“That is just so gross.” R.J. did a full body shiver.
Jake had a momentary panic. If R.J. was this freaked out about it, who would he share it with? “You cannot tell your dad. He would kill me.”
R.J. shook his head. “I’m grossed out, but I’m not stupid.”
Jake stuffed the bag from Mason’s inside the one from Safeway. He didn’t want to go through this again. “So you won’t tell him?”
“Of course not. But you better not hurt my sister. She’s a pain in the ass, but if you screw her over, I won’t have to tell my dad. I’ll kill you myself.”
Jake puffed up his chest on reflex. He didn’t want to get into a pissing contest with R.J., but Jake was bigger, stronger, and older. And he didn’t like being threatened, even when he understood the reason. He knew what it felt like to be on the wrong side of someone’s temper and his body automatically responded with a flood of adrenaline and a strong urge to defend.
“I mean it,” R.J. continued. “You’re my friend, but she’s my sister. It’s my job to look out for her.”
Jake almost laughed at that. Clover was seven years older and infinitely better qualified to take care of herself than R.J. ever would be. The look on R.J.’s face kept him from vocalizing any of that, though. He was dead serious and Jake was still wound too tight. If he teased him, they’d end up in a fistfight right there. He had no doubt about it. He’d been hit enough times to know to avoid it whenever possible.
Jake worked to calm himself before he spoke. He didn’t want to make things any worse than they were. “You have nothing to worry about. I promise.”
R.J. crossed his arms over his chest and nodded sharply. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Jake didn’t know what else to say, but it was one of those moments when he knew he was supposed to respond in some way.
“Listen,” R.J. looked over his shoulder toward the entrance, “I’m going to go find Brandon. We need to get back soon.”
Jake let him go without saying anything else. If he was forced to choose between his friendship with R.J. and his relationship with Clover, she would win every time. That had always been the case, but apparently no one else had realized it.
Chapter 32
Three Years Ago
“It sucks that you have to leave already.” R.J. sat on Clover’s bed watching her pack.
Clover had opted to take two summer courses at UW. That meant she only got to visit for a couple of weeks between the end of summer classes and the start of the fall semester. R.J. was right. It sucked. But it was better for her in the long run, so she made it work.
“Oh, did you miss me?” Clover ruffled R.J.’s hair and he jerked his head out of reach.
“Quit it.” R.J. was twelve and more interested in sports and his friends than he was in his big sister anyway, but Clover knew he missed her. Just like she missed him. She pulled him into a hug.
“I missed you, too.” She dropped the teasing tone and said the words clearly. R.J. was a total pain in her butt, but she loved him. He was her family.
He pulled her tighter into the embrace for just a second, then pushed her away abruptly. He swiped his hands over his eyes and said, “Stop being a pussy. I just miss your car. Do you know how hard it is to get Dad or Brandon to take me into town?”
Clover blanched at R.J.’s word choice. “You’re a total class act. Jerk.”
She finished packing her bag. She didn’t take a lot. The few textbooks she’d brought home to read, her iPod, and her laptop. She was ready. She’d realized after Christmas break that it was simply easier to have two sets of clothes and toiletries rather than hauling them back and forth in her trunk for ten hours each way.
“You didn’t even get to see your friends.”
Clover rolled her eyes. R.J. knew as well as she did that she didn’t have any real friends here. Her high school classmates were intimidated either by her dad’s money or the fact that she had a brain. Some were intimidated by both. She’d never felt like pretending she didn’t notice.
R.J. was different. Their dad always got on him because he wasn’t as dedicated to his studies as Clover was, but R.J. had something she never would. True social ease. He made friends no matter where he was. If he used it right, his ability to relate to people would take him further than Clover’s ability to relate to books.
“What? You have friends.”
Clover stopped moving and simply stared at her brother. His statement was a little absurd. “I have acquaintances.”
“You could have friends if you’d try just a little.”
“Why would I want to do that?” Clover had spent most of her time in high school trying to figure out who wanted what from her. Generally it was something academic. A project, a paper, an experiment. It was all work that other people didn’t want to do that Clover found easy. Sometimes, she was surprised and discovered that the person wanted something she could buy.
“What about Jake?”
Clover shrugged. “I like Jake. But he’s your friend, not mine.”
“He’s your friend, too.”
Clover could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen Jake in the past two years. She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Sometimes you’re an asshole. You know that, right?”
“So are you.” She zipped up her messenger bag and dropped the front flap in place.
R.J. stood. “So this is it? You’re leaving today? You could wait until tomorrow. We could go down to the pond. You could read and yell at me not to splash so much. It’ll be like you’re thirteen all over again.”
Clover had gone down there every day that she’d been home. The summer sun, the sound of the water, and the smell of open air renewed her. She’d needed the time to recharge after spending the past year in the city. Now, however, she was ready to get back.
“Come on. Walk me out.” Clover headed toward the door.
“You’re not going to wait for Dad? Brandon?”
Clover’s dad had a meeting in Portland that would keep him away until late, and Brandon was working on the north field. It was a busy time of year for him. She’d gotten up early that morning to say her goodbyes. “I saw them before they left this morning. Now’s the time, baby brother.”
