Chapter 17
Kinsley
Chapter Seventeen
I woke up alone in bed. I had the slight remembrance of Thomas being here at some point in the night, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I had just dreamed that. As embarrassing as it was, I dreamed about him a lot. I reached for my phone on the nightstand to check the time, but I noticed a note lying on top of my screen.
So, I was right; he had been in here. I felt relieved to know that I hadn’t gone completely crazy.
I sat up and looked at the nightstand, placing the note back down. There was indeed a small key lying next to my phone, and I held it up between my fingers. I crawled to the other side of the bed and stood up to place the key in its place before I walked to the closet to get some clothes on. The wooden floor was satisfyingly cold under my feet, and I turned my head toward the bright window. The window. Suddenly last night came back to me as a bad dream, and I shivered. I pushed down the heavy feeling that grew in my chest and pulled on a white top with short red sleeves and denim shorts. I made the decision to spend a few hours on the porch and enjoy the sun. Maybe with a good book. At least until Thomas got back.
I went to find Connor, but his room was empty. He also wasn’t in his regular place on the couch, watching one of his shows. This started to feel like an emergency, so I pulled out my phone to check his location on the map. The red pin clearly showed him close to me. I turned around, but the house seemed empty, hollow. Then a strange noise coming from the other side of the front door got my attention. I froze and listened. The noise came again, this time followed by loud laughter. I furrowed my brows and went to peek out of the kitchen window. I narrowed my eyes against the sun and watched as someone jumped into the lake with a big splash. It was followed by another laugh coming from someone else who stood on the pier, but they were too far away for me to identify them. I didn’t waste time with getting my shoes on, I just hurried out the door and down the stairs of the porch.
“Kinsley!” a low voice shouted, and it was followed by another howl of laughter.
I covered my eyes, trying to block out the sun, but it was too light, so I still couldn’t see anything.
“You finally woke up.” This voice I recognized; it belonged to Connor, and I didn’t even need to see to know that the other guy with him was Kevin.
“Kinsley,” Kevin greeted, coming my way, and now I knew for sure that he was the one who had excitedly shouted my name just now. I gestured back to him in greeting, feeling kind of awkward all of a sudden. He was wet too; the water was dripping from his short, dark hair, but it was Connor standing in the water.
“Come swim,” Connor called, motioning me toward himself, and I tilted my head.
“I would rather stay here for now,” I answered, and the two of them shared a look that was anything but promising.
I took a step back as Connor rose out of the water and climbed up to the pier. For a moment, I thought about running back and locking myself into the house, saying goodbye to my relaxing day on the porch, but then?—
“HUUUUU!” I turned around at the howl coming from behind my back just in time to see Braxton running in my direction. I stepped aside, giving him space, and he ran past me, bombing himself into the water with a big splash. “HUUUU!” he shouted again as he broke the surface, before leaning backward to float on the water with a relaxed smile on his face. “’Sup, Converse girl.” He grinned with a head tilt, and I snorted beckoning to him. I had no idea what was going on with this many boys here, but I couldn’t decide if I was a fan.
“Well, this is too much masculinity in one place for me,” I joked and turned back toward the house. “Call me when there are girls here.”
“Naah,” I heard Kevin say with a laugh, but I didn’t glance back. Instead, I quickened my steps. The playfulness in his tone made me suspicious.
“Come on, Kins,” Connor ran after me. “Just relax a bit,” he said, and I swallowed hard, because I wished I could. “You deserve it,” he added, and I turned around, resting my hands on my hips as I thought about it.
Before I could answer, I heard a car approach, and I turned back around. At first, I thought Thomas was home from the town, but then a light blue Jeep came into view and parked down next to the house. As soon as the car stopped Aaliyah jumped out from the passenger seat wearing a bright yellow bikini.
“My favorite city girl,” she called with a grin, and a small smile formed on my lips as I went to greet them.
Cora got out of the car, too, in a light pink bikini and waved to me before her head disappeared in the backseat. Aaliyah met me halfway, almost knocking me down with a strong hug.
“Aww, girl hug,” I heard Braxton’s voice from behind me, and I glanced back over my shoulder. “Let me join,” he said, and that was all we needed to break the hug.
