Chapter 25
My body glided through the water, pain shooting through my right side every time I rotated my injured shoulder.
I wasn’t supposed to be swimming right now. It had only been two weeks since I fought a cliff and lost, but I needed to be in the pool. To feel that weightlessness and the smooth feel of the water washing over me. To silence the world and feel nothing.
I’d intended to do ten laps and call it, but I’d managed four so far and my shoulder was hurting. Getting to the shallow end of the pool, I stayed in the water leaning against the side, my chest heaving after so long out of the pool.
A month ago, I’d been in the best swimming form of my life.
Now, my “accident” on the clifftop had the potential to end my college swimming career.
The thought was almost more depressing than the notion that we still had no idea who was behind these attempts on my life.
Because the guys were convinced whoever had tried to drown me in this pool was the same person who’d tried to throw me off the cliff and run me off the road.
Hauling myself from the water, I hit the showers, closing my eyes and letting the warm water flow over me. I hated that my body couldn’t do the things I needed it to in the pool. Hated that whoever was behind these attacks had stolen my ability to swim the way I wanted to.
I shut off the water and wrapped a towel around me, heading for my locker. I dressed, then stood in front of the mirror to dry my hair. Dark circles hung beneath my eyes and my skin looked washed out after two weeks of painkillers.
Reaching for the hair dryer, I winced when a jolt shot through my shoulder. My cry of pain echoed through the empty locker room. I dropped the hair dryer back on the counter, gripping the sides of the sink, staring down at the drain.
What had my life become?
I was forced into a house with my father again, I was in a marriage I’d never signed up for, and someone had tried to kill me more than once.
The only good things in my life were Dacre, Pres, and Sin.
And maybe Boston, too.
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, and I squeezed them shut. Falling apart wouldn’t help me. Then again, maybe I needed to just let myself feel it all so I could rally and move on.
Footsteps sounded at the door of the locker room and my eyes shot open, watching the mirror to see who was coming. If it was Trent, I’d fight him with or without an aching shoulder.
When Dacre’s reflection appeared, my body sagged in relief.
He had the uncanny ability of knowing when I needed him, showing up in my room or outside one of my classes to hold my hand or hold me when I was stressed or about to fall apart. And right now, I needed him more than ever.
“You doing okay, Bambi?” he asked the mirror, coming to stand behind me.
I nodded, but my watery eyes gave me away.
Dacre didn’t question me. He picked up my hairbrush from the counter and slid it through my wet hair. My body instantly relaxed at his touch, my eyes falling closed.
We didn’t speak. He just worked silently to brush my hair out, knowing his presence was everything I needed.
When he was done, he replaced the hairbrush with the hair dryer. Again, he didn’t say a word, just switched it on and went to work drying my hair. His fingers were soft and unhurried as they moved through the strands, my eyes falling closed at the feel of him.
No one had ever cared for me this way before I’d met Dacre, Sin, and Presley. No one had cared enough to want to do it. And I’d never felt as strongly for Dacre as I did right now as a result of it.
I’d been struggling and not only had he sensed it, he’d shown up for me.
Tears fell from my closed eyes, and I sucked a deep, shaking breath in through my nose, swallowing hard.
Dacre leaned in, his body warm against my back. “I’ve got you, Dempsey,” he said against my ear, despite the noise of the hair dryer. “I’ll always have you.”
My eyes opened, our gazes locking in the mirror. He shut off the hairdryer and placed it on the counter. I turned to face him, and he took my face in his hands.
“I have to tell you something. Something that’s been weighing on me for a while...”
My breath caught as I looked at him, his eyes searching mine for any kind of hesitation. He wouldn’t find it from me. He could tell me anything.
“I love you, Dempsey.” He stroked my cheek. “I thought I’d never be capable of loving someone given the way I was raised, but you came along, and I never had a choice. I’m so fucking in love with you.”
My heart melted and shattered at the same time.
Melted at what he was saying to me, but shattering at the idea that Dacre had shut down so intensely that he’d shut himself off from ever feeling anything for anyone. He’d grown up being taught that love hurt, and yet, he’d still found a way to open his heart to me.
“I love you too, Dacre. So much I can’t even find the right words to say it.” My hands moved around his waist, clinging to him and tugging him against me so our bodies were pressed together against the counter.
The small smile that spread across his face was one I knew would stay with me for the rest of my life.
His lips landed on mine in the sweetest, most emotional-fuelled kiss we’d ever shared.
My hands disappeared under his t-shirt to cling to him.
He deepened the kiss, his tongue delving into my mouth and sending my head spinning.
Then he pulled back. “We should go. I need to be buried inside you right now and the locker room isn’t the place for it when I just told you I loved you.”
I laughed, kissing him again. Then we broke apart and gathered up my stuff.
He put his arm around my shoulders, tucking me at his side as we walked out of the pool wrapped around each other.
“How come you snuck off on your own?” he asked quietly. Not a probing question, just a genuine one. He always wanted to know the deeper parts of me.
“I needed to breathe.”
“And the best place to do that was under water?”
“It’s always been that way for me.”
I stopped us both, smiling wearily at him.
“At least it had been until now.”