Page 7 of Black Waters

Whitney Summers was in love with Crash.

My heart and hand trembled as I knocked.

I looked at the white bowl of scrambled eggs she had handed me and wanted to throw it against the kitchen wall. It mocked the symbol of the breakfast waiting for her at my house, the life I had waiting for her in my heart. I was unbelievably frustrated because her heart was lost to another. “You have to stay away from him.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“He’s dangerous, Whit.”

“Why are you so convinced I’m going to see him again?”

“Because you are as stubborn as they come, and as much as that is a quality I usually adore about you, this time it will get you hurt.”

“Too late! I’m already hurt!”

“Shit… I’m sorry. I—I wanted your first love to be—” me.

Whitney being trapped in a dire situation that I knew so little about and could get no further answers on made me want to scream. But all I could do was hold her, rock her, and wish I could take away every ounce of pain.

“You know what may help?” I tilted her chin up so I could see her green eyes that were now red, but that’s not what stumped me. Her lips looked slightly swollen from her nervously sucking on them. My mouth opened, hungry for a taste. I blinked, trying to stop thinking of wanting to kiss her when she was so completely lost for another. “Uh. Chilly water. It always clears the mind of any, uh, fog.”

She felt so good in my arms, looking up to me with doe eyes trying to communicate with me. It made my stomach tighten with need. I felt my breath pick up speed. Whit kept studying me, nodding.

After putting on her bathing suit, she followed me down, but she didn’t have the energy to dive in after me. “Wanna climb down the ladder?”

She sat on the edge and kind of fell forward, trying to be a good sport. When she resurfaced, she stared at me again, treading water. “Link, I feel so confused and… but I don’t understand why.”

It was getting harder to hear about how much she cared for Crash, so I turned from her and swam to the middle of the lake. She followed. At the center of the blue water, we treaded in silence before she spoke about feeling as if she didn’t belong.

Trying to pull Whit from her heartache was futile. I quickly ended up swimming her home, piggyback style. It was evident she needed time to heal, not swim. I held on to the ladder with both hands as she slid around me, ducked under my arm, and ended with her arms around my neck, facing me. I knew she just needed affection because of her newfound loneliness, but her bare skin touching mine stirred my body. Again, my breath quickened.

“Link, I—”

I didn’t know if she was going to say she could feel my body changing beneath her, because it was, or if she was going to speak of Crash. Either way, I didn’t want to hear it. “Go take a shower, baby.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” She turned from me and slowly climbed her dock ladder, water dripping from her red bikini that hugged her phenomenal dancer ass. “But you’re coming back, right?”

She sounded so sad, I almost followed her right up those steps, but I had to stick to my plan so my dad wouldn’t know that I was not following his orders. “Of course. I’ll be back over in a bit.”

Young, worried, and needing to feel some sort of camaraderie, I called Harlan. He was the guy I trusted most to help me look after Whitney. I was still dripping water when I said, “Hey,” into my cell.

“What up, Reether, my man?”

If you only knew… “Cashing in a favor.”

“Shoot.”

“No questions kind of favor.”

Harlan answered with no delay, like I knew he would. “I can do that.”

“Bring Ford to Whit’s, and hang with us today and tomorrow.”

Silence. “Done. Anything else?”

“Besides much gratitude?”

Harlan chuckled. “I was talking about Subway sandwiches or some shit like that, but gratitude works for me, you emotional bastard.”