Chapter Fourteen. Clara
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CLARA
THEN
TUCKED AWAY IN A part of the mountain only locals know about, the hot springs were sacred, and going there with Reid for the first time felt … significant. Despite our agreement to keep it casual, in the months after that night in my room, things had definitely escalated between us.
When we got there, I started to walk toward the springs I knew well. But Reid reached for my hand, weaving our fingers together, knowing by then how easily they fit.
“C’mon, I want to show you something.”
He pulled me past even the most secluded springs. Fifteen minutes, a winding path, and a sharp incline later, I was panting and wondering where the hell he was taking me when there was finally a slight break in the trees I never would’ve noticed. Reid pulled me through it and down a small slope.
There, overlooking the pines jutting out the side of the mountain, sat a wide, natural spring that I’d never seen in my life.
The secret springs.
“How—what?” I spluttered. “I thought this was a Woodhurst myth.”
He grinned. “All the varsity teams are sworn to secrecy. It’s the perfect temp for muscle soreness.”
“On the one hand, I’ve never been more annoyed about athletic privileges. But on the other…” I trailed off and gestured toward the view. The wide sky behind the towering trees.
“I know.”
He released my hand to reach for the fabric of his navy Woodhurst High sweatshirt between his shoulder blades.
He pulled it and his T-shirt off in one fluid motion.
Mercifully, Reid pretended like he didn’t notice my low gasp in response to his bare back, but the self-satisfied look on his face told me he hadn’t missed it. Like he never missed anything.
I shed my clothes quickly and sank into the spring. The water felt so good. Hot as a bath, but not as uncomfortable as a Jacuzzi. Against the cold air it was especially heavenly, and every bit of tension in my body melted away as I slid in deeper.
A sharp breeze rustled through the surrounding trees. I found a small rock to perch on, and I laid my head back a moment, surveying the cold sky. The loamy scent of the forest meant it was definitely going to rain soon.
“I love it here,” I said reverently.
“You showed me your favorite place,” he said, referring to the overlook I’d taken him to on a hike the week before. “I wanted to do the same.”
I bent my knees, settling deeper into the water until it was up to my collarbone. “This is your favorite place?”
He nodded. “But I don’t let myself come here often. I have to earn it.”
That caught me off guard. “What do you mean?”
“It’s my ultimate motivation. When I’m training, when I race. I don’t get to come here unless I win or PR or otherwise hit a new goal I’ve set.”
I considered him. “That’s kind of intense.”
“You don’t get to where I want to be without mental tricks.
” He pulled his elbows out of the water, leaned them back against the rock edge.
Steam curled off his wet biceps. “There’s this quote from Steve Prefontaine—you know, the god of distance runners?
It goes, ‘To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.’ I don’t know why I’m good at running when I’d rather be better at something that doesn’t have an expiration date …
like writing, maybe. But I am. It’s the only way I even have a chance at college. So…” He trailed off.
“You’re unwilling to sacrifice the gift,” I finished his sentence.
He stared at me. “Exactly.”
When he looked at me like that, I was all too aware how alone we were.
How much closer I wanted him. As if reading my mind, he crossed through the water toward me, the look on his face searching and curious.
My eyes followed the beads of water trailing down his throat as our fingers locked together.
Another gust of wind rushed around us, kicking my hair up as our lips met. The kiss was slow. Deep. But the more tender he was with me, the more anxious I felt.
The less certain that I’d be okay when this all inevitably stopped. When we stopped.
I was way out of my depth with him. The feelings coming up, too big. But I reminded myself that we both had grand plans. There was no way he’d want whatever this was between us to spiral much more, either.
I curled my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss with a ferocity I didn’t know I had.
Gripping my hips in response, he guided me to the edge of the spring, his mouth never leaving mine.
As his hands wandered and explored my drenched skin, I coiled my body tighter against his.
His stomach rippled into goose bumps against my own.
When the next blast of wind shook the trees, it carried voices. Were they just from the springs below?
We both pulled back, panting a bit.
“Reid,” I tried weakly.
“Yeah?”
He wrapped a strong, wet arm around me, kissing me again, and I forgot what I was going to say. I’m not sure if I jumped up or he hiked me up or some combination of the two, but somehow my legs wrapped around his waist and he held me just above the water, his hands hooked under me.
And we were in that position, his mouth on my neck, when the varsity cross-country team came bursting through the trees.
