“He’s, like, one year younger than me,” he scoffs. “I wouldn’t say that makes me a cougar.”
I laugh so hard, my eyes shut. “Your kids will look so cute. His height and your hair—what? He’s going to be a player, just like his daddy.” I reach up and poke his cheek. He groans and bites at my finger. I retract it and laugh again.
“Don’t know if you know, but that’s not entirely possible,” he says, sitting up. I follow suit and wrap an arm around him.
“Oh, sure it is,” I tell him. “There’s this thing called the swirl. Basically, you take your man parts, put it in a girl, and ca-bow! Tall giraffe with nice, fluffy hair.” I weave my fingers through his hair and shake it playfully.
“Don’t touch the hair!” he groans, jutting out his bottom lip. I stop, laughing, and poke the slight dimple in his cheek. He looks at me for a long time, and I sober up and frown. He’s eyeing me like he’s trying to figure something out.
“It’s really nice.” I look up at it and pinch my lower lip, rubbing it. “You have to tell me what conditioner you use. You can’t keep such vital information from your best friend.” I jokingly wiggle my eyebrows, and he chuckles.
“No, I mean with the bisexual thing…”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay with it? I’m your best friend, Mase.” I reach down and intertwine my fingers with his. “You know I’ll support you always.” It’s true, I wouldn’t ever judge him. Friends are supposed to be there for one another, not question their sexuality or gender with prejudice. If they do, then they were never your friends in the first place.
“I love you so much.” He throws his arms around me, and I laugh quietly, caught off guard. But then I realize how he’s slightly shaking, probably from crying, and I hug him right back.
“I love you too,” I whisper and smile so hard, my cheeks hurt.
***
“So, you’re like…insane?” the girl asks brashly, giving me a nasty once-over. She holds a Bud Light in her hand and a cigarette in the other. I grimace when noticing her greasy blonde, pink-tracked hair and boobs that spill out over her American flag-print bikini top. Just above her unbuttoned short-shorts is a lilac printed on her lower abdomen. Can she be wearing anymore black eyeliner?
“No, I am…not.” This is not the first time someone’s asked me such an offensive question. I am still wearing my hospital band, merely because I forgot to cut it off. I’d take it off now, but they’re impossible to undo. And I don’t exactly have a pair of scissors in my back pocket.
She takes a minute to process this, then hums. “Then why are you wearing that?” She looks at the yellow band, and I gulp as she drinks from her beer can, light green eyes keeping hold of mine. “Only crazy people wear that to a party.” Amused by her own words, she snickers and burps.
I back away and go off to find Noah. We have been here for an hour, and I have yet to have any fun. Mason and Mateo on the other hand…they’re just the cutest things I’ve ever seen! I can see them from here, Mason on Mateo’s shoulders as they play chicken in the shallow part of the lake with another couple. The smiles on their faces, the laughs from Mason—it’s taking everything in me not to whip out my phone and snap a picture.
I find Noah by the grill, surrounded by shirtless guys like him, talking and laughing loudly. I briefly examine the sweat dripping down his stomach, caving in every ridge of every ab, and there are a lot. His dark brown hair is tousled and glowing under the high sun’s rays. His gleaming green eyes find mine, and his smile widens as he waves me over.
“Livvy,” he sing-songs, dragging me into his chest. “We were just talking about visiting the cliff. Catch some air?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“You sound like a stoned surfer.” I push away from him. He reeks of vodka. How much has he drunk? He doesn’t seem drunk. Or he’s just so experienced in partying, he knows how to hide it well.
“Then let’s at least go in the water.” He nods back at the clear lake.
“Can’t swim,” I remind him.
He shrugs. “We’ll stay in the shallow end?”
“I don’t have a bathing suit,” I point out. “You didn’t exactly say the party’d be at a lake.”
He smirks evilly. “Your underwear can serve as both,” he suggests, and I gasp. He laughs and steps forward. “Come on…you scared to show some skin, Livvy?” I don’t like the tone of his voice. It’s making me feel offended and brave…Damn it, why do I always have to prove things to people?
