Credence

“I can see why you never left,” she says, smiling over at my dad.

He smiles at her, pulling off his shirt.

I glance at Tiernan, seeing a blush cross her cheeks as she averts her eyes back to the fall.

I grit my teeth together. “Right?” I reply sarcastically. “Because the rest of the world has nothing else to offer.”

I throw my dad a look and see his eyes narrow on me.

“Get the cooler,” he orders.

I smirk to myself as I do what I’m told. Pulling the cooler out of the bed, I walk it over to the beach, Tiernan following me. I’m aggravated she went to the other pond alone, but I’m glad we brought her to this one for her first time. This one is more fun.

“Does no one else come here?” she asks.

I set the cooler down, seeing her look around the small, empty beach.

“They do,” I tell her. “But it’s still early. In the winter, though, we’ll have it to ourselves.”

I pull off my shirt and kick off my shoes.

“A frozen lake,” she muses. “To ourselves. Fantastic.”

Cliffs rise in front of us, the water spilling down as trees and foliage surround us, shielding us from heavy sunlight, but to the left, the trees clear a little for the river as it babbles over rocks. Granite and moss fill my nostrils, and I might enjoy the sight if I hadn’t already been here a thousand times.

I look over at Tiernan, liking that view better. She wears a pair of white shorts and one of her own plaid shirts, but it’s pink and blue and fitted like the expensive ones are. I take in her outfit. Is she swimming in that or…?

“You okay?” I ask her, noticing she’s staring off.

But when I follow her gaze, I see she’s watching Kaleb. He climbs the cliff next to the fall, wearing only jeans.

“Yeah.”

“We’re gonna dive,” I tell her. “Wanna come?”

“Dive?” She pulls her shades down over her eyes. “Won’t you scare the fish?”

I chuckle. “Excuses, excuses.”

And I walk into the water, diving in after a few feet. The fall splashes, churning up the cool water, and I can’t keep the grin off my face as I catch up with my brother.

“She’s definitely a reason to stay, isn’t she?” I call up to him, a few feet above me. “I like having her around.”

Kaleb keeps going, crawling the incline to the top of the waterfall.

“Nod once if you’re thinking the things I’m thinking,” I say.

Finally, he glances down at me, his dark eyes dead as usual as he pauses his climb.

But I keep going. “I know you are,” I tease. “You were going at her so hard the other night, she couldn’t get a word out.”

His gaze looks out, back over to the beach where Tiernan is. I look, too, seeing she’s taken off her shirt, sporting a white bikini top on a body she hides damn well under my clothes. Her breasts are almost too big for the top, but she keeps her shorts on as she sits on her blanket, arms resting on her knees and looks up at us through her sunglasses.

“What did she feel like?” I ask.

But when I turn around, Kaleb is climbing again, sweat making his black hair stick to his neck and temples.

“Kaleb?” I grab a pebble and throw it at his legs. “What was it like?”