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I gasped as we surfaced, squirming against him. “Hey,” I said. “We’re supposed to be racing.”
“No way,” he said. “If I’m going down, you’re going with me.” He re-gripped my waist and splashed backward into the water, sinking.
I fidgeted to get out of his grip. Those green eyes sparked, locking on me and I stilled. I didn’t completely understand the look we shared together in that moment but it was the happiest I could ever remember being. Under the water with him, my parents had faded away from my mind. The Academy’s heavy secrets disappeared. All of the worries about school and stress melted away. Here was Kota. My friend. Holding me. Laughing with me. The other guys were close by and watching over us and blocked out the rest of the world from our own little place here in Nathan’s backyard. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Kota beeped my nose with a forefinger and released me, floating to the surface. I drifted up next to him.
When he broke out of the water, my breath caught at how the water rippled away from his broad, tapered shoulders and down his long, defined torso. Droplets traced along his high cheekbones, curving under the angle of his jaw.
His head tilted, as if he didn’t understand why I was staring. I released a laugh to break the tension. He laughed with me, shaking his head.
“I told you she cheats,” Victor called to us from the other side of the pool. “But that’s awesome. I get the favor, now.”
I sighed, grinning. “What do you want?”
His fire eyes lit up. “I’ll tell you later.”
There were several more races. The final count: Victor’s one favor plus a promise to wash his car for him, Gabriel won my clip for three months, Luke wanted to go shopping with me next time we were going and I was shocked he fully expected there to be a next time, North won one day where I was to work alongside him at the diner, Nathan won every strawberry from my smoothies for the rest of my life, Silas wanted a hug, and Kota made me promise to sit next to him at lunch for the next three weeks. I won squat, but I did like the hug.
The last race was who was going to make dinner that night. We all gathered on one side of the pool. By now they all knew I openly cheated and they all worked together to stop me. This time I simply had to not be last. The last person was chef for the evening.
Somehow I ended up in the middle. They forced me to wait until someone actually shouted “go” before we took off. Little did they know I was going to play fair. It was part of the strategy. I expected to throw them all off thinking I was getting ready to tackle them and instead zip across the water.
North counted off and when he shouted “go”, I ducked under the water, putting my full effort into the strokes. Several people pulled ahead but Nathan and Kota kept pace with me. It confused me because I knew out of all the swimmers there, those two were the fastest. Kota was the only one who could match Nathan for speed.
When we crossed the halfway point and we were almost at the end. Kota flung himself sideways and snatched me around the waist. This caught me off-guard and I sputtered, losing the air I had in my lungs. He quickly hauled me out of the water.
“Ugh!” I shouted at him, smacking at his arms around my stomach. “Cheat... cheat...”
“Yup,” he said.
Nathan stopped, too. He gathered my legs, holding them as I tried to kick to break free. “Ready?” he said.
“On three,” Kota said.
“Wha--” I gasped but I was already in the air as they held me over their heads.
“One, two, three,” Kota spit out.
They tossed me into the air. I splashed back into the starting end of the pool on my side. I cleanly touched bottom and drifted to the surface. I swished my legs to keep afloat, laughing.
All of the boys perched themselves on the edge of the pool, wearing matching grins.
They had chosen who was going to cook that night.
After I managed to crawl out of the pool, I was handed a towel. They gathered under Nathan’s back porch. There was a collection of outdoor benches and poolside chairs clustered into a circle under the overhanging roof. A wicker fan squeaked as it worked, spinning over our heads.
I sat between Nathan and Kota on one of the bench seats. Gabriel was telling Kota and the others about the day.
I buried my face behind Nathan’s shoulder when Gabriel mentioned the waiter who had openly flirted with me and how I had reacted at the end.
“What did he say to you anyway?” Gabriel asked.
I blushed, and picked my head up. “He said you were all nice and wanted us to come back soon,” I said sarcastically.
They all laughed but Kota dropped an arm around my neck, tugging me to lean against him. “No really,” he said. “What did he say?”
I sighed. “He said when I get over being told what to do by...” I hesitated because I didn’t want to say it out loud, “by losers to call him.”
“Huh,” Victor said, grunting. He readjusted himself in a green lawn chair across from us. His fire eyes flickered.
“I don’t know what he meant,” I said. How could some stranger ever understand me or what the others were doing for me and continued to do for me?
“I do,” Victor said. He folded his arms across his chest as he sat back in the chair. “It’s partially my fault, I guess. I was pushing you to get things you really wanted.”
“Naw,” Nathan said. “He was flirting with her from the start.”
“He only got persistent after I ordered for her. It doesn’t excuse his behavior. I wasn’t beating her or belittling her so he needed to back off.”
“Did you tip him?” Kota asked.
Victor frowned. “Yes.”
There was a collective tilting of heads, eyebrows going up.
“Why would you do that?” Kota asked.
“I left him an exact fifteen percent,” he said simply. “He was probably expecting nothing. Instead I wanted to let him know he was just the help, and nothing more to us.” His smoldering fire eyes met mine, and it rattled me. “I’ve never done that to anyone in my life.”
Runway
When we had dried off enough that we weren’t going to drip all over Nathan’s house, we went inside so we could change. I stood near the table in the kitchen with the others as Gabriel and Victor snuck off to change first.
My limbs were taunt and I started to lean my cheek against Silas’s bicep as I was feeling drowsy. He dropped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me so I could lean my head against his chest.
“I can’t believe you got her all this,” Kota said, calculating the bags on the table. “I thought Victor said you would take her shopping. I didn’t know he meant buy her the mall.”
My face flamed. It was too much! Why didn’t Victor or the others stop?
“She didn’t have anything,” Nathan said. “We weren’t adding to stuff she already had. She was starting over. Besides, Gabriel picked it all out.”
North’s eyes fell on the Victoria’s Secret bags. “All of it?”
There was a rattling at the bathroom door and Gabriel strolled out wearing dark blue Levi jeans and a green V-neck shirt. There were new green studs in his lobes, the usual three black rings remained at the upper part of his ear. He clapped his hands together and tugged one of the bags closer to peek inside. “In this pile somewhere is what Sang is wearing tonight.”
I blinked at him, blushing. “Tonight?”
He laughed. “You’ve gotta show off, Trouble. They’re going to want to see it.” He shifted through the bags. “Find yourself some underwear.”
The others disassembled to go change. Victor came out wearing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans and a red Polo shirt. He raided Nathan’s fridge for another coffee and snapped it open. He slipped up next to me, handing me the bottle. I took a couple of sips and passed it back for him to finish. I reveled in the idea that he knew what I needed before I knew.
Gabriel found what he wanted and gathered the bags. “Ready?” he asked me.
I co
llected a Victoria's Secret bag and waited with him outside the bathroom. Luke strolled out, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a towel twisted around his blond hair, no shirt. He smiled at me as Gabriel went into the bathroom to put the bags down on the counter.
“Going to let him dress you?” Luke asked. “Can I help?”
“Get out of here,” Gabriel barked at him.
Luke winked at me and poked me in the stomach to make me jump. I smirked, swatting at his hand. He laughed and walked off, rubbing the towel at his head.
