“Why?”
“It’s just”—I squeezed her tighter—“too painful.”
“I get that,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “I haven’t been back to my childhood home. The memories of the happy life I’d been brought into are...you get it.”
I nodded, hating that she had a sheen of tears covering her eyes. “Today was meant to be happy.” I stepped back and grabbed her hand. “Just me and you.” I pulled her around the side of the house and grinned at her gasp. “And the lake.”
“I can’t even…”
“I know.” I understood what she meant because there wasn’t a sight quite like it. It stretched as far as the eye could see with little alcoves of manmade beaches along the small shoreline; only ours had a wooden dock. Pop’s boat had been attached to it when I was a kid, and that was where we spent most of the time when I was here: out on the lake, fishing. Summers were spent paddling in the lake that backed onto the house, laughter and happiness surrounding all of us.
The blue, rippling water was calm, but I was desperate to cause some ripples. To disturb a piece of it that hadn’t been used in so long. I stepped forward, letting Lola’s hand slip from mine and walked to the start of the dock. I shucked my boots off and pulled my socks off my feet. My jacket came off next, and then my T-shirt.
“What are you doing?” Lola asked.
I turned around, seeing her in the same spot I’d left her in, but her eyes were burning a path over my naked chest. I trailed my hand down my stomach, popping the button on my jeans and smirking when she stepped forward from that one movement.
I didn’t answer her as I pulled my jeans off, leaving me in just a pair of boxer briefs. “Making some memories.” I held my hand out for her, and she stumbled the few steps to me. “With you.” I pulled her tank top over her head, leaving her in a dark-red, lacy bra and jeans. “What do you say?”
She stuttered out a breath and stepped back, shucking off her jeans and shoes, revealing the black panties that covered the one part of her I wanted to touch most. “I say...” She stepped closer, but out of my reach as she walked right past me and to the end of the dock. The morning sun hit her, illuminating her glistening skin as she turned her head so she could look at me over her shoulder.
“Catch me.”
* * *
LOLA
It had been seven days since the kiss in the kitchen. Four days since Hut dragged me to a meet with Carson. And three days since Brody took me to the lake.
Nothing had changed. Not one thing. Everything was back to normal. The parties. Me working until the middle of the night. Morning classes.
But that wasn’t strictly true because I had changed. I’d stopped thinking of my plan as a wish and started to think of it as my future. I’d started putting things in motion. I’d searched for apartments—not that I had any luck, and I’d sorted through the few things I owned. I didn’t want to pack yet, in case Hut noticed, but I was ready to fling everything into a few trash bags and get the hell out of there.
There was just one thing that stopped me: having a place where I could actually go.
People had been in and out of the house, a constant party seeming to be raging, and not once had I seen Brody. He’d seemed to have disappeared, and if it weren’t for the few messages he’d sent me, I’d have thought he abandoned me. He’d offered his help, and I’d told him I didn’t need it, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t wanted it. Everything would have been so much easier, but I had to do it on my own. I had to prove it to myself more than anyone else.
I stepped out of the train station, my grin taking over my face when I spotted Brody leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, one foot on the wall behind him, and his focus was entirely on me.
I had no idea what came over me, but seeing his face awakened a part of me, and I went running. His arms opened at the last minute, catching me against his chest as I squeezed him so tight I was sure he wouldn’t be able to breathe.
“Missed me?” he asked, laughter in his voice.
I pulled back, framing his face with my hands. “Yes.” There was no point in playing hard to get or beating around the bush. I’d missed him more than I cared to admit.
His gaze flicked down to my lips and back to my eyes as his hands gripped my ass. “I missed you too, kid.”
I threw my head back on a laugh, not able to contain it. “I should get down,” I managed to say. “Your back is probably going to break, you know, with you being an old man and all.”
He growled, actually growled. “I’ll show you what an old man can do.”
My skin heated, my pulse going haywire as I bit down on my bottom lip. “Is that a promise?”
“Damn straight it is.” He glanced around. “Let’s get out of here.”
“To where?” I held on tighter as he walked forward, not letting me down. There was something so sexy about him carrying me around. He was a foot taller than me, his large muscled arms gripping me and silently telling me I was safe.
“Well, I originally planned to take you for midnight pancakes, but with all that sass…” He trailed off, raising a brow as he came to a stop next to his car.