Chapter Thirty-Two Floating
thirty-two
Floating
I’m not in a party mood. I probably wouldn’t have been in a party mood on a good day, but the night after a hypnosis session in which I remembered how my mother discovered my father was a sadistic murderer?
No thank you. But saying no to my cousin is an exercise in futility, which is why I allow Jasmine to bully me into it.
The lakeside is swarming with people by the time we arrive.
A bonfire casts flickering light across the sand.
Music thumps from someone’s truck while a handful of kids dance in front of it, swaying and laughing, the headlights serving as their own personal spotlight.
A couple of kegs are stationed near the trees, red cups being passed between hands like currency.
As we approach the party, I stare out at the lake. It’s endless and black, the surface still and gleaming under the moonlight.
Jasmine tosses her curls over her shoulder, waving at some girls by the water. Nikki is among them, wearing denim shorts and a bikini top despite the fact that it’s barely fifty degrees out.
“Let’s go say hi to Gillian and Nikki.” Jasmine tugs on my hand.
“You go. I want to grab a drink.”
After she flounces off, I search the faces in the crowd, and my heart skips a beat when I glimpse Chase on the other side of the bonfire. He leans against a tree, watching me in that unnerving way of his, as if his silver eyes are seeing right through every layer I try to hide behind.
The air seems to crackle, a charge growing between us across the sandy expanse.
Finally, he straightens and walks over, his slow, deliberate pace only adding to the tension twisting in my stomach.
When he reaches me, that small, infuriating smirk pulls at his lips. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I say, trying for casual, but my pulse is already sprinting. I cock a brow. “Are you going to try to kiss me again?”
Amusement sparks in his eyes. “If you ask me nicely.”
A laugh escapes before I can stop it. “Please. You think you’re that irresistible?”
“Maybe.” He takes a step closer. “Why? You thinking about it?”
“Hardly,” I lie, holding his gaze, not willing to be the first to look away.
His voice drops lower. “Is that so?”
“Definitely.” I try to ignore the heat spreading up my neck. “It meant nothing.”
He chuckles, like he doesn’t believe a word of it. “Funny, ’cause you didn’t exactly stop me.”
“I didn’t get a chance to.”
“Oh?” He lets the silence stretch, like he’s daring me to call him out. “Then stop me next time, if you really want to.”
The space between us feels almost electric, like it’s pulling tight, and he leans a fraction closer, his gaze flicking to my lips and back up. My breath catches, pulse hammering loud enough that I swear he hears it.
“Hey! You’re here!” a voice says behind me, and before I know it, Everett’s pulling me into a hug. His breath smells like beer as his lips graze my cheek in a kiss. “You look hot.”
“Everett,” I warn, and he responds with an innocent look.
“Friends can’t tell each other they look hot?” he teases. “Just take the compliment, friend.”
“Fine. Thank you,” I say, looking down. I decided to forgo my usual hoodie for a cropped flowery top, pairing it with tight jeans and a long cardigan. It’s not fancy, but I guess it’s different.
Everett nods at Chase, who nods back. “Mind if I steal this girl?”
Chase snorts. “You don’t need my permission.”
Something about his cavalier tone makes my lips tighten. Asshole.
“C’mon, Gemini,” Everett urges. “Dance with me.”
He doesn’t wait for an answer, just guides me away from the fire, leaving Chase in our wake.
I glance back, catching Chase’s expression hardening as he watches us move toward the crowd. Then his mouth curves into a wry smile and he looks away as if he doesn’t care at all.
“I’m a terrible dancer,” I tell Everett.
“It’s a slow song. Just stand there and sway.” He flashes that dimpled smile that makes it hard to say no to him.
A moment later he’s holding me close as we sway to the beat, his hand warm on my waist, fingers lightly tracing circles through my shirt.
“I feel like I haven’t spoken to you in ages,” he complains.
He hasn’t. I’ve been making sure of it.
“I’ve been busy. How was your game tonight? Did you win?”
“We wouldn’t be in this good of a mood if we’d lost,” Everett says, gesturing to the rowdy group of football players by the fire. Then he spins me around before pulling me even closer, his lips brushing my ear. “I miss kissing you.”
He’s drunk. I can smell it on his breath and hear it in his voice.
Still, I don’t pull away, and we dance for a while.
It’s nice. He tells me about the new rescue JP brought home, an energetic poodle who pees when she’s excited.
I know the one he’s talking about because I walked her this week during my shift at the shelter.
When I saw the look on JP’s face as he heard her crying in her crate, I knew that dog was going to find her way to the James house. He’s such a sucker for puppy-dog eyes.
I catch movement from the corner of my eye and find Sofia stalking past us. When my gaze meets hers, she pins me with a venomous glare.
“Your ex isn’t happy,” I say, nodding in Sofia’s direction.
Everett follows my gaze and shrugs. “I don’t care.”
After we’re finished dancing, he goes to get himself another beer, and I search the party for my cousins, making sure I have visuals on both and that they haven’t decided to take Ty’s lead and scuba dive their way through Sturgeon Lake.
Fortunately, Jasmine is with Bo and Gillian, and Connor is throwing a football with a teammate. Good.
Near the kegs, I see Chase sitting alone on an old wooden picnic table. He’s smoking a cigarette, which I always thought was gross. Until now.
He’s still watching me.
Not for long, though. The next time I look, Sofia is standing in the way with her back to me, wearing a wispy white sundress that’s way too summery considering it’s almost Thanksgiving.
Of course, she looks great in it, and all the guys around her can’t take their eyes off her long, bronzed legs.
I bristle when I realize she’s talking to Chase, laughing a little too loud at something he said, touching his arm just enough to make her intentions clear.
Something hot and unwelcome prickles at me as I watch Chase flick away his cigarette and grin at Sofia. A second later, she climbs onto his lap. Giggling. She leans into him, and rather than push her away, he lets her nuzzle his neck.
He’s not looking at me anymore.
When Everett returns, he follows my line of sight and chuckles. I search his face for a hint of jealousy about Chase flirting with his ex, but there is none. I guess he’s truly over Sofia. That means there shouldn’t be a problem.
So then why is my blood boiling?
Everett takes my hand and leads me to a group of football players and cheerleaders.
They’re all standing in a circle, talking about random stuff that I don’t understand.
“He looked like a big penis,” one player says, and the entire group laughs.
I must’ve missed this story, so my mind begins to wander. As do my eyes. Right to…
Yep, they’re still there. She’s still in his lap. I gnash my teeth as I watch Sofia lean in and whisper something in Chase’s ear. Is she nibbling on it?
Stop staring.
I heed the voice in my head and shift my gaze to the water, which looks like black ink under the night sky.
Mar would love this view. I wish she wasn’t so antisocial when it came to stuff like parties, though in Mar’s defense, it’s not like she’s trying to make some kind of social statement.
She genuinely doesn’t enjoy crowds and prefers to hang out in small groups.
I’m not much different, to be honest. I’d rather be at Mar’s house right now, watching some pretentious art film, than a party at the lake, but I feel an odd responsibility to Jasmine now.
She’s become like a little sister to me.
An impulsive, melodramatic sister who thinks searching for dead bodies is a lark.
I tune out the pounding music and loud laughter and focus on the water. There’s something so calming about it. So still and—
Then I see it.
A pale shape, just beyond the reach of the moonlight.
At first, I think it’s a trick of the light, but then it moves. The shape moves. It’s floating.
My pulse quickens as I make out the faint curve of what I think is a shoulder. And there’s something drifting…Arms? Hair?
Oh my God.
Horror grips my throat.
It’s a body.