Asshole. I could’ve drowned.
A blonde came up behind Will, watching us before taking his hand. “I have to be home by ten,” she said. “Come spend time with me.”
His eyes stayed fixed on me. “You okay?”
I shot him a snarl as I walked for the edge.
“Then go home,” he ordered me, turning away.
I whipped around, still trying to catch my breath. “I was here first.”
He looked from the girl back to me, a smile playing in his eyes. “Suit yourself.”
Leaving her, he stalked toward me again, and I backed up until I hit the edge of the pool. He stopped and fiddled with something under the water.
In a moment, he leaned over and pulled the black mesh shorts he was wearing in the wrestling room out of the water and threw them over my head, onto the pool deck.
I stopped breathing.
Whistles and hoots echoed in the room, and I stared up into his eyes, the moments stretching to an eternity as he waited for me to do something, and I almost thought he wanted me to.
Instead, I turned around and grabbed the ladder.
But he took my arm and pulled me back, my body slamming into his chest.
I whipped around and shoved hard against his chest, but he barely moved.
Anger boiled in my gut. His hand was still wrapped around my arm, and for a moment, I almost let my eyes drop down to the water to see if he really was naked.
Raising my hand, I slammed it across his face again and shoved him in the chest, pushing him away. The girl was gone. I had no idea where.
“You grab me again, and I won’t care about the consequences,” I growled low.
Turning around, I started to climb the ladder.
But then he said behind me, “Stay.”
“No.” I climbed out of the pool, water dripping down my body as their patronizing whistles went off around the room.
“Why not?” he called out.
“Because you’re disrespectful.” I looked at him over my shoulder. “I was working out here. Your mansions all have pools. Get out and go home, why don’t you?”
He stared at me, and I was just about to turn away and leave, but then he yelled, “Guys!” His eyes stayed on me. “Do me a favor? Get out and go home.”
“Huh?” someone said.
“What?” came another voice.
“I mean it,” he told them. “Go home. Now.”
I narrowed my eyes. Aw, what a gesture. Flexing his muscles to prove he had the strength of a playground bully and the moral compass of a tube sock.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bench, picking up my towel.
Water sloshed behind me, and grumbles continued, slowly fading away as the locker room doors opened and closed.
When I turned around only Will remained, staring at me from where I left him in the pool.
“Why don’t you like me?” he asked.
I ignored him, wringing out my ponytail.
“And what happened to your legs?” he questioned next.
I tensed, but I didn’t look down to see what he was talking about. Minor bruises dotted my legs, but my arms, torso, and back were worse. I’d made sure to cover those with the rash guard.
I slipped on my flip-flops, but I heard movement in the water and looked back to see him leaning over the edge and gazing up at me.
“Why were you coming out of the cathedral last Saturday night?”
I cocked an eyebrow. Stalker.
Throwing the towel over my shoulder, I took the goggles off my head and started for the locker room.
“Stay,” he said again.
And something about how he said it made my insides shake a little. Slowly, I stopped.
Stay.
I had no doubt I’d love everything about staying with him for an hour. If he went slow, then maybe two hours.
I’d let him mess with my head and take me away, because every day more and more of me needed my head messed with. I needed away.
But…
“What are we going to do?” I asked quietly.
When he didn’t answer, I turned around.
“Will we play?” I inquired. “Will you make me smile?”
He didn’t reply, just watched me, his chest rising and falling harder.
“What did you want to happen?” I pressed. “How would it go if I stayed with you here?”
I dropped my towel and goggles, and I approached him, crouching at the edge of the pool and staring down at him.
“Maybe I’ll joke around with your friends, and we’ll all laugh,” I told him, imagining things that would never happen and he knew it. “You’ll touch me and whisper things in my ear. They’ll take the hint and leave us alone, and I won’t be able to resist you. I won’t want to, right?”
His eyes sharpened on me, but he listened.
“You’ll press me against that wall,” I jerked my chin to the one near the girls’ locker room door, “and I’ll let you have me, because your attention feels so good.”
I had no doubt that part would be true.
“And tomorrow, we’ll walk down the hallway, hand in hand, and everyone will know we’re in love, right?”
He cocked his head and hooded his eyes, knowing what I was up to now.
I breathed out a laugh. “Come on, Will,” I said. “I have nothing you want. I’m not a happy person. Ever. We don’t mesh. Your life is trite to me, far removed from reality, and I thought your views on Lolita were repugnant, and worse, dangerous.”
His jaw flexed, his green gaze turning defiant.
“I hate your friends,” I continued. “I don’t want to be around any of them. Except Kai, maybe. One of three Asian kids in a school full of WASPs, he, at least, has some clue what it’s like to be me.”
Pretty sure the only other Jewish kid graduated last year.
“And you have nothing I want,” I went on. “You coast through everything, so where does your character come from? I don’t want to have fun with you, because there’s nothing and no one you don’t use. I don’t respect you.”
He tipped his chin down, looking angry now as he glared.
“In twenty years, you’ll all be your fathers—powerful, wealthy, and with a string of mistresses your wives will be drugging themselves in order to forget that you have.” I stood up, looking down on him. “But even as Masters of the Universe, Will Grayson III will never forget that I was one notch on his belt that he could never get. I’m not going to let you win this one. At least, I’ll have that.”
I started to walk away, but before I knew what was happening, he’d jumped up, grabbed my arm, and yanked me down into the pool.
I screamed and splashed, but he didn’t let me go under, pulling me into his body and wrapping his arms around me instead. I looked up at him, breathing hard, and he looked down at me, our lips inches from each other.
Drops of water glistened in his hair and wet his eyelashes, and for a moment, I had no will. I lowered my eyes to his mouth. Supple and strong and most amazing when he used it to smile.
Tears pooled in my eyes. I couldn’t stop him.
Don’t. Please.
I wasn’t a happy person. Not ever. I won’t be able to stop you.
He pulled me in, and I opened my mouth to protest, but instead of a kiss, he just pulled me into his arms, pressed my head to his shoulder, and wrapped his arms around me so tight, it felt like he was the one about to break, not me.