“I’ll be right back,” I grit out.
His eyes glint, and he steps back. “I’ll be here.”
Manipulative bastard…
Rolling my eyes and taming my smile, I walk away into the woods, a good distance from the party. As I take off my clothes, I wonder: what the heck am I doing? I don’t do this. I don’t take off my clothes then jump into a lake. What if it’s infected with leeches? Or makes me sick? It made my cousin Freddy sick when he dove into a lake he didn’t know about in Mexico. He was throwing up for a week. That could happen to me.
But then again, I have been doing more and more things I shouldn’t. It’s called growing, so grow I will. However, I make the mistake of looking down. Suddenly my basic white bra and underwear looks more than risqué. I cover my body and rush back to the party. But I don’t break from the woods and search through the crowd for Noah.
I catch his eyes, and he squints his eyes, confused, before saying something to his friends and jogging over to me.
“What’s up, buttercup?” he breathes, golden chest huffing up and down.
“I need a towel to cover up,” I whisper even though we’re far from anyone to hear.
He scrunches his eyebrows. “Why?” When I don’t immediately answer and grip my clothes to my chest, he glances down, then narrows his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re ashamed of your body or something.” He laughs, and I falter with my words that were coming, but he takes a step forward, brows furrowed. “Liv, you know you’re beautiful, right?”
I couldn’t help it; my cheeks were on fire. “Thank you, Noah…but I’m not ashamed of anything. Just a little…um, s-shy?”
He scoffs. “You shouldn’t be. From what I see, you have great tits.”
“Jesus, Noah!” I hit his chest, and he laughs. “Just what I wanted to hear.”
“No problem. Now come on.” I back up when he advances toward me, hands held out.
“What are you—Noah!” I squeal when he hoists me in his arms, bridal style.
He laughs and begins walking to the lake. I cover my face, too afraid to gauge people’s reactions. He is still insane, even after all these years. He’s always been impulsive and carefree, not caring what other people thought. He just did things without thinking of the consequences. I wonder what it must feel like to be able to do whatever you want at the drop of a hat. It must be really convenient and exhilarating.
And he proves my point when he rushes into the lake, when I am still holding my clothes!
I quickly jump out of his hands and go splashing in the water, knee deep. I hold up my drenched clothes, giving him the deepest and most terrifying scowl I can conjure up. But it either isn’t scary enough or he doesn’t care, because he launches forward and traps his tanned arms around my waist. My heart leaps in my throat, and I scream, throwing my wet clothes onto ground.
“You are such an asshole!” I scream, but the giggle that follows behind as he swims us further doesn’t exactly support the idea that I am mad.
“Oooh, cursing—you really have changed, Livvy,” he teases, and I groan.
“Let me go!” I thrash, and he laughs. “Noah!”
“Fine!” He lets go, and I scream, going under. But he scoops me up at the last minute. I cling to him like a desperate koala, and he laughs, dipping me into the water. I scream and beg for him to bring me back up, and he does. “Thought you wanted me to let go.” He raises a brow and sports a smug grin. I want to wash it off his face.
“You let go, you go to prison for kill
ing me.”
“I think I’d rather you latch onto me…” he trails, and I freeze and look down. My eyes nearly bulge out of my head when I realize I am. My legs are wrapped around his waist, and there is literally no space between us. I’m wearing him like a second skin.
“Sorry!” I try to distance myself.
He chuckles and tightens his hands around my hips. “It’s okay…wanna see how clear the bottom is?”
“I don’t know about—Jesus, Noah!”
He doesn’t even wait for my response, just turns and plunges his body beneath the surface. I quickly take a big breath and cling to him even tighter. I feel my ears plug and hear the music and festivities fade. The further down we go, the more I feel serene. I finally open my eyes, and the first thing I see are Noah’s emerald green eyes. Rich, dark, and enchanting. I could stare at them all day. He smiles, and I slowly smile back as I take in his toothy grin.
