by Marie James
“Don’t be a wuss,” Cannon calls.
I dart my eyes in his direction, suspicious when he releases my friend and lazily begins to swim in my direction.
“If you grab me, I’ll get out and go back inside.”
“He wouldn’t be able to see you then.”
I don’t have to follow his eyes when he looks up at his house. I’m all too aware that Griffin’s bedroom overlooks the pool. I also know that the lounger I was planning to sit on is under the eave enough that it’s hidden from the viewpoint of that window.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” His soft gaze and the brush of his tongue on his lower lip is just…well… weird.
“I don’t understand him.” I know he’s talking about Griffin, so I don’t bother to waste either of our time by asking him to specify. “If I had a woman as beautiful as you throwing herself at me, I’d grab hold of you and give you the ride of your life.”
“That’s disgusting, Cannon.” I look over at my friend, grateful she’s far enough away not to hear what he’s saying. “You and Melissa—”
“I’m not hitting on you.” As I walk further into the pool, he swims a circle around me, lazily but with enough movement that his muscles bunch and relax just under the water’s surface. The man was made to go shirtless. “I’m just stating a fact. My brother is a fool, but give him time. He’ll realize what’s right in front of him.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Melissa glides through the water until she’s close enough for Cannon to reach. She squeals like a damsel in distress, and I can’t help but roll my eyes at the obviousness of her demand for attention. People confuse me so much it’s unreal.
“I was just telling this gorgeous friend of yours that my brother is an idiot for letting her slip through his fingers.”
“He’ll come around,” Melissa says without so much as a wince as the man she’s clinging to calls me gorgeous. Maybe she really is only hooking up with him out of convenience? “Ivy’s a total catch. He’d be an idiot not to realize it.”
“See?” Cannon points to my friend. “Exactly like I was saying.”
“How about we chicken fight?” Delilah asks as she climbs up Lawson’s back in the middle of the pool.
“I’m in,” Melissa agrees as she reaches for Cannon.
“Where are you going?” Delilah asks as I turn back around to climb out of the pool.
“I don’t—” My words catch in my throat. How pitiful is it to feel left out right now?
“I’ve got you.” My eyes jerk up, wishing it were Griffin standing on the edge of the pool and jerking his shirt off, but it’s one of the Cerberus guys. “I mean, if you want to play.”
He’s younger than most of the other guys who work for Cerberus, but the Semper Fi tattoo on his chest is evidence that he qualifies for the job.
“You aren’t afraid of my Dad?”
His grin is wide. “Kincaid? Err, I mean Diego? The man scares the shit out of me, but I’m just trying to help out his daughter so she can play with her friends, not hit on you and get killed.”
“Oh, he’s delicious,” Melissa says from behind me.
“That makes more sense,” Cannon says right before I hear a splash. “Ivy come here.”
When I look back, I see Melissa swimming toward the Cerberus guy, and Cannon has his hands out, offering me help to climb on his back.
“Tug,” the handsome guy answers after Melissa asks him his name.
“That sounds like a story I need to hear later,” my friend coos as her new friend sinks lower in the pool so she can climb on his back.
“That doesn’t upset you?”
“Why should it?” Cannon answers with a shrug. “I told you. We’re both free agents.”
“Being grown is so confusing,” I mutter as Cannon holds onto my thighs near the edge of the pool as Delilah and Melissa line up to try to knock each other off their guy’s shoulders.
“You and Melissa aren’t the same,” Cannon begins. “Stop looking at other people to determine what you think you should be doing, especially when it comes to relationships. If you feel like you need to focus on others, pick women like Delilah and the new Gigi. They’re going to give you the best example of how your life will look once you find love.”
His fingers dig into my thighs, and I can tell it’s a form of comfort he’s offering. Even with all of the things he said earlier, he’s not the type to mess with a girl he knows is still hung up on his brother.
“Best two out of three,” Delilah hisses, spitting water out of her mouth after having landed in the pool.
Watching them play and have a good time, I can’t help but let my eyes drift up to Griffin’s bedroom window. The blinds are drawn, and it’s only another metaphor for how closed off he is to me right now.
Knowing he didn’t drink last night makes me feel better, like things aren’t as bad as they could be. It also makes me feel horrible for kissing Jared. The longer the kiss took place, the easier it was to realize there was no connection there. Even as his tongue swept into my mouth and there was no amount of sizzle, I let it continue thinking eventually I’d feel an ounce of the chemistry I feel when I’m near Griffin.
It never came.
Chapter 25
Griffin
“Fucking traitor,” I hiss when Cannon dips into the water, giving Ivy the ability to climb up on his shoulders.
When his hands grip her thighs to keep her on him, I see red. The bottle of water in my fist crinkles when I squeeze, making the sound echo all around the room. I hate the distance between the pool and my second-story window.
The same anger I felt for Jared last night steamrolls me again, the force so strong I physically have to plant my feet heavier on the floor to keep from moving. I shove the consequences away, ready to pummel my brother, but when I turn, I find my dad standing in my doorway, and I know he won’t just wait idly by while I beat the hell out of his other son.
