She smiled as I pushed the bag towards her and she started rummaging within it.
“So what’s with the getup?” I asked her, my gaze sliding over the red dress again. “You off to prom or something, princess?”
That blush lit up beneath her freckles and she tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “It’s actually one of Saint’s strange forms of torture,” she said and I frowned in confusion.
“How?”
“He…kinda took my suitcase hostage when they moved me in with them. And then he bought a bunch of clothes for me with weirdly accurate knowledge of my sizing and he picks out everything I wear.”
“Everything?” I asked, wondering why he wanted her dressed up like this. Although as my gaze raked over the way the material clung to her, accentuating each and every inch of her body, let alone the fact that the colour suited her perfectly, the reason was pretty obvious.
“He even buys my underwear. And it’s like, the best underwear I’ve ever owned, it’s like a second skin. Even the panties-”
“It probably isn’t appropriate to discuss your panties with your teacher,” I reminded her as I tore my gaze away and looked out over the huge pool.
The water here was considerably warmer than in a public pool. Rich little darlings couldn’t risk a chilly ass when they wanted a swim after all and the warmth of the water kissed my legs as I kicked them lazily.
“Is it appropriate to drink with my teacher then?” she asked as she found the bottle of Jack. “Or are you planning on having a party for one and making me sit out in the corner?”
I suppressed a smirk as I reached over and took the bottle from her before twisting the cap off and taking a long drink. I swallowed five times, sinking a quarter of the bottle as I felt her eyes on me.
Ain’t no party like a lock in, right?
“There is absolutely no way in hell that I’m giving you alcohol,” I said firmly, keeping my eyes on the far side of the pool and fighting off a laugh as she huffed irritably.
I placed the bottle down beside her without a word and waited as I continued to look out over the water. Within two seconds, she’d snatched it and pressed the bottle to her lips.
My heart leapt at the idea of what I’d just done. I was being really fucking reckless with this girl, but some part of me just didn’t care. I’d been stagnating here, losing hope of bringing my vengeance down on Saint Memphis like I’d worked so hard to do and she’d swept in to my life, called me an asshole, kicked my ass in the boxing ring and singlehandedly made it possible for me to do what I’d come here to do in the space of a few weeks.
I glanced at the Jack as she placed it down between us and arched an eyebrow as I saw she’d matched my portion so the bottle was already half empty.
A low buzz was churning in my gut and I reached for the food just as she did. She slapped my hand away from the dried apricots with a laugh before pushing one into her mouth and groaning with exaggerated pleasure.
“Oh for the love of sugar,” she moaned as she chewed and I snorted a laugh.
“You’re not still on the lettuce leaf diet are you?” I asked, half because if I found out that Saint was still pulling that shit with her then I was going to personally find a way to stop him, and half just to have something to say to her.
“No. I’ve been a good girl so I’m getting plenty of treats,” she deadpanned. “No pizza though. I swear, I’d just about do anything for a taste of the cheesy good stuff. But Saint likes proper food.” She mimed vomiting and I glanced at the hoard of healthy food guiltily. I was hardly offering her the junk food freedom she desired.
“Do you wanna keep discussing ways for you to work against them?” I asked.
“No. Not tonight. I’ve got two whole days of freedom ahead of me and I want to be truly free of them for at least part of it. At least tonight.”
“Okay,” I agreed, wishing I could forget about the Memphis family so easily. For so long they’d been all I thought of, all I dreamed of, I couldn’t imagine a true night of freedom from that but I could attempt it. “So what does freedom look like to Tatum Rivers?”
She cut me a look that was full of trouble before pushing to her feet suddenly.
I looked up at her as she reached over her shoulders and my lips parted as the red dress fell from her body in one swift motion.
She hadn’t been kidding about Saint picking good underwear and for a moment all I could do was stare at her in the red and white silk which made her look like a Victoria Secret model before she dove straight into the pool.
I watched her swimming away from me beneath the water and by the time she surfaced, she’d reached the far side of the wide pool.
“You can hold your breath for a long time,” I said.
Did I just try and compliment her on how long she can hold her fucking breath?
“I was on the swim team in a few of my schools, but then I transferred again and they didn’t have a pool so I shifted my attention to gymnastics,” she replied with a shrug.
“So you’re flexible too?”
Why the fuck did I just ask that??
“Yeah,” she replied in that husky voice of hers and I swiped a hand over my face as I tried to remember why the fuck I’d started on the whiskey. I had no fucking game when I drank whiskey and I knew it. Not that I needed to have game right now anyway but for fuck’s sake, I didn’t need to be commenting on how flexible she was or wasn’t.
“Aren’t you coming in?” she called when I didn’t ask her any more fuckwit questions.
“No.”
“Because you’re chicken shit?” she asked, arching a brow.
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe it’s because you don’t know how to be free anymore,” she teased.
It was just a joke, but it hit me right in the gut. Because I sometimes wondered exactly how many things I’d forgotten how to be in my mission to tear Saint’s family apart. I never used to be the kind of guy to back out on a dare. So fuck it. I didn’t even care that she was goading me into it. I was gonna swim in a pool with a beautiful girl and just have some fucking fun for once.
I picked up the bottle of Jack and took another series of long mouthfuls, feeling it burn on the way down as I set the bottle back on the tiles.
I pushed myself to my feet and pulled my tank off before dropping my shorts and standing there in my boxers.
Tatum watched me and the look in her eyes sent a prickle running down my spine. I backed up before running and jumping straight into the centre of the pool with my legs tucked to my chest. Water splashed everywhere as I sank like a stone and Tatum’s screams echoed off the high roof.
The moment I surfaced, soft hands grabbed me and Tatum’s fingers twisted into my hair as she drove her weight down on my back and tried to force me under.
I barked a laugh as she dunked me, taking in a mouthful of water as I went under.
I caught her bare leg and tore her off of me, launching her away again with all of my strength so that she splashed into the water a few meters away.
I started swimming for the far side, but her hands locked around my ankle a moment later from beneath the surface and she yanked me back under.
I laughed as I fought to free myself, but she was suddenly clambering onto my back yet again, her arms locking around my neck as she held on.