“Well, I was grateful, but now…I’m thinking I should have had a nice dinner at home with Mom and Dad, instead of coming here.” Mandy cringed.
Just then Amber walked into the room, a large smile plastered on her face. She halted and placed her hands on her skinny hips. “We’re going to get in the pool. You guys want to come?”
“Um,” Mandy said uncertainly.
“No swimsuits,” I remarked.
“That’s
okay. Tray’s family has a bunch in the changing rooms. Just go and pick one,” she said cheerfully, before bouncing back out.
This was not my scene—hanging out with the social elite—but it was Mandy’s and she needed my support so I pushed her forward. “Let’s go. Pick out a bikini to show off that hot bod. You’ll have both Devon and Carter drooling before the night’s over.”
Mandy didn’t look convinced, but she went anyway.
I knew my body and I knew what guys liked. I figured I might as well have some fun. So I picked a black bikini that tied at the sides. The folds accentuated the sweep at my breasts and I knew all the guys would take notice.
Which they did.
Amber, Sasha, and Jasmine were lounging at one end. Mandy was paddling with Carter in the shallow end of the pool. Tray was behind the bar. Bryce, Grant, and Devon were watching me.
Not one to not make a scene, I walked over to Mandy and jumped, completing a clean backflip in the air, over her and Carter. I managed to sweep my arms out in front me just as I hit the water, sending a small splash over my sister.
I kicked my way to Mandy’s side before I broke the surface, grinning at her shocked face.
“When did you learn to do that?” Mandy asked.
“I took swimming in the seventh grade at Earlington.”
“They’re the state champs,” Carter remarked.
“If you weren’t a swimmer, you were a loser there. I learned to swim.” I hauled myself out of the water and then jumped back in, laughing as Mandy scowled, knowing the splash would hit her full-force this time.
“Looks like you kept it up,” Carter noted when I swam back over to them.
One hand holding the side, I slicked my hair back and commented, “It was the only place I could get away from my boyfriend. I swam a lot to keep in shape.”
“He must’ve hated that.”
“Nah. He never knew.” It was true. Brian never knew I could swim. I’d always thought about joining the Pedlam swim team, but it didn’t seem the same. Earlington ate, breathed, and slept swimming. Pedlam, they didn’t really care. If you swam, you swam. If you didn’t, you were just like everyone else. But breaking against the water helped with arm strength. Which helped me when I had to climb—sometimes against the side of a building.
Brian knew I didn’t spend that much time lifting his weights. But he’d never ask how I could climb as quickly as I did.
He’d never cared to ask. That had been the bottom line.
“Rawley has a swim team. You should try out,” Mandy suggested.
“Maybe,” I offered. Climbing out, I crossed to the bar where Tray was talking with Grant and Bryce.
“Drink?” Tray asked, watching me intently, almost like he was trying to read me or something. What the hell?
“Beer.”
He grabbed a bottle of Michelob Golden Light and uncapped it.
The beer tasted good. I’ve never been a fruity drink girl and I’m certainly not a whiskey drinker, but beer made me think of the sun, water and friends. Which either ended with making love, some rough and passionate sex, or a fight.
An unusual calm had been called over the group and I didn’t know handle myself. Normally, I was either having sex or fighting with these people. Okay, there was only one person here that I was doing the first with, but the second, is why I’m so uncomfortable. I wasn’t under attack and I didn’t know how to deal with these people under any other circumstance. Jasmine had retracted her claws long ago and Sasha had either given up or she was just waiting for a better place for another go.