Chapter 7 #3
“No. That’s how it all started.”
I shivered.
There was a long silence, but I could hear the sound of his thoughts.
“I can’t imagine how you must feel. I’ve never witnessed an assault, and—”
“It’s like my brain erased that moment. There was blood on the ground. James was holding that metal thing, and his fingers were dirty with blood.”
Another wave of chills went down my spine.
“Did he mean to kill him?”
I said it quietly, but I was still shocked by my question, which was at this point more than legitimate.
“I think so. And if he’d done it—” I saw him purse his trembling lips, as if to trap a small tear marking his face.
“Will, it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything. You only witnessed it. Right?”
I brushed my thumb against his cheekbone to wipe away a tear.
A sudden thud startled me.
“Oh, sorry!”
Tiffany interrupted, holding a bottle, a tanned girl clinging to her body. They were leaning against the door making out, completely uninterested in what was going on around them.
I got up from the bed furiously.
“Out!”
“Stay calm, sweetheart.” She smiled at me, glanced from me to Will, then drifted back to me.
I pulled back when she tried to graze her fingers against my hair. She kept giggling with the other girl, then they left.
“Everyone’s having fun and I’m making you stay here,” complained William, whispering.
“No, don’t say that. Besides, you call that fun?” I pointed at the door.
“I wanna stay here with you,” he said, shooting me a dull smile. “Because I would go down too. I mean, I’d like to, it’s just that I always avoid that part of the house.”
“Take your time. Why should you want to go down there?”
“The last time that I got close to a pool was at Poppy’s when I talked to you. I was so wrapped up in apologizing that I completely forgot everything.”
“Yeah, but Will, you shouldn’t force yourself to—”
“Being with you makes me forget all the rest.”
I smiled. I was happy to hear how sincere he was, but I felt bitter as I realized that maybe Will and I weren’t that compatible.
Sometimes he was a little too exuberant with his impulses, given the nature of our relationship.
We could say things to each other, but not with the right timing.
It was like we were doing an out-of-step dance, and as much as I tried to adjust my rhythm to the music, I always ended up missing a beat.
“I spent years hiding from everyone because of my problems. Since you came here, I feel stronger. I’m less afraid.”
“James and Jackson have always been there for you, right?”
“They’re my best friends, but they don’t have your sensitivity, June. I can’t talk with them like I talk with you. I can’t talk with anyone like I can talk with you.”
There was that bittersweet feeling again. Gratitude mixed with the need to pump the brakes on his excessive ways of expressing his feelings.
“I’m here, Will. And if I can help you overcome your fear, I’d be happy to do so.”
We sealed our words with a long hug, then walked out of his bedroom hand in hand.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He sighed, smiling.
“Oh, but I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“Let’s go find one in my parents’ closet.”
William led me to his parents’ big bedroom. The lights on the ceiling turned on automatically. Will opened a drawer and grabbed a pair of white shorts. We noticed a leather purse with a black bikini sticking out.
“Whose is that?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s my change of swimsuit!”
William and I jumped when Tiffany’s curly head emerged from a hidden corner in the closet. She had one arm covering her naked breasts.
“That’s mine. You can borrow it if you want.” Tiffany pointed at the suit in her purse.
My eyes darted past her to where a bikini clad girl with blond pigtails stood behind her.
“Okay, thank you.”
“I’ll get out so you can change,” said Will, before leaving the closet. Tiffany pulled the curtain, followed by a symphony of making out sounds and giggles.
Of course I wasn’t going to change here.
I went into William’s empty room and took off my T-shirt and bra, and put the triangle bikini top on. I didn’t even think about putting on the bottom. It was too small.
“Ah, you’re here.”
As soon as I clasped the top, Will came in the room wearing his swimsuit too.
He gazed at my shorts before saying anything.
“I can ask Tiff or the girls if they have a bottom you can wear.”
“No, Will.” I instinctively refused. He frowned.
“But we can’t swim together like that.” How could I explain it to him? “They wear dental floss on their butts, and I—”
I’m fat. Besides, I’d need to get a full wax and have fewer scars on my inner thigh to wear one of those.
“I can’t.” I tried to smile.
To my surprise, he burst out laughing.
“Feeling better?” I asked, remembering how upset I’d seen him a little while ago after what he told me.
“Yeah. It’s the June White effect,” he joked, taking my hand.
“Ready?”
William took a deep breath. “Yeah.”
As soon as we got downstairs, I cursed James for the mess he’d let run rampant throughout the house. I wondered where all these people had come from in such a short amount of time.
“Breathe, Will.” I tried to calm him down, putting my arm around his forearm.
I clung to him, but he froze when we sat cautiously at the edge of the pool.
“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
“Not at all. And if I can do something . . .”
“What do you say I get something to drink? It certainly helps,” he muttered at that point.
“Whatever you want, but—”
I watched him stand up. He hadn’t even lasted a minute.
“Okay, let’s go.” I started to get up, but William stopped me.
“No, June. Stay here. You’re my excuse to get close to the water again and not lock myself in my room.”
“Suit yourself.”
The pool was full of random floats. The music crackled from the speakers, but the screams from girls were even more deafening. Obviously the loudest ones came from where James was.
I watched him, his broad shoulders emerging from the water.
I couldn’t stand him, and what Will had just told me put him in another light. He would’ve killed someone. Was he really that dangerous?
“You lick the right side, and you lick the left,” I heard him say in his husky, sensual voice. He got out of the water and sat at the edge of the pool near me. I noticed that he was holding an ice-cream cone while he gave the two soaking girls instructions.
“Did you not hear a fucking thing? I can do better than that.”
A girl stuck her pierced tongue onto the ice cream dripping down the cone while the other giggled.
“There’s nothing funny about it. You have to practice for later.” I groaned so loud that he turned around and looked at me.
“What the fuck are you groaning at?”
“You make me sick,” I retorted, my arms crossed.
“You act all grossed out, but you’re still watching,” he sneered.
“How could I miss out on such a gross demonstration?”
“It’s called a metaphorical depiction,” he said, pointing at the ice cream. I rolled my eyes.
“Call it what it is: hyperbole. Have you noticed how much you exaggerate the truth—maybe you’re adding a few inches to it?”
Two dimples appeared on his cheeks.
I heard the girls giggle a few times, but James seemed to have suddenly lost interest in them, as if teasing me turned him on more.
“So I get the vibe that you want it too.”
He waved the ice cream in front of my nose as a bit of it dripped down the back of his hand. He put the tip of his thumb between his full lips and sucked on it greedily.
“Exactly,” I answered without hesitation as they stared at me astonished. Without breaking eye contact, I stood up, grabbed the cone, and flicked my wrist to throw it on the ground. The vanilla splattered across the tiles surrounding the pool.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Hunter.” I narrowed my eyes and pointed at the ground.
“Why don’t you start getting a little practice now?”
James gritted his teeth and started to spring up, but right then William came back holding two glasses of Coca-Cola.
I smiled, pleased. James shot one last murderous look at me.
“Be very careful, Snow White.”