Chapter 10
R en
What crazy person was up and swimming at this ungodly hour?
I shivered as I pulled my uniform blazer tighter and cursed my stupidity for not bringing a proper jacket.
I blamed Vicky. I didn’t want her to know I was leaving the room, so I grabbed my uniform, forgot the coat, and didn’t want to tempt fate by going back in for it.
I’d been stewing about Blake and what happened with Nash and the guys all weekend. Myles had invited him to study with us, but Blake refused. My concern worsened Sunday when Myles and Blake got into a fight, and Myles came to my room with a bloody nose.
I pulled open the door to the training center and shivered with the blast of hot air.
The scent of chlorine was always strong in here despite the size of the building.
It was like it permeated every hall. Walking around this part of the campus so early was creepy and I kept looking over my shoulder.
The last half of the walk was dark because the lights weren’t working, and even though I knew guards were always around, it gave me horror movie vibes.
This couldn’t be safe. I mean, what if something happened and there was not a soul around to save you?
I glanced back my as I searched the shadows of the long hallway behind me, not able to shake the feeling of being followed, but no one was there.
Turning the last corner toward the entrance to the pool, I marched a little faster and was thankful to open the large double doors and hear the sound of splashing.
I never thought I’d be thankful to know Nash was around, and I certainly wasn’t admitting that to him.
His stupid ego was already inflated enough.
There was a short tunnel that led toward the pool, but before I stepped out, I watched him streak past as his arm rose out of the water and then disappeared.
Why was I doing this again? Did I really think that Nash would listen to me?
I didn’t know, but I felt like I had to try.
If Nash saw me, he didn’t acknowledge my presence.
He turned at the other end of the pool and swam back fast and gracefully.
As he pushed up and out of the water his shoulders flexed, water dripping off of him in what I was pretty sure was a butterfly stroke.
Swimming wasn’t my strong suit. Then again, no sport was my strong suit.
Maybe if I hadn’t been so consumed with schoolwork and my mum’s illness, I would’ve gotten into something like volleyball, but that just wasn’t the life I had.
It seemed like forever before Nash stopped at the far end of the pool and pulled off the tight cap and goggles. He looked at me with a smirk on his face, and I instantly questioned my sanity. I left my bag by the door and walked to where he was resting.
“You spying on me, Princess? Working for the competition perhaps, or did you just want to see me mostly naked?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’d rather watch paint dry than you swim.”
“And yet, here you are.” He glanced at the large clock on the wall. “At five-fifteen in the morning. To what do I owe the visit?”
“Are you going to get out?”
“Naw, I like where I am,” he said and looked at my legs—such an ass.
“I’m here because of Blake. Myles told me what he did and what you said to him, and I think you should reconsider.” Nash’s brows drew together.
“Fucking Myles and his big fucking mouth,” Nash snarled.
“He’s concerned about his friend, and frankly, so am I.
You should be, too. You say you’re his friend, and yet you just turned your back on him.
” Nash’s cold stare made me squirm. His eyes looked unnaturally blue with the water all around him.
It was as if he’d been born to live in water but ended up as a human stuck on land.
“Well, if you know what happened, then you know I can’t have someone that I don’t trust working with me. I especially can’t have an addict working with product. That would be stupid and not helpful to him or me.”
I crossed my arms and stared at Nash and hoped he could see the word asshole flashing in my eyes.
“You don’t have to have him working for you to be his friend.
From what Myles says, you’re surprisingly the one who keeps everyone on the right path.
I have a hard time picturing that, but that’s a different discussion.
My point is, if he randomly started using the last few months and is this secretive and upset, then you should be asking why.
Instead, you threw him out the door like he didn’t mean anything to you. ”
“You don’t know anything,” he snarled.
“I know enough to know that you claim to be Blake’s friend, and then when he obviously needs you the most, you abandon him. What the hell is up with that? He’s only good enough to be your friend when he’s making you money? Some friend you are.”
I didn’t get a single step backward before Nash pushed up out of the water so fast that he looked like a dolphin at a show.
