Chapter 10 #3
I barely got the last word out before I felt his hands on me.
“Kier, no—” The protest turned into laughter as he lifted me clean off my feet, one arm under my legs, the other secure at my back as if I was light as a feather.
I grabbed onto him out of instinct, laughing and bracing myself. “You better not—”
He didn’t hesitate. We hit the water together, and the pool swallowed us whole; prompting a scream out of me before I could stop it. When I came back up, pushing wet hair out of my face, I laughed in complete shock.
“Now why would you do that!”
He resurfaced right in front of me with water running down his locs. “You said you could swim.”
“That does not mean throw me in, punk!” I shot back, still laughing as I wiped my face again. He swam closer to me, closing the distance between us and placing his hands at my waist.
I tried to stay annoyed, I really did, but it slipped the second I splashed him, sending water straight into his face. “Now we’re even,” I laughed, backing away from him.
He wiped his face slowly, blinking water from his eyes, and the look he gave me told me I’d just made a mistake. “Oh, that’s what you’re on?”
I took another step back, then another. “Kier—” I didn’t even finish before he swam forward, the water rippled fast around us as I tried to get away.
I laughed harder now and knew I wasn’t going anywhere.
He went under, I felt his head between my thighs, then he lifted us both out of the water with me sitting around his neck.
“Oh my God, Kier, put me down!”
“See, I was ready to call a truce, but you playing and shit.”
“No thats youuu, stop playing!” I laughed. “Okay, I’m sorry, please put me down so we can handle this like adults!”
“Nah, I prefer to be childish.” Without warning, Kier dipped us both back into the water. I emerged, barely able to contain myself from laughter.
“I can’t believe you! You are unhinged!” I shouted as I tried to get away, laughing harder now.
He caught me, anyway, pulling me back into him instead of under the water again.
I collided against his chest while we both caught our breath.
My hands landed on his shoulders as the water calmed around us again.
We were both a bit quieter now. I looked at Kier, and his eyes dared me to keep going, but his tone taunted me most.
“You could’ve killed me,” I whined.
“Not with those flotation devices you call thighs.”
“Oh whatever! Thick thighs save lives!”
“And they make good earmuffs too.” He winked at me.
“You are so nasty and annoying.” I let out a softer laugh, my grip on his shoulders eased as I relaxed into him. The sun got lower, creating a beautiful hue of colors in the sky. The moment slowed, and before I knew it, I’d pressed my lips to his.
Kier’s hand came up, resting against my jaw. He kissed me back with intention, and without rushing. When we pulled back, our breaths mixed in the small space between us and a breathless laugh slipped out of me.
“You keep kissing me like that, Si, and I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you,” he warned with a smirk.
Smirk or not, the look he gave me lingered long after the words were spoken.
I felt it while we climbed out of the pool.
I felt it when we walked back into the house dripping water across the tile.
And I definitely felt it when we disappeared into separate sides of the shower, both pretending the tension between us hadn’t evolved into something heavier.
Afterwards, I made us a quick meal of wings and fries. We ate in the living room while I introduced him to my kind of movies.
“You ever seen Saw?” I asked, grabbing the remote.
He looked at me like I had lost my mind. “Why would I watch something like that?”
“That’s your problem,” I said, snuggling up to him on the couch. “You don’t have range outside of music.”
We started with the first one, and by the time it really got going, I was grinning, anticipating every twist, every kill, and every moment I knew was coming. Kier, on the other hand, was watching me more than the screen.
“Sibley, you smiling a little too hard at this.”
“I’m not smiling, I’m appreciating the plot!”
“Ain’t no plot, love,” he mumbled. “This is just people getting tortured.”
I laughed, nudging him with my shoulder. “You gotta look beyond the blood and guts. What is the story telling us?”
“That you might be a little crazier than I thought,” he teased me.
By the second movie, he was asking questions. By the third, he was just as dedicated as me. And though he was still talking shit, he was paying attention. Somewhere in between we got comfortable. I found myself leaning into him without thinking about it, and I knocked out before I knew it.
He woke me up later, and I followed him to his room.
I slid into his bed, immediately jealous of how big and comfortable it was.
He tried to play it off, talking about I was scared because of Saw.
I let him have that. Between what I knew and what he thought, it didn’t matter—I wasn’t going anywhere.
When the lights went off, the silence felt less eerie than the nights before.
Kier pulled me in without making a thing out of it, and I let myself relax into him.
I slept peacefully through the night.