Clover put her arm around R.J.’s shoulder as they walked through the house. He’d grown a lot in the last year and she wondered how much longer she’d be taller than he was.
When they got to her car, R.J. pulled her into a tight hug. “No more summer classes, okay? I do miss you. It sucks not having you home.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Promise you’ll come home next summer.”
“You may not even want me here then.” Clover missed her family and her home, more than she expected, but she could also feel things shifting for her. She and Lexy had found an apartment and were moving off campus. She felt alive and excited in Seattle, like anything could happen. She thought maybe it was all the rain. It made things grow, including her thoughts.
“Promise,” R.J. insisted.
“I promise.”
“For longer than two weeks.”
Clover nodded and agreed. “For longer than two weeks.”
“Good. Now get your skinny ass out of here.” R.J. turned and ran back into the house. She heard him suck in a breath after he cleared the top step.
Clover wanted to help him, but she couldn’t. She’d always known that she’d leave here. School was just the beginning.
She pulled onto the highway and headed north. She waved at the tractor she passed in her father’s north field, then again at a distant figure working in Tammy Feldman’s pasture.
Chapter 33
Present Day
Clover remembered her first summer at the pool. She’d been sixteen and so excited to work there. Not only had she found a summer job, but she’d landed the coolest one in town. Everyone her age wanted to work at the pool. She was on the receiving end of a lot of strange looks for weeks. Most of her classmates d
idn’t know her well. All they saw was the serious girl who studied and read. They didn’t know that she challenged her dad in his lap pool every morning. Why would they? She didn’t talk about it. She was already different enough. Having an indoor pool, lap-sized or not, would set her apart just that much more.
When school started in the fall, the interest the other kids had showed her proved fleeting. They forgot all about her the second they saw her wearing normal clothes and carrying a book, rather than wearing a swimsuit and carrying a whistle. Not that she blamed them. Books just weren’t as sexy.
At twenty-two, sitting on the tower while being ogled by sixteen-year-old boys, it just didn’t feel the same as it did back then. Now, instead of enjoying the attention, she mostly just wanted them to go away. It was bad enough that she had to dodge Vince while she was at work. On top of it, she felt like she was on display for all the men in town. Funny how that never bothered her when she was younger. How much of her reluctance was based on getting older and how much was because Vince made her gun shy?
Either way, a couple more weeks and she was done. She’d never have to sit on this tower again after August 15. Her dad was finally taking her seriously and he’d said he would put her to work as soon as summer was over. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t let her start sooner. She would have preferred that to the part-time job at the pool. He said it was so she could have one last summer of just being a kid, but that made no sense. If he wanted her to have one last fun break before joining the workforce, why not send her to the Caribbean with Lexy? No doubt about it; her dad was a confusing guy.
A group of boys splashed water on a sunbathing teenage girl and she jumped up and squealed. Clover blew her whistle. “Guys! Knock it off.”
The girl moved to the other side of the pool and the guys waved at Clover and laughed. They were just being typical boys, determined to take up as much space, physical and audible, as possible. Clover couldn’t really do much about them splashing. Frankly, the girl was crazy to come to the pool and expect not to get wet.
Clover scanned the pool for signs of any real danger, but everyone looked good. She spotted Jake coming across the concrete toward her. He wore baggy board shorts that hung too low and showed off his abs. The muscles rippled as he walked and she couldn’t help but stare. She loved that he’d worked hard enough on his body to get that visible V cut as his abs tapered at his waist. He was too sexy and, for some reason, he just wanted her.
He stopped just short of her tower and said, “You know, you’re super hot when you blow your whistle like that.”
Her desire to jump down and kiss him was overwhelming and completely unrealistic. She was at work. Her time belonged to the city while she was there and she owed it to the swimmers to pay attention. After all, she was paid to protect them. Mostly she just blew her whistle and yelled when someone did something stupid, but that was beside the point.
Still, she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “You know, you’re super hot when you just stand there like that.” She arched her eyebrow for emphasis. It always looked sexy when women did it in the movies and she was trying to work on her sexy gestures. God knew Jake made her feel the part.
Jake just smiled at her and it reminded her so much of the younger version of him. For the first time, that didn’t freak her out. She loved him and a lot of that was because she had known him growing up. She’d seen him at his silliest, his most vulnerable, and definitely his grossest, and it all made her love him even more.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Her heart skipped a little as she asked the question because she knew exactly what was on his list. She held her breath as she waited for the answer.
Jake’s smile grew even bigger and he nodded. “I did.”
Clover checked the big clock on the side of the building and groaned. “My shift isn’t over for another three hours.”
“No worries. I’m going to head over there and catch some sun.” Jake pointed to the far side of the pool. He’d still be distracting, but at least she wouldn’t be tempted to talk to him.
“I’m going to stay here and guard lives.” She sat back in her chair and returned her focus to the pool. If she let herself, she’d spend the rest of the afternoon staring at Jake. She liked to think that she had better control than that, but it wasn’t proving easy in his case.
