Fire.
I watched the flicker dissolve into a glowing orange light. Smoke fizzled up behind the cigarette, and behind the stick was Cane.
He inhaled twice, his eyes trained on me. I had the urge to turn away from him, focus on getting the sand out of my hair and from under my breasts, but instead I took the liberty of washing off in front of him.
His eyes sparked from the illuminated end of his cigarette and the pool lights. He took several drags from it, like his life depended on it, as I ran my hands over my breasts and then under the hem of my bikini top to wash the sand away.
My nipples stiffened beneath my top, my stomach contracting as I stifled a few breaths. The water was getting colder, but it didn’t matter. I felt like a fool doing it, but something told me by the blazing hot look in his eyes that I looked good to him. Very good.
My hand skimmed over my belly and then my pelvis. Cane took another drag from his cigarette before putting it out. I watched him as he watched me. Tendrils of smoke drifted out of his nostrils, wisps of it running through his supple lips.
Then I remembered something.
I was supposed to be upset with him. Despite being upset, I still wanted to please him. Turn him on. See if I could get a rise out of him. Knowing I could still do all those things, even with Kelly around, made me stop before dipping my fingers beneath my bottoms to touch myself.
Cane jerked his head away too and looked over his shoulder. As he did, I noticed Kelly stepping outside to meet up with him. She was dressed in a black, one-piece bathing suit, her hair damp like she’d taken a swim a short while ago. I wondered right away if Cane had watched her swim. If he noticed the water trickling between her breasts, which were bigger than mine, and over her lips as she surfaced.
My heart pounded a little harder. I shut off the shower and picked up my bag, hurrying for the door. I could still feel him watching me.
I had to go through the kitchen and living room to reach the stairs. I wanted to run straight up to our floor without bumping into anyone, but I didn’t make it far. Mom was sitting in the recliner, and she took a peek over the lid of her laptop when I crossed the room.
“Oh, there you are.” She smiled and lowered the screen of her laptop, like she was glad to see me. “How was the beach, sweetie? I see you got a tan.”
I nodded, looking myself over. I saw a bit of un-tanned skin was revealed at my waist, where I’d almost lowered my bottoms for Cane. The rest of my skin was golden brown, bronze almost. “Yeah, I did. It was nice. Me and Frank took a lot of pictures.”
“That’s good. I already told Frankie, but Cane is being nice enough to treat us to dinner tonight. We’re eating out and should be ready to go in an hour or so. Dress nice, but don’t overdo it.” She looked at me over her thin-framed glasses, and for a moment I panicked. I felt exposed, like she knew all of my deepest darkest secrets—my fantasies and lust with Cane. Did she know? Had she found my journals and read them? Did she snoop on my laptop? No, she couldn’t have. She wasn’t that kind of mom. She believed in privacy and confidentiality. “You know what I mean by that, right?” she asked as I met up to the staircase with a rapid heartbeat.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Don’t give your dad a heart attack by wearing anything too revealing,” she answered with spunk in her voice, like I should have known the answer all along. Duh, I should have known that. She said it to me all the time.
“Oh, yeah! Right!” I looked around with a tight smile. “Where is Dad anyway?”
“He went out for beer.” She rolled her eyes, and I knew that eye roll. They’d probably talked about the beer, like how it could wait until after we went out, or how he didn’t need to drink too much on the first night. Something along those lines. “He’ll be back soon so hurry and get dressed.”
I nodded, taking the stairs by twos after that. When I reached the second floor, I couldn’t help looking to the right. Cane’s bedroom door was open, and only a few steps away. I wanted to walk by and see what was going on, but I wasn’t strong enough. For all I knew, they could have been making out on the bed. Or worse, he could have been finger-fucking her until she came, just like he did to me. He obviously had some practice at it.