We come back up a few seconds later, and I gasp for a lot of air and laugh, just because I feel adrenaline flowing through my veins. I feel pumped, and he does too. He laughs along with me and twirls us all around. I yell at him to stop, and he starts splashing me. Screeching, I clutch my legs around him and begin splashing him back. He swims us a little closer to the shore, so I can stand, and I use everything in me to splash water in his face. We go under and splash and laugh, and he teases. I have the best time in a long time.
That is until he drags me under, tugging at my hips while tickling me.
I thought it was just like all the other times…but then it happens.
My panties rip.
Chapter Sixteen
They weren’t the strongest fabric, but I didn’t really think I’d be swimming in a lake, a boy handling me with hands larger than my face. I cover his face in mortification and tug at him, or at least thrash my legs around. He gets the memo and brings us to the surface.
When we break through the surface, I gasp, feeling naked and vulnerable like the day I was born.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, pushing his soppy brown hair over his green eyes.
“My underwear…um, may have ripped…” I whisper and look around like someone could see me, clear as day. The water is pretty clear. If anyone were to see me, I’d die.
He chuckles and raises his brows. “Seriously?” He begins to look down, but I panic and tip his chin back.
“Trust me—I’m serious,” I say with widened eyes. I look around and cross my arms over my chest. “Can we go, please? At least get my shorts.”
“Okay, okay, just…just stay here. Okay?” He nods to himself, assuring me everything will be fine. I don’t know if I should trust him, but one look in those eyes and I knew I could. I watch as he walks out of the water and feel my jaw drop slightly. His red and yellow trunks lay low on his hips, showing off his tanned, muscular back. He pushes his hair out of his eyes, and his muscles flex. A line of girls swoons after him and even catcall him.
I blush and look away when he comes back, scratching the back of his head—a telltale sign that something’s wrong.
“What is it?” I ask panicked.
“So, like, your clothes may have been…stolen…” he drags out.
I feel my stomach plummet ten feet below. “What?” I scream louder than intended. “Noah!” I whine. “What the heck am I supposed to wear? I’m not going to flash my lady bits around!”
“Calm down, will you?” He sighs then snickers. “Lady bits?”
I pinch his arm, and he pouts. “I’m not joking. What am I going to do?”
He bites on his lower lip, brows furrowed—in thought. Finally, he sighs and reaches under the water. “Here, use these. I have the shorts I came with in the car. I’ll change into those when we go back.”
“What are you talking about?” I question.
He answers me by holding up his trunks.
My cheeks flush. “I couldn’t—what would you wear?” The idea of him walking around stark naked is doing wild things to me right now. Damn you, girly hormones.
He shrugs. “Told you, the shorts in my car.” When he notices my hesitance, he slants his lips. “Unless you’d rather be walking around naked…”
I snatch the trunks from his hands, and he descends into laughter.
“That’s what I thought,” he mutters.
I roll my eyes but hold a grin. “Thank you.”
“You can really thank me by coming with me somewhere,” he says, beginning to exit the lake as I quickly slip my legs through the holes. I catch up to him, and I have to hold them up with my hands, because they are three times the size of me.
“Where are we going?”
I hold in my breath as we fully step out. He at least makes the smallest gesture of holding his…private part. He actually has to use two hands. I don’t know if it’s enough, because I don’t look down, not even a little peek. It’d be weird, intrusive, and just wrong. We must look scandalous, me with his trunks and him bare as can be. Maybe they think we did it in the water and went so hard, he ripped my panties. God, just thinking that story could be circulating through their minds makes me redden all over.
“Gotta pay for the herbs I got earlier. I left my wallet at home before,” he informs me casually. Like strutting around naked is completely normal for him. He walks with confidence and without shame. Laid back and stable, even with everyone staring at him, talking, and mostly whistling and clapping. It’s insane, and I have to hold back from asking where he gets this much courage. I don’t know I’m staring up at him in awe until he winks at me and says, “You don’t have to keep your eyes up here. Take a peek. I know you’re dying to.”
