Who He Is (FireNine, book 1) (19 page)

I came across my teal one-
piece without a back and my pink-and-white striped two-piece that made my boobs seem bigger than they were. I also had the newest black-and-white suit I wore while jet skiing. I had to put it aside, though. I didn’t want to repeat it.

My lips twisted
as I held the teal and pink one up in front of me, debating on whether I wanted to be lame and simple with the one-piece or adventurous and mildly sex with the two-piece. I figured adventurous and mildly sexy was best while with the band. I couldn’t afford to be laughed at. Plus, I would’ve rather had the boys drooling over me than chuckling over my choice of a one-piece. “Maybe next time, onesie,” I mumbled, tucking the teal bathing suit back into the suitcase.

I strapped on my suit, grabbed a pair of ripped-up shorts to wear over my bottoms and a white tank to wear over my top. They didn’t need to see me half-naked yet. It was bad that the one person I was most concerned about seeing me half-naked was Gage. Even though he’d more than seen the bottom half of me, I knew I was still going to be uncomfortabl
e around him—especially since I’d just rejected him, flat-out.

I placed my sunglasses and camera into my extra white satchel
, strapped on the bag, and then headed out. Cal was in the kitchen making a turkey sandwich. As his eyes swung up to look at me, he paused in spreading his mayonnaise and I blushed, forcing myself to keep my head up as I placed my satchel on the sofa. “I don’t know how I’m going to focus on the slides when you’re stealing all my attention away,” he teased.

I giggled, stepping behind him to get to the fridge. I pulled out a bottled water and then dug through one of the drawers for some pills. I finally came across a bottle of painkillers and dumped two into the palm of my hand.

“Had a rough night last night?” Cal asked.

I hesitated with my response. It didn’t get rough until this morning. “No,” I said.

“Oh, did you have fun?” He bit into his sandwich and I gulped down my pills, allowing the water to chase right after them for a smoother swallow. “I know how the band can get crazy. Didn’t they go to a house party or something last night?”

“Yeah,” I breathed. “It was pretty wild but fun. I didn’t mind it.”

“Oh. That’s great.” He smiled over his sandwich and then stepped out of the kitchen. “I’ll be ready in just a sec.”

I nodded, watching him trot off to his room before turning around to lean my lower back against the counter. I sighed,
pressing my fingers against my temples and going over last night again and again. Why the hell couldn’t I just get over it? It was one night of fun with Gage… one night with Gage I was never going to forget. One night with him that seemed to steam up and turn into something else entirely—something more than fun.

I hated facing the truth of it. The entire night of the house party I thought Gage was going to leave me to dance with another chick, but he didn’t. In fact, he brushed off most of the girls who came our way. He was by my side the whole night. A few girls leaned into him, revealing their cleavage and hooking their arms around his neck
, and he would flirt back, but it was only temporary. He would whisper something in their ear and they would nod, walk off, and then he would grab my hand to go somewhere quieter.

Darker.

Alone.

He spent more time with me than his band and that was speaking volumes. Montana kept trying to get Gage to join him in a session of hookah and even on the dance floor to see how
many dances they could get, but Gage stuck with me. I kept insisting he go with them, but he would shrug it off. He would then whisper in my ear, “I have plenty of nights ahead of me to spend with them. I probably won’t be having many more with you. I like being with you.”

Of course I bubbled over, sparked with heat, intensity. I couldn’t help myself. He was right. We only had two months on tour to be stuck together. He had the rest of his life to be with his band, unless they were to split up, but even then, I knew they would still be close.

“I was thinking maybe we could catch some smoothies before we hit the waterpark.” Cal’s voice thundered, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up quickly—maybe a little too quickly because at the sight of his body, my mouth gaped. I drank him in a little too fast and caught a dizzy spell on top of the minor headache I had.

I was right about the six-pack… and about the gloriousness of his body… and about me drooling ov
er it. His skin was flawless and perfectly tanned. I wanted to slide my hands along his torso, pull him against me, and maybe kiss each pec, if he would’ve allowed me permission to do so. His nipples were perfect. Not too big or too small. Not too light of a pink, but just right against his smooth complexion. He’d even gelled his hair. Damn. Cal was hotter than hell.

