Chapter 14 #2
I try not to stare as he lays his T-shirt by his other clothes, his skin glowing in the firelight.
Not so much the chiseled chest I’d fantasied about before, but broad and toned, a swimmer’s body.
An active body. One that has me thinking of all kinds of activities even as he turns back to me, hesitating.
“It’s fun though,” he says with a small smile.
Crap.
Ugggh .
Fine.
I stand, pulling both my hoodie and my T-shirt off before dropping my sweatpants unceremoniously to my ankles. My underwear is blue cotton, my bra black and unpadded and doing little to protect me against the chill.
I don’t look at Luke again—I refuse to—and before I can lose my nerve, I run straight into the water. Rory lets out a whoop as he follows and the others cheer me on as a shock of cold hits my toes, my thighs, and then my stomach as I wade in deeper.
Holy shit .
“You’ve got to go under,” Harry calls as Luke splashes in after us.
“No way,” I say, my teeth already chattering.
“It will make it easier.” He dips down before shooting back up, shaking himself all over Sean, who scowls at him.
I can’t bring myself to do the same. If I get my hair wet, I’m doomed.
“Don’t you feel alive?” Rory asks, wading toward me.
“I feel like I have hypothermia.”
“You need to get used to the elements. You’ve been coddled by city life.”
“I’ll coddle you,” I mutter, bobbing up and down to try and get warm. It’s working a little, my body growing slowly used to the temperature, and I sink to my shoulders as Luke and Harry take turns trying to dunk each other.
“Yes!” Beth shrieks to my left and I turn to see Sinead shivering in her tank top and underwear by the water’s edge.
Rory breaks away from me with a grin, his arms outstretched. “Come on. You’re making it worse by stalling.”
“It’s cold!” she shouts.
“We know .”
I join in with the catcalls until Sinead gives an almighty yell and charges in, causing Beth and I to scream as we get out the way of her splashing.
Before she reaches Rory, she dips fully under the water, emerging with a string of curse words. I grin as the others start laughing and I realize Rory’s right though, even if I refuse to admit it.
I do feel alive.
Rory and Sinead kiss before she quickly breaks away, heading back to the sand.
“That was not fun and you’re all insane,” she yells.
We stay there for another minute, the initial excitement dying down as people just begin to swim. Luke and Sean talk quietly together while Rory and Harry start swimming short laps back and forth.
I can hear Beth humming to herself nearby as she floats on her back and I stare down into the inky water, brushing my hands across the rippling surface.
Screw it.
If I die, I die.
I take a breath, squeeze my eyes shut, and go under. We didn’t wade out too deep and I hug my knees as I go, trying to go weightless as the ocean envelops me.
It’s uncomfortable. And cold. And I’m trying to see how long I can stay down when a hand brushes my shoulder. I bob up quickly, swallowing half a mouthful as I go.
I assumed it was Rory, but as the water dribbles down my chin, I wipe my eyes clear to see Luke standing in front of me.
“Sorry,” he says. “You went under for a long time.”
“I have excellent lung capacity.”
He doesn’t answer, brushing a piece of seaweed from my shoulder.
Behind him the others start to wade back to shore but I don’t move.
I can’t move. Not with him looking at me like that, with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
The water laps around my breasts as we watch each other and I stare, fascinated as a drop slips from his forehead, traveling down the bridge of his nose.
“Abby!” Rory calls from the beach. “Move your ass! We’ve got marshmallows.”
“I’m coming,” I yell directly into Luke’s face.
He blinks at me, startled, but before I can feel embarrassed I turn and make my way clumsily back to the others.
Luke catches up quickly, staying close behind as I make it to the sand.
I can feel him looking at me. He looks and looks and looks but it’s Sinead who wraps me in a towel, who briskly rubs me like I’m a child getting out of the bathtub.
It’s Rory who hands me my clothes. It’s Harry who high-fives me and offers me a sip of brandy from a flask before we eat our toasted marshmallows and the rest of our food.
The temperature drops sharply as darkness sets in and it isn’t long before we pack up and put out the fire, using our phones to light our way back through the dunes.
As I’m visibly shivering now, Rory makes me sit in the back of his car to get warm while he helps the others divvy up the trash. Luke disappears to the clubhouse to make sure everything is locked up, but everyone else stays in a little huddle, discussing something.
“What’s the holdup?” I ask when Rory knocks on the window a minute later. I crack open the car door as he leans down.
“Harry’s invited us back around to his,” he says, but I’m already shaking my head.
“I’m frozen and I need a shower. I just want to go home.”
“You can have a shower at Harry’s.”
“Can’t you just drop me off first?”
“It’s an hour in the other direction. Don’t be a party pooper.”
“I can bring her home.”
We both look toward the clubhouse, where Luke stands a few feet away.
“I need to be up early,” he continues.
Rory turns back to me, eyebrows raised, but I ignore him.
“That would be great,” I say. “If you’re heading that way.”
Luke only nods and disappears back into the changing rooms. Rory lets out a low whistle.
“Luke Bailey, huh?”
“I do not appreciate your tone.”
“My knowing tone?”
“You think you know.”
“I know I know. Use protection.”
My fingers skim the side of his arm as he dodges my hit and I step out after him as he jogs over to Sinead.
Sean and Harry drive away, rock music blaring from the car with Beth chatting animatedly in the back seat.
A moment later Rory follows them, waving as he speeds off with Sinead, leaving Luke and me alone.
The noise of a grate closing makes me jump and I turn to see him emerge from the clubhouse, dusting his hands and looking just as wary as I am.
The car lights flash behind me as he unlocks it.
“You ready?” he asks.
I’m not ready at all. But I only nod and open the passenger door, sliding inside.