FIFTEEN #2
My heart started to beat so fast in my chest as I took in the scene before me.
The back patio outside the pool house was a chaotic mass of bodies: students from our school, from the looks of things, although I didn’t necessarily recognise anyone.
I checked my phone to see if Jessa had messaged to say they were having a party, but then realised she was away with the others.
It looked like a house party that had overflowed into the garden. It was warm for October, but I wouldn’t have said it was pool weather. Surprisingly, people were already swimming. The water was heated, though, and towering patio heaters were dotted around the outsides.
As I walked through that sea of people, I saw Halo leaning against the house, talking to the captain of the netball team, Isla Monroe.
The kitchen lights were on, and the bi-folding doors were open, as people came and went.
She gave me a quick wave and mouthed the words ‘Are you OK?’ I just nodded and continued to weave through the guests.
She’d been back to France for the week to visit her grandmother, and so I hadn’t seen much of her.
The air surrounding the scene was loud and thick with the scent of chlorine, spilt alcohol and burned BBQ.
Music from two huge speakers thudded so violently that I felt the vibrations under my feet.
As I said, the water itself was also a frantic muddle of shapes, splashing limbs, and floating solo cups.
Drunk teenagers draped themselves over the edges, shouting over the music or pulling others in by their clothes.
Every inch of the concrete deck was slick with tracked water and shattered ice.
On the grass, people were balanced on assorted camping chairs or sitting cross-legged on blankets.
The sun had started to set, but the area was well lit by the pool and several strings of fairy lights that Vanessa had put in the trees.
I should have realised something was going on. All the cars parked along the road outside the house would have been my first clue.
Scanning the crowded deck, I locked eyes with the ringleader of the chaos.
Thankfully, Adam had dropped me off at the end of the road and had said he’d see me in the morning.
Maybe that meant he was going to spend the night at Laura’s house.
At least he didn’t have to witness the blatant desecration of the place I was trying so hard to help him call home.
Kieran was lounging against one sleek stone pillar of the pool house—that ultimate monument to his bruised pride.
He wore dark shorts and a crisp white shirt completely unbuttoned, exposing a broad, tanned chest glistening with sweat.
His stance was lazily dominant, flanked by his two usual sycophants, Weston and Tanner.
They all held beers, surveying the drunken carnage with unfettered amusement.
Then, his dark eyes cut through the crowd and locked onto me. My cheeks reddened.
He didn’t look away. Instead, he slowly raised his beer in a mocking salute. My jaw clenched, and I took a deep breath before marching straight toward him, shoving past sweaty shoulders and dodging the splashes of water erupting from the pool.
"I need to talk to you," I demanded, throwing a venomous look at his friends.
Kieran didn't answer immediately. His gaze dropped, heavy and deliberate, tracing the line of my collarbone down to my hemline before rising back to my eyes. "You look nice."
Great! So now I looked nice. I’d almost had to beat it out of him at the last party I was at.
I used one of Jessa’s lines, crossing my arms tightly over my chest, an armour against his stare. "Cut the crap, Kieran. What have you done?"
“What? When?” he replied, looking genuinely confused.
I glared in annoyance, and Kieran didn't even blink. He just tilted his head toward his friends and barked. "Give us a minute."
Weston and Tanner exchanged a knowing look before vanishing into the crowd instantly, like a pair of well-trained dogs. Kieran then turned back to me, leaning his shoulder against the pillar. "What’s got your knickers in a twist?"
"You."
"Well, I can’t say I’m upset about that," he murmured, his voice dropping to a gravelly, low pitch. "Although I’d rather you weren’t wearing any at all.”
The sexual innuendo fell from his mouth without hesitation, like he usually said those types of things to me. I was part excited, part shocked.
Getting a grip on myself, I refused to be distracted by that boyish charm I’d only seen fleetingly.
Unfolding my arms, I spread my hands and gestured at the zoo all around us, forcing myself to look past a topless redhead splashing in the shallow end of the pool.
It was October for goodness’s sake! "You did this on purpose, didn’t you? "
Kieran straightened. The lazy slouch vanished as he pushed off the pillar, stepping directly into my personal space.
He closed the distance until the heat radiating off his bare chest brushed against my skin.
