Chapter 10
Julian
Stepping off the last stair, I stop short.
Ever is bent over stretching, giving me a perfect view of her ass.
Her hands are flat on the ground, her legs spread slightly apart and she’s lunging from side to side.
She stands up as I remain frozen in place and reaches above her head, first one arm, then the other.
Her top rises with each flex, exposing the skin on the small of her back.
Swallowing, I shove the glasses onto my face, thanking my forethought in retrieving them before heading to the cliffs.
Pretty soon the cliffs will be littered with locals and occasional campers jumping off into the blue, daring each other with flips and dives.
I’ve jumped plenty of times, not on a dare, but because I like the rush and the chilly plunge.
But mostly I prefer the view from the top, sitting above this place I’ve come to love so much.
It grounds me like nothing can or has in the last three years.
Lifting weights distracts me and allows me to release anger and frustration, like kickboxing.
But the cliffs settle me. And if Ever keeps stretching in front of me like this, I’ll need that settling more than I care to admit.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Ready?” for the second time in fifteen minutes.
She turns, nods and walks toward the trail.
It still amazes me that I live right here with a lake that boasts breathtaking views and a trail that begins in my backyard. We don’t talk as we work through the flats.
“I haven’t been on this side of the trail in years.” Ever, keeping perfect pace with me as the trail begins its incline, is barely breathing heavy and holding down a conversation. I’m impressed. “When did you first move to Blue Lake, or did you grow up here?”
“I’ve been here almost three years now. I grew up across the lake in South Point. Came here after high school, met Allie, got into fitness and . . . I don’t know . . . just never left.”
“Oh my God, this view!” Abandoning our conversation, she rushes to the edge of the path to peek between the trees and brush at the view beyond and below us.
My lips curve up at her excitement. I love that she gets as excited by the view as I do. It’s spectacular. Until she leans over the edge. “EVER!” I jerk her back from the edge by her shoulders, pinning her back to my chest, curling one arm across her chest.
Her heart drums against my wrist through the thin fabric of her top. She tilts her head up to look at me, her gray eyes wide.
I loosen my grip on her as she pivots to face me. But I don’t release her.
“Wha—what just happened? What was that?” Her puffs of breath hit my neck just above my collar.
I want to lower my face and feel those puffs on my lips.
“You . . . I . . . you just scared me for a sec. A little too close to the edge for me I guess.” Like a gravitational pull, I dip my chin, aligning my lips perfectly with hers.
And know without knowing they’ll be satin soft. Another inch and I’ll know for sure.
“Ayo, my dudes. What’s good?”
We turn at the sound of Lilly calling out to us. We step back from each other in sync. Still, instinct pushes me to grasp her arm and stop Ever from getting too close to the edge again.
“Lilly. Noah. Hey.” I smile and raise my hand in a saluting wave. “What’s good with you?”
Noah chimes in. “Taking advantage of the day off to hang at the cliffs before the hoolies take over. Right, baby?”
Giggling, she tosses back, “You’re a hoolie, Noah,” and punches him playfully.
“You’re more hoolie than I am, Southy. At least I was born here. You’re from across the lake.” He traps the hand she swings at him, pulls her in and smacks her lips loudly with a kiss. “You guys heading up?” he calls and continues up the trail holding Lilly’s hand.
The moment is long gone now, which I tell myself is a good thing. I toss my head toward the couple to say let’s go to Ever.
She falls into step without missing a beat and asks me in a mock whisper, “If Lilly is more hoolie than Noah, what the hell does that make us?”
She rallies from our almost kiss like a pro.
She’s either completely unfazed by it—and me—or a pro at compartmentalizing.
Something tells me she’s had her share of experience in the need to do so, which does nothing to lessen my desire to protect her.
Matching her energy, I answer back playfully, “I don’t think we want to know. ”
By the time we catch up to them at the top of the cliff, they’re both sitting on the ledge of the jutting rocks looking out over Blue Lake.
They make a portrait with their silhouettes against the majestic backdrop.
I jar to a stop, seeing them like that, clearly well-matched and in love.
It transports me back in time to when I made picturesque moments like that with someone I loved.
Ever collides with my back, snapping me out of my trance.
With a giggle and a sidestep, she pulls her phone from her pack and snaps a few pictures of them before they realize we’ve caught up.
If she noticed my reaction, she doesn’t let on.
Stuffing her phone back in her bag, she spreads her arms wide and turns a full circle.
“The air smells cleaner up here, if that’s possible,” she says to no one particular.
“Yeah, it’s why we don’t let the hoolies come up here,” Noah responds.
“Really? It’s off limits?” she asks it with a laugh.
“If only,” Lilly cries. “But we post signs and strongly encourage they don’t veer from the open trail.”
Noah chimes in, “Yeah, she likes to tell the visitors about mountain lions and rattlesnakes to scare them off.”
“I prefer telling the ones with little dogs about the owls and hawks, and to keep an eye on their fur babies,” I add with a wicked grin.
“Wow, you guys really can’t stand the . . . hoolies.” Ever laughs. The sound has me absently rubbing the tattoo on my chest. “I better watch my ass,” she adds.
I laugh at her sass and ignore the flip my stomach does.