“Oh my god! My eyes, my eyes!” Mitchell exclaimed, throwing a hand over his face and his other arm out in an attempt to block the guys behind him. As if that would do anything. They all saw us and started laughing and hollering.
“Fuck,” Reid rasped as he slowly lowered me back into the water. I could feel that I was bright red.
A few of the guys looked at me like I had just gotten a lot more interesting. Well, this was going to do wonders for the rumors about me.
Kenji exclaimed, “Dude! We have one rule for the springs—no hooking up!”
I was a mess inside. Embarrassed and delirious and simultaneously grateful and furious with them for interrupting whatever that was turning into. But I shoved it all down and put my best skill to use as I swung around, my face placid.
“Relax. We stopped, didn’t we?” I muttered, sinking low into the water.
“She’s not even varsity,” Nicole exclaimed from behind the guys as the girls’ team brought up the rear. Because of course they were there, too. She had barely acknowledged me since the truth-or-dare party, but at that moment she was looking straight at me, disgust all over her face.
“It’s a fucked-up rule. We’re a team,” Reid said.
“It’s fine,” I said just to him.
He frowned. “No, it isn’t.”
The rest of the girls followed Nicole’s lead as they shot me judgy glances, further determined to ostracize me from the team, no doubt.
I had to admit that it stung.
Everyone else seemed to get over their shock by stripping down and getting in the spring themselves. Nicole and the rest of the girls were very obviously talking shit about me on the other side of the water, whispering among themselves, then looking at me and laughing.
I wanted nothing more than to leave, but I didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of driving me out.
“Where’s your camera?” Logan asked me once he got in the water. “She never goes anywhere without it,” he told Hank, a junior he was training to take over the AV stuff for yearbook.
“She probably has it hidden back there to make a sex tape,” Heather said.
Everyone exploded into laughter. Reid and I exchanged a glance, and he rolled his eyes in a way that told me to ignore them. Easier said than done.
“Please don’t put that image in my head,” Mitchell said, shuddering again.
Logan laughed, which made Mitchell turn bright pink. Turning toward Reid, Logan asked, “Ready for track this year?”
“Sure.” Reid shrugged.
“This guy,” Logan said to the same junior he’d been talking to before. “I can never fucking catch him in the fifteen hundred.” Logan chuckled and slapped a congenial hand on Reid’s shoulder.
I wasn’t the only one who caught the flare of jealousy in Mitchell’s eye. Kenji pulled Mitchell by the elbow away from the conversation and said something low that made him laugh. Logan pretended not to notice, but I saw his jaw jump in response.
“You got close a few times,” Reid said, being generous. Logan was nowhere near Reid’s level, but Reid was sensitive to Logan living in the shadow of his older brother, Noah. He never wanted Mitchell to feel that way. “How’s your preseason going?”
Logan laughed again. “You mean you don’t follow my stats?”
Reid’s nostrils flared, but his tone was more playfully annoyed than angry. “I don’t follow what isn’t relevant to me winning.”
Hank laughed along with Mitchell and Kenji, and my chest sparked with pride. I’m not sure what it said about me that I found the competitive part of Reid incredibly hot.
Josh, who had been silently watching us, rolled his eyes. “The guy’s going to Stanford, so he suddenly thinks he’s better than everyone.”
I blinked. Stanford? He’d decided?
Reid’s voice was sharp. “How did you know about that?”
Josh sneered, his lip curling up. “I haven’t heard the fucking end of it since your dad told mine.”
“I feel like Reid’s dad would’ve really liked Gossip Girl,” Mitchell chuckled, trying to clear the anger that had taken over Reid’s expression.
Reid didn’t laugh. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, either.
Stanford. Holy shit. I knew it was an option, but … I didn’t know it was the choice. Why wouldn’t he tell me something like that?
Not long after, the sky darkened as the threatening clouds finally moved overhead. A plunking rain picked up to a steady, heavy rhythm. Everyone shrieked and scattered as we pulled ourselves out of the springs and gathered our clothes and shoes.
I wasn’t as familiar with the narrow path back down the mountain. The rest of the team passed us as I descended slowly, Reid right in front, guiding me down the muddy trail.
Just as we got to level ground, the sky fully opened into a downpour.
“C’mon!” He grabbed my hand, and we ran, laughing, to the near-empty parking lot.