One Tiny Secret

Chapter Seventeen

Flustered and a touch rattled later that evening, I hurry into the school’s gym and maneuver through the many rows of booths at the festival to get to ours. I’m running late due to Dad giving me the parental fifth degree. If he reminds me one more time that I’m grounded and on thin ice, I may completely lose it. It’s becoming like a ritual for him to torture me every day. Luckily, I got a break from his chauffer services because he allowed me to drive myself tonight. Oh, and you better believe I didn’t hear the end of that one, either.

My shoulder suddenly collides with someone, and I turn to apologize. I stop myself short when I’m met by Gunnar’s sneer. Perfect. This is the exact person I wanted to run into right now.

“Watch where you’re going, you little nark,” he says.

“Why don’t you just drop dead, Gunnar,” I respond while walking past him. I hear him make a snide comment behind me, but instead of retaliating with words, I just flip him off as I continue to move away.

The sign for the newspaper’s booth comes into view when I turn the corner and move into the next aisle. I smile when I see Parker sitting underneath it, suavely leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on the table and a contented look on his face.

“Looks like it’s just you and me tonight,” he comments when I reach the booth.

“Where’s everyone else? And wait, our booth is a dunk tank? When was this discussed?”

“I think at the last meeting. Wow, did my kiss wreck your memory that bad? I always knew it would be a weapon for evil one day,” he laughs.

I appreciate the fact he’s trying to lighten the situation, but seriously? I guess I’m dealing with stereotypical guy Parker tonight.

“So, do you want to be the dunkee or the ball passer-outer?” he asks with a grin, holding up two softballs at waist height in front of him.

“I’ll pass out the balls, thank you very much.”

“Have it your way,” he states as he sets the balls on the table off to the side and begins to unbuckle his belt. I roll my eyes when he starts humming a horrible rendition of a sexy stripper song as he undresses.

“What are you doing?” I ask, finding it hard to keep a straight face.

“You don’t expect me to get dunked fully clothed, do you? Besides can you really blame me for wanting to give you a little show? Consider this like the coming attractions.”

“You’re such a dork.”

“I know, but you love me anyway.”

A blush creeps up my cheeks at the mere mention of that word from his lips. It begins to deepen when Parker drops his pants, revealing his red boxer-briefs with a black waistband. I’m seriously having a hard time holding back my enjoyment of this view. His legs are perfectly toned, not too muscular and not too skinny, just right.

Parker slowly starts to unbutton his shirt, toying with me at each button. I’m just glad we’re in the back corner of the gym so no one else can see what he’s doing right now.

“Will you just get undressed already,” I say, but I secretly wish he’d go slower.

“If that’s what you want,” he replies, and then rips open his shirt, unveiling his sleeveless white undershirt. His arms tense as he balls up the dark blue flannel he just removed and throws it at me. The scent of his cologne flows through the air when I catch the shirt. My mouth begins to water, wanting to devour his. He doesn’t even have to flex his muscles to have them ripple with every one of his movements. I’m not sure if I’m drooling right now, but I wipe the edges of my mouth just in case.

Then a thought hits me as I see Parker heading toward the dunk tank. If someone knocks him in, he’ll be wet from head to toe, not leaving much to the imagination. Of course, from where I’m standing, he might not even need to get wet for that to happen. Tonight could prove to be quite entertaining indeed, and a welcome distraction from all the drama.

I begin to imagine water coursing all over his body, plastering his shirt to his perfectly-molded chest and abs. Then his boxer-briefs hugging his beautiful legs even closer, and—

“Ready to do this?” he asks, interrupting my thoughts.

I feel embarrassed, as if he actually heard me thinking out loud. My reply sounds like English to my ears, but if Parker’s face is any indication, it was most likely gibberish.

“Yeah,” I say clearly this time.

“All right, then. Let’s get moist,” he comments, clapping his hands together.

I roll my eyes at his comment as I take my position next to the dunk tank line and he gets situated in his seat.

Looking off to the right, I see Rory with the rest of the swim team a few booths down from ours. Talk about not leaving anything to the imagination. The whole team is standing there in nothing but swim caps and Speedos. Serious swoon alert. Naturally, the booth is surrounded by girls, but I do notice a couple of guys posted up, talking to Rory. I recognize one of them as a guy Rory’s been crushing on for a while now. He goes to our rival high school and also happens to be a swimmer. The giant smile on Rory’s face tells me everything I need to know about how he’s feeling right now.

“Hey you two.” Phoebe’s voice sounds from in front of me.

