Grayson

 

The starting gunshot made me think perversely of my older brother Jonas, and the hours he'd spend out at the back or our scraggly property line shooting at targets. He was hell bent on getting the hell out of our house and out of Reckless Falls, and his skills as a marksman did just that. He was somewhere out there now, shooting bad guys on some far-flung continent and I hadn't seen or thought of him in years.

Then I forgot him again as the swell of bodies pushed me forward.

"Oh shit!" I cried gleefully as we pounded across the rocky shore. "Oh shit here it comes!"

A roar, a splash and then suddenly my whole body was being stabbed by a million knives.

"Holy shit!" I roared as I lurched out of the freezing cold water. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" I gasped. My whole fucking body hurt, and it hurt to breath and steam rose off my body and I was laughing and splashing with my fellow idiots because holy fuck, what a rush!

I lurched and danced my way back to the shoreline, feeling like I was somehow on fire at the same time I was freezing my ass off. A numbing pain was settling into my joints already, and my heart pounded dully in my head.

I rushed to the shore, desperate to get out of the water and into some dry clothes.

Then I stopped short and stared.

Somehow, in the blinding pain of ensuing hypothermia I registered that Everett and Harper had shown up in the last twenty minutes. And Harper was by Cal's truck. 

Jumping up and down.

Cheering for me.

I broke out into a dead run, suddenly able to move because her laughing green eyes took the chill off of my skin.

"You are the biggest dumbass on the planet," Rett observed as he moved to clasp a blanket around my shoulders.

"Fuck you, old man," I grinned through chattering teeth. "I know how to have a good time. You should try it some time."

Harper handed me a piping hot cup of coffee. She was laughing so hard that I didn't even care that I was standing, shivering and knock-kneed, clad only my sodden boxers. "Something funny?" I said, striking a dignified pose as water dripped in a circle around me.

"You're an animal!" she laughed, shaking her head.

I raised my eyebrows over the rim of my coffee cup at her. "So they say," I said.

She wrinkled her nose, and then laughed even harder.

It was only then that I noticed Cal, standing there with his hand resting on her shoulder. She wasn't moving away from him, and she didn't seem to be shrugging it off at all. And suddenly some of that high-flying adrenaline I felt after leaping into the frozen lake drained away.

There was something going on between them, clearly. I needed to stop this, stop making those dirty jokes to make her laugh, stop feeling like I should get her alone.

But a flood of possessiveness made me fling off the blanket and start dancing toward her. In a second I had her by the wrist and was dragging her towards the lake.

She screamed and I caught her up around the waist. "You wanna laugh?" I shouted, dashing towards the lake. "See how it feels! We can both be idiots!"

She was laughing, screaming, pummeling me on the back, and I ran right up to the water's edge. "You're going in!" I threatened, lifting her up.

Of course I would never do that to her, but it was worth it just to feel her in my arms. I liked making her squirm like this. I liked it way too much.

She flailed helplessly and caught me with an elbow to the back of my head. I stumbled forward against a rock, toppling us both forward, but at the last minute I caught her under her back so that she didn't hit her head. I landed hard on my elbow directly on top of her.

We lay there, breathing hard, her wide green eyes staring up at me. I was on top of her clad in only my boxers, and my naked, goosebumped skin was suddenly superheated. "I wasn't going to throw you in," I whispered.

She licked her lips. "Good," she whispered back.

My words from last night still echoed in my head. She had to know how I felt about her.

And right then, I could have sworn she felt the same way.

I lowered my head just a fraction. There was so little distance between us. I only had to move my head three maybe four inches and her lips would be on mine and years of pent up desire would be satisfied.

The thought made the blood rush to my groin, and I felt my sodden boxers pressing against my erection. Her eyes somehow got even wider and she turned her head a fraction, back up to the top of the beach. Where Everett and Cal were watching us...right now.

I pushed myself upward and away from her, feeling my like my blood would start boiling any second. I took one last look at her, splayed out and breathing hard.

Then ran right back into the freezing lake.