Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (7 page)

To protect me…

For him to do anything and everything to save me and keep me safe.

COMING OUT OF THE CAMPER,
I grip Skylar’s hand as we sneak stupid ass grins at each other.

“So you’re absolutely sure that you never messed around with my brother?” I twitch my brows down, a little grossed out thinking about her and him.
Oh shit, that’s disgusting.

“Wait a minute…you never asked if I messed around with him. You asked if I had sex with him, point blank.” She looks at me straight-faced before breaking into a smile.

Jerking her into me, I wrap my arms around her back and slap her lips with a kiss, letting them linger with our warm breaths mixed to create a trail of heat over my skin.

“Ok, you may just have to pay for that joke.”

She squeals and bucks in my arms as I dig my hands into her sides, still grasping her in an unwavering grip.

“Wait a minute…” she laughs, throwing her head back, but I just use that as an excuse to dive in and indulge in more of her soft delectable flesh. “Wait…wait,” she gasps, “I am going to have to pay for that? I thought you owed me six and from my count that was only three.”

Pulling back with a disbelieving grin, I chuckle at her bluntness. “Those three were damn near equivalent to six, actually maybe even nine. Yeah, nine! That was triple the job any home runner like Tristan could manage. I mean come on…” I lean back and look at her. The trace of amusement creases the corners of her mouth. “I not only stopped at each base, but I spent quality time there, played in the damn dirt, polished every damn base and then licked it clean before sliding into home like a pro.”

She cracks up and nods just as I look past her to the beach.

“Ok, ok…you got me…you’re a stud…you totally…”

Her voice trails off as I see Piper sitting in the grass all snuggled up close to the ass-wipe that I guess she’s dating, and then there is the other dude pawing at Abby. Judd and Alyssa sit across the fire, leaning against a huge tree stump, lost in their own world as usual, but my eyes fall back to Piper.

“Come on, let’s go join.” Skylar tugs at my hand and I fly forward, my head jostled as I snicker at her enthusiasm.

We race over and I immediately settle myself beside the two love-birds.

“Hey Evan.” Alyssa leans around Judd with a greeting, round cheeks and bright eyes reflecting the orange and yellow glow of the fire.

“What have you been up to?” Judd turns to look at me, pulling himself away from Alyssa.

I shrug, unable to tell him what is on my mind as Skylar fidgets to get comfortable beside me.

“Not much, I was just checking the breaker boxes at the two end shower houses to make sure they have an available circuit. Those heaters that Dad showed me earlier are by no means brand new. I think he probably picked them up at an auction and they are ancient. I’m going to hook them up but it’s pretty much a waste, and Grandpa should know that. They may have to be replaced by next winter, but whatever. It’s his money.”

“So why are you checking the breaker?”

I clear my throat and subtly glance over to Piper, who is looking right at me.
Shit.

Casting my eyes right back to where they were, I go on, “Those older units usually have to run on a larger circuit and I may need to use two.”

Judd nods his head slowly as I start to bounce my crossed feet that are stretched out in front of me. He frowns for a moment, then looks over to her. I’m positive he is reading me like a damn book. It’s not like I’m obvious; I always am where she is concerned.
How is it that I can keep cool with everyone, keep emotions from affecting most of my decisions and most definitely not give a damn about drama, except when it comes to her?

“I’ll be back,” Skylar announces as she joins Piper, Alyssa and Abby all running off towards the cabin.

The two other guys jump up and head to the parking lot.

“God, this is driving me crazy,” I erupt as soon as they are far enough away.

“What, Piper?”

“Of course, Piper…who else?” I roll my eyes on a sigh as I pick up a stray twig that escaped the wrath of flames. Tossing it into the fire, I grit my teeth, hoping my frustration has been discarded along with the twig.
Nope…no such luck.

Judd snickers, pulling his knees up and resting his forearms over them with his hands clasped between them.

“Well then, talk to her.”

I look at him sarcastically, like he just proposed an all-time dumbass, award-winning suggestion that I knew he would.

“Yeah, right…let me race over and try that so she can tell me to piss off for the hundredth time.”

He spits out another chuckle like this is funny. “Well, have you actually ever tried…I mean really tried?”

“What?!” The question floors me. “Of course I have. Did you not see me at the Halloween party? She went ballistic as soon as I said a word and I won’t even go into the ‘go to hell’ look she gives me in class. Seriously, have you ever seen someone that can give a look that damn hateful.” I sigh, looking at the roaring blaze. “It’s pretty hot, actually,” I quip back to myself more so, raising my brows and cocking my head to the side as I conjure up her glare.
Oh yeah, that is pretty hot.

Judd shakes his head and laughs. “Yeah, pissed off looks pretty good on some girls, but a lot of good that’ll do you. You should talk to her…like actually talk to her and maybe try listening instead of trying to glamour her with your quick wit and endless sarcasm.”

