"Do you come here often?" My words came out surprisingly clear, despite how nervous I had become. He shrugged, reaching for a towel. It was one heck of a view. My eyes betrayed me and took in an eyeful of that happy trail that snaked down his abdomen.
"Once every few days. Is this your first time?"
I nodded.
"Do you swim?"
I wasn't sure how to answer that. If I said no - would he throw me into the water? Teach me? Did I trust him at all?
My hesitation didn't faze him. "It's pretty shallow on this end - you would be able to stand on your tiptoes just fine." He looked at me up and down, as if just realizing how short I was.
My temper flared. "I can swim just fine." Liar.
His smile was lazy, crooked. Those gaunt cheeks had filled out some, and he had lost that haunted look.
"Well, then, be my guest."
I shook my head too quickly, and his smile grew. "It's late - I should get going." Before I turned, I felt his wet skin against my arm.
"Stay." The pleading in his eyes told me he needed the company more than I realized. So I stayed, sitting by the side of the pool, dipping my feet in, as he swum laps. The muscles on his back and shoulders bunched up with each movement, and I had to begin telling myself that he was going to be my stepbrother, even as another part of my mind told me this wasn't true.
After a good fifteen minutes, he got out of the pool again, and sat down cross-legged next to me. We looked at the water surface as it smoothed again, the blue water crystal clear, so that I could see the tiles down below.
"What's it like, being you?" I asked. It wasn't that I was feeling bold. It was just that, suddenly, he wasn't the untouchable, heartbreakingly gorgeous superstar anymore. I had seen him break, seen what he looked like in his lowest moments, and more than anything, I felt sorry for him, for the human inside him that had so much to prove, to showcase to the world. But I knew better than to show him my pity. Knew better than to risk evoking the anger that lurked just underneath.
He kicked the water, sending a powerful splash that became one with the body of the pool. "I don't know what it's like otherwise," he replied simply. "What's it like being you?"
I turned, trying to see if he was making fun of me, but his mouth was downturned, his face serious.
"I...I just can't imagine being in the spotlight like that. Doesn't it come with...too many expectations?"
"Only if you want it to. Hans and I..." he clenched his jaw at the name. "We thrive under the attention. I guess it's because it's easier to become someone you aren't. To slip into that mask daily, be that hot, popular guy, doing hot popular guy things..."
Now his voice held a hint of jesting. I pushed him lightly with my shoulder, then started when I realized I didn't budge him at all. I tried again. He shifted - making me almost fall face down into his lap. My cheeks burned, and he laughed - a loud, open laugh that was as sudden as it was beautiful.
"Out of shape, huh?"
"I never was in shape to begin with," I huffed, shoving my hair out of my face as I straightened. We both turned back to the water, letting the silence fall between us. It wasn't awkward, but a peaceful, quiet lull, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
"Are you close to Hans?" The question popped out of nowhere, but somehow appropriate at the time.
He shrugged. "As close as siblings are, I guess. I'm not sure what having a sibling who isn't a twin feels like." His jaw tightened as he said this, although I wasn't sure why. After a while, he relaxed again, and his dark eyes softened. "If what you want to know is whether he and I share any silent communication or stuff like that, then I would have to say no. No more than you and your mom, or...other people do with the rest of their family." It didn't escape my notice that he didn't use his relationship with his father as an example.
After a while, he stood up, and held out his hand for me, which I took gingerly. I swallowed, watching that large hand envelope my smaller one, acutely aware of his nakedness. I didn't look too hard at his swimming trunks, or the rigid, taut planes of his abdomen, but seeing him bare-chested was enough to make my cheeks warm.
He smiled, a lopsided, cheeky one, as if aware of my embarrassment. "Do you always try hard not to stare? You can, you know, if you want."
I threw the small towel he was holding against him and somehow managed to shove him into the pool. He surfaced quickly, shouting, and splashed water at me, barely hitting my ankles. I savored the dizzying glee I felt at my triumph.
That night, I slept with a smile on my face, a restful, dreamless slumber, before the next day shattered all my hopes of a new beginning in this place called Gray Lake.
Chapter 20
Cole
"No."
I felt my shoulders tense, even as Jeremy stepped closer to me, attempting to act as a buffer between me and Hunter. "Absolutely not."
Hunter sighed. "Come on, man. I thought you wanted her out of this place? It's been a while since someone like that even existed. You know that."
You're a filthy, disgusting pig, I wanted to hurl at his face. Not too long ago, I would have turned a blind eye and let him do whatever he wanted to those unwitting girls. He snagged them easily enough, as if they hadn't put up much of a fight, or more likely than not, he had turned on his full charm. He was right -