“Uh…” I trailed off, gripping the edge of the counter. I tried to get myself to look up into his eyes, but it just wouldn’t
happen. I was too stuck on his body—on the curves and smooth, firm hills that stuck out most.

Finally, Cal chuckled and my eyes shot up to meet his. Another swarm of embarrassment consumed me and my face l
it on fire. I couldn’t believe myself. Was I really that weak? This proved I’d been around too many boys for too long. I was becoming an Eliza Smith with raging hormones. “Would you like smoothies?” he asked, laughing.

I nodded quickly. “Uh… yeah. Smoothies sound great.”

“Good.” He smirked, tying the drawstring of his green trunks. He had the deep creases on either side of his pelvis that trailed down to what I assumed was his rather large package. I called those creases on the pelvis the “Matthew McConaughey” creases. The deep V that every woman wanted to slide her tongue along repeatedly. Damn, it was so hot on Cal. “Let me get a shirt and we can go grab some.”

I should’ve stopped him from grabbing a shirt. I wanted to stare at his body for the rest of the day. A part of me was actually glad he was my partner for the evening. I could stare from a
distance; watch the way the muscles in his back rippled with each stride he took, just like I was at this very moment. I could imagine myself ripping his shirt off just to get another good look.

But I had to be patient. He wasn’t going to have the shirt on long anyway. As soon as we were to grab our smoothies and head to the waterpark, his shirt would be off again and I could bask in his beauty. I could drink him whole and only hope he wouldn’t notice.

It was a good thing a half-naked Cal was going to be my waterpark partner because at this very moment, I realized I wasn’t even thinking about Gage or the previous night we shared. I was sort of glad my mind was too distracted by Cal to think about the stress between Grendel and me.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the waterpark, I could make out the tall waterslides in various colors. Some of them made me nervous. I was never a fan of heights so to know I had to go that high kind of freaked me out.

I stepped out of the truck, taking in the colorful sign with the title of the waterpark on it and then the woman waiting at the gates. As she saw the band hop out of their truck, she smiled eagerly, bouncing up and down.

“This should be fun, huh?” Cal asked, placing a hand against the small of my back.

I looked up at him and nodded. “It should. Just don’t splash me too much,” I teased.

“
Oh, I think it’d be great to get you wet.”

I bit on a smile as we
walked toward the entrance. I could hear the message he was trying to deliver behind his sentence and he knew it just as well as I did because he laughed silently.

“Welcome to The Lagoon!” the woman chimed eagerly. “Oh, it’s so great to have you all.” She opened the gates and allowed Cal and me in, but she stepped in the way as FireNine came up. “Welcome!” she chimed again. “Listen, my daughter is a huge fan of you guys. She can never go a day without singing one of your songs, talking about Montana…”—Montana smirked at that—“or even about Roy back there.” Oddly, Roy looked down at his feet, seeming uncomfortable. “After you’re all worn out from hanging at The Lagoon, I would love it if you could autograph a few things for me. It would make her so happy.”

“Of course.” Montana grinned. “Anything for the kiddos.”

The woman blushed.
“Well, she’s eighteen.”

Montana
simply smirked. “Anything for the ladies.” He wiggled his eyebrows, but the woman didn’t seem to catch his drift. Finally, after Ben and the crew started coming our way, she allowed the boys in.

“Don’t forget!” she yelled as they got halfway in.

Gage and Deed laughed, but Roy shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

“The chicks really dig Roy, huh?” Cal asked,
grinning at the boys.

Gage’s eyes swung over to Cal and then his gaze shifted down to Cal’s hand that was still on my back. His hazel eyes darkened a bit and then he looked into my eyes. Fidgeting, I took a small step away and luckily Cal didn’t seem to notice.

“The ladies do love Roy,” Gage said dryly.

“I don’t know why,” Roy muttered. Roy’s voice was deep, heavy. It was weird to hear him actually speak
, but his voice suited him. Roy saw me staring in disbelief and narrowed his eyes at me, his eyebrows drawn in.

“Where’s everybody else?” he asked, looking at Montana.

“Coming,” Montana sighed. “But for now I think we need to crack open some beers.” Montana looked down at the cooler Deed had dragged in on its wheels. I was pretty sure it was illegal to have beer at a waterpark, but since we were the only ones around, I guess it didn’t matter.