We arrive at his car and look at each other over the hood.
“Yeah, right.” Too bad arrogance ties along with confidence. As he flashes me his award-winning smile and ducks inside to put on his shorts, I tuck my bottom lip in my mouth and rest my chin on my arm, thinking: Too damn bad…
***
“Wanna do me another favor?” Noah asks as we pull up in front of a chain of stores that look rundown. We’ve entered a “bad” neighborhood that has my stomach in knots. I revert my gaze from the brick building bearing faded signs and shrug.
“Sure, what is it?”
“Go in there and pay for me?”
I laugh but stop when he doesn’t join me. “Oh, you’re serious? Then, no. I will not do you a favor.”
“After I let everyone see my ass?” he gasps.
I blush and look back at the building. “You were more than willing to, actually.”
He shrugs, guilty. “Caught me. What can I say? I have fine assets. Why hide them?”
“Get back to the point, Mr. Arrogant.” I snap my fingers, and he smiles.
“Right, I want to go get us something to eat since the shit at the party took forever to be prepared. The pizza around here is much better than in our part of town,” he explains, “and you still have that anemic thing going on, right?”
He remembers? We haven’t seen each other in so long, yet he remembers that even though I didn’t like talking about it so much…?
“Um, y-yeah.” I can’t help but stutter as I smile. “But can’t we get it after you pay yourself? What if something goes wrong? Don’t you think it’d be a little unsafe for me to go in there by myself?”
“They won’t mess with you,” he says, leaning over the center console. “Everyone in there knows I’d put them in the hospital if they even laid a hand on you…”
My skin tingles, and I look into his eyes, intense and deep. I lean back and sheepishly nod. “That’s sweet…” Sweet? He didn’t exactly recite poetry to me, just threaten putting people in the dang hospital. Not that I’d like the citation of poetry. That’d be weird, seeing he’s my friend and all. “Um, well, I still don’t feel entirely comfortable going in there by myself.”
“I’ll walk you up,” he suggests, lifting his brow. “I just want to grab the food then leave straight after. It’s like two stores over. Come right over when you
’re done. All you have to do is hand the money to a guy named Dean.”
I chew on my lip and think: am I really thinking about actually going in there? In a probable tavern with sketchy stoner guys? Who knows what they’d try with me, high out of their minds and all. But then again, something tells me Noah would live up to his threat and send anyone who messed with me to the emergency room. Plus, I really do trust him.
“Come on, before I change my mind.”
He beams at me, eyes lighting up. “You got it.”
We get out of the Porsche and walk up to one of the doors. I look back at the car and hate myself for wondering if he should really leave it there on its own. It does seem likely a lot of bad guys come here to hang out together. But then again, they’d be gone from reality, too wrapped up in their own hallucinating minds to worry about stealing someone else’s car. Ugh, I should really stop thinking like this. They could be nice people…doubtful, but they could be!
“Dean should be at the back. He has dark hair and a gnarly scar over his left eye,” he informs me, handing me the thick wad of cash. How much did it cost for a bag of drugs?
“Not making it easier to go in,” I say nervously.
“You’ll be fine. I’ll text them to know you’re going in.” He leans down and grips my waist for support, I guess, then leaves.
I stand at the metal door for what feels like forever, weighing the options: I can go inside and be brave and receive a proud grin from Noah or backtrack and wait in the car and get a disappointed frown from him. I shouldn’t decide based on how he reacts, but I can’t help but think what he’d think. The bastard’s affecting me more than I would have liked.
“Damn it,” I breathe and tighten my grip around the wad of cash in my hands. I take one breath, then two, then bolt inside when I hear something close to a gunshot when it could very well have been the backfire from an old, faulty car. I hear those sound very similar to gunshots. All I know is that it was enough to get my butt inside. As soon as I step inside, I almost regret picking Noah’s stupid smile over the frown, as if either matter.
Grey: The Retribution (Spectrum Series Book 3) Page 11
