by L A Cotton
“I’ll grab it,” John maneuvered onto his knees and shuffled to the edge of the raft.
“No, leave-” Blake yelled, but it was too late.
John leaned over the side a little too far and toppled headfirst into the lake. The raft tilted with him. I grabbed a hold of Sheridan who grabbed Sara. When it landed back in the water with a thud, it sent all of us crashing into one another. Nearest to the edge, I lost my balance and rolled backward.
The cold water hit me like a force field, and I gasped as the water closed around me. Icy liquid filled my mouth, and I choked and spluttered trying to kick my way to the surface. I’d survived a wild summer here, managed to keep forty teenage girls alive, and yet, here I was, about to drown on my last day.
Hands grabbed me around my waist and just for a second, I felt paralyzed.
And then something in me broke.
Panic surged through me, and I started kicking and lashing out. My arms and hands contacted with something solid. Water splashed around me.
“Penny, Penny, calm down, it’s me. It’s me.”
I blinked rapidly trying to clear my eyes. Blake stared back at me with such reverence, I stilled. “Hi.” Blake had his arms wrapped firmly around my waist. He was supporting us both in the water, keeping us afloat.
The panic subsided; I regained control of my limbs and demanded my feet kick.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Come on.” He released one arm around me to pull us closer to the raft. Sara held out the paddle for him to grab, and she and Malachi pulled us in.
Blake pushed me to the edge of the raft and a soggy Peter and Sheridan helped me up. I was completely soaked and very embarrassed. I heard Blake pull himself out of the water behind me, but I didn’t dare turn around.
“I told you you’d end up wet,” a voice from across the lake shouted. We all turned to find the other raft passing us and a very smug looking Marissa with her hands cupped around her mouth.
Everyone around me burst into laughter, and I felt Blake’s eyes burning into my back. I turned slightly. Our eyes locked and the emotion behind his blue depths winded me. Sucked the air right out my lungs. What was he trying to tell me?
“WINNERS.” The air horn sounded again and cheering broke through our moment. The other team had reached the other side of the lake. They had won.
We had lost.
Only I had a sinking feeling I’d lost more than just a silly competition.
After watching the other team crowned as Camp Chance champions, I returned to the cabin to dry out.
And to escape Blake.
His efforts to avoid me all week had been telling me one thing, but when he looked at me after saving me from drowning in the lake, his eyes told me something completely different. Marissa was right; I needed to talk to him. Before we left tomorrow, I needed to clear the air. Even if I didn’t like the outcome.
I showered and changed into a dry pair of shorts, a tank, and my blue camp hoodie. My bag was packed and resting against the wall. I glanced around the room; I sure was going to miss this place. The last ten weeks had tested me, exhausted me, but most of all, strengthened me. I still had a way to go until I would completely heal—if that was even possible—but I was stronger. Even Blake’s presence, despite throwing me for a loop in the beginning, had given me a chance to face some of the ghosts of my past. When I returned to Columbus, I was finally going to exorcise my demons.
“Oh, hey, you are here.” Marissa slipped into the cabin and smiled. “What have you been doing all this time?”
“Getting dry,” I said sarcastically.
“Are you okay? Sheridan said you panicked. I didn’t realize.”
“I’m fine.” I sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to pack now…” Marissa blushed, something I didn’t think I’d ever seen her do. “You know, in case, well, in case anything happens tonight.”
“You mean in case Liam finally gives in to your advances?” I arched my eyebrow. Marissa refused to accept his blow offs.
“Exactly. Give me a hand with my stuff?”
I glanced around her side of the room. There were clothes strewn everywhere. “Sure, I guess.”
“Awesome, and then we can head over to the fire. Troy is grilling tonight.”
Forty-minutes later, Marissa’s bag had joined mine by the door, and we headed to the campfire.
“I’m going to talk to him tonight,” I said with a lot more confidence than I felt.
