A Whole New Crowd(56)

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.” He squeezed my hand once more. “But I have to warn you, there’s a lot of others coming too.”

“Oh god.”

He laughed.

“Not the student council, yearbook committee, and cheerleaders?”

“Don’t forget the basketball team and football team.”

“Why not invite the entire school?”

His chest was shaking from repressed laughter. “It pretty much is.” Then he hugged me. Both of his arms folded over me and I was moved so I was sitting on his lap.

I turned so I was facing him. My legs wrapped around his waist and my arms wound around his neck. Closing my eyes, my head tucked into the crook of his neck and shoulder. This wasn’t a sexual hug. This was one of comfort and security. No matter our joking conversation before, I was realizing that he was mine. I didn’t know the definition or terms of how he was mine, but he was.

He hugged me back and we sat there for a while longer. I didn’t want to leave, but when we did, it was later, much later. Tray asked me to pack a bag, just in case we went somewhere else after the bay. When we got there, I was glad I had. He hadn’t been lying. There were twenty cars parked on the road. I glanced at him when he parked. “Something tells me this might be an all-day event.”

He nodded, getting out of the car. As I did, he said over the top of the car, “They talked about grilling at my house tonight.”

I should’ve known. They didn’t party last night so, of course, they would tonight. I shook my head as we started down a trail to the beach. “Is there a requirement that there has to be one party every weekend?”

Tray laughed, leading the way. “At least one. Most want two, though.”

I shook my head, but then we got to the bottom and I saw the cliff part. I stopped, speechless for a moment. Crystal Bay was a cliff that jutted out into the river. Large boulders and rocks sat around the opening of it and waves crashed onto them. I had known the river was big, but I hadn’t realized how big until I saw the power of those waves. They slammed onto the rocks before retreating back into the water, only to come back with renewed strength.

Tray started up the rocks. He glanced back and lifted his hand. I shook my head. “I’m a cat burglar, remember?”

He flashed me a grin. “That’s right. I forgot your illegal ways.” When we headed around the mouth of the cave, voices from inside drifted out. They echoed off the cliff walls, growing louder as we got closer. The light grew dim, but it was still manageable. A moment later, the light exploded and filled up the entire interior of the cave. A waterfall fell into the middle of the cave into a pool of water. As we rounded the last curve of the cave and stepped into the clearing, someone yelled out, “Hell yeah!” before they dove down from the top and into the pool at the bottom. The splash sent shrieks from the girls sitting around the edge of the bank.

It was a party inside a cave. I drew next to Tray and asked, “I’m surprised there’s no deejay.”

He laughed. “Dylan tried to lower down speakers one summer and ended up ruining his entire stereo system.” He gestured around the cave. Almost everyone was in their bathing suit. After the guy who had jumped pulled himself out of the water, he went over and shook his hair out over a group of girls. They shrieked, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that they enjoyed it.

“Taryn!” Mandy waved from the opposite corner. Since Jennica and Amber weren’t with her, I told Tray, “I’m going to head over and say hi.”

“Okay. I’m going up top.” As he headed for the side of the cave where people were climbing up, his hand brushed mine. He flashed me a grin over his shoulder.

I sighed. He had slipped under my skin. He was inside and the more time I spent with him, the deeper he burrowed into me.

“Taryn!” Mandy called again.

I ignored her. I couldn’t take my eyes from Tray. He stripped his shirt off and dropped it on the ground. As he did, the muscles in his back rippled from the movement. He was gorgeous. Every inch of him was perfection. Then he started up the makeshift ladder. There were steps carved into the wall. He climbed up them, grabbed hold of the rope that was attached from the top, and hoisted himself up, his feet going to the rocks that stuck out from the wall. The last few feet looked like they were the hardest. He pulled his body up and stuck his hand in the air. He was grabbed from on top and hauled up the rest of the way.

“Taryn!” Mandy waved at me again. “Hey! You made it.”

“Yeah.” I grinned at her. She was drenched in a white bikini, but she was smiling. She looked happy. “I’m here.” I was going to keep my mouth shut about Devon. It was her life and her suffering that she was signing up for.