Closer to Nine Years Earlier
Jace Bennett
GOING TO SUMMER school pretty much sucked.
I was alone.
Ethan and Nick had graduated. Hannah hadn’t talked to me since the day she walked away from me, and besides she was in Grand Haven any way.
I went to class, did homework, and spent my nights at the local bars with a different girl every night. I was broken again and wondered if there would ever be a time I wasn’t. That dark cloud seemed to follow me wherever I went. I did my best to outrun it.
Heavy rain and record flooding that summer had caused the Red Cedar River to experience higher water levels than usual.
The students were stoked even if no one else was because it gave the water sport enthusiasts the ability to surf it. I was stoked because it gave me that adrenaline high I craved. A way to run.
Surfing on the river was way more challenging than surfing on the ocean. There was no moving forward, you moved side to side, and it could get pretty dangerous with the rocks.
I was sitting on the shore with my feet propped up on some rocks having just finished my ride and thinking about the upcoming weekend.
The first summer session was ending in three days, and I had a week before the second one started.
I was thinking about reaching out to Hannah, and explaining myself to her. The best way to do that was in person. I knew I could hitch a ride to Grand Haven, but what I didn’t know was if she would be there.
As I was weighing my options, trying to decide if she’d even talk to me, a bunch of girls went floating by on yellow rafts eating Popsicles. I shook my head. There were way too many sharp rocks for those flimsy plastic things.
They were kicking their feet and screaming as the cold water splashed all over them. The last girl in the cluster of rafts was not doing any of what the others were doing. Her free hand clutched the side handle and her face was crushed in concentration as she held her cherry Popsicle up high to the sky.
In profile, her features were soft and her hair hung halfway down her back in a mess of red curls a guy could get lost in.
She screamed when the current grabbed hold of her float and plunged her ahead, right into the pile of rocks my feet were propped on.
I stared at her wide, startled eyes and her mouth, half-open, as the yellow raft began to deflate.
“Need a hand?” I asked casually over the rim of my sunglasses.
She pursed her lips. “If you don’t mind.” Her tone sounded sarcastic, but I couldn’t be sure over the flow of the river.
I stood from the perch I had gotten comfortable on, and extended my arm. She took my hand and I pulled her onto the safety of the rocks. Her face sprung into huge relief, and I swore every freckle on it seemed to glimmer in the sunshine.
She was short in a petite kind a way, with a sweet, curvy body that I got a pretty good look at in the bikini she was wearing.
I gave her a smile, as charming as I could make it. “You okay?”
“I am now thanks to you,” she said, licking her Popsicle. “For a moment I thought I might drown.” Again, I didn’t know her well enough to know if she was being serious or sarcastic, but I wanted to find out.
Her hair was like that of a lion, and her personality was as well. I couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to tame her, or at least try.
“You’re staring,” she said with a smile.
It was my first real smile, and it was worth getting caught. “I’m Jace,” I said.
“I’m Tricia. Here, want some?” She handed the Popsicle to me, as if that had been what I was staring at, and not her.
Taking it, I found myself licking the sweet juice. When I looked back at her, I noticed the same juice dripping down her mouth. “You have some . . . there.” My thumb traced the corner of her mouth, which opened to my touch.
Fuck, her lips were soft. The tip of her tongue hovered and I thought about sliding my thumb into her mouth’s heat.
We stared at each other for the longest time, until the Popsicle melted all down my fingers.
She laughed as I tried to lick the stickiness away, and then she got serious. “I have a problem,” she said.
“Oh, yeah, what’s that? Are you worried you won’t be able to go out with me tonight?”
Never one for lines, I couldn’t believe I’d said that.
“No, I can do that no problem.”
I gave her a smirk. “As long as that’s settled, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
She pointed to the ground behind us that was littered with sticks and leaves and rocks. “I don’t have any shoes.”
That wasn’t really a problem. I bent down and took hold of her by the knees and slung her over my shoulder.
Her responding laughter was contagious, and I started to laugh too. I couldn’t remember when I’d felt so light.
“I think I might just have to keep you around,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist and holding on tight. “You’re pretty handy.”
“And we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff,” I joked.
And when the good stuff came . . . it made me whole.