Chapter 14 #2
“Wooo!” My lips pucker as I pant and fight to get a full breath. It gets easier the harder my legs work to tread water, though, and within a minute I’m able to dunk my head under and float on my back.
I’m almost relaxed for the first time since graduation, my muscles giving way to the slap of the current, when a wave of water instantly crushes my peace.
I know it can’t be Cami. She always takes a full twenty minutes to get to waist level, so I dip my head back for a dunk, then twist to face the cannonball intruders.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Caleb says, his hair slicked back and his smile all toothy and proud.
“Great,” I mutter.
And there goes any hope for fun today.
I glance to Cami, wishing she would suck it up and swim to me just this once. Knowing she won’t, though, I start to paddle my way back to the shore, so at least I’m not outnumbered by Caleb, Cami’s ex, Warren, and two of their other friends.
“Come on. Don’t be like that. Just cuz we’re not together doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” Caleb splashes me, and I don’t know what world he thinks I would enjoy it, but it’s not this one.
I look toward the shore and notice Neveah, his new fling, stretching out on towels with a few of her friends. She’s quick to undo the back of her bikini to avoid tan lines. I’m sure she’s planning ways to accidentally forget and stand up to flash everyone a nice view of her expensive tits.
“Hmmm, you have enough friends here,” I say over my shoulder. His gaze moves from me to Neveah as he laughs.
“Come on. You can’t be jealous. You have no right, Saylor. I mean, you’re fucking my brother.”
His crass callout halts me in the water, and thankfully, I’ve made it to a place where my feet reach the ground.
I turn, careful to steady my feet on solid rocks rather than slick or jagged ones.
I manage to keep my mouth shut, but I glare at him with a silent warning.
I would never want to betray Rowan, but Caleb is pushing me to let him know exactly what his brother has told me about him.
He’s not such a golden child. In fact, I’ve come to believe he’s rather rotten.
“Are you saying you’re not?” His long arms sweep along the water as he treads in place, his eyes dimmed with resentment. A low laugh rumbles from his throat. “You’re not denying it.”
I fight the itch to engage with him, but I can’t let him off the hook so easily, so rather than answering him outright, I simply let my expression morph into a devious smirk.
I feel the ache in my guilty face, the way my cheeks are pushing up.
I won’t blush in front of him though. I’m not ashamed, and he’s not worth bringing blood to the surface of my skin.
“Fuck!” Caleb splashes water toward the calm water behind him.
The fact that I was able to anger him with nothing more than the curve of my lips is enough to give me the confidence to march my ass back up the shore and pull my top off, not giving two shits who sees my tits before I lie on my stomach.
The whistles and whispers don’t faze me.
And when my bestie crawls onto her towel beside me and holds out a fist for me to pound, I do it with pride.
“That’s my girl,” she says.
The hourlong nap that follows is pure bliss.
I haven’t been sleeping well, other than the night I spent with Rowan, and my eyes are so heavy when I’m awake.
I probably could have lain under the sun for hours, burning my skin to a crisp, if it weren’t for the low rumble of a familiar Camaro stirring me awake.
“This should be interesting,” Cami says. I roll my head to the side, where she’s sitting up, doomscrolling on her phone and tanning her legs.
I push up on my elbows, stopping when I become aware of my undone top.
“Give me a hand, would ya?” I nod over my shoulder, and my friend helps to tie my strings so I can sit up as Rowan and Miguel stroll toward us.
“I may have invited them,” Cami says, not even masking her sly grin.
“You just love to start shit, don’t you?” I scan the water and spot Caleb in seconds. He’s floating on a tube along with a few of his friends, but his plaything, Neveah, seems to have moved on to better things. She’s nowhere to be found. Good for her.
“This seat taken?” Rowan pulls his shirt over his head and drops it on the ground next to me before sitting on it.
“It is now,” I say, testing out some flirty behavior. I always feel like I sound trite with him, young and na?ve, and I squeeze my eyes shut hard when I hear how I sound now.
“Damn right, it is,” he says, tipping my chin up and dusting my lips with his. It’s the first time he’s done that in public, and the display of intimacy swallows me whole. It’s suddenly hard to breathe, and my eyes can’t focus as they roam the familiar faces still around us.
There’s no way people didn’t see that. They’re talking. They’re whispering. I’m sure of it.
Rowan pulls his Vans from his feet along with his socks, rolling them up and tucking them in his shoes.