She didn’t talk to Jake for the next three hours and, if she tilted her head just right, she was able to watch the other swimmers without fixating on him. It was the longest shift of her life and her attention, no matter how hard she tried, kept sliding to Jake. When the next shift showed up to relieve her, Clover turned over her whistle and left her station after giving Jake a little wave.
That’s when she noticed Vince watching her. He had his glasses pulled down and he glared at her over the top of them. Clover carried her towel casually at her side and left her glasses in place. They were mirrored, just like his, so maybe he wouldn’t realize that she’d seen him. She stared straight ahead when she walked past him and tried to ignore the prickling of her skin that made her want to run away as fast as she could.
She’d made it almost into the building when he grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around until they were face to face. He leaned in close, forcing her back against the wall, and then he blocked her in by leaning his hand against the wall next to her head. To a casual observer, it probably looked like they were chatting, flirting even. To Clover, it felt like she was trapped and her heart pounded so hard she couldn’t think clearly. She needed to get away.
“Clover.” Vince spoke in a low, seductive voice that only increased the alarms sounding in her head. He leaned in intimately as he spoke. “I’m still waiting for you to make it up to me.”
It took a moment for her to find her voice. She knew arguing with Vince was a trap. It would open the conversation up for him to push his way in. She didn’t want to give him even the tiniest crack. Instead, she forced herself to stand up as straight and tall as she could, and she said, “You need to back up, Vince.”
He stared at her mouth as she spoke and licked his own lips. Clover felt isolated and vulnerable despite the crowd of people at the pool. It was like she was in an insulated bubble with just her and Vince and no one else could see what he was doing to her. Worse, there was nothing she could do to change it.
He lowered his glasses to look her in the eye. “I plan to get a lot closer. You can bet on that.”
Clover was used to guys looking at her, and some of them said things she didn’t like. But nobody had ever scared her like Vince before. He crossed lines with the way he spoke and placed himself in her space. And she’d never had a guy touch her like he was going to take from her, with or without her permission. It scared her to the point of frozen immobility and she didn’t know how to break free.
“No.” Her voice sounded so small that she wasn’t even sure she’d spoken. She couldn’t move. Vince had her trapped with only his arm holding her in, yet she couldn’t see a way out. She blinked back tears and hated herself for crying in front of him.
“Why fight it? You know you’re going to give in eventually. All you bitches do.” Vince spoke with such revulsion that Clover knew he hated her.
She shrank back into herself and tried to make herself as small as possible. She closed her eyes because she couldn’t stand to look at him any longer.
#
Jake tried not to spend the afternoon staring at Clover, but he couldn’t help it. She was so damn beautiful and, for some reason he couldn’t really understand, she was totally into him. He wasn’t sure that she loved him as much as he loved her, but he figured that was okay. He’d been crazy about her forever. She’d only just figured out her feelings for him. It might take her some time to catch up, but he was willing to wait forever.
She smiled slightly at him and inclined her head toward the clock. “Four o’clock,” she mouthed. She had to wait for the person relieving her to arrive, so he had a few minutes to collect his thin
gs.
He slipped his feet into his flip-flops and folded his towel in half before slinging it over his shoulder. When he looked back, Clover was gone and a new lifeguard was on the tower. That meant she was on her way in to clock out, shower, and change. That also meant he was that much closer to spending time with her alone. He should probably tell her about his conversation with R.J. and they should get some dinner. Beyond that, their evening was wide open. Maybe they’d go to her pond again. She loved it there. And after what happened last time they were there, it was quickly becoming one of his favorite places, too.
Jake was in such a happy place as he walked back to the locker room that he almost walked right past Clover without seeing her. She was cowed against the wall with her supervisor towering over her.
“What the hell?” The world tinged red and Jake filled with rage. How dare this man touch Clover? She was his! It was his job to protect her, and yet he’d almost missed her when she needed him.
The next thing Jake knew, he was holding Clover and promising everything would be okay. Vince lay on the ground several feet away. Jake didn’t remember moving at all. All he cared about was that Clover was safe with him and Vince hadn’t gotten her alone. She buried her face in his neck and held on so tight that Jake couldn’t move.
“What is your problem?” Vince was on his feet and in Jake’s face. He pushed against Jake’s chest and knocked him off balance.
Clover raised her head and braced her feet. She kept Jake from toppling over and spoke quietly in his ear. “Come on, let’s just go.”
“I said what’s your problem?” Vince tried to shove him again, but Jake sidestepped and Vince slid off uselessly.
Jake clenched his jaw and tried to count. That always kept him from striking out in the past. But he’d never been in a situation like this before. This man wanted to hurt Clover and that would never be okay. Jake wanted to kill him
Clover rubbed her hand over his belly in soothing circles. How had the tables turned so quickly? Seconds ago, she’d been a crying mess and he’d rescued her. Now she was calm and working hard to keep him from losing his temper. Jake took a deep breath and focused on the smell of her skin. Slowly, the anger subsided and when he felt like he could move without smashing Vince into small pieces, he released his hold on Clover. He eased her against the wall so that he could place his body fully between her and Vince. “I’m okay,” he assured her.
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