“You should. You can’t leave things the way they are because you’ll regret it. Maybe he just got cold feet? You know how guys are like when they’re overwhelmed.”
I didn’t, but I didn’t tell Marissa that. Just as I didn’t tell her the real reason Blake had spent the whole week giving me the cold shoulder.
The crackle of the fire grew louder as we cut through the trees to the campfire. Everyone had gathered around to enjoy a celebratory beer, and Troy was at the half-drum barbecuing burgers and steaks.
“Girls, get over here,” he called over noticing us arrive.
I followed Marissa, but a hand cut in front of me and Tina stepped into my vision. “Hey, Penny. Can I borrow you for a second?”
Confused, I said, “Sure.”
Tina led me to the main cabin. She asked how I had found the summer and commended me on how well I’d bonded with the girls. She was stalling, making small talk, and a feeling of dread started to unfold in my stomach.
“Come in,” she said opening the door to her and Troy’s small office at the back of the cabin. I followed her inside and took at seat. She sat behind her big wooden desk piled with papers and looked at me with a grim expression. “Please understand. I wouldn’t usually get involved with my employee’s business like this, but Blake is a good friend. I’ve known him a long time…”
Blake? What did Blake have to do with this? Oh God, did she know about us sneaking off the other night? Had someone reported us? Dread turned to nausea and my hands trembled in my lap.
Tina opened a drawer in her desk and retrieved an envelope. “Here. Blake left this for you.” She handed it to me across the desk.
Left it for me? I didn’t understand.
“Why couldn’t he just give it to me himself?”
A sad smile tugged at Tina’s lips. “He’s gone, Penny. He got a call and had to leave.”
Gone?
“He can’t be gone. I was just with him. On the lake. He pulled me out of the water.”
It hit me like a wrecking ball.
Blake was gone.
For the second time in my life.
Age 16
I traced patterns on the bare skin of Penny’s stomach where her top rode up. It was one of my favorite places on her body. Her stomach. The soft skin just underneath her ears. Her lips. Okay, so I liked most of her body. Penny wasn’t a kid anymore. Her hips were wider and she had curves… in all the right places. I tried to keep my feelings under wraps, but sometimes it was damn near impossible. Like now, with her lying in the grass in No Man’s Land with that ridiculously tight tank top that hardly covered her midriff.
“What are you doing down there?” Penny pushed up onto her elbows, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, and peered down her body at me. I was half-draped over her legs my chin resting on her thigh as my fingers continued to brush her exposed skin.
“Just enjoying the view.”
“Well, can’t you enjoy it from up here? I miss you.” She pouted, and I crawled up the side of her body catching her bottom lip between my teeth and sucking gently. She shrieked and then giggled.
I pulled back and stared down at her; I couldn’t imagine life without this girl. Her eyes shone brightly, the way they did whenever she looked at me. Her cute pout melted away, and her lips hooked up into a smile as she curled her hands around my neck and drew me down to her.
Our lips brushed. Penny’s tongue licked along the crease of my mouth, and
my dick strained against my jeans. Shut it off, Weston, I silently cursed. We were only at second base. There had been a semi-naked dry humping incident once, but Penny freaked and we had to stop. I almost came in my jeans. Lately, I seemed to spend more and more time in a cold shower, but I vowed not to push Penny into anything she wasn’t ready for. And after what that bastard did to her, I knew she wasn’t ready.
We weren’t ready.
Even if our bodies were saying otherwise.
I deepened the kiss and rolled my weight onto her a little more. We didn’t get to spend much time out here anymore, but it was still our place—the only place we could be ourselves. When Penny’s hands started trailing down my back, I ended the kiss. I was the one who had to shut down our play. Penny thought she was ready, she’d told me more than once, but it was too soon. Penny wore a mask, acted brave in the face of what Derek had put her through, but I knew shit like that had to leave some kind of mark. I tucked her into the crook of my arm, and we did what we used to do during our late night visits to Lake Cenci; we lay under the stars naming our own constellations.