The boys stepped ahead of us to get to the nearest pool. As they walked by, Gage looked at me over his shoulder and shook his
head. I frowned at him and then his lips curled into a knowing smirk. I shuddered before looking away.

“So,” Cal sighed. I
looked at him quickly. “Which slide would you like to go on first?”

“Um…” I took a look around. There were tons of waterslides. I couldn’t decide alone. “I don’t know. Which one would you like to go on first?” I asked, adjusting the strap of my satchel.

“We could try the one called
The Tunnel
. Sounds fun,” he said, nodding his head at the large blue one only a few feet away.

“Sure.”

Cal and I started our walk, but then Ben’s voice called our names. I spun around quickly as he jogged toward us, a wide smile on his lips. “I hope you two aren’t running off to do the do.” He flashed a smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

I flushed and Cal laughed, looking down at me. “Not at all, Ben. Just going to catch a few water slides.”

“Great. Liza, if you need me I’ll be out tanning by the big pool. Far away from the boys and their nasty party they plan on throwing.”

I frowned. “Party? You’re letting them throw a party here?”

“They used their money to rent this place out. They call it being spontaneous. I call it bullshit. Any fines they get are on their hands.” He pulled me in by the face to kiss my cheeks. “Later, dearest.” With that, he turned around and walked with the crew to most likely find the largest pool.

I shook my head, turning to see where the band was. I could make out a glimpse of what they were doing. Gage and Montana were racing to see who could drink his beer the fastest. How glad was I to have Cal as my partner instead of any of them? I didn’t want to be stuck with them again.

Cal hooked his arm across my shoulders and spun me around. “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure we have fun.”

I smiled up at him and we started forward.

When we made it up the stairs to get to the top of the slide, a young man was already waiting up there. He smiled, looking us over and then looking behind us, as if more people were supposed to be coming. Perhaps he’d heard about FireNine renting the park out and was looking forward to seeing them as well, just to brag about it. I could see the spark die within his eyes once he realized we were the only ones.

The boy stepped out of our way and Cal asked me if I wanted to go down alone. I looked down the length of the slide and shook my head quickly. That was a
hell
to the no. I couldn’t go down that slide alone. It was so high up and the pool at the bottom seemed so far away.

With a simple chuckle, Cal stepped out of his flip-flops, pulled his shirt over his head, and I gawked because I’d completely forgotten about his delicious body. I had to snap out of it, though. I was lucky he didn’t catch me staring, so I shook my head and slipped out of my tank top and jeans. I kicked my flip-flops to the side and the boy told us he was going to take our things to the bottom so we wouldn’t have to come back upstairs for it.

“All right,” Cal said into my ear from behind me. “You ready?”

I melted from his voice. He was so close, and it was like he was trying to purposely make it deep and pleasurable. With his hard body near mine, I couldn’t concentrate. When he placed both hands on either side of my waist, all focus had gone down the drain. He inched in closer
and then whispered in my ear, telling me it was okay to sit. I sat down hastily, gripping the bar handles on the sides, and he sat behind me.

He moved in closer than expected, but it excited me and my heart raced. Hooking his arms around my middle, he placed his chin on my shoulder and I braced myself, taking in the wide pool at the bottom waiting for me.

“You sure you’re ready?” he asked in my ear. He seemed to be saying it in more ways than one, but I nodded and he gripped me tighter. “Do you want to do a countdown or do you want me to push forward randomly?”

I bit on my lip, debating on the answer. Finally I said, “Randomly. The countdown will kill me.”

Chuckling, his fingers splayed across my middle and I unnoticeably moved back to get between his legs more. I guess it wasn’t as unnoticeable as I thought it would be because he laughed. “Eliza?” he said in my ear.

“Yeah?” I was
about to turn and get a glimpse of him through the corner of my eye, but then he pushed forward and the cold water ran beneath my bottom. My heart lurched and I screamed as Cal laughed.

A tunnel appeared ahead and as soon as we were beneath it, it blocked my view of everything and I screamed even louder, ready for the darkness to fade.
I guess there was a reason they called it
The Tunnel
. Cal laughed again as he held on to me, and I begged to the heavens that his grip wouldn’t loosen.

