Friends vs. Family by C. L. Stone
“You have to beat me first.”
I took off under the water, holding my breath and racing toward the other end. There was no point in waiting for him to say go.
It didn’t take him long to break my lead and he touched the other side quickly enough to straighten up out of the water and lean against the edge on his elbows as if he’d been waiting for me for hours. When I came up on the other side, I made sure to splash him more.
Victor was in the corner, leaning against the wall. He tilted his head at us. “What’s this?”
“Racing,” Nathan said. He turned to me. “And I get all the strawberries off your smoothie when we go out next.”
Victor’s eyebrows shot up. “Betting?”
“Hell, yeah,” Gabriel said, coming up next to us. He held his arms above his head and stretched. I got a better view of his abs. His shorts slid down his hips, stopping at the curve of his butt. “What’s the winner get?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s whatever you want.”
“You better watch that,” Victor warned, but he smiled and got into a racing position against the wall. “Asking for whatever we want might be more than you’re willing to give up.”
“Hey,” Nathan said, a warning tone in his voice.
This seemed to confuse Victor but he shook his head dismissively. “Are we going?”
I kicked off with my legs. The others shot off but it was Nathan that won again.
“Ha!” he said, his laugh cutting through the air. He pointed at my face. “I get shotgun next time.”
I smirked, and stuck my tongue out at him.
“Well this will suck a lot of Nathan wins every time,” Gabriel said, pouting.
“He might not,” I said, slipping him a wink. He caught it and made a devilish grin.
This time I took off again, but I didn’t swim my fastest. Instead I waited for Nathan to get close and I grabbed him around the waist, using what little power I had to push him out of his projected forward motion. He grinned at me under the water, catching me around the hips and stood up, breaking the surface.
I struggled and pushed against his arms. I laughed, breathless.
“You little cheater,” he said as Gabriel tagged the other side, winning.
“It’s not cheating if you don’t set the rules,” I said.
“I won,” Gabriel shouted at us from the other side of the pool. He pointed in my direction. “And I get your damn clip for an entire week.”
I gaped at him. “And I bothered to help you! I want it while we’re swimming.”
“After,” he said.
“And why does everyone want my stuff?” I asked, pushing against Nathan again who was still holding on to me.
They all laughed at me.
Nathan hefted me up over his head. “Get ready for it,” he said.
I held my breath as he tossed me easily across the pool. I landed with a splash, catching Victor in the face with water.
Victor raised a cool arm to his eyes to block part of it. I swam to the surface, laughing. Victor’s fire eyes smoldered and a pleasing smile played across his face.
Gabriel cannonballed into the water and popped up next to me. “Okay, I have to see you do one of those.”
I splashed at him, thinking he was joking. He came after me with a wicked grin. I scrambled to get out of the way, running against the resistance of the pool.
Victor stepped in front of me, and we collided. My hands pressed to his chest in an effort to keep myself from falling over. “Tell him I don’t have to?”
Victor laughed; his arms encircled my bare middle and nearly lifting me out of the water as he tugged me toward the wall. “No,” he said. “I want to see it, too.”
Gabriel climbed out of the water. I wriggled against Victor, who held on to me easily with a strength I wasn’t expecting. Gabriel collected me from Victor.
Gabriel carried me until we were standing at the edge of the middle of the pool where the water was the deepest. Nathan and Victor sat together at one end outside of the pool, their feet in the water.
Nathan cupped his hands together and shouted, “Make a bigger splash than Gabriel, and you get your clip back.”
I brightened at this.
“No fucking way,” Gabriel said.
“What if you win?” I asked him.
His blue eyes glowed at this. He leaned into me to whisper in my ear. “I get that clip forever.”
My heart stopped and my breath escaped. “Hmm,” I said, pretending to ponder it. “And it’s whoever does an awesome cannonball splash, right?”
He nodded, his crystal eyes still intense on me. His back was to the pool. I placed a casual hand on his chest. His eyes lit up again.
“You’re on,” I said.
And I pushed at him as hard as I could.
His face popped in surprise and he grappled for my arm. It was too slippery to hold on to and he fell back into the water in a mess.
I did a sloppy cannonball next to him, but used the move to swim to the other end of the pool under the water before Gabriel could grab on to me.
Nathan stood up on the edge of the pool, laughing. Gabriel was catching up to me. I reached out for Nathan. He snagged my hands and hauled me from the water until I was on my feet next to him.
“No fair,” Gabriel said. “She fucking cheats.”
“Yup,” Nathan said, beaming proudly as he kept a hand on my back, fingers spread over my bare skin. It warmed me and yet my insides were doing flips.
Gabriel swiped his hands at my ankles. “Get back here,” he called out to me.
I laughed, squealing and leaping out of reach. Nathan looped an arm under my knees and carried me. I threaded my arms around his neck to hang on. He started running from the pool. Gabriel flew onto the patio, giving chase.
“Hey!” A voice boomed over the sound of our laughter. “Don’t run with her like that.”
Nathan stopped cold and stiffened. He let go of my legs to let me stand but still held my waist.
