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“Sal.”
“I don’t fucking know!” I cry, pushing past her and through the room. “I don’t want to be here, but then Oliver smiles at me, and I’m reminded how I survived until Moms rescued me.”
My eyes drag up to meet Ella’s concerned gaze.
“What about you?” I ask, causing her to raise a brow at me again. “You and Jaxon?”
“Nothing is going to actually happen between me and Jaxon. How could it? We are leaving as soon as you’re ready.” Ella always has an answer, and the fact that she’s staying so calm while I’m pissed off is making this whole situation even more miserable.
“What if you guys hit it off?” I challenge. “You’re just gonna walk away?”
“Yeah,” her voice is firm. “If anything happens between us, it will just be for fun, not for romance.”
“If you can have fun, why can’t I?”
Ella lets out a soft breath. “I don’t think you have it in you. This isn’t you fucking a random perv on the weekend and then blocking him.”
My eyes go wide. She’s never used that against me before. I always thought she assumed the conversation was off-limits, but I guess that’s off the table now.
Ella registers the pain surging through my features. The sting threatens to turn my eyes into storm clouds. “Sally, I’m sorry. That was uncall?—”
“I don’t want to hear this from the girl who was a coward and ended her last relationship because it got too real. We can’t all have someone actually care about them.”
I walk out of the living room and into my bedroom. My eyes still sting as they well with tears. It’s been a while since I’ve cried in this room. The worst part is, I know Ella is right, and I’m being a bitch, but I’m too mad and stubborn to turn back now. Oliver is just a short-lived dream of me meeting a guy who might actually like me for me and not the parts of my body that I hate. I just don’t want to admit that because then it’s real, and I want to swim out into the deep end a little.
CHAPTER TEN
Oliver
“You gotta trust me,” I coo softly as Sally stares at me incredulously.
She narrows her eyes at the board at her feet. “That’s a lot to ask of someone you only just met.”
Her words strike me a bit. We’ve only been hanging out for a week, but it feels like we are closer than most of my friends. I don’t really know why.
I hold my hands out, and I half expect her to bat them away, but she places hers in mine. A pang of excitement washes over me as I help her onto the board.
Her body stiffens, and her breath hitches as the board starts to move, but I refuse to ever let her fall.
She noticed that I sometimes travel around with my skateboard. Gas is expensive, so I usually use it to get to and from work or if I need to get into town. The Commander is only for going to parties when it’s my turn to drive or if I need to leave town.
I never leave town. Even though it’s been my dream to run away, I still don’t.
“I have you, princess. I’ll never let you fall,” I say firmly.
As the words hit her, she visibly relaxes. I walk alongside the skateboard, leading her down the empty street. We’re just a few minutes from town, but I didn’t want to risk her getting anxious around people or one of them knocking into her without a care in the world.
We’ve been meeting up like this each day, doing something different or just walking around and talking.
It’s new, and it actually feels nice. I’m so used to my routine. I wake up, go for a morning swim or surf, depending on the winds, work on any repairs around this side of town, and then end the night with work at The Water's Edge.
I didn’t expect to enjoy seeing her standing in the same spot every morning after my morning swim. It’s been a week since we went to the pier, and she held my face like she was holding a wounded heart.
Every day, after my morning swim, I see her standing at the top of the beach, smiling at me.
Every day, I walk up to her, and she pretends she’s not staring at my body, but I know she’s checking me out. The city pool begged me to be a lifeguard again. The water might be nice and have a controlled temperature, but I know they want attractive lifeguards to generate more business. I can do without the moms with too much time on their hands staring at me.
When I first saw her, I couldn’t believe how much she reminded me of Simon. Every time I rake my gaze over her body, it just feels familiar. I love just looking at her. Not just because she’s hot as hell…
