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Chapter Three
July
*****
Nate
Every summer, since we were sixteen, Asher and I worked as lifeguards at the town pool. We hadn’t planned to come back once we started college, but it was an easy way to make money. Plus, it saved us the trouble of having to look for summer jobs that didn’t include getting a tan and watching girls strut by in barely anything.
It was hot out today, which meant the pool was busy. Although that could also have something to do with the fact that it was the Fourth of July. Everyone had extra family members around for the festivities. Today was also Katie’s eighteenth birthday. I wasn’t sure how much longer her family could force us all together. As I got older, I didn’t mind being a part of their traditions. Part of me looked forward to her birthday every year.
Asher usually loved getting to stay out by the pool all day. Watching girls pass by in their bikinis was a great way to spend the summer. However, now that his sister was older, he hated how she would parade around the pool barely clothed. There had already been a few fights between them about what she was wearing.
We had been back since her graduation, and I spent most of my free time playing video games at their house. Switching from seeing her out by the pool, laughing and flirting with her new boyfriend, to eating dinner together was torture every day. The first day I saw him hanging all over her, my hand clenched into fists. I marched over to her asking what time her mom wanted me over for dinner like some sort of caveman. The guy quickly removed his hands from her waist, but it didn’t last long. She told me to shove it and ask her brother. As soon as I had stormed off, she went right back to laughing and throwing herself at him. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was the same guy I rescued her from the night of her graduation.
I felt a surge of jealousy rush over me. I hadn’t expected it when I saw her talking to other guys every day. It came from deep inside me and was more intense than the usual protection I felt toward her. I knew the guy she was with this summer wasn’t good enough for her, and the thought of watching them at the pool had me seething.
We hadn’t said two words to one another since the morning I rescued her. When she woke up, she did not know where she was or how she got there. Of course, I started scolding her for her behavior. She immediately stormed out the door telling me to go fuck myself and stop treating her like a child. She was nice when we were around her family. It was obvious she was afraid I could tell them what happened, but when I didn’t have the shield of their eyes, she ignored me. That was worse than if she was just being nasty to me.
Since my graduation ceremony she seemed to have changed so much. She had cut her hair; it was once a dark chocolate brown lying lifeless in a tangled mess. Now it was curled and framing her face. It was a softer shade of brown too, bringing to light just how green her eyes were when the sun hit them. Her figure was not as ill-defined as it once was. Her bikini hugged her hips, resting just below a flat stomach. I couldn’t help but wonder if her parents knew about her belly button piercing, which I’m sure her father wouldn’t have approved of.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t avert my eyes from her breasts, either. They were so perky and full now. At Christmas, when I visited, she had been wearing a hoodie most of the time, hiding any indications that she had completely transformed from an awkward teen to a woman. Even at my graduation I didn’t notice how she blossomed. It was only the beginning of summer and there were plenty of girls walking around in similar attire, but seeing her like this instead of that pesky little sister was confusing my dick.
A bump on my leg broke my trance.
“Checking out Katie again, I see.”
Pushing my sunglasses down, I looked at Bridget.
“I’m checking out everyone. It’s my job, remember.”
She pursed her lips before responding.
“Mm hmmm sure. Asher said to take your break now.”
Shaking my head, I leaned back into the chair.
“I’m fine.”
She rolled her eyes in the most dramatic way possible before speaking.
“So, should I tell Asher you’re too busy keeping a close eye on his little sister right now and you can’t leave your post? Or would you prefer we continue to pretend you haven’t been watching her like a shark since you got back, and you take that break?”
I hated how she was right. More than that, I hated how obvious I had been about it. Luckily, Asher was too blind to notice my indiscretion. I watched her every day she’d come here, hanging all overhim,leaving me disgusted for no reason. It wasn’t like I had any claim on her. Every time I saw a guy walk up to her or check her out, I felt uneasy. A sudden urge to knock them on their ass startled me.
Hopping down off the lifeguard chair, I made my way back to the office. Bridget and I had known one another for years. She lived across the street from me until her family moved across town when we were ten.
Beads of sweat trickled down my back as I walked. I couldn’t wait to jump into the pool soon to cool down. Without my consent, my gaze wandered one last time in Katie’s direction as my arms rose over my head, stretching my back out. I hadn’t expected our eyes to lock. For someone who seemed to hate me, she certainly looked like she was checking me out. Tipping my sunglasses, I couldn’t suppress a laugh before opening the door to the clubhouse to go inside and take my break. Bridget probably wasn’t the only one that had noticed me unnecessarily watching over Katie. I needed to stop. She was Asher’s little sister and practically my own.
There was just something about her. Maybe it was seeing her so vulnerable the other night and knowing what could have happened that made my attitude change. Perhaps it had to do with the kiss that, despite being a favor, still had a way of lingering on my lips so many years later.
She was witty, more organized than I would ever be, ambitious, and breathtaking to look at. I had spent so many days of my life around her. She was the one thing I missed most when I went away to college. The way she could sit and get lost in a book when the entire house was in chaos during a family party was endearing. Ever since the day she came home from the hospital her smile could stop me in my tracks. She was a force of nature that I couldn’t explain why I was drawn to her. She may have been an annoyance for much of my childhood, but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else in my life the way she was.
I didn’t know why I was always so sarcastic and nasty to her. It was the opposite of how I had wanted to treat her. She had clarified that she hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. None of that mattered.
She was Asher’s little sister.
She was off-limits.