We turned together to see North coming through the front gate near the side of the house. His black tank shirt and his dark blue jeans were dusty. He carried a couple of overstuffed book bags on his back.
Behind him from the gate stepped Silas, Luke and Kota, similarly dusty. As they looked at us, shyness sparked through my core. I slipped a finger to my lower lip, blushing as their eyes fell on the pink plaid mini skirt bathing suit.
“Sang baby, don’t let them do that to you,” North said. “He’s going to slip and crack your head.”
“Well look who all decided to show up,” Gabriel said behind us. He hooked his arm around my neck even as Nathan still held onto my hip. Gabriel pressed his side against mine, which in turn made me lean against Nathan. Skin on skin.
My core vibrated.
“We came to make sure you weren’t dead,” Kota said. His eyes hadn’t left my body but he smiled as he touched a forefinger to the corner of his glasses. “No one checked in but I can see why.”
My cheeks radiated again. “Sorry.”
Gabriel chopped at my head. “Shut up. You’re not sorry.”
“I’m not?”
He smirked, and tugged at my arm. “Let’s do it, Nathan.”
Nathan seized me around the stomach and Gabriel snatched up my legs. They held me so that even as I squealed and laughed and tried to break free, they hauled me up over their heads. They walked over to the pool and shifted until I was hanging above the ground. Nathan had a hold of my wrists and Gabriel had my ankles and they started swinging me like I was a hammock between them.
“One,” Nathan shouted.
I drifted precariously over the water.
“Don’t...” North bellow at them.
“Two,” Gabriel said.
There was no three. I flew, splashing into the water sprawled out on my back. I twisted under the surface and swam for the other end of the pool. I pulled my body hard against the water resistance, using an arm motion Nathan had
“I win,” I said, making a face at him. It wasn’t a real race, I knew. I just wanted to say it.
“Shit,” he said, but he didn’t look at all disappointed.
The new arrivals disappeared into Nathan’s house. When they came back out, I was up in Nathan’s arms about to get flung across the pool. I only caught a glance of them all in bathing suits before I started flying. I hit the water, letting myself sink to touch bottom.
I felt the water shift. Silas came at me, wrapped his arms around my stomach and hauled me up until I was cradled in his arms.
“Hi Silas,” I said in a soft voice, oddly shy again as his big hands held me at my back, hugging me. My bare, soft stomach met with his hard muscles.
“Hi aggele mou,” he said. His black hair stuck wet to his forehead. A droplet slid down against his cheek. “Miss us?”
I brightened. “Yup.”
“Well we’ve got all night.”
My fingers traced my parted lips. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you know? Erica said to come over and we’re all hanging out tonight.”
Was that what she meant? “You mean sleeping over?”
He laughed, nodding.
My heart beat wildly at the thought of spending the entire night out with all of the guys. Were they sure we could? I was having so much fun now that I was completely forgetting my parents and everything that had happened. I checked the others as if they had been listening and looking for confirmation.
North, Luke and Kota stood in the pool. They were talking together at one end with Victor, Nathan and Gabriel.
At first I was distracted because it was the first time I had seen Kota without a shirt. I was thrown into near shock. He seemed just as well-built as the others. Why had I thought before that he was weaker or was it just the almost geek-like stereotype he resembled? He almost as defined as Nathan, but Kota was slightly slimmer, smoother.
Then it was seeing them altogether with their shirts off. I felt myself taking in a slow breath, in awe of their bodies, their striking handsomeness. How in the world did I end up friends with them? It felt like an eternity had passed since the first day and I had forgotten where this started. I felt so out of place compared to their shocking good looks and their various talents. Plain Sang didn’t belong.
After I had gotten my eyeful of them, I overheard my name being mentioned and I was straining to hear.
Silas lifted me a little higher in his arms. “So do you really want to fly?”
My eyes popped open and I grinned wickedly. I knew this was a distraction but I was too excited to care. “How?”
He let go of me until I was standing next to him. He backed up until he could stand waist deep in the water and positioned his hands out in front of himself as if he wanted to give me a boost. “Put both of your feet in my hands,” he said.
I dropped my hands onto his broad shoulders. My fingertips tingled at the touch of his bare skin. I slipped a foot into his hands, and pushed myself up until I could get the other one next to it. He wrapped his fingers around my feet.
“Bend your knees a little,” he said as he lifted me slightly out of the water.
I wobbled, mostly due to nerves, and my hands gripped at his shoulders.
“I’ve got you,” he said. His face floated close to my belly. I sucked in my stomach but steadied as he used his shoulder to bolster me at my thighs. “I’m going to move down into the water and push you up and out. You should get ready to jump from my hands at the same time. Push yourself off.”
I let out a slow breath as he grasped at my feet. He slipped into the water until it was up to his shoulders.
I bent my knees slightly, waiting.
“Ready?”
“No,” I said in a tiny voice. I shut my eyes and squealed. “Do it.”
He grunted as he lifted, shoving me up to boost me into the air.
“God damn it, Silas,” North yelled as I put my full energy into jumping from Silas’s hands.
I was flying. I somersaulted, flipping over until I hit the water with my knees, almost upright.
