Ethan’s eyes grew wide. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“What the fuck do you think it means?” I shouted in Spanish. “For once you can fucking walk!” I stormed out the door, slamming it behind me. I wasn’t going to deal with his shit anymore.
Lexie
An annoying ringing had me rolling over and unsuccessfully trying to pick up my phone.
“Yeah?” I mumbled.
“We can’t even be in the same room!” Jake shouted in my ear. I rolled onto my back and tried to wake up.
“What? Huh?” I asked, blinking as I tried to get used to the light streaming in my window.
“Derrick and I met last night to try and talk things out,” Jake explained, his voice thick. “We barely said a sentence to each other before we started yelling. That fucker can go to hell!”
What? “Wait… slow down.” I tried to understand. “What happened when you met?”
“We can’t stand each other, that’s what happened,” he grumbled. “He started saying how it was all my fault. And I asked him if he was still talking to his ex-girlfriends. He admitted it!”
I blinked at the high note in his voice. “What? He said… what?”
“He said he was being friendly with his exes,” he scoffed. “I know what being friendly for Derrick is, and those bitches still like him.”
Was he fucking serious? “Jake,” I stated calmly, “do you have proof? Have you seen him flirt, actually flirt, with an ex?”
“Well, no. But he does,” he countered.
I shook my head. “Okay, so you were acting like a jealous ass to the point he broke up with you, you had a chance to fix it and work it out, but instead you went in and accused him of more flirting?”
The line was silent for several heartbeats.
“Um… yeah,” he admitted.
“Damn it, Jake,” I snapped. “Why?”
“I don’t know! When I saw him I got pissed and went off.” He sighed. “I don’t even want to be around him anymore.”
“He’s been your friend for years,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, well. Maybe we weren’t good enough friends to get through this shit,” he groused. I sighed. I was afraid of this.
“I’m sorry, hon,” I said.
“Never date a friend, Lexie.” He sniffed. “You just… it implodes.”
I spent the next hour calming him down. During that hour I fed Hades, took him out, and made coffee and toast. I didn’t have much of an appetite this morning. When I hung up, my heart was aching for Jake.
When I went back upstairs I checked the time. It was one in the afternoon. How the hell had I slept so long? I had gone to bed before midnight... Shit.
Not having any plans, I picked up my drawing supplies and went back downstairs to work.
I was at the table, looking out the window and drawing the lake when Tara came down stairs. I ignored her as I focused on my work. I had coffee, I was drawing, there was no reason for her to talk to me.
Tara made a sandwich and grabbed a soda before sitting at the table. My shoulders grew tense as I continued to ignore her. We sat in silence.
After she finished her lunch, she reached across the table and slid one of my completed drawings to her. I focused on shading a section.
“These are good,” Tara said.
I paused in my drawing. “Thanks.” I didn’t know what to make of it, so I went back to drawing.
“You say you’re dying, but… you got a job. Why?” she asked directly.
I stopped drawing and looked up at her. “I’ve always wanted to be a tattoo artist.” I looked back down at my drawing. “If I don’t get to do that, at least I’ll get to work in a shop for a while.” I went back to drawing.
“When you showed up, Dad treated you different,” she said. I stopped drawing as she continued. “He let you get away with stuff I never could.”
“Well, now you know why,” I told her. “I’m dying, so he lets me out to deal with ghost crap.”
“Yeah, I get it now,” she whispered. “Your friends, do they know?”
“You mean Zeke and Asher?” I asked as I changed pencils.
“No, all of them,” she said. “Isaac knew what to do in April when you fell into the water.”
“Yeah, they do,” I admitted as I looked up and met her eyes. “They’ve saved my ass… I can’t even count how many times now.”
“They really do care about you,” she pointed out.
“They’re my friends.” I went back to drawing.
“Well, I’m glad you have them,” she said before getting up and heading for the stairs.
Damn it. “If you want, I can make you a sachet for nightmares?” I offered before I realized it.
She stopped at the stairs. “Thanks.” She smiled before heading back upstairs.
Well, that was weird. Maybe realizing I was going die soon loosened the stick from her ass?
I worked for another half hour before the door opened. Asher strode in.
“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Drawing.” I smiled as I put my stuff aside. “What are you doing?”
“Picking you up,” he countered. “We’re going swimming.”
I started picking up my stuff, happy to get out of the house and away from Tara. “Give me five minutes.”
We took his truck and left Hades behind since it was still too hot out for him. Asher had pulled off the highway and onto an old paved road I’d never seen before.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Asher smiled as he pulled off onto a dirt road. “There’s a great hidden swimming spot out here that we used to swim at.”
“Why’s it so great?” I asked, curious now.
“No one but the guys really know about it,” he said. He stopped the truck at the end of the dirt trail.
“Oh yeah?” I picked up my towel and put my sunglasses on top of my head.
He grabbed his towel. “Yeah, now you don’t have to worry about people being blinded by your pale legs.”
I shot him a look before getting out. Asher chuckled as he got out on his side and came around. “It’s this way.” He pointed down a trail. Asher led me down the trail for five minutes before we reached the lake.
The swimming hole was beautiful. It was a small inlet surrounded by trees and grass. In the middle of the cove was a platform floating on the water. An old rope hung from a tree near the water. The water was practically clear.
“Wow,” I said.
“Nice, right?” he said.
“Where’d the platform come from?” I asked when we reached the waterline. I slipped my sandals off before unbuttoning my shorts.
“We made it at Zeke’s then brought it out here and anchored it,” Asher said, his voice muffled a little. I looked over and pressed my lips together. Asher was taking off his shirt, showing off his muscled upper body. My eyes ran down his defined abs to his board shorts that rode low on his… I turned my back so I could get my drooling under control. Damn. I let out a breath as I pulled off my shorts and put them on my towel. There was a splash. I looked over my shoulder as Asher was coming back up. I went back to taking off my shirt, tossing it onto the rock with my sunglasses before I went to the shoreline. I ran and dove into the water. I came back up and swam out further.
“Nice splash,” he teased. I splashed him and then started swimming. Asher started swimming after me.
We swung into the water, swam and jumped off the platform for over an hour.
The sun was behind the mountain when I was floating. I moved from my back and dunked again, slicking my hair back. I wiped the water out of my eyes after I came back up.
Asher was watching me with a small grin on his face. That fucking grin killed me. “Why are you smiling? Do I look that funny without makeup?” He snorted.
“You’re beautiful, Ally,” he said, his voice serious. I rolled my eyes.