I stiffen when he crosses the room and looks down at the pool. He’s always had a keen eye, so I have no doubt he knows exactly what has me riled up. It’s not the first time I’ve been this mad in front of him recently, but for some reason, I don’t have as strong of a handle on it today. Honestly, I don’t feel in control of anything right now.
The plastic bottle crackles in my hand once again.
“It may be best if you weren’t torturing yourself like this.”
My teeth grind at the childish recommendation, as if I’m not man enough to handle the sight of my brother touching her.
“Dad.” My tone is a warning, one I’ve never had the balls to direct at him before.
“How long has it been since you drank?”
“I’m a grown fucking man,” I hiss.
With an assessing gaze, my father looks down at the tremble in my fisted hands before meeting my eyes.
“I ask because it looks like you’re in withdrawals. I’d like to calculate how long until you’re in the clear.” He angles his head down at my hands when I reject his assumption with a huff. “Would you do that any other day?”
He has a point, but I don’t have the ability to concede, so I snap my mouth shut.
“I know this isn’t the best time to discuss this, but from that look of fire in your eye, I can tell you want to do something stupid. You know I can’t allow that.”
My eyes stray back to the people laughing and playing in the pool. I’m bitter down to my bones with how they can be happy and so carefree, but my brain reminds me that this is exactly why I, along with thousands of others, joined the service to begin with. We fight and die so people can be blissfully ignorant to what really goes on. We worry, so they don’t have to.
“Griffin,” my dad prods.
“I’m not gonna do anything,” I promise, but the words sound just as empty out loud as they feel deep inside.
I’m not an idiot. I can tell Cannon is just having fun. From the looks of it, Ivy on his shoulders is the better choice since his flav
or of the week is on some other guy’s shoulders. I’d murder that guy if he touched her.
“You’ve already gotten stupid with two other men this week over her,” he reminds me. “Cannon isn’t going after your girl, so let’s not make it three.”
“Did you need something?” I spit when he just continues to stand beside me.
“I let you skate by without talking last night, but you’re not going to get off that easy today.”
“I’m not talking about Syria or Camp Pendleton.”
“Fair enough. Let’s talk about what happened at the school the other day.”
“We already did.”
Just the memories from that day, walking in and seeing Ivy pinned against the wall with the threat of that guy touching her makes my blood begin to boil all over again.
“How about last night? How do you go from being close enough to Jared Franklin to stay on his family’s property to beating him up at the bar?”
I know he’s not going to leave me alone until we have this conversation, but at the same time, I feel like he’s forcing my hand and that’s barely tolerable.
“I thought she was drugged,” I confess.
He stiffens beside me, the protective side of him flaring to life. “Was she?”
I shake my head, unable to verbalize just how wrong I was.
“Why would you think that?”
“She was kissing him. I didn’t think she’d kiss anyone so quickly after—”
“After what?” he prods, but I can tell by his tone that he’s wondering if he even should’ve asked the question, as if the answer would be too personal to share with him.
“I thought she was mine.” I swallow when an emotion other than anger bubbles in my throat. “I thought she wanted only me.”
The bottle crinkles in my hand as I grip it in frustration. Cannon is smiling down at Ivy, wiping water from her face since she just got knocked off his shoulders by Delilah. They both look so happy, so… normal.
“Did she tell you as much?” I don’t answer. “Did she tell you she loved you?”
“No,” I grunt.
“And if she did?”
“I told her I have nothing to give her.”
“We both know that’s not true.” He and mom both have always been our biggest advocates, supportive, yet making us understand we sometimes have to fight hard for what we want. Self-depreciation is never allowed either. Having a defeatist attitude around my dad is the equivalent of already giving up, and Griggs don’t give up.
“She’s a beautiful woman.” I smile at his confession, not worried about my dad’s opinion in the least. As far as attraction, the man doesn’t see anyone but my mother. “Surely you don’t expect that to go unnoticed by the men around her. If you told her she doesn’t have a chance with you, it’s unfair to expect her not to move on.”
His words are an echo of what Melissa said to me last night. I couldn’t argue then, and today I don’t have a leg to stand on either.
“You can’t keep attacking men for taking notice.”
“Maybe I should leave.” It’s not a threat, but a realization that just hit me in the chest. I can’t hang around and watch her with other people. I’m physically not capable, but at the same time, the tremble in my hands returns with the thought of being away from her.
“You don’t need to go anywhere.” I appreciate him saying it. “She’s only here for the summer.”
My world implodes with the second half of his statement. I knew this. Deep in my gut, I knew she wasn’t planning on staying here. She has a full year of college left, and I’m not the type of man to ask her to stay. My eye twitches with his words. Combine that with the sight of the new guy swimming toward her with a lascivious grin on his mouth makes me realize that maybe I wasn’t the type of man to ask her to stay, but I’m not so sure I’m that man now.
“She deserves better than me,” I say out loud, cringing at the confession when my dad sighs beside me.
“You’re a good man, Griffin.”
His hand lifts, as if he’s going to grasp my arm or clap me on the back in solidarity, but instead of touching me, he lets it fall back to his side. I’m grateful that he didn’t touch me, but disheartened that he questions his ability to treat me the same as he would’ve years ago.