He’s wearing gray board shorts that sit low on his hips, the golden trail of hair from his navel to the waistband an in-my-face reminder of what’s underneath.
I swallow the sudden ball of anxiety lodged in my throat before looking up at his beautiful face through my lashes.
“Your brother’s here,” I utter in a low voice.
Rowan’s gaze skims the water, and he squints as the sun reflects into his eyes.
“Yeah, I see that.” He takes a long, deep breath, almost like he’s readying himself for battle. About ten seconds later, I realize that’s exactly what he was doing.
“Shouldn’t you be under some hood?” Caleb flicks water droplets at both of us as he shakes out his hair. I run my palms down my arms to brush them away, but Rowan doesn’t move a lick. He doesn’t even flinch.
“That’s the thing about working for yourself. You get to call the shots. I wanted a day off, so here I am. Enjoying some fine company.” Rowan’s palm moves to my thigh, and my eyes dart down to take it in.
Caleb chuckles, but it’s obvious by the way his posture shifts and he drops his hands in his pockets that he’s bothered by it. That’s why Rowan is doing it. I both like it and hate it, and I’m not sure what that means about my own feelings.
“Brace yourself for the breakup, sweetheart. Rowan doesn’t stick around long. He’s a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy. He’ll be done with you soon. She’s a prude,” Caleb tacks on with a loud whisper.
“Maybe you were just a shitty lover,” Rowan fires back.
My lips twitch with a proud smile, but I keep it tempered. Rowan standing up for me feels . . . well, it feels. It’s sexy, sure. It’s also more than I’ve ever gotten from anyone.
“He was definitely a shitty lay,” I say, something strong crawling to my surface. My eyes flicker with shock, and Cami chuckles at my side. Rowan’s fingers squeeze my thigh.
“You thinking about fucking my dad next, Saylor?” Caleb’s words cut through any tough skin I thought I’d grown, and my only reaction is a silent gasp that leaves my eyes feeling the hot sting of angry tears.
Before I can find my breath to push out the words, though, Rowan is on his feet, and he’s shoving Caleb back several feet.
“You apologize for that shit right now!” Rowan growls.
“Relax, brother. I’m just giving you shit. What did you expect?” Caleb’s nervous laughter is a tell. His bravado is thin, a fake coat of armor.
Caleb holds his hands up to his sides, almost as if he’s baiting Rowan to throw the first punch, to look like the abuser, the villain.
But Rowan’s too disciplined to fall for it.
Instead, he saunters backward a few steps until he’s at my side again, and he drops his hand down with his fingers flexed.
“Come on, Saylor. Let’s go for a swim.”
His gaze remains fixed on his brother while I take his hand and let him pull me to my feet.
His hand intertwines with mine with a familiar ease despite having held it so few times and only in private.
I let Rowan lead, and he doesn’t bother to veer around Caleb as we walk toward the water, instead checking his brother’s shoulder to shoulder as he leads me toward the shore.
The chill is more biting this time, the cool stinging against my pink skin.
I shouldn’t have slept without reapplying sunscreen.
I breathe through the suffocating cold, though, siphoning away the heat from Rowan’s body as we dip lower into the water.
Finally, when the surface covers our shoulders, Rowan swivels my body into his and wraps his arms around me.
I reciprocate with my legs, feeling him hard against me.
“Was that show for him, or me?” I ask as he spins us in a slow circle in the water, every pair of eyes at the lake on us for certain.
He leans his head to the side a tick and glances up as if in thought before meeting my gaze.
“A bit of both.” His expression remains still, void of clues, as his eyes search mine. I wish I knew what thoughts were racing behind those eyes of his. I’m not sure what came first, the blue-green water or the shade of his eyes.
“He can’t talk to you like that. I don’t care what’s happening between us. He has no right. Never did. Never will. Nobody will. Not if I can hear it.”
His gaze bores into me, and I lick my dry lips, suddenly nervous and excited. My heart pounds in my chest, inches away from his. I’m sure he feels it.
“Thank you,” I croak. They’re the only words I can think to utter.
I know my worth. I’ve just struggled my whole life to announce it to others.
But Rowan is showing me that there’s power to my voice.
There’s power in telling people what I don’t like, in voicing what hurts me and what makes me feel whole. I need to say what I want.
“I want to stay with you tonight. In your bed.” I hold my breath, ready for him to stop our slow dance in the water, but his body continues the slow spin, and his eyes never leave mine. He doesn’t even blink.
“Okay.”