“What’s up, sis,” Parker calls out, but he’s muffled by the wall of plastic he’s perched behind.

I clam up for some reason. I’m still not completely comfortable being around both of them at the same time, especially since she’d destroy me if she found out about our recent intimacies. The video of Parker and me begins playing in my head, making the situation even more awkward.

“Hey, Phoebe.”

“So, what have you guys been up to? Making out or something?” she asks with a laugh.

“Phoebe, seriously?” I can’t believe she just went there.

“I was only kidding. Lighten up. Besides, Parker’s girlfriend would kill him if he even as much looked at another girl. She’s a little too possessive for my taste. Wouldn’t you agree, brother?” Phoebe asks.

I turn to see Parker looking at me wide-eyed, like a deer caught in headlights. I’m having the hardest time trying to keep it together and not erupt in a fit of rage toward him.

Swallowing down the betrayal and boiling anger rushing through me, I reply, “She must be really nice though, right?”

I turn to look back at Parker. He seems mortified, but he stays put—probably since that wall of thick plastic is the only thing separating us right now. He looks like he wants to say something, but with Phoebe there, I know why he hasn’t yet.

“Yeah, she’s nice. A little young, though. She’s a freshman,” Phoebe answers with a wave of her hand.

“Really? Oh that Parker. He definitely has a thing for younger women, huh?” I say, sending another death glare his way.

“I guess so,” she laughs, clearly oblivious to the tension that’s occurring right in front of her face. Phoebe wasn’t always the most observant one in the bunch. I mean, it took her physically seeing Parker and me making out to realize we were together back in the day.

“Hey, Phoebe, will you excuse me for one second? I see someone I desperately need to talk,” I say, pointing down the row of booths in front of us.

Turning, I see Parker making an attempt to move from his seat, probably to come talk to me. I rear back and wind up one of the softballs in my hand, hurling it right at the target. A bell chimes as it crashes into the bullseye. The seat under Parker releases, dropping him into the freezing cold water below. A sly smirk appears on my face as I revel in what I just did. He pops up from the water, completely drenched. The miserable look in his big baby blues, almost makes me feel like complete shit. Almost.

Phoebe erupts into a fit of laughter. “Nice arm, Dani.”

“Yeah, nice throw,” Parker comments, not taking his eyes off me.

Handing the other ball to Phoebe, I walk off, not even taking a moment to look back at Parker. I’m so heated right now, I can’t stand it. All I want to do is scream, “You’re so stupid, Dani,” but I can’t. I don’t want to draw any attention to myself.

Feeling someone grab my hand, I turn to see it’s Kevin. Perfect. Just what I need.

“Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“Bathroom,” I reply, trying to move away.

“Liar. You’re upset. I can tell,” he argues, clearly seeing through my bullshit. That’s one thing Kevin has always been able to do.

“Fine, you caught me. I just need to get out of here for a sec, okay? There’s a lot going on, and I just need to clear my head,” I reply, ripping my hand from his grip.

“Dani, I can explain,” I hear Parker say as he comes up behind me. I turn to see him standing there dripping wet. For a split second, I feel sorry for him because he looks cold, but that only lasts for a second. I’m so mad at him right now that not even his amazing body and good looks are enough to suppress my flame.

Kevin steps between Parker and me, blocking Parker’s access. They both just stand there, breathing heavily like two bulls in a standoff with me representing the bright red cape.

“Seriously, both of you just need to chill. I’m not in the mood to talk right now, all right?”

“I can explain, okay?” Parker pleads over Kevin’s shoulder.

“You heard her. She doesn’t want to talk, a*shole,” Kevin replies.

Before I have a chance to see the result of that exchange, I move away. They can slug it out if they want, but right now I don’t trust either of them.

“Dani!” I hear Parker call out over the crowd. Stupidly, I turn around to see him rushing over to me with Kevin right on his heels.

“Will you both just leave me the hell alo—”

The guttural yell above my head draws my attention to the rafters of the gym. In the blink of an eye, a shape moves through my field of vision, landing with a sickening thud on the ground in front of me. Then there’s this deafening silence that flows through the room. Something’s splattered across my face, but it takes a few moments for me to realize what I just witnessed. My whole body is in shock from the scene before me. I don’t even hear the screams from the crowd right away.

A body lays there on the ground, motionless, with a pool of blood forming around it. Bringing my hands to my face, I wipe off some of the wet substance and look at it.

It’s blood…it’s this person’s blood…on my face.