“Eh, you’re in because . . . Allie.” Lilly flicks her hand like duh.
“She’s a G. Values this area and protects it as much as she can, without being totally annoying about it.
” Lilly pauses for half a second like she’s waiting for permission, then keeps going.
“She gets it. How fast places like this are disappearing. And, well, you’re like her family, right? So . . .” She shrugs and stops talking.
“So, you’re saying I’m not a hoolie?” Ever winks at Lilly, teasing. “What the hell is a hoolie anyway?”
My mouth turns to sandpaper as I stare at her unobserved, her attention on Lilly.
She looks so young and innocent, but she talks with such wit and intelligence.
She enchants me. Turning my head away to break the spell, I see Noah watching me, now standing on the edge of the cliff, one eyebrow arched. I arch mine right back in challenge.
With a half laugh, he tosses his head toward the lake. “Too cold for you still, J Mac?”
“Too cold for what? A dive? Eh, maybe.” I shrug and glance at Ever to weigh her reaction. Will she think I’m a pussy for not wanting to jump? That I care is the disturbing part.
“Yeah, no, it’s too cold,” Lilly scoffs. “Are you crazy? That lake is not swimmable for a couple more weeks at least. Don’t do it, Noah. We’ll all do it the day before we open for campers. One last hurrah. Just wait! Okay? Will you guys do it with us then?” She aims her question at me and Ever.
“I, uh . . . sure. If Ever . . . ly wants to, I’m in.” I turn my head to wait for Ever’s reply.
She’s looking from me to Lilly to Noah to the cliffs and now back to me. “Umm, yeah, okay, I’m in. But none of you get to call me a hoolie ever again if I do it.”
“Deal,” we all say in unison, then laugh at our timing.
Lilly adds, “And hoolie is just a hooligan. My grams used to call the campers that. Any outsiders really. And I guess I tried to say it when I was a baby, and it came out ‘hoolie.’ After that, it just stuck.”
“Yeah, and now she’s got half the town saying it,” Noah chimes in.
“So, you’re a local trendsetter,” I tease.
She rolls her eyes.
“Influencer?” I wink at her again.
She just rolls her eyes again in response.
We spend another hour at the cliffs listening to Lilly talk about Blue Lake and growing up on the other side in South Point, where I grew up too, a few years before her, and Noah filling Ever in on going to school here.
She isn’t really going to attend, she explains, only turn in her assignments at the high school, through the remote learning program they offer.
I have so many questions. But she isn’t offering any explanations, so I decide to save them for another time.
Maybe when we’re alone she’ll want to tell me more about why she left her life to move up here in the middle of nowhere without her family.
I know her mom and Allie go way back and are like family.
So I get why she would be a good surrogate.
But why did she need one? Why is she finishing her senior year up here away from everyone she grew up with and her sister?
I mean, I get needing a fresh start away from reminders of a life that became a shit show.
When Lilly talked about growing up in South Point, I kept my head down waiting to see if she knew me from there.
I didn’t figure she would because of our age difference, but I held my breath anyway.
I know firsthand how Blue Lake can save someone’s soul just by being here.
I’m living proof of it. And I see that Ever needs saving as clearly as if she’d said it out loud.
Despite my efforts not to care, I can’t help my curiosity.
But that doesn’t mean you need to save her. Reel it in, man.
Walking back, I trail behind the other three just enough to not be observed.
I feel like a creeper—an enchanted creeper.
I can’t take my eyes off Ever. She walks gracefully on long legs, muscles flexing with the effort.
I like that she’s taller than most girls but sort of waiflike.
Probably hated by girls her age because she’s effortlessly thin.
I bet she’d build muscle fast.
My stomach flutters with the train of my thoughts.
Ever at the gym, lifting weights, breathing heavily with exertion, sweating.
I could see her simulating fighting in a kickboxing class.
Watching someone get strong hypes me. Watching someone as beautiful as Ever .
. . I adjust my shorts and tell myself to knock it off.
Why now, why this girl? What is she doing to me?
I lie to myself that I just like to help people get strong and feel confident, which is why I later suggest that she let me train her in our downtime.
We decide to complete the rare day off with a cheat meal and order pizza from town and have it delivered to Allie’s for the two of us.
Lilly and Noah have dinner plans with her family in South Point, so I’m happy to have Ever all to myself.
When the pizza arrives, loaded with vegetables—our nod to healthy—she’s reaching for plates when I blurt out, “Let me train you.” Her shirt riding up just enough for me to glimpse the outline of her ribs as she stretches to pull down the plates has my fingers itching to touch that peek of skin.
“What?” She pauses with one hand on the cabinet door and the plates in the other and looks over her shoulder, pinning me with her smoky eyes. “You want to train me? Like at the gym?”
I swallow and nod. “I do.”
“Okay.” She hands me the plates and gives me a shy smile.
“Okay.” I smile back.
“I don’t have to join the Cougar Club, do I?” she teases.
“There’s an age limit. You’re too young,” I throw right back.
“Oh, thank god. I didn’t have the right perfume for it anyway.” She crosses to the fridge and fills two glasses of water for us.
Our banter makes me way too happy. Happy feels strange. And scary. But so so good.
Dude, reel it in.