"How long did you guys date?" I finished my taco and reached for the drink at the same time she did. I pushed it toward her as she turned her attention back toward me.
"Two years." She shrugged again. "It's over now. I wasn't good enough, but it's okay. He wasn't, either."
"You had to have been good enough." I reached across the table and touched her hand. "It was him. Men are fucking stupid most days of the week. We always think we're going to find something better around the corner. Some great high that awaits us."
"And, maybe it does." She stood up and handed me the drink.
I took a quick sip as I stood. "No, we're just dreamers who sometimes lose our sense of reality."
"Aren't you getting deep?" She walked with me to the trashcan and stiffened as I tossed the trash and turned, pulling her into a tight hug before leaning down and brushing my lips past hers.
"I wanna get deeper. You up for an afternoon romp in the sheets, Miss Non-committal?" I kissed her again, just a peck, but I could tell she wanted more. So much more.
Funny enough, I couldn't imagine her wanting as much as I wanted. Maybe I was wrong. I could only hope I would find out soon. Two weeks would be over before I could blink twice.
"There's the guy I was starting to like." She laughed and pushed at my chest. "Come on, let's go see what everyone else is up to."
"And then we can get deeper?" She popped me in the chest, and I laughed. "Alright. Shit. I had to try. I'm that guy, remember?"
"No, I don't think you are." She took my hand, most likely not realizing that her comment was one of the nicest things she could have said to me.
Chapter 23
Cora
Holding hands with Brody shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I just couldn't shake the idea that he really wasn't the kind of guy who held hands with just anyone. It made it special...made me feel special, which was dangerous, but I was done fighting for a little while. We would part ways after we slept together, I had no doubt. I wanted to hang on until then and enjoy the intensity of the physical attraction that sat between us.
"Why are
we going to hang out with everyone else?" He glanced over at me, pulling me back as we stopped at the red light.
I glanced down the road to see a bus flying toward us and backed up. "What's with me lately?"
"You're just relaxed. Enjoy it. I'll be your knight in shining armor and keep you from getting hit by the next bus coming toward us."
"Yeah, and you'll expect something in return." I smiled over at him before we moved across the road.
"Just a kiss, and from the way things have been going the last day or so, I'm thinking you might enjoy it more than me." He wagged his eyebrows.
"So cocky." I pulled my hand from his and slipped my hands back into my pockets. "How much longer are you out here at the lake?"
"Probably another month or so?" He moved a little to his right, away from me, before cupping his hand over his eyes. "Really? Shit."
"What?" I jogged behind him as he took off across the street and raced toward the water. A kayak sat just off the shoreline upside down. I couldn't help but wonder what he was up to. Whatever it was, it seemed serious. Surely, there wasn't someone in the kayak. I stopped short of reaching the water as horror rushed over me. Brody's frantic movements said that he believed someone to be in it.
He flipped it over and worked to get the small boy out of the thing before wading through the water. "Come here and help me."
I ran toward him, dropping on my knees and tugging at the little guy’s life vest and t-shirt as Brody laid him down. His skin was pasty, and he wasn't breathing.
"Holy shit." I glanced up at Brody.
"You know CPR?" He tilted the little guy’s head up. "Just get ready to breathe in his mouth. Long puffs of air. Ready?"
"Yeah, I know it." I bent over and worked alongside him, listening to his commands. The fact that he was so incredibly calm left me a nervous wreck. The little boy started to cough a few long seconds later, and I moved back and watched Brody pick him up and turn him over.
"That's it. You got it, buddy. Get it all out." He rubbed the little boy's back, completely attentive to the child.
A warmth rushed through me that left my eyes filling with tears. My tough facade in front of my friends was no different than him pretending to be the alpha asshole. I needed to run fast and hard away from him because I wasn't the kind of girl that fell for someone easily, but once I did...I wanted forever. It had only happened once in my life, and I was still recovering from the mess Brandon made of things. Would Brody be any different? Could he?