Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(23)

“You’ll never find out, Barr,” I said.

“That’s what you think,” he said. “I’m a rich, ignorant fuck, Tinsley. Anything I set my eyes on I get. No matter what it is.”

“Is that how this works?” I asked. “You show up here and look like a good boy in front of your parents and then a complete asshole to me? And I’m supposed to just… get wet? Fall to my knees. Beg for your…” My eyes looked down and back up.

“You really don’t know what you’ve stepped into,” he said. “That’s attractive.”

“So now I’m attractive? My lips are cute. You’re thinking about somewhere else? And I’m attractive…”

“See? You’re getting it. And I’ll get it soon too.”

“What would your buddies think of that?” I asked. “You hitting on the girl they hate so much?”

“Oh, we’ve come to an agreement, love. The poor, dirty girl… every man for himself. Come one. Come all.”

Barr leaned down toward me and I stepped away.

I laughed and shook my head. “Nice try.”

I got out of his reach and stood next to a table next to the pool.

“When did you start playing piano?” I asked.

“Why the fuck does that matter?” Barr replied.

I turned. “Just curious.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It sounded good.”

“I don’t care what you think sounds good,” he said.

He smoked his cigarette, putting his head back, making the smoke dance in different shapes.

After maybe a minute of silence, I was done.

“I’m going inside,” I said. “I thought maybe we could talk for a second. Figure this out.”

Barr threw his hand out and touched my stomach.

I sucked in a breath.

“Not yet, love,” he whispered.

He took another drag and dropped the cigarette to the ground.

He stepped on it.

There was smoke all around us.

The smell of the smoke…

It stung my nose but it wasn’t completely disgusting.

“You’ve heard about us, right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s good. We own everything.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Just want to make sure that’s very clear.”

“Trust me, it’s clear. The rat in my locker. The cigarette. The note. It’s all very fucking clear, Barrington.”

He laughed. He side stepped and looked down at me.

“We can just skip the formality here, love,” he whispered. “And you can show me to your room.”

I shook my head. “It’s a big house. Lots of rooms. Good luck.”

Barr moved closer and I moved back. “That’s what you want? To push at me? To tempt me? To tempt us?”

“Tell me what happened on the beach,” I said. “What did I actually see?”

Barr nodded.

Each time he inched toward me I inched back.

I was not going to let him get close enough to touch me again.

“Sometimes people don’t know how to take warnings,” Barr said. “So you have to… step it up.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Barr said. “Then again, you were warned too. And you didn’t listen.”

“I had no choice,” I said. “I had to show up to BFH.”

“Look at you, love. Calling it BFH so soon. Like you’ve been here your entire life.”

“I think I hear your mother calling your name.”

Barr leaned down toward me. “No. That’s just your body calling my name. It’s just you… getting…”

Barr made a move and I stepped back again.

Only I didn’t realize I was at the end of the pool.

My foot touched the water and I knew I was screwed.

I went all the way into the water, my clothes instantly soaked.

“Wet,” Barr said, finishing his sentence.

He stepped to the edge of the pool, his expensive leather shoes looking a mile long.

I grabbed the edge of the pool and kept my hair from getting wet.

Barr looked down at me and slowly backed up. “I was three.”

“What?” I asked.

“I was three when I was forced to start taking piano lessons.”

“Good to know,” I said.

Barr paused. “This night, love, is far from fucking over yet.”





I had to climb from the pool and run through the house in secrecy. Which was easy to do considering the size of the house. So getting caught soaked by Claire wasn’t a worry of mine. What was a worry was the way my clothes clung to me. Nothing was really hidden. And going from the pool to the air conditioned house… wet clothes… you know… things happened.

I took the back set of stairs and found my bedroom.

After locking the door, I rushed to the bathroom to strip out of the wet clothes.

Thankfully I had left my phone on the bed.

I wrestled and peeled the wet clothes off my body, leaving them in the middle of the bathroom floor.

I covered my chest with my right arm as though someone could see me.