Trust(63)

Soph laughed and off they went, hand in hand.

“Yes, lots of fruit and water. Some sodas, too. But be careful—they have a lot of sugar in them and that’s no good for your teeth.” Anders carefully pushed aside the sober items to get to the individual bottles of juice-and-vodka mixers below. He popped the lid on one and handed it to Hang, then did the same for me. “Nothing alcoholic, sorry, because Mom is afraid of God smiting us. So, just the good kid stuff tonight.”

“What about the keg?”

“You’re imagining it, along with that alcoholic beverage in your hand. I wouldn’t dare go against my mother’s wishes.” Anders smiled. “When do I get my birthday kiss?”

Her chin went up. “Who said I was giving you one?”

“Well, what if I just quickly felt you up, then? Over the top of your swimsuit. That would be a nice gift.”

“Ha!” Hang headed for the pool. “Dream on.”

“What if you felt me up, then? That would be great too. It could be like my gift to you.”

“Not happening.”

“How about we play spin the bottle, later. Just you and me.” He followed behind her like a very large and overeager puppy. “Can’t have a party without party games, right?”

Beside a fire pit, John Cole sat surrounded by some of the school’s finest. Sports stars, rich ones, and various cool types, all of them laughing and chatting and drinking. Erika had seated herself on a new guy’s lap. Not that it mattered. No way would I wander over and say hi to John. He might fit in with those types, but I didn’t. I’d stick with my friends and head for the dance floor. Time to burn off some of my pent-up frustration, and other equally unwelcome emotions, with Carrie and Soph.

We took turns fetching drinks. Some were water, some weren’t. After an hour or two, I had a nice buzz going, my body drenched in sweat and a broad smile on my face. My friend Marie from Bio had even joined us for a while.

“Pool?” asked Soph, panting.

“Pool,” Carrie and I agreed.

They both had bathing suits on under their clothes, but I just toed off my flats. Good enough. In we went, denim shorts and tank top and all, making an almighty splash. Cool water closed over my head and the muted bass of the music thumped on, before I resurfaced to the summertime smell of chlorine. Man, it felt good.

Sophia and Carrie started floating around, kissing. Meanwhile, Anders and Hang appeared to be having a deep and meaningful conversation over by the steps. I was on my own. All good. I climbed out, going in search of first, a towel, and second, food. Turned out John had the first one already covered.

“Hey,” he said, wrapping me up in a monster-size towel. Shades of green and yellow decorated his face, the bruises slowly fading. His knuckles seemed a little better too.

“Hi. Thanks.”

I wrung out my hair. Only about a gallon of water came out. My wet clothes had the towel saturated in under a minute. This was the problem with going in fully clothed. Oh, well.

“Damn.” He smiled. “We need another one just for your hair—come on.”

I followed him around the side of the house to another door leading into a laundry room. Guess he’d spent a lot of time here over the years. For certain, he knew his way around. He had two fresh towels out of the closet in no time. One got exchanged for the drenched thing wrapped around me, but the second he kept hold of, using it to gently pat my hair dry.

“I can do that,” I said.

“I got it.” His voice dropped low, sending a strange thrill down my spine. Given we were platonic, he was certainly being very handsy. No. John was just a friend. Just a . . . hell, not even I could quite believe that one anymore. “How was the water?”

“Nice. Cooling.” And this was strange. Very strange.

Once my clothes reached the point of damp as opposed to dripping, little more could be done. I put the wet towel on top of the washing machine, ready to be hung out once John got done with my hair. Only, work on my head stalled at that point, his gaze flickering from my face to the wet T-shirt competition happening below.

Oh man, my nipples. How pointedly embarrassing.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, what have you been up to? I haven’t seen you since detention.”

“Yeah.” He licked his lips. “I’ve been busy.”

“Avoiding me.”

“Possibly.”

I laughed. “Definitely. Don’t worry, I no longer wish to lecture you on the evils of getting into trouble at school. Especially when it’s because of me.”

“No?” His expression eased. “Good.”

“Though it’s totally hypocritical of you to avoid me like that.”

He bit back a smile. “Heard someone had their car egged the other day. You know, I think it was that asshole who grabbed you.”

“Wow, what a coincidence. And such a shocking attack on private property.”

“Mm.”

I kept my face blank. Innocent as a lamb. Baa.

“You wouldn’t know anything about it then?” he asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“Uh-huh.” Brows scrunched up, he was obviously unconvinced. “Next time, when you’re not doing things like that, let me know so I can watch your back. Okay?”