I pressed my arms to the railing on the deck and turned my head to give Clay a look. He'd been after me to talk about what happened between me and Cora since Wednesday, but I didn't have anything to say.
"Dude, I fucked up. Okay? Lay the fuck off of me over it. I'm not telling you again." I stood up and pushed my chest out a little, warning him that I was done talking and ready to hand out an ass-whooping to the next idiot that brought her up.
"You can blow up to someone else, Brody. I'm your best friend, and we've been watching you mope around this fucking cabin for three days. At least tell me why?" He moved up closer, pressing his chest to mine.
"There's nothing to say," I pushed him back as I deflated. "I like her, okay? I can't remember another time liking someone this much. I want to know what her favorite candy is and where she likes to read books or shop for panties or...ugh. I like her, shit."
"That's great news. Why are you so damned depressed?" He patted my back as I leaned back over. "Hell, why is she so depressed? What did you do on Wednesday? Something got fucked up. What was it?"
I pressed my face into my hands and growled. "I know. Fuck. I know."
"What?" He moved up beside me and pressed his shoulder against mine. "Stop being a dick and just talk to me."
I glanced over at him. "I need to leave it alone, Clay. I know you think I should make amends and fix this thing with her, but I'm pretty sure she's the kind of girl that could have me swearing off all others. I don't want that right now, and I'm telling you, she deserves far better than me."
"Did you guys fuck?" He turned and glanced out toward the lake.
"No, but she wanted to. Or I think she did." I stood up and rubbed my chest just over my heart. The dull ache inside of me wouldn't seem to go away. "Maybe I need to find some other chick and just lose myself in the carnality of sex for the afternoon."
"I think you should fix this shit, but then again, I'm a different kind of guy than you are. I like long-term. Being with one woman feels good—right." He shrugged. "If you need a fuck-fest to get you past this depression shit, then get to it. It's almost the Fourth of July and we're going to have fun—together, which means Cora will be there. I'm not choosing between you and Emily. That's not happening, and as selfish as you've been our whole fucking lives, you own me this shit."
"You're right." I stood up and pulled my phone from my pocket. "I'll hook up with some hot piece of ass this afternoon and get my mojo back. Cora's a great girl, but I bit off more than I could chew, Clay. She's like the catch of all catches. I'm not grown up enough for that shit yet."
"I agree." He patted my back and went into the house, leaving me with my tarnished thoughts. I should have just taken her back to the house and made love to her all night, given her anything she wanted, but I couldn't.
I wouldn't have been able to sneak out before the sun came up and ignore her for the rest of the summer. How she'd gone from ignoring me and talking trash to wanting to be close to me so quickly was almost stifling. Had her friends convinced her that I was a better man than I was? Fuck, had my friends helped to convince her? Someone had because her change of heart was almost overnight.
"Help!" an attractive girl yelled from across the street, her face a mask of terror as she waved her arms at me and turned to dive into the water.
"Shit." I jumped over the railing and ran to the water to see what she was screaming about. A kayak was sitting a little ways into the lake, but it was turned upside down. She was swimming furiously toward it, but not getting there fast. I raced down the dock and dove in, swimming hard until I reached it and forced it over with all of my strength.
The little boy in the thing couldn't have been more than 10 years old. He took in a deep breath as I reached over and rubbed his chest.
"It's okay, buddy. You're okay. You good?"
He glanced over at me as he bit his lip, fighting back tears like I would have done, as well. He nodded, and I moved back as the woman reached him and half crawled into the thing, crying and patting his face.
I pulled the kayak back to shore and made sure it was secure before walking back up. The girl called to me and I turned around, offering her a kind smile.
"Thank you so much." She helped the little boy out and walked up to me, pressing her hands to my chest. "I'm Vanessa. I can't thank you enough."
"Is he your son?" I looked around her and smiled at the kid, grateful as hell that he was okay.
"No. My brother. I was supposed to be watching, but I closed my eyes for five damn minutes." She pressed her hand to her lips and shook her head. "Thank you so much."
"No problem. I'm Brody." I moved back a little and extended my hand. Her bathing suit was tight and looked damn good on her, though it really didn't seem like the right time to hit on her.
"Listen," she glanced around before looking back up at me, "I was going to take Charlie home in a few minutes and then hopefully catch a ride out to the island. You're not headed that way, are you?"
"Yeah, we're going out there in about 15 minutes. We'll give you a ride." I smiled and waved at Charlie. "Be safe, kid."
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded and turned to pull his kayak out of the water.
"I'll be here in 15 minutes." She smiled shyly, though something told me she wasn't at all the shy type.
I turned and jogged back to the house to find Daniel standing outside, watching the show.
He clapped his hand and shook his head. "Bravo. That was pretty damn cool."