As I approach everyone with caution, I can’t help but giggle every time at Chaos’s boisterousness. I pass Reign, who is sitting in a deck chair, and when Chaos rises to the surface, he shakes his head, rubbing the water from his face. When he glances up at me at the pier's edge, he makes a hand gesture.
“Jump the fuck in, and I'll catch you.”
As anxiousness surges through me, I stroke my upper arm with my hand. I despise water, but it's even worse when it's not clear and contains unidentified bacteria and diseases. Lucy shouts out to me as she clings to Cody's back.
“Come on, Char. It's surprisingly warm.”
My gaze is drawn to hers before returning to Chaos, who is waiting for me to do something. I take a deep breath and lower myself, attempting to sit on the edge before diving in, when I suddenly feel a firm shove on my back.
“He said get the fuck in.”
I lose my footing and shriek as I plunge from the pier, swallowing some of the dirty water as I sink beneath the depths. I feel Chaos reach down to me, dragging me to the surface, before hearing him shout furiously.
“What the fuck, Cal!”
I wrap myself around him and cough into his shoulder as soon as I come up for air, and while I am trying to gather myself, I noticed Lucy yell.
“You little fucking bitch!”
When I turn my head, I spot Lucy swimming rapidly to the ladder to confront Callie, who is standing at the edge of the pier with a malicious grin on her face. As soon as Lucy reaches the top of the ladder, she closes the distance between herself and Callie before shoving her in the chest and screaming angrily at her.
“Pick on someone your own size!”
My eyes widen in surprise because I have never seen Lucy in this light before. She usually seems so lovely; perhaps she has a darker side to her than I initially believed. They continue to shout at each other as Cody swims towards the ladder in an attempt to break off whatever is going to happen.
As he climbs, Lucy raises her hand and smacks Callie hard across the face, causing my mouth to drop open in disbelief, and just as Callie is about to react, Reign stands from his chair which instantly makes Callie hesitate.
I observe as he strides steadily towards her, and when he is near and towering over her, she lowers her head. He doesn't look at her as he speaks in a frighteningly composed manner with his head down.
“Get the fuck inside before I take you the fuck home.”
Cody pulls Lucy back toward him, wrapping his arms around her to prevent her from doing anything else while Callie and Reign exchange fierce stares. Eventually she growls, storming past him and I see his jaw tenses with agitation before he casts a brief glance my way. As he turns and walks away to follow her, Lucy shouts out to me while I am still stunned.
“Are you okay, Char?”
When my gaze meets hers, it softens, and I give a slight nod.
“You didn't need to do that, Lucy.”
Before responding, she shakes her head.
“Fuck that, I'm not going to let that bitch bully my friend. She'll have to work her way through me first.”
I try not to encourage her by laughing as much as I want to because despite Callie being nasty, she was here long before us, and she means something to this group. But I really adore Lucy, and I'll tell her that later in private. She has been nothing but friendly to me throughout my time knowing her, and she is a good, kind-hearted person with strong morals. I just wish I was like that and had that type of confidence.
When things appear to have settled down, I turn to face Chaos, who is rubbing his hand up and down my back and as he speaks, his gaze falls upon my lips.
“You good? Sorry about her.”
“It's alright. I'm sure I'll become used to it.”
As we float around in the water, I begin to relax and rest my face on Chaos's shoulder.
“What was with her and Reign? I've never seen somebody cower so quickly as she did in front of him.”
As he answers, he slowly glides his big palms up the back of my thighs.
“Callie is Reign's cousin.”