“Maybe next time, Brax,” Aaliyah said, and we shared a grin. I only noticed then that she wasn’t wearing her usual braids. Instead, her shoulder-length hair was let down, and the small natural curls framed her heart-shaped face.
“I need someone to get me up to speed,” I said as Connor approached us. “Don’t get me wrong, but why are you all here?”
“Well,” he started, while readjusting his light green swimming trunks. “I thought you needed to relax a bit, you know?—”
“Yes,” I cut him off, giving him a wide-eyed look.
“So, I spoke with Kevin,” he went on after a moment. “And then I checked the weather—which you can see is very sunny—before I talked to Thomas about it.”
“We are grilling,” Kevin cut Connor’s explanation short.
“Are we?” I asked, wrinkling my nose while looking around, searching for any signs of a grill. There was none.
“Yeah, it’s a party!” Aaliyah shrieked.
“Connor invited us.” Braxton grinned from beside me, locking Connor’s neck into a hug. “He told us how stressed you are about schoolwork,” he explained.
I glanced at Connor, who sent me a sassy smile. I couldn’t not notice the two boy’s similar energy as they stood next to each other with the same proud grin on their faces and their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders.
“That reminds me.” Connor turned his head to Braxton. “You promised me a round on your bike.” I snorted, trying to picture Connor on Braxton’s bike. Well, on any bike, really.
“And I’m a man of my word, little Rhodes.” At that, Connor let out a sneer. “But we have the whole day for that. First, I have to get some vitamin D.” Braxton turned toward the water.
“Do you really think this is a good idea after, you know,” I muttered when it was only Connor in hearing distance.
“We only live once,” he replied, but he didn’t sound too confident. “And it’s still summer, after all,” he added a moment later, elbowing me slightly in the side. “We should have some fun.”
“Oh, and I invited Samantha,” Braxton shouted, turning back around.
“Man, don’t tell me you are still chasing after her,” Kevin shouted back, pausing his conversation with Aaliyah.
“It’s not chasing when the woman clearly wants me, Kev.”
“Are you sure she wants you, though? Because last summer you said the same thing and, well, nothing has changed.” Braxton rolled his eyes.
“Kev, Kev, Kev. Believe me, nobody can resist the Lee charm.” He winked and I glanced between the two boys. “I’m playing the long game.” He smiled before saluting us and sprinting back into the water.
“Samantha can, apparently.” Kevin sighed as he turned back to Connor, who was wearing the same confused look on his face that I was.
I felt like I had heard so much nonsense that my brain couldn’t register it. But I recognized the name they had mentioned. They were talking about the red-haired girl I saw at the party and then again later in the flower bed.
“I don’t know if I’m surprised he invited her or not.” Kevin brushed a hand over his short, afro hair.
“Yeah, well…I feel like I just had a stroke.” Connor turned to me. “What I wanted to say is that Thomas went to get some food, and we left the grill in the tool room until he gets back.”
I froze. The tool room. I felt my cheeks redden at the mention of it, and I turned my head away, glancing toward the house. “I’m gonna go…help Cora with whatever she’s busy with,” I said when I noticed the blonde girl doing something behind her car.
Before I could make one step, a hand clutched around my lower arm. I heard Aaliyah mutter something beside me before she hurried toward Cora, probably to help her, which was exactly what I wanted to do, when?—
“But you were just about to take a swim.” Connor flashed me a mischievous smile.
“Connor,” I warned him, trying to step away, but he held me strong, which was surprising given his slim structure. “Connor, I’m warning you,” I said again when he didn’t let me go.
“Don’t be my brother,” he replied with a puppylike look, and I sighed. As soon as I stopped resisting, he started to pull me toward the water.
“Connor!” I shrieked, trying to hold back by gaining a foothold, but it was no use.
“Kevin, if he throws me into the water, I’m going to have to kill you!” I screamed as Connor got me dangerously close to the shore.
“Me? Why me?” I heard Kevin’s reply even though all of my attention was on fighting with Connor, who had the audacity to laugh.
“He was sweet before he met you!” I screamed just when Connor jumped into the dark water, pulling me with him.