Kieran’s lips were hovering a mere inch from my ear to cut through the noise.
"You’ll have to be more specific, sunshine," he husked.
My breath hitched, and my fists clenched so hard my fingernails bit into my palms. I didn't back down. I tilted my chin up, staring directly into the dark, chaotic depths of his eyes.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You decided to throw a party right under Adam’s nose for one reason.”
“And why the hell would I do that?” he interjected.
“To prove you're still the undisputed king of the castle."
The annoying boy didn't flinch. He just watched my mouth move, taking a slow, deliberate swallow of his beer. I watched as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth before saying, "You really think I’m that petty?"
"From what I’ve seen from you? Absolutely."
A slow, wicked smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and he placed a hand over his heart in a mock display of vulnerability. "You wound me, flower."
"Sometimes I'd genuinely like to." The words slipped out before I could stop them, sharp and laced with real heat.
Kieran’s eyes darkened instantly, the playfulness twisting into something far more dangerous, far more intoxicating. He leaned in a fraction closer, trapping me between his heavy frame and a group of students who were standing behind me.
"You don’t mean that," he whispered, his gaze dropping to my lips. "But by all means... if you want to put your hands on me, Amelie, be my guest. I won't stop you."
A sudden, dizzying flutter erupted in my stomach. I hated how easily he could shift the gravity between us. I shook my head, fighting to keep my voice steady against the sudden rush of adrenaline.
"You're incorrigible," I huffed, desperately trying to regain my footing under the weight of his stare. "I thought you promised to play nice with my brother?"
The mention of Adam fell into the air, thick and unwanted.
Kieran’s lazy smirk vanished, replaced by an icy, focused glare.
Without breaking eye contact, he reached behind him and slammed his empty beer bottle onto the stone windowsill of the pool house.
The sharp crack of glass against stone echoed between us.
“I promised no such thing,” he stated, his voice dropping to a gravelly register. “Why are you wearing this dress?”
He changed the subject so quickly that I was at a loss for how to respond. “Err, I went to see my parents today.”
“You did?” And how did it go?” From his expression, he was genuinely interested, but I didn’t want to talk about them. Not in the middle of all the chaos.
“It was fine. Are you going to shut this down anytime soon?”
“What? The party? No, why would I? It’s just getting started. Why don’t you nip to your room and put on your suit? Take a swim with me?” It certainly wasn’t warm enough for me to do that. Plus, I couldn’t swim. I didn’t tell him that.
What the actual hell? Kieran Rook would be the death of me. My heart flipped as he lowered his head and ran his nose up my throat, inhaling. “Fuck you smell so sweet. Do you still think about it?”
“What?” I asked, the boy had totally lost me, talk about blowing hot and cold. I pushed against his chest, forcing him back a step, and he lifted his hand and ran one of his fingers across my collarbone.
Heat shot through my core as his tongue appeared, the tip touching his bottom lip. “Our kiss.” He said, his focus on my lips.
I couldn’t help but ask. “Do you?” That brought his head up, and he shot me a lazy smile.
“Absolutely. But that’s men for you. You know what they say we think about every seven seconds?”
I didn’t actually, but I had no doubt he was going to tell me.
“Sex.”
My entire body reacted, and my cheeks flushed as I glanced around to see if anyone had heard. My goodness, his tongue was loose.
“It was a kiss, Kieran, hardly that,” I huffed, wiggling my shoulder so his fingers fell away. His touch was doing all sorts of things to my insides. I could feel my nipples pressing against the lace of my bra.
“But that’s where it would have led, Amelie. You do get that, don’t you? You’re lucky I’m such a gentleman.”
I snorted at that one and then tried to get myself back on track.
I was pissed about Kieran having a party the same weekend my brother moved in.
Adam hadn’t even unpacked all his boxes.
Thankfully, the pool house remained locked.
I would have been mortified if people had been in there, touching my brother's stuff.
And then something occurred to me, and I felt a twinge of disappointment. I stepped closer, caught in the moment. The scent of strong alcohol rolled off him. It wasn't unpleasant—but it was heavy. “How much have you had to drink?"
He exhaled a harsh breath, his nostrils flaring as he tilted his face down toward mine, a dangerous mock-amusement returning to his eyes. “Not nearly enough.”