Pretty When She Cries - Black Mountain Academy

He swims to the edge of the pool and nods to someone behind me. Courtney shrieks, calling out my name in warning just before one of the footballers picks me up like a sack of flour and tosses me into the pool. I sink to the bottom and then bob up to the surface, hair clinging to my cheeks as mascara bleeds down my face. Landon stares at me for a second, and then the strangest thing happens. He laughs. His chest actually rumbles and vibrates with that normal human emotion I didn’t even know he was capable of. He’s carefree and pleased as hell with himself when I shove at him and splash his face with water.

“You are such a dick!”

He circles around behind me and presses his body close to mine, cinching his arm around my waist. His erection is poking into my back, and it’s so huge I have to admit Courtney was right. Total big dick energy.

“Fighting with me gets you so wet,” he growls into my ear. “That’s why you like it, isn’t it? I bet your thighs are sticky too. Go ahead, admit you want to hate fuck me in a dark corner.”

My thighs squeeze together, trying to suffocate the desire triggered by his crude words. Visions of him gripping my hips and slamming into me from behind infiltrate my mind, and the worst part is, it doesn’t even repulse me in the slightest. But it should.

I hate myself for reacting to him this way. He shouldn’t have any control over my thoughts or my body, but somehow, he still does. I wonder if he thinks about what happened that night. I wonder why he invited me in the first place. Did he know what would happen? Does he get off thinking about it?

“Not even if you were the last man on earth,” I answer primly, squeezing the water from my hair. “Been there, done that. Remember? Perhaps you and Carson should find some other desperate soul who’s up for your twisted games because I’m sure as hell not.”

His hand falls away from me, and my stomach shivers in protest. When I turn around to meet his gaze, his eyes are vacant and icy. He’s staring at me as though I’m the worst person on the planet. As though I’m the one who imploded everything. I want him to fight back. I want him to interact with me. This is what we do. But tonight, Landon turns his back on me and drags himself out of the pool without another word. When he walks away, I watch him until he disappears into the crowd. I don’t understand him. I really don’t think I ever will.

My heart is still rioting in my chest when I glance up at Court.

“How’s the water?” She arches a suspicious eyebrow at me.

“Um, fine,” I mutter, dragging myself to the edge and hoisting my body up the ladder.

I feel like a drowned rat, and I can tell by the look on Court’s face I’m a mess, but she’s nice enough not to point it out.

“What was that all about?” she asks.

“What?” I play stupid and untangle my hair with my fingers.

“Landon.” She gives me a look that tells me I’m caught. “You weren’t exactly acting like he was your mortal enemy, which is super weird, considering that’s all I ever hear out of your mouth.”

“He is.” I wipe the mascara from beneath my eyes and wring my tee shirt out between my fists.

“Are you sure? Because—”

“Court.” I peek up at her, hoping the shame I feel isn’t written all over my face. I know what she’s thinking. What the hell is wrong with me? How could I ever let him touch me? I can’t deal with her judgment right now because honestly, I don’t have a clue myself.

“Yes?” She crosses her arms and frowns.

“Can we just talk about this later?” I beg. “I still need to have a conversation with Jared.”

“You’re going to confront him now?” She glances over at him. “In front of everyone?”

“Yes.”

My jean shorts and tee shirt are clinging to my body in the most uncomfortable way, but I can’t leave yet. I wasn’t planning on this, but I have to show them I’m not bothered. No matter what. Nothing can get to me.

“Alrighty then.” She collapses onto a pool lounger with a sigh and drags her phone from her pocket. “I’ll just wait for you here. Go give him hell, or whatever.”

“Thank you.”

Gathering up the shattered pieces of my broken confidence, I pivot on my heel and head straight for Jared, who still hasn’t noticed my arrival. He’s too busy Frenching the life-sized blow-up doll to notice me. At least until I poke his shoulder, interrupting his ick fest.

“Can I have a word with you?” I stare down at him.