I surfaced and I could hear Gabriel hooting. The others laughed. North tried to give me an angry eyeball but his mouth was grinning.
Gabriel backed away from the others and stepped to the edge of the pool. He jumped, doing a full front flip and shallow dive, zooming under the water for me.
I scrambled to get behind Silas thinking Gabriel was after me again. Gabriel surfaced, nodded at Silas and they did that silent communication.
“Watch this,” Gabriel said. He positioned himself like I had done in Silas’s hands. In a flash he was up in the air, light as a feather, flipped twice and landed smoothly into the middle of the pool.
My mouth was open, impressed by the acrobatics.
“I can do better,” Luke shouted. “Let’s do it at the same time, Sang. Gabriel, you push her in the air.”
“Shit, make them stop, Kota,” North said.
“I think there’s enough of us around to make sure they aren’t going to drown,” Kota said calmly.
North huffed but slipped into the water. He eyed me intently and swam for me.
His wide tapered shoulders parted the water in a wave. The line of coarse hair starting from his black bathing suit and ending above his belly had me hypnotized.
He hooked an arm out, and grabbed at my waist to drag me with him in the water until we were next to Silas. “If anyone’s going to, I’ll do it. Make sure you don’t break your head.”
North boosted me in his hands like Silas had done. Again I sucked in my stomach as North’s warm breath teased my belly button. Silas lifted his hands again for Luke. Luke grabbed Silas’s shoulders and hauled himself out of the water.
“Ready?” North asked. His dark eyes focused on my face.
I squealed a little. “Okay.”
North counted off with Silas and I was flung into the air. Luke did a double flip and I managed simply to twist and flip almost completely over. I crashed into the water, bobbing up and laughing.
North swam up to me, catching me by the hips. My arms instinctively wrapped around his neck and he held me against his body. “You okay?”
I started to nod, trying to assure him I was fine, but my eyes caught on something over his head.
A face was looking in at us over the fence.
North caught where I was looking. North pulled me down again into the water, turning to block me from view of whoever it was and covering the side of my head with his big hand to pull me closer to him.
Gabriel shot out of the water and raced toward the fence. The face disappeared. Gabriel caught the edge of the fence and scaled it, hanging off of the top to look over. His head twisted to watch whoever it was and he dropped down again, walking back toward the pool.
“It was Danielle,” he said. “She ran off.”
North grunted near my ear and his arm tightened around my hips. “I’m getting really tired of her.”
Kota was insistent that we not worry about Danielle. I wondered why she was spying on us or how she knew we were there. Was Marie with her? Would she tell our mom?
Despite my questions, everyone obeyed Kota. It wasn’t mentioned again.
It was easy to lose track of time swimming with the others. Silas, North and Nathan took turns flipping us and each other. Victor and Kota chose to stay out of the water most of the time, watching us with their feet dangling into the pool. On occasion they gave instructions to us on how to do it better or offered a challenge.
When I was exhausted, I swam up next to Kota, pulling myself up to sit next to him. Without his glasses, his green eyes sparked.
“Hi,” he said, the friendly smile warm and inviting. “Having fun?”
I nodded, breathless. “I can’t flip as high as the others.”
“It’s practice,” he said. “You have to work at it.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “When am I ever going to get to practice?”
He brought his face close until his forehead was touching mine. “You ask nicely.”
I blushed. “Are you going to swim?”
“I thought you were flipping.”
“I haven’t raced you yet,” I said. “I’ve been flipping so much I’m dizzy. Let’s just swim.”
He chuckled. “Are you sure you want to race me?”
Victor nudge Kota’s arm. “It’s a trap. If you win, you get a favor or something and she totally cheats.”
“Shhh,” I said. “Don’t tattle.”
Victor smirked back at me. “You’re lucky I haven’t won yet.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “You can’t win if you don’t race.” I splashed into the water again, reaching a hand out for his.
His fire eyes ignited. His hand drifted out toward mine. I grabbed it and tugged lightly. He slipped into the water.
I glanced over at Kota. “Ready?” I stretched my free hand out to him.
His smile was strange to me and I didn’t quite understand it. He clutched my hand, his fingers enveloping mine. He pushed himself off into the water and kept hold on to my hand.
I was holding both of their hands at the same time. I laughed, trying to deflect when I felt awkward. Friends touch, I kept repeating in my head.
We positioned ourselves at one end of the pool. Gabriel and the others backed out of the way, understanding what we were going to do and giving us room.
I was in the middle, Kota to my left and Victor to my right. From what I remembered, Victor was slower than the others. I was questioning how fast Kota was. I bent my knees against the side of the pool and readied myself.
“On your mark,” Nathan shouted over the buzz of voices surrounding him.
I shot off before he finished what he was saying. I accidentally started laughing at the same time, which wasted a whole bunch of air. It felt so wrong to be cheating against Kota.
Kota started to pass me and out of desperation, I grabbed at his leg, trying to pull him backward in the water as Nathan had done to me before. I meant to distract him long enough to breeze past him. I wasn’t as strong as Nathan and my effort only caused Kota to look back at me, confused. He turned in mid-stroke. He swam after me, picked me up in his arms and lifted out of the water.