“Who is who?” Isaac asked.
“I’m Callie,” the pretty, dark-blond girl said as she took off her shirt to reveal her pink bikini and the body to pull it off. Great.
“I’m Christie,” the brunette said in a high-pitched voice. Asher winced at the sound. Christie pulled off her wrap to expose another great body, this time in a white bikini.
“And I’m Cathy,” the strawberry-blond girl announced before she pulled off her shirt and uncovered a blue and white striped bikini.
“Nice to meet ya?” Isaac said awkwardly.
“We thought we’d join you guys,” Tara said as she pulled off her wrap and showed off her already tanned body in a red bikini. What the hell were they doing here?
“Free country,” Asher muttered. My cousin and her friends moved down the dock. Cathy and Christie jumped in immediately. Callie and Tara sat on the edge of the dock and started putting sunblock on.
“So, what were you guys doing?” Cathy asked, her eyes on Asher. My heart ached.
“Just jumping off the dock,” Asher said as Christie moved near Ethan. The ache grew bigger.
“Cool, can anyone do a flip?” Christie asked while eyeing Ethan.
“Not me,” Ethan answered, moving away to float on his back.
Tara and Callie finished with their lotion and slipped into the lake. Callie moved towards Isaac while Tara moved between me and Zeke.
“How’s your week been?” Tara asked him. Zeke looked at her as if she’d grown another head.
“Do you guys remember that game we used to play?” Miles asked, getting everyone’s attention.
“Which one?” Asher grinned.
“The one where we swim out, dive to the bottom, grab a large rock, and carry it as far as we can to the shore,” Miles reminded them.
“Yeah, I remember kicking all your asses,” Isaac announced. The guys shot him a look.
“We’ll see about that,” Zeke stated before swimming further out. He dove under. Tara’s friends tried to get the guys talking by flirting with them. Zeke came up around nine feet closer than where he started.
“Not bad,” Asher said before swimming out. I shook my head and kept treading water as the guys continued to push each other. Miles kept out-distancing everyone.
When Zeke went under for the fifth time, Tara swam up next to me.
“Can I talk to you in the house?” she whispered.
I eyed her. What did she want? “Yeah… sure.” We turned and swam to the dock and climbed out. I wrapped my towel around my waist before slipping my flip-flops back on and heading inside. Hades followed closely.
Tara closed the door behind her then turned to me with an annoying smile.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked as I used the towel to dry my hair.
“You’re staying in the house,” she announced.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I am?”
“Yeah. I’m trying to get to know Zeke, and you’re just distracting him.” Tara tucked a hair behind her ear.
I started laughing. “I’m… I’m distracting him? Really?”
Tara’s eyes narrowed at me. “Yeah, and now you are going to hang out in the house.”
I shook my head and started towards the door. “Yeah, sure, Tara.”
I had just opened the door when she said, “If you don’t, I’ll tell Cathy, Callie, and Christie that you can see the dead. Or at least that you think you can.”
I stopped in my tracks. My temper sparked as I turned back to her. “You’re blackmailing me?”
“If I have to, yes.” She moved to the other side of the open door. “So, unless you want to be known around town as the crazy girl, stay inside.” I eyed her. Was she serious?
I met her eyes. “This is fucked up, Tara,” I told her, trying to figure out if she was serious. “We’re family.”
She snorted. “Just because you’re my cousin doesn’t mean we’re family.”
My heart dropped. Wow. If that’s the way she wanted to play it, fine. I was too tired to put up with this shit anymore. “Go ahead and tell them.” I gestured for her to walk through the door. “Go, tell your friends that your cousin sees the dead, or at least thinks she does. Let’s see what happens.”
Her eyes flashed at me. “I’ll do it, Lexie.”
I smiled. It wasn’t my nice one. “Go ahead. Just remember, while you don’t think of me as family, the rest of town knows I’m your cousin.” I tilted my head to the side. “How do you think that will make you look?”
“It won’t matter, everyone knows me,” she said. “They know I’m not crazy.”
“Yeah, they do. But opinions change. And you care a lot more about other people's opinions than I do. You'll get texts, Facebook posts, memes made of you. Believe me, I've dealt with it all before. And it won't bother me one bit." I ran my eyes over her before meeting hers again. “Do you really think you can handle that?”
She glared at me and opened her mouth, then quickly closed it and put on a pleasant smile.
“Ally, we’re going to head out,” Asher announced as he came in the back door and stood next to me. The other guys filed past and headed for Rory’s room. Each of them shot looks at Tara as they went by.
“Why are you leaving? We were just starting to have fun,” Tara asked cheerfully.
Asher frowned down at her. “Well, everyone has something to do before the party tonight,” Asher lied before he headed to Rory’s room.
When the door closed she turned on me. “Which party?”
“The big bash Aaron Cooper is having,” I said before I walked across the room to lean against the back of the sofa where Hades had sprawled out.
Tara moved to stand in front of me. “I’m going with you and the guys.”
“You can go, but you’re not going with us.” I chuckled. “You just tried to blackmail me.”
“Lexie, I’m going whether you like it or not. So you might as well take me,” she told me again.
I grinned. “Why don’t you ask Zeke if he wants you to go with us?”
She smiled brightly. Oh, the poor girl. Did I feel guilty? Nah.
The door to Rory’s room opened. Zeke came out with his bag and closed the door behind him. His gaze passed Tara and went straight to me. His mouth was a tight line as he came toward us.
“Zeke, I hear you’re going to the Cooper party tonight,” Tara said, her voice annoyingly cheerful.
Zeke glanced at me, his eyes promising retaliation. I fought a smirk. He turned back to Tara. “Yeah…”
Her smile dimmed around the edges. “I thought we could hang out.”
Zeke’s face grew hard. “I don’t think so.” He turned to me. “Don’t go swimming without one of us here.”
I sighed. “I can go swimming, Zeke.”
His eyes narrowed on mine. “Do the wards go out that far?”
Shit. “I’ll stay out of the water,” I grumbled.
“Thought so,” he stated. I shot him a look. His lips twitched as he headed for the door. “See ya later.”
“Bye.” I turned back to Tara.
She was frowning at me, her face pinched. I looked down at Hades and scratched his ears.
The guys came out in a trickle, each saying they’d see me later. Ethan kissed my cheek, Isaac gave me his usual raspberry on the other. Miles said he’d pick me up later, while Asher just winked as he passed.
When the door closed behind them, Tara turned on me. “You’re taking me to that party.”
“He just said he doesn’t want to hang out with you,” I pointed out. “Go hang out with your own friends.”
Tara blew a gasket.