“That drunk guy ran into my back.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even see him coming.”
“You had a flash?” I asked carefully. She licked her lips and nodded. I made a mental note to have a word with Thomas before the end of the night. That smirk as he moved back into the crowd didn’t make it seem like an accident. “I’m sorry, Lexie.”
“It’s not your fault,” she reminded me. I reached over and took her hand. She gave my fingers a small squeeze.
“Are you still having nightmares?” I asked, carefully choosing my words. I didn’t know what was too personal a question in this situation, so I was feeling my way through it.
“A couple times a week,” she admitted. She tilted her head and leaned down to look in the water, her hair slipping over one shoulder. “Hey, fish!”
I leaned forward and looked down. She was right, there were a few tiny fish below our feet. “I believe they are baby perch. At least that’s my guess in this lack of light.”
She smiled. “You know everything, Miles.”
Everything but how to tell you the way I feel. I looked up at the sky. I needed to change the subject. “There’s Cassiopeia.”
She looked up at the stars. “Where?”
I pointed. “Right there; that W of stars.”
She shook her head. “I’m still not seeing it.”
“Alright.” I leaned closer so I could point accurately. “Do you see it now?”
“Nope,” she chirped.
I rested my right hand on her back, leaned further, and tried again. “See the one slightly brighter than the other?”
She chuckled, then scooted closer and leaned over until she was resting her back against my chest and shoulder. My heart slammed, my fingers tingled. “Okay, now show me.”
I carefully moved my right hand to her hip as I pointed over her shoulder so she could see along my arm. “You see this star?”
“Now I do.”
I smiled as rosemary tickled my nose. “Now, follow my finger.” I brought my finger diagonally down and to the right. “Do you see the star I’m pointing at now?”
“Yes.”
I moved my finger to the next, moving diagonally again, this time upwards. “How about now?” I asked quietly.
She nodded.
I moved my finger again. “Do you see it?”
“Yeah. How big is this constellation?” she asked.
“One more star.” I moved my finger diagonally again. “And that’s it.”
“Oh, it really is a W. Nifty,” she said, her smile in her voice. I dropped my arm.
“And right behind that,” I said, my voice soft, “is the Milky Way.”
“That stretch of stars, right?”
“Yes.” I smiled to myself.
She stopped leaning against me and smiled at me. “That’s pretty cool.” She looked back up at the sky. “That strip of stars is the rest of the galaxy. It’s beautiful.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her eyes were sparkling. She was smiling a big smile that I rarely saw. Something settled inside me, making me wish that this moment wouldn’t end. “I think so,” I said as I watched her. I wanted to tell her. It was the perfect time. But she might not be ready to start dating again, she might not be interested, and... there was the 'no dating Lexie' agreement with the others. I shoved my feelings down and tried to keep my face blank. I looked out at the water; one of the row boats was coming in.
Eventually, Zeke came into sight as he rowed toward the dock. He maneuvered the boat next to the dock, got to his feet, and tied it off to a pylon.
“Have you been hiding out on the lake all night?” Lexie asked, her voice laughing at him.
Zeke ran his hand through his hair. “Maybe.” He began setting the gear on the dock. “I borrowed the Coopers’ gear and went fishing.” After he finished unloading the boat, he carefully stepped onto the dock. He looked down at us. “What are you guys doing out here?”
Lexie looked back down at the water and the fish. “It’s really crowded inside.”
Zeke met my gaze with hard eyes. I subtly nodded. He clenched his jaw as he looked at Lexie and ran his eyes over her.
Speaking of the hallway… I got to my feet. “I’m going to get a drink. Would you two like anything?”
Lexie shook her water bottle. “Some water, please?”
“Of course.” I turned to Zeke. His gaze shot to me. He knew I was trying to keep him here. He looked to Lexie then back to me.
“A soda,” he all but bit out. I nodded and walked down the dock towards the house. Zeke would stay with Lexie as long as she needed.
Inside, the party had gotten louder. I moved through the house with one thought on my mind. Thomas Avery.
It took a while, but after searching the house, I found him out the front. He was leaning against a tree and talking to a girl.
“Thomas,” I said, my voice cold.
Thomas stood up straight and turned around. “What do you want, Huntington?”
“Why did you run into Alexis Delaney?” I asked, my voice calm.
He grinned. “Didn’t mean to, it was crowded in the hall,” he said, his voice smug.
“Really? No else seemed to have that problem,” I pointed out.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I was dizzy from drinking.”
I eyed him before I turned to the girl. “Would you please excuse us?”
She sent me a shy smile before heading back to the house. When she was gone, I turned back to Thomas. “You were dizzy from being drunk and yet a half an hour later you’re fine?” I eyed the beer can in his hand. “While still drinking?”
Thomas’s face turned pink as he stuck one hand in his pocket. “Yeah.”
I stepped closer and met his eyes. “Try again, and this time the truth,” I said, my voice icy.
He shrugged. “It was just a prank, man.”
“A prank?” I asked carefully, keeping my calm.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Everyone knows that Lexie chick is jumpy since that crap with Ordin. So… some of the guys thought it would be funny to bump into her and see what she’d do.”
Anger burned in my chest. “They thought it would be funny?” My voice was cold enough to give someone frostbite.
He shrugged. “It was a harmless joke.”
Calm, calm, calm. I needed more information. “Who are these friends of yours?”
He scratched behind his ear. “Um, they’re not really friends. They just paid me to bump into her.”
The world grew silent as I found that quiet spot inside me that kept me calm. “They paid you?”
He cringed and nodded. “Yeah, now that I’m hearing it out loud, it does seem messed up.”
“I can’t imagine why. You just ran into a girl to scare her. A girl who has PTSD from an assault that left her with a crack in her skull and put her in the hospital. For money.”
He winced. “Oh, yeah. That’s bad.”
“I want names,” I told him.
He reeled off the names of four football players. People Asher knew. I turned around and left him there. I needed to find the others.
Chapter 4
Lexie
Miles walked down the dock and towards the house. I made little waves with my foot.
“Come on,” Zeke said. I looked up at him over my shoulder. “Help me put away the fishing gear and we’ll hit the fire pit.”
That sounded good to me. I got up and slipped my shoes on. When I took a pole from Zeke I got a whiff of him. “Whoa, you stink.”
He smirked. “I’ve been fishing. I’m going to smell like fish.”
“I didn’t realize that fish smelled that much. Unless you burn them at least.” We started down the dock. He led me to a large, four car garage. “So, did you catch anything? Besides fish smell.”
He grinned. “A few small mouth bass and some trout.” He opened the door to the garage and flipped on the light.
“Where are they?” I asked, confused, as I followed him to a rack of fishing poles.
“Catch and release,” he said as he put the tackle box away before taking the pole from me and setting it on the rack. “There’s no point in keeping the fish if I’m not cooking it.”