got here.” Declan popped to his feet next to me, but the sadness in his comment didn’t match that on his face. His eyes were darting around, looking for something or someone other than me.
In the span of a few minutes, I had lost his attention completely. That was, if I ever really had it to begin with.
“Later, Crash,” he answered before launching a ball toward Smitty.
I gave him a tight-lipped smile, then bent down to reach for my bag on the chair. That’s when a loud roar echoed throughout the backyard.
Glancing up, I saw a herd of giant teenage boys rushing from the back patio straight toward me.
I shrieked and covered my head with my arms just as they reached me. I couldn’t tell how many of them there were, but it was a lot. Enough for them to have to weave around me, leaving me standing helplessly in the middle as they rushed by.
My heart pounded in my chest. I wasn’t sure why that had been so scary, but it was.
“Wait for me!” someone shouted.
I barely had time to look before another guy barreled his way down the pool deck. At the last second, his shoulder clipped mine.
Everything went into slow motion at that. He ran by with enough force to send me spinning, losing my footing. I reached my arms out, desperate for something to cling onto, but found no one.
In a last-ditch attempt to keep myself upright, I lifted my right foot and went to plant it firmly behind me.
Except there wasn’t anything behind me.
Nothing except water, that was.
With my arms now pinwheeling, I fell into the pool with a giant flop, sending a spray of splashes everywhere.
Underwater, I couldn’t hear the girl’s shrieks. I couldn’t hear the guy’s snickers, and couldn’t see the fingers pointed in my direction.
But the second I surfaced, the noise rushed at me like a bomb had gone off.
I looked up, hoping to find someone to help me out of the pool so I didn’t look like the biggest fool ever.
Thankfully, Declan stood at the edge, his lips tucked in. He must have been biting down on them hard in order to keep from laughing, because his face was as red as a tomato. He reached down and offered me a hand, just like he had when he helped me up off the pavement when we crashed.
“Crash, I didn’t give you that nickname so you would keep proving it right, you know,” he said as soon as I was on solid ground again. Once I let go of his hand, he let the laughter go. “Sorry. Not laughing at you. Laughing with you.”
But I wasn’t laughing. I looked around, hoping to find someone with a towel, but came up short once more.
“I’m going to go,” I whispered. I wasn’t even sure if it was loud enough for Declan to hear over the music and noise from everyone around us.
I swiped my bag and stomped my way through the house, not even caring that I was dripping all over everything.
But I didn’t let the tears fall until I got onto my bike and pointed it in the direction of the Bennett’s.