After a while, Penny said, “Do you think about life after this place, Blake? About what will happen?” Penny gazed over at me as if I was her world, causing my stomach to knot tightly.
I wanted to be—her world. I wanted to give her the moon and the stars and everything between. She deserved it and so much more. She deserved life; one better than the shit we put up with living with Derek and Marie.
“All the time. Come here.” I looped my arm around her neck, not caring if anyone spotted us, and drew her in tighter as we lay beyond the yard staring up at the night sky. Tiny lights sparkled like diamonds on a smooth black canvas. It was beautiful. A little slice of heaven in our own fucked-up version of hell. “Eighteen more months, Penny, and then we’re free and it’ll be just you and me.”
Penny sighed beside me. It was full of hope. I felt it in the way her hand lightly squeezed mine, and how her body relaxed into the ground as the breath left her lungs. We both wanted more. More than the shit hand we had been dealt. We had dreams and hopes for the future, just like any other sixteen-year-old kid. Except we weren’t like most other kids. We had already lost so much… lived so much.
It was what brought us together in the first place, but now… now, things were different between us. Sometime in the last two years, my best friend had become my reason for breathing.
My everything.
“Eighteen months. We can make that, right?” Her voice was unsure, and I hated them for taking away the last shred of fight she’d had when she arrived at the Freeman group home with just one bag and a shitload of nightmares.
I rolled slightly to face Penny, my eyes taking in her delicate features. Chocolate brown eyes set against pale skin with a peppering of freckles that covered her perfectly shaped nose framed by loose dark waves rolling over her slim shoulders.
Trying to push down all of my anger for the things she’d faced in this place, I choked out, “You’re my lucky Penny. With you by my side, we can survive anything.”
I followed Mason into the house. We were too busy laughing and joking about last period that I didn’t notice Derek standing at the bottom of the staircase.
“Yo, Derek,” Mason said in an indifferent tone as he walked straight past him into the kitchen.
My good mood disappeared, and I locked eyes with Derek refusing to back down. He straightened and said, “Keep walking, boy,” as his evil smirk spread wider.
My fists clenched at my sides, and I had to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from saying something I would regret. It was always the same. Derek would catch me off guard, and I’d struggle to rein in my temper. But the dick had me right where he wanted me. If I went after him, he would kick me out, and he knew I would never risk leaving Penny behind. Deep down, I think that’s why he went after her in the first place because he knew I liked her. In some sick and twisted way, he was jealous of our bond.
The first time I had caught Derek jerking off in Penny’s room, I thought he had hurt her… or worse. Penny explained everything to me, but it didn’t make me feel any better. The sick fuck had laid down with her on the bed, unzipped his pants, and jacked off while Penny lay paralyzed next to him. He didn’t talk to her or make her touch him; he just got himself off while stroking her skin and then left.
Penny begged me not to do anything; I was one second away from rushing out of the room and pounding my fists into his face. But then Penny dropped a bombshell. Derek had threatened her with splitting us up. If either of us said a word to anyone, he would make sure we never saw each other again.
For that first few months, I was so full of anger and darkness that I pulled away from everyone. Even Penny, to some extent. Every time I crossed paths with Derek, I saw red and it took everything in me not to confront him. It was even worse on the nights he crept into Penny’s room. I would lay down the hall listening for the creak of the door and the sound of her muffled cries, plotting ways to end him. But after a while, the cries stopped. When I asked Penny what had changed, she simply said, ‘I won’t let him break me.’ That was the day I knew I had to be strong for us as well.
Derek never returned to her room after that.
It wasn’t until Jessica aged out and Penny moved into the bigger room with Amy and Mia that I slept easier, knowing she was in a room with two other girls. Of course, part of me wondered if Derek had done the same thing to any of the others. He had made comments about Amy before, and she was always so mean and yet eager to please Derek that it crossed my mind more than once. But what was I supposed to do? Derek and Marie had been fostering for years; in the eyes of the state, they had a clean record and ran a good home. No social worker would listen to the likes of me; the hot-tempered kid from the drug dealer father and drug addict mother.