“I’m not,” I argue. His reaction to me proves that.
Stepping away from the window, I begin to pace around the room. All of it is too much. It’s not just Ivy. It’s the secrets and the truth no one knows but me. It’s staying in this house when I’m an impersonator of the man they think is here.
My forehead beads in sweat even though I can feel the cool air from the A/C on my arms. My heart hammers in my chest, and the discomfort I feel walking around my room and being unable to see her forces me back to the window.
“Your moth—” Dad begins.
His words halt when I tense again. It’s not the sight in the pool this time that draws my eye. It’s the shadow that moves along the edge of the indoor pool, just outside of the gate, a mere twenty feet from where Ivy is.
“They’re going to hurt her!”
I push past my dad so fast I don’t even know if he tries to stop me. There’s nothing that can stop me from protecting her.
Chapter 26
Ivy
“You’re not giving up are you?” Tug asks as he sways his body through the water rather than moving with his feet even though we’re in the shallower end of the pool. From the easy effort, I bet he’s as fast in the water as he is on land.
“They’re…umm—” I point behind him, so I don’t have to actually say the words. “They aren’t exactly playing anymore.”
He glances over his shoulder, and a huge smile spreads his face when he looks at the paired-off couples making out. “Yeah. I guess they aren’t. Wanna get out and grab a drink?”
“I’m not…I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I respond awkwardly.
“Getting a drink isn’t a good idea?” He frowns. “We’ve been swimming for over an hour, and people dehydrate if they don’t drink. Most people assume since they’re in water that they don’t need to drin—”
I hold my hand up to quiet him. “Sorry. I misread—never mind. Let’s grab some water.”
“You thought I was flirting with you?” There’s laughter in his tone, and I hate when the joke is on me.
“No. That’s not what I thought.” I climb out of the pool first. He chuckles, and I cringe at the thought that he finds it funny that I’d think he was into me somehow. “Can we just forget about it?”
“Look.”
He stops me in my tracks, catching me at the bend of my elbow and urging me to turn back around to face him. His dark brown eyes peer down at me, and I can tell he wasn’t making fun of me.
“You’re absolutely gorgeous, but working here is the chance of a lifetime. If I thought I could date you and still be a part of Cerberus, I’d try it in a heartbeat.” His eyes dart over my shoulder. “Something tells me you wouldn’t be open to the possibility, though.”
“Ivy!”
Tug is forgotten about the second I turn around and see Griffin barreling toward me. He isn’t angry at the sight of me standing near another guy. The look on his face is nothing like it was last night with Jared. He’s terrified, and he’s focused past the pool near the back of the patio leading into the indoor swimming pool.
“What’s going o—” Griffin grabs me by the arm with ten times more force than the Cerberus member used just moments ago. “Ouch.”
Even knowing he’s causing me pain, Griffin doesn’t ease up on his hold as he pulls me to his chest. “We have to get out of here. It isn’t safe.”
“What are you talking about?”
Even though he’s acting crazed, I let him guide me toward the gate he left swinging open when he rushed in here.
“Not now, Dad,” Griffin hisses when he sees Morrison walking toward us. “I have to get her to safety.”
“She’s sa
fe, son. I promise. Nothing can hurt either of you here.” His dad holds his hands up, as if he’s trying to talk a suicidal man off a ledge. I’ve seen Morrison get a handle on chaotic situations before, and it didn’t look like this. He looks almost nervous like he doesn’t know what the outcome is going to be. That realization makes me shake. It means Morrison isn’t in control of this situation.
“They’re coming for me,” Griffin hisses. “They’ll use her to get to me. I won’t have it.”
He holds me tighter, and I let my body ease into his. Fighting his strength would be ineffectual right now. If I go by the pounding of his heart, his adrenaline is up, and I won’t win if I try to out-force him.
“It’s just us, son.” Morrison’s words are muffled by Griffin’s arm around my head. “You’re safe.”
Over and over he tries to soothe his son, but the more he talks, the more Griffin gets agitated. I can feel it in his hold on me and the tension in his muscles.
“Dad, please move. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will to keep her safe.”
Everyone goes silent, and just when I think it’s over, and his dad was able to talk some sense into him, I’m spun around, still cradled against Griffin’s chest. There seems to be an altercation, but his grip never relents
“Grab him before he takes her down with him!” I hear someone yell, and I think about how ridiculous that is. Griffin wouldn’t do anything to put me in real harm. He’s been beating guys up just for touching me. He wouldn’t go to all of that trouble just to hurt me himself.
“Get the fuck off me!” Griffin roars and the force of his voice rumbling from his chest right against my ear is jarring. I’ve never known any of the men in my life to speak this way, certainly not Griffin and especially not to his father.
Suddenly, every muscle in his body goes lax, and I can feel myself being dragged to the ground with him.
“There you go,” an unfamiliar voice says as I’m pulled from Griffin’s embrace.
I push against my new handler’s chest, desperate to know what happened to Griffin. When I look over, I see Jameson standing off to the side with an uncapped needle in his hand.