Snickering at his evaluation of our run-ins, I notice the women making it back towards the fire armed with packages of hotdogs and the fixings for an old-fashion Boy Scout camp fire.

Watching her, a strange sense of dread creeps over me. I’m unsure of what to expect if we actually do talk. She has every right not to trust me; I wouldn’t trust me if I were her.

“I’ll try,” I pause, studying her face from afar as she walks closer.
Damn, was she always this beautiful?
“But if she tears me a new one, expect me to drag your sex-addicted ass out of bed to kick it.”

“Oh shit…I’m not agreeing to that, because I’m sure she’ll eat you alive,” Judd jokes and I grin, leaning my head back against my clasped hands.

“That she will.” I smile, but on the inside I’m dying.

Not even Judd knows the whole story. I already betrayed her faith in me; I won’t do it again. It was an act on impulse, but nonetheless, I screwed her over in one single minute, then my brother did the rest.

The rest of the evening carries on pretty smooth with the group in a sort of division; Abby, Piper and their hunks on one side and Alyssa, Judd, me and Skylar on the other. Thankfully, my brother is a no show.

So far the main topic across the fire has been football and makeup. I stay out of both subjects, tormented by playing with Skylar’s thigh and gritting my teeth every time that jerk-off touches Piper’s leg. Her comfort level with his grubby hands bothers me even more, but I’m not sure why. After what I saw this summer, I’m confident she is over any phobias she had with men. That’s bittersweet for me. I in no way want her tortured for the rest of her life, but I thought I was the key to fixing it; she made me feel like I was anyway.

“I’m heading in, unless…” Skylar stands beside me, flirtatiously running her foot over my thigh.

I glance past her, not quite bothered by her public aggression, but curious. Piper stands swiftly, mumbling something to the others before jetting off across the parking lot. She doesn’t once look back or look in my direction, but the way her arms swing at her sides and her feet stomp into the ground as if Mother Nature just pissed her the hell off, tells me that something is definitely under her skin. Dipping my face into a frown, I take a quick look at her “stud”. A bit of anger festers inside of me with the thought that he did something inappropriate or without permission. I’ve sat here all night with them in perfect sight, and although I kept my focus away from her as much as possible, I don’t see how he could have gotten something like that past me.

“Soooo…” Skylar draws out in a questioning tone as if she just asked me something, only I haven’t a clue what.

“Huh?”

“Do you want company?”

I stand up in front of her as everyone else starts to disperse.

With a fleeting look towards the path on the other side of the property, I can no longer see Piper. My mind is distracted with where she went; all I want to do is chase her down and put Judd’s advice to work.

“Ahh, no. I actually need to get to work super early on the heaters.”

“Oh hey, you want me to join you in the morning?” Judd asks as him and Alyssa make their way around the once blazing fire that has been reduced to a pile of coals.

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Do I need to swing by and get your ass?”

Judd laughs as Skylar continues to stay in front of me, one hand on her hip and the other playing with her hair. I glance around again, over her shoulder, to the light at the shower house and then further down the path. Nothing.

“No please don’t, because I know you won’t knock and I’d like to wake up gracefully instead of to the sound of your mouth.”

Alyssa giggles, hugging herself to him.

“Well you better wake up to the sound of your alarm, because I need you down there at 5am.”

Judd gives a quick salute and takes off.

Skylar crinkles her nose with a goofy little smile, then spins around, deliberately shaking her ass as she walks off.

“Careful! I’m not ashamed to throw you down right here for four, five and six.”

She slowly turns her head with a challenge in her eyes as she waves. Damn…if I wasn’t so determined to put this whole thing between me and Piper behind me, I’d chase her ass back to the cabin and kidnap her for the night.

Once she’s out of sight, and the faded camp fire has dulled to a quiet crackle with the sputter of a few spare moist sprigs of wood, I turn and look back at the shower house. My feet move beneath me hesitantly, as if I am being marched towards my own execution. What I’m going to say gets pushed to the back of my mind as I draw nearer to the dock and see nobody there.
Where the hell is she?
Knowing for certain that her return would not have escaped me, I amble further down the property, staying on the unlit path. The moon is hidden beneath a cluster of clouds in the sky, but peeks out every few minutes to barely light my way. As the soft, crumbly ground begins to glow, I pick up my pace and look up, secure in my footing.

After walking a good while and searching, a dark shape comes into view that I know all too well; I’ve made it to Grandpa’s boat dock. I don’t have the keys to any of the boats, no fishing supplies or even a jacket, but I still continue in on my quest. This is the only place that I would think she may have gone. I’ve never felt so driven to talk to her. Most of the time, I hold back out of fear of what all she will say to me and how shitty she could make me feel, but not tonight. Judd made a good point. I’ve never just listened when she starts in on her rants. Yeah, I try to talk, but I don’t stop. I keep trying to get a word in to defend myself; to make sense of it.