With Penny off-limits, Derek came down on me harder. Assigned me extra chores, grounded me for even looking at him wrong, and he even cornered me a couple of times and left me with bruised ribs. But I took everything he had to give and then some. When he bolted down the window in the downstairs bathroom and stayed up extra late to make sure we couldn’t sneak out, we found new ways to spend time together. Stolen kisses during our lunch break or a brush of our hands while sitting in the den. Plus, we always had Sundays out by the lake while Marie dragged Derek to the Golden Corral. Last night had been a one off; Marie had dragged Derek to some convention in town. The second they were out of the driveway, Penny and I had escaped to No Man’s Land. It was there I’d looked Penny in the eyes and told her we could survive another eighteen months in here. I only hoped I was right because Penny was the only good thing in my life. She was all I needed.
My lucky Penny.
I couldn’t lose her.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully. It was officially the summer, which meant our birthdays were finally in sight. Penny turned seventeen first on September 1st. I followed on September 20th. In just three more months, we would only have twelve months left. Fifty-two weeks before we walked away from Derek and Marie and their stupid fucking rules. Three-hundred and sixty-five days until we were free.
Things were good—as good as they could be in our situation. I caught Derek leering at Penny occasionally, and he still went out of his way to make my life hell, but Marie was having some health concerns that diverted a lot of his attention.
“So what do you want for your birthday?” I whispered to Penny as we walked back from the store with the others. She batted me away. I didn’t give a fuck if the others saw us like this—up close and personal—because they all knew about us anyway. But Penny was a private person, and she didn’t like to flaunt our relationship in front of them.
“Blake,” she warned. “I don’t need anything. You know that. Besides, we have the whole summer yet.”
I did, but she was turning seventeen. I wanted to make it special for her. I was saving the money I got for helping Mr. Banks out with his lawn across the road. I was su
rprised Derek and Marie allowed it, but when the old man came and asked them personally if Mason and I could give him a hand, they couldn’t really say no. Keeping up appearances was too damn important to them.
“Yeah, I know, but if you could have anything, what would you want?”
Her eyes flashed with desire and her cheeks flushed. Well, damn, that backfired.
“Penny…” I smirked, trying to ignore the way she was looking at me. Like she wanted to jump my bones right there on the sidewalk. She dropped her eyes away from me.
“Hey.” I grabbed her hand in my mine and tugged gently forcing her to look at me. “Soon, okay. Soon.”
Her eyes widened, and a slow smile broke over her face. I had been the one to make us wait, but maybe she was strong enough for this. Maybe it was time. It had been almost a year since she moved into the girls’ room, and I wanted her. God, I wanted her so much. But I didn’t want her to regret it or freak out. I didn’t want to ruin what we had. If we were really going to do it, I wanted her one-hundred percent with me. I needed all of her with me.
The Freeman house came into view, and Penny shrugged her hand out of mine. I jammed my hands in my pockets and jogged away from her to catch up with Mason and Ben.
“Who’s that belong to?” Ben said nodding up at the house. The scrawny blond-haired freckled kid was no more. He’d grown up and almost stood as tall as Mase and I did.
“No idea. What’s a car like that doing parked out front of their house?” Mase replied.
I didn’t join in their conversation. I was too busy wondering what in the hell a black Town Car was doing parked outside the Freeman’s house. Its paintwork glistened in the sun; so much so that if you looked right at it, you would probably go blind.
As we neared the path up to the house, the front door opened and a man in a tailored suit appeared. He turned back to say something to Derek and Marie, extending his hand to shake Derek’s hand. A shiver ran through me. What kind of business did they have with a man like this? The man nodded and turned on his perfectly polished shoes and walked out of the side gate. A younger man in a black suit climbed out of the driver’s side and went around to open the door for him. The guy had a fucking chauffeur.