Say You Still Love Me(111)

“Hey, it’s my turn!” Colin scowls.

“We brought the booze, we get the last question. You assholes are buying next weekend, by the way. Never have I ever gone skinny-dipping with my fellow Wawa camp counselors!”

They all let out a cheer and down their shots.

“Really?” I whisper, the only one left with a drink.

Kyle gives me a crooked smile. “It was fun.”

“So much fun,” Eric climbs to his feet, stumbling a step, and then claps his hands, “that it’s now tradition!”

A surge of adrenaline courses through the cabin. Everyone fumbles for support as they climb to their feet and then dart out the door, engulfed in a bubble of laughter and excitement.

I let out a nervous laugh. “They’re actually going skinny-dipping? Now? In the rain?”

“It’s barely raining and they’re going to get wet anyway.” Kyle gets to his feet and holds out a hand.

My stomach flutters.

“Trust me?”

“Of course.” I hesitate. And then I weave my fingers through his.




The light rain is a mere drizzle by the time we reach Wawa’s sandy beach, to the sound of laughter and splashes. We couldn’t be more than a minute behind everyone else, and yet most of them have already peeled off their clothes and darted into the lake. I catch glimpses of movement from two shadows nearby, but without the glow of a fire it’s impossible to identify anyone.

“Oh my—ow!” I stumble a few steps over something—a shoe, I think—and then laugh. “It’s dark out here!” And I’m way drunker than I thought.

“That’s the idea. No one wants to see Eric’s bare ass.” Kyle lets go of my hand and I sense him yanking his T-shirt over his head. “Come on, don’t be lame,” he taunts, the jangle of his belt and the pull of his zipper sounding. “It’s tradition.”

Taking a deep breath—what the hell! Everyone else is doing it!—I quickly strip off my clothes and follow Kyle’s lead into the lake, feeling every inch of bare skin that enters the water as we plunge farther in.

“Where is everyone?” Colin calls out from the distance.

“Over here!” Kyle answers, and I feel his voice deep within my belly as he curls an arm around my waist.

One by one, voices call out, followed by nervous giggles and squeals as people splash and dive.

“Vetter, where you at?” Kyle calls out.

There’s no response.

“Vetter?”

Still no response.

I sense the tension creeping into Kyle’s body. “Eric, come on.”

“Yeah! All good,” Eric finally answers.

Kyle’s body relaxes against mine. “Is Ash with you?”

“Oh, Freckles is here all right.” And there’s no mistaking the grin in his voice.

Ashley’s giggle follows.

“He’s grown some balls. Finally.” Kyle pulls me flush against him.

My hands skitter over his body as if unsure where to sit idle. I want to touch all of him. And maybe it’s the alcohol, but a second after I think of sliding my hand down his stomach, and farther, I do it, gripping onto him.

The responding kiss is searing. He reaches down to guide my legs around his hips, shifting so I’m sitting on his thighs, facing him. It’s a provocative position. All it would take is me shifting a few more inches forward. “We’re not doing that out here!” I warn him in a whispered kiss.

“But we’ll be doing it as soon as we’re back to my cabin.” He laughs, pulling me tighter, until I can feel him pressed against me. So close . . . an ache swells inside me, the urge to slide him into me overwhelming, even if for just a moment. Maybe we could do it out here. What would that be like? No one would know and I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time.

I have had way too much to drink.

“Shh! Someone’s coming!” Avery hisses suddenly.

We freeze and stifle our giggles, turning to watch a beam of light bob up and down, lighting a path for a lone figure heading toward the beach.

Darian’s short blonde hair is unmistakable as she passes beneath the path light. “Is someone out there?” she calls out.

“Shit,” someone whispers.

“Shut up,” someone else warns.

Kyle cuts noiselessly through the water, moving us deeper just as the beam of light dances over the lake. Others must have done the same, because no one is outed in her search.

She shifts her flashlight to the sandy beach, and the scattered clothing.

“If she finds out we were drinking, we’ll be gone tomorrow,” Kyle whispers into my ear.

My stomach clenches with the thought. Tonight has been fun, but it’s not worth that. Why do we keep getting ourselves into these messes?

Oh, right. Because of Eric and Kyle.

“Huh. Gosh . . . I guess my camp counselors must have forgotten their clothes on the beach when they were swimming here earlier,” Darian says loudly. “I guess I’ll just bring all of it up and leave it at the pavilion, so they can come and find it tomorrow at breakfast!”

“She wouldn’t,” I whisper.

Darian bends down and begins collecting everything.

“It’s a good thing all my counselors are already asleep in their beds and getting well rested for tomorrow,” she goes on, and there’s no doubt she is fully aware that we’re all out here, watching her.