Uh-huh. I didn’t buy that for a second. “If I start to burn, then I’ll put it back on,” I promised.
“Fine,” he bit out before he started for the water. I smiled to myself as I pulled off my shirt and dropped it onto my shorts. I did, however, grab my towel and follow behind Zeke. Someone whistled. Oh, great.
“Hey, it’s Casper!” a girl shouted. I flipped the bird toward the voice. Another whistle had Zeke stopping in his tracks and waiting for me. It was the last whistle of my walk to the water. Guys actually turned away from me when Zeke was next to me.
When we reached the water, the guys were laughing their asses off.
“What are you laughing at?” I demanded.
Asher shook his head. “It’s not you, Ally, it’s all the guys looking away from Zeke’s glare.”
I looked up at Zeke. Sure enough, he was glaring at some guy I recognized from my Math class. I shook my head, climbed onto a flat rock a few feet over the water, and cannon balled right into the middle of the boys. I came up and smiled at them. Zeke dove in and splashed everyone.
The guys started jumping into the water from the first level. I simply enjoyed floating and relaxing in the cool water. The guys took turns holding my hand so I didn’t float off. Isaac spun me around in circles until I was laughing and begging him to stop.
It was an hour later when I was sitting on a rock ledge in the water, watching the guys jump and considering giving it a shot myself, when Eric swam up.
“Hey, Lexie,” he said with a smile. His shaggy brown hair was slicked back from his face. His skin was tan from the sun. He was a good-looking guy, just not enough to counter his personality.
“Hey, how’s your summer going?’ I asked with a smile.
“Not bad,” he said. “How about yours?” He lifted himself out of the water to sit next to me on the ledge. I fought not to tense up. The guys were right in front of me, and it was daylight. Chill out, Lexie. I focused on something else.
“Going good so far.” I turned away to watch Isaac jump off the second level.
“Do you have any plans tonight?” he asked casually.
“Yeah, I’m hanging out with the guys at the farmer’s market,” I told him. He cringed a bit. I fought back a smile. He really didn’t like Zeke.
“There are some rumors going around.” Eric’s voice caught my attention. I turned back to him. “Are you dating Blackthorn?”
I wish. I rolled my eyes. I’d love to date Zeke, or Miles, or Asher, or Ethan, or… hell, even Isaac was popping up on my radar lately. I had it bad and didn’t know what to do. “Those aren’t new rumors. They’re old. Why do you ask?”
“There’s just a rumor going around that Zeke broke up you and that guy from Dulcet” he said.
I shot him a look. “And where did you hear that?”
He shrugged. “From several people.”
I shook my head as I looked back out at the guys. Asher turned our way. I winked at him, letting him know I was fine. “Dylan - that guy from Dulcet - dumped me because he saw me have a seizure and ran like a bitch.” I turned back to him. “Zeke didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“He seems pretty protective of you,” he pointed out.
“He’s protective of all his friends,” I countered.
Eric chuckled. “I don’t see him getting pissed about girls whistling at Westfell.”
I smiled at the image. “Nah, but I’m smaller and cuter than they are.”
Eric snorted. Asher chuckled. I met Asher’s eyes and shrugged. “Tell me I’m wrong!”
Asher shook his head. “I agree completely, Ally.”
I chuckled.
Eric looked out at Asher, who was about eleven feet from us. “He can hear you?”
I smiled up at him. “Asher has excellent hearing.”
Eric’s face turned red. “I’ll… I’ll see ya around.”
“Later.” I held back my laughter until Eric was out of earshot. Then I couldn’t seem to stop. Eventually I did, when I needed to catch my breath.
I was relaxing in the water when my coffee wore off. I blinked hard as my energy level dropped. Shit… I was trying to decide if I was going to get out or stay in when Zeke swam over.
“You’re burning, Lexie,” he told me as he stood up. I looked down at my shoulders. He was right, I was starting to turn pink.
“Damn it.” I swam to the edge, found my feet, and climbed out of the water. I picked up my towel, wrapped it around my waist as I headed back to our blanket.
“Oh look, it’s the slut banging my brother,” Jessica’s voice came from the crowd. I turned as I started to squeeze the extra water out of my hair. Jessica was taller than me. She had a pretty face with the same sandy-blond hair as Asher. She was looking amazing in a blue two-piece and gold sandals.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said, my voice about as lively as I felt. I turned back around and kept walking to our blanket. Jessica followed.
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull that he is just using you?” Jessica asked snidely.
I picked up my sunblock and began rubbing it into my shoulders. “You really don’t think much of your brother, do you?”
Her eyes grew wide, as if I had slapped her. “My brother is amazing,” she snapped.
I tilted my head to the side. “And I’m trash, right? At least according to you.”
She huffed and looked down her nose at me. “Yeah, you are.”
“And you believe I’m banging your brother,” I stated as I changed arms. “So, either your brother is an idiot because I’m so obviously trash and yet he’s banging me, or your brother is awesome and therefore thinks well enough about me to have a relationship with me.” She blinked at me. “It can’t be both, so which is it?”
Jessica stared at me as she tried to think her way out of the puzzle I set for her. I pulled on my slouchy white boyfriend shirt as I waited for an answer. When she still said nothing, I began to add another layer of sunblock to my face.
“Which is it, Jess?” Asher’s voice had us both turning. Asher stood at the end of the blanket.
“She’s using you,” Jess stated.
He shook his head, his eyes hard. “Jess, I’m sick of this.”
“I’m trying to protect you,” Jessica insisted.
“Bullshit,” he stated. “You’ve always loved tearing into anyone I liked. And I’m not allowed to say shit about Jason.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Jason isn’t using me to get back at you.”
“Oh, please,” I muttered as I picked up my towel again and began soaking up water from my hair.
“Jason is an asshole,” Asher told her. I went still. This was new… but he wasn’t done yet. “I don’t like him, but I say nothing, because you do. I respect your choices when I can. For once, can you just respect mine?”
“You’re making a mistake,” Jess told him. “She doesn’t care about any of you.”
“And you do?” he snapped, his voice angry and sharp. I flinched. I’d never heard that voice from Asher before. And from the look on Jessica’s face, she hadn’t either. “I can go days without seeing you, Jess. The guys haven’t heard from you in over a year.” Her face was blank as he continued. “Ally’s my friend. Deal with it.” Jessica huffed and stormed off.
Asher turned back to me. “I’m sorry about her. The things she says…”
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault. If she really thinks I’m trying to get back at her for something… Then, I guess, in her twisted way, she is trying to protect you.”
Asher eyed me. “You alright?”
I gave him a tired smile. “Yeah, I’m just… I think I’m going to take a quick nap.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A nap?”
“Yeah, that workout this morning wiped me out,” I lied.
“Okay.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Just… stay out of the sun.”
I sat down in a nice shady spot and smiled. “Way ahead of ya.” I folded up my towel and laid sideways across the blanket.
“You need anything, give a shout,” he told me.
“Don’t worry, I will,” I told him as I folded my hands behind my head and looked at the sky through the leaves. Asher hesitated before heading back to the others. My mind went straight back to the scan results.
Asher