Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(59)

I folded my arms and stared at him.

The firelight danced in his eyes.

It was scary.

But god it was fucking sexy too.

In a dark shirt with his strong arms pouring from the sleeves and that look on his face. Hinting to me that maybe - even for a second - I had some kind of control over him.

And I decided to take my chance…

“Your father is cheating on your mother,” I said.

Believe me, if it wasn’t for the booze I wouldn’t have been able to say that.

“Oh, yeah?” Pres asked.

“Sorry. Hate to break the news to you like this. But it’s true.”

“And what makes you qualified to make that kind of statement, sugar?”

“Qualified?” I asked. I laughed. “How about because I have fucking eyes and can see?”

“So you saw it,” Pres said.

I swallowed hard.

Shit. Are you really going to tell him you saw his father with Claire? And if this gets back to Claire…

“I saw something,” I said. “I’m not going to talk about it. It’s not my problem.”

Pres slowly walked around the fire toward me.

I really wished I had another drink.

“So that’s what you wanted to do? Tell me that? And expect what? Me to run away crying? Me to call my Daddy and yell at him? Me to rush home to Mommy and tell her to leave my Daddy?”

The more he talked, the darker he sounded. The madder he got. The words were like vile evil pouring from his mouth.

I blinked fast, wondering if there really was a way to break them. Any of them.

Maybe if I took Barr’s cigarettes. Or maybe if I drained the ocean so Kip didn’t have that. Which is impossible.

But for Pres…

He was untouchable.

“It doesn’t bother you?” I asked. “Your perfect, rich life…”

Pres reached for my right hand and lifted it toward his mouth. He pressed his lips to my hand and grinned. “Rich? Yes. Perfect? Sure.” Pres pulled, making me collide with his body. Hard.

Everything was hard.

His chest, arms… body… hard.

I lost my breath for a second.

His lips grazed my ear.

“Nice try, sugar, but I already know all my parent’s dirty nasty secrets…”





Pres stood with me as I stood with my feet in the water. I had my shoes hooked on my finger, over my shoulder.

“So that’s it then?” I asked him. “You’re just okay with that?”

“It’s like I said with your mother. Her baggage. Her shit. Not yours.”

I looked up at him. “Easy for you to say. I’m sure you have your own money. A trust fund or some rich persons crap. I’ve got nothing, Pres. Nothing. And if I don’t try… for her… she will end up killing herself. And she’ll justify it by being alone.”

“When she’s dead, she can’t talk,” Pres said.

“You’re fucking evil and cold,” I said. “Asshole.”

I started to walk along the water.

I had to get away from him. Even though I knew he wasn’t going to just let me be.

He was going to follow me.

That was fine.

I’d walk all night just to prove a point to him.

“It’s not evil and cold, sugar,” he said from behind me. “It’s the truth. It’s life.”

“Fuck off,” I said. “You have no idea what it’s like, Pres.”

I kept going. Moving faster.

He kept the same pace.

I was gaining distance.

But not much.

It reminded me of a scary movie. The girl would run. The killer would walk. And he would always catch up.

Soon I was breathing heavy and felt myself choking up.

Thinking of my mother. Of all the times I found her…

Or just the way we had lived. Which honestly never bothered me too much because it was normal. Until I came to BFH. To see the other side of life. That made me realize just how bad it had been. And just how shitty of a person my mother was.

My mother.

I wasn’t even calling her Mom in my head.

I stopped walking and put my head back.

The ocean air was delicious. The sounds were perfect.

And it all wasn’t mine.

Just like a stupid vacation.

Go and pretend to be someone else before heading back to the old routine.

Pres caught up to me in a few seconds.

I smelled him.

He didn’t talk.

“You wouldn’t save your parents?” I asked. “I mean, if you knew something? You wouldn’t even try?”

“What if there was nothing you could do, sugar?” Pres asked.

I looked back. “That’s the problem with you fucking rich pricks. You give up. There’s always something you could do. Always.”

“That’s the problem with you fucking poor dirty people. You never know when to walk away. And all that does is let opportunities pass you the fuck by.”

Pres started to walk, nudging me out of the water.

He was the one speeding ahead and I looked back.

The beach house and the party was way off in the distance. I hadn’t realized how far I had gone.