Grabbing the front of my uniform, he jerked me over his head.
I should’ve seen it coming, but I was too wrapped up in my rant and thought I was safe on the deck with Nash in the water.
“I can’t swim,” I screamed, flapping my arms like that would help. Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath while the horrifying thought of drowning filled my mind.
Splash.
My eyes snapped open, and the chemicals from the pool stung. I clawed at the surface and kicked wildly. It felt like I was wearing a thousand pounds as my soaked clothes tried to drag me to the bottom of the pool. I was sinking. No matter how hard I tried to reach the surface, I was a stone.
Nash’s stupid face appeared in front of mine, and I wanted to punch him so badly, but instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I could feel the powerful strokes and the upward surge.
Breaking the surface, I gasped and coughed out the bit of water I had swallowed before pushing my wet hair out of my eyes.
Nash was laughing hard, and I glared at him. “You jerk,” I grumbled.
“How is it you don’t know how to swim? Everyone knows how to swim,” he said, smiling.
“Obviously not. You almost killed me, you asshole.”
His eyebrow rose, and it was far more unnerving inches away from his face. My brain finally registered that I was wrapped around him like a little monkey. His hand on the small of my back was pressing me tight to his body, and if I let go, I was going to sink again.
“Are you going to take me to the stairs?”
“Not yet. I’m kinda enjoying this moment.”
“You’re such an ass,” I growled. “I can’t even understand why Vicky would want to put up with you.”
“You’re pretty mouthy and not very thankful to the person who just saved your life,” he said, his eyes glimmering with humor.
“I wouldn’t have needed saving if you hadn’t thrown me in the pool.”
“Well, I can always let go,” he said, releasing my back and bobbing down so my chin touched the water.
Panic had me gripping him harder and trying to climb his body like a cat on a scratching pole.
I would never forgive him for this. He laugh again, enjoying this way too much. “Relax before you drown us both.”
I stopped trying to scamper up his body and just hung on, my heart pounding like crazy in my chest. I stared Nash in the eyes and could feel the same charge that always accompanied him being near me. I didn’t like it. In fact, I would say I hated that I had any reaction at all to his smug face.
He glanced at my lips. “Told you I made you wet,” he said, smirking. I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off but bit my tongue instead. That only seemed to make him happier. “Admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“Say that I make you wet.”
My mouth dropped open. “I’m not saying that.”
“Do it, or I tell Myles you came looking for me in the pool and then were all over me and rubbing your adorable tits on my chest.” He looked down at my wet shirt, and I pulled far enough away that I was no longer touching him with my breasts, but you could see right through my stupid blouse.
Nash licked his lips, and I was in a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t situation.
“Myles knows I’d never do that,” I said
“Yet, here you are all wet and in my arms. I’d say I have pretty good odds of convincing him.” He smirked.
“You’re impossible.”
“Just say it. You know you want to.”
“Fine, I’ll say it, but only if you promise to talk to Blake like a friend and find out what’s going on with him.” Nash snorted.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to negotiate with me right now.”
“You also can’t stay in the water all day, and I will cling to you until you agree.”
I yelped as he pulled my underwear down over my ass and gripped me hard. I was pressed up against his abs and I swallowed hard as a deep rage mixed with a fiery desire stirred like a storm in my gut.
“There it is,” he whispered, his lips dangerously close to mine.
“Deny it all you want, I can see what I do to you.” I glared at him.
“What if I fuck you here in the pool?” His hand slid down my leg and I shivered all too aware that my skirt was floating on the surface and how little clothing actually seperated us.
I quickly squashed to wave of hormones into dust. I was Myles’s girlfriend, and this was so inappropriate in every way possible. Leave it to Nash to make a simple gesture awkward.
“Are you insane?”
“Say the words Princess, or my finger will slip into your pussy and I’ll find out for myself just how quick I can make you come.
But, I’m warning you, if I do that, then I will fuck you here in this pool right now.
I don’t negotiate with terrorists.” His blue eyes were so intense that I could hardly draw a breath under the weight of his stare.