The tunnel finally ended, but the slide looped and continued down. I finally settled a bit, realizing I was actually having fun and that I hadn’t caught a panic attack yet. The slide was exciting and the cool water running beneath us felt good. I was too busy basking in the sun and enjoying the feel of the water that I wasn’t expecting Cal’s grip to slack and for a whole body of water to consume me.

As I hit the pool and sank beneath, I choked and gurgled and pushed my way up to surface, swallowing some of the chlorine-filled water on the way by accident. “Holy shit!” I sputtered, spotting Cal, who was just surfacing with droplets of water running off his blond hair and eyelashes. He met my gaze and laughed before swimming in my direction.

“See, wasn’t too bad, right?” he breathed.

“No. That was fun! We should go again.” I felt like a big-ass kid, but I was so excited and eager for the next. It was a thrill and I hated how I hadn’t experienced it earlier than the age of twenty-one.

“We can go again, if you’d like,” Cal said, pulling me in by my waist. “Did you think I was gonna let you go
on the way down?”

I nodded, looking at him beneath my eyelashes bashfully.

“I wouldn’t have let you go, Eliza.” He gave me a crooked, heart-throbbing smile and I grinned, glad the water kept me cool. To avoid his beautiful green eyes, I took a look around to see which slide we could go on next. I pointed out a few in my head, but as I was about to look at Cal again, I caught sight of a pair of narrowed hazel eyes.

I gasped, staring right at Gage as he walked by, a beer in his hand, his eyes still hard on me. He
stole glances between Cal and me, but I couldn’t look away. I wanted to ignore him, but when he nodded slowly at me, his eyes still narrowed, I felt guilty. He was nodding as if he knew why I’d rejected him. But I didn’t reject him for Cal. I just couldn’t get caught up with someone like him. I knew he was assuming I’d chosen Cal over him, but I hadn’t chosen either one. I wasn’t about to choose at all.

Cal seemed to notice the frustration taking hold of my features and looked toward Gage, but Gage had turned around, his shoulders slightly hunched, while taking a sip of his beer. He had tattoos on his back as well. More tribal ink and Bible verses, I was sure.
I’d even spotted a blue dragon on his right rib cage as he rounded a corner to start a new path. His back was perfectly creased and it was so hard to hate his presence yet feel excited by looking at his body. He wasn’t too stocky or too lean; he was just right. He had the nice, athletic build, which proved he worked out just enough to keep himself in shape.

With a ragged sigh, I
looked at Cal, who was already looking at me. “Trouble in paradise, I see,” he said, smiling.

I s
hook my head quickly. “No. I’ll never understand someone like Gage. He’s his own person.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

I shrugged.

“I think you deserve better anyway,” Cal said.

I didn’t want to talk about Gage at all so I grabbed Cal’s hands beneath the water and grinned at him. “Let’s go find us another slide.” He nodded and we swam toward the ladder to climb out, collect our clothes, and then head to another tall water slide.

Spending time with Cal was
pretty cool. Not only was his body pleasant to look at (especially when dripping with water), but also he was a sweet guy and actually made me laugh. It was odd that I was making comparisons between him and Gage and, sad to say, Gage was on the winning side in my mind. Even though we were drunk the night of the party, I had more of a connection with Gage than I had with Cal. As hot as Cal was, he was extremely corny but really sweet. I could only be friends with him. It just seemed like the type of relationship I was supposed to have with someone as kindhearted as he was.

Whenever we would take a break and grab a drink or some ice cream, Cal would always bring up his job for the magazine or how tough it was to get interviews with the boys when they were always on the go. He said his toughest so far was getting one with Roy, but he was determined to do so one way or another. I doubted him highly on that one.
He also kept telling me I deserved better than Gage, but I always changed the subject.

We walked around the park for a while, basking in the sun and going from shop to shop. We stopped in a candy shop, a souvenir shop (where I bought a nice “I fucked Orlando good” shirt because Cal dared me to), and we even stopped by the mist zone to allow the soothing spray to cool our hot skin.

A shop was across from us with magazines and a newspaper stand on the outside. Some of the pictures on the magazines were of familiar people, but through the mist I couldn’t make it out clearly. I looked at Cal, who was enjoying his mist, his eyes closed and his head thrown back as droplets dripped and caressed his beautiful body, and then took a step forward, wiping my face.