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He stretched out his long arms and pulled me in to hug me. I felt my head jerk back in surprise, but it was easy to melt into the contact. I had missed him. God, I’d really missed him.
Holding him felt like opening a temporary gateway back to the time before we’d lost mom. Before everything had gone to shit. It felt like I was home again.
“I missed you,” I whispered into his chest.
“I’ve got a surprise planned for you.”
I pulled back, scrunching my forehead at him. “What kind of surprise?”
“If I told you, it’d be a pretty shitty surprise, wouldn’t it?”
I licked my lips but let him lead me and the rest of the people from the room through the house and toward the backyard.The cold bit again my bare skin like an icy knife. Each gentle gust of wind felt like an assault, and I was becoming more certain by the minute that I’d officially lost my mind.
When people wanted to live a little, they were supposed to do slightly wild things. Maybe riding a roller coaster. Having a few too many drinks. Kissing a boy.
I was fairly sure I’d taken it too far by agreeing to this, but at least I wasn’t the only one standing half naked by the shore of the lake in freezing temperatures.
My clothes were in a pile that was practically being guarded by a small formation of guys from the football team. My body was clad in a pair of black panties and a mismatched red bra I’d thrown on because it happened to be clean. Four other girls stood on the bank of the lake beside me in their underwear, too. Behind us, the entire party was gathered and waiting to see us take the plunge.
The crowd parted for Cassian, who came striding down the bank like some dark god. He was clad in black jeans that hugged the muscular shape of his legs and a simple, dark gray shirt. It was impossible to miss the way he radiated command. Everybody seemed to feel it.
People shied away from him, yet there was still a longing kind of flicker in the eyes of girls who looked at him. Stupidly, that thought sent a prickle of jealousy jolting through me.
I watched as Cassian wordlessly compelled the five of us half naked girls to gather around him. I felt the pull, too, and found myself inching closer, my bare feet already going numb against the freezing dirt.
The only consolation was how dark it was. I was almost certain nobody could see much in the faint moonlight, so the main consequence of what we were about to do was dealing with the ridiculous cold.
Cassian pointed to a little smear of grass and dirt a little ways into the lake. It was like an island, but hardly big enough for three people to stand shoulder to shoulder on. “First one to the island gets to ask me for something, and I can’t refuse.”
I scoffed, but he didn’t seem to hear me. I was still feeling a little bitter towards him, considering I’d been expecting a sort of personal surprise. Not the kind of surprise that had me stripping to my underwear and playing along with this insanity. I wasn’t quite ready to believe all the warnings I’d heard. A stupid, hopeful part of me still thought the Cassian I’d known was going to smile and pull me into another hug once this was over—that this was just a formality everyone had to go through.
Besides, I’d learned a long time ago that embracing the old cliché of “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” was one of the few ways to keep my sanity. Granted, there might be a slight chance that swimming in a freezing lake could kill me.
Don’t think about that. Just do it.
We all gathered right at the water’s edge a few moments later. Lake water gently rolled up over my toes, so cold it almost felt hot. I could hardly imagine willingly jumping into it, but I was going to do it. There was no way I wanted my first impression at a new school to be the one who was too much of a wuss to participate.
The island looked like it was only about ten yards away. At most, I’d be in the water about a minute if I swam fast.
Cassian walked behind us, whispering something to each girl in the line. They nodded, some grinned or smiled like he’d told them a private little joke. When he got to me, his voice was a low, goose-bump inducing rasp in my ear. “You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted you to come back.”
I swallowed, turning to smile back at him, but he was already heading up the sloping grass that led to the lake to join the others.
