Something in the Way(44)

Before I even had the words out, she leaned in, stopping inches from my  face. Her sugary breath became mine. It was so easy to forget everything  else with her around. Being close to her didn't feel wrong. I could  just sink into it, didn't have to be cautious like I did with other  people, as if I knew on some level she'd protect me. She'd care for me.  As a side effect of trying to restrain myself, I squeezed her ankle hard  enough to make her gasp. She went for the corner of my mouth, pressing  her lips to my skin soft and slow.                       
       
           



       

"I feel very protective of you, Lake," I murmured.

"I know."

"I don't want to change you."

"You already have. I want this. I can decide for myself."

"It's not that simple."

She smoothed her cheek against mine. To me, it was like nuzzling a peach  but because I hadn't shaven, it must've been rough for her.

"I've never even kissed someone," she said close to my ear. "Never wanted to before."

It was more than I could handle. It made me happy she'd never been  kissed, never wanted it with anyone else. She was maybe too young for  that but I also wanted to be her first. I put my other hand on her  shoulder, meaning to pull her off. She ducked her head, planting  supplicant little pecks behind my ear that might as well have been her  saying please, Manning, please, please. My head dropped back against the  headrest. "Damn it, Lake."

With one leg still folded between us, she hooked the other over my knee  and moved my hand to her thigh. She hummed along to the song, "Damn I  Wish I Was Your Lover."

My heart pounded. I had to stop this, but she was heavenly. So soft, her  lips and downy thigh, so inviting, her leg warming mine. Even her damp  hair felt good in my palm. That's when I realized my fingers had tangled  themselves in her hair, spanning the back of her scalp, holding her in  place. While I was distracted trying to control my body parts, her  kisses traveled up around my mouth. Her hand guided mine up her leg. All  at once, I went from pleasantly warm to burning up. My neck, my face.  My lap. The base of my cock constricted. She was bold but tentative,  bringing us to the edge, but not brave enough to take the leap. Her  balmy kisses made blood rush to my crotch, flooded out my guilt.

She took her hand off mine, but I didn't pull away. I slid it up into  the hole of her jean shorts. She reciprocated with a hand on my zipper,  right over my dick. Her panties were wet from the lake. From the water.  That fucking dangerous, black water. I was no better than it, drowning  her, taking what wasn't mine, turning beautiful things ugly.

"Lake."

"Please." Her breath fell on my lips. "One kiss. Then we can stop."

I wouldn't be able to stop. No fucking way. My hand got caught in her  hair, and I yanked it by accident. She jerked back just long enough for  me to take her shoulders and hold her at a distance. "We can't."

Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "Nobody has to know," she begged.

Headlights flashed in my side mirror. I immediately spotted the  reflective red and blue top of a cop car, even though the lights weren't  flashing.

"Fuck," I said, switching the song like it was porn I didn't want to get caught with.

Lake looked out the back window. "The police?"

"Yeah." He had no reason to pull over, but he might. We looked damn suspicious, sitting on the side of the road in the dark.

"Can we get in trouble?" she asked.

"I can."

She vaulted herself over the back of the bench, her long limbs nearly  knocking me in the face. There was no backseat, just a narrow space  behind the front one where I'd found the towels.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"Hiding." She looked up at me, eyes wide with fear. She was still just a kid.

I had about ten seconds to make a decision. I respected law enforcement,  but I wasn't naïve. I knew not all cops were good. But what kind of  trouble could I get in just for sitting in the car with her? Would he  believe we hadn't been doing anything?

"I think you should come back up here," I said.

The cop flashed his lights once, a shock of red and blue. He wasn't going to pass.

"I can't." Her voice broke. "I don't want you to get in trouble. He'll tell Gary. Maybe even my-my dad . . ."

If the cop wanted to see her ID and she didn't have one, he wouldn't  just let that go. She didn't look eighteen, not yet. I was with a minor  who'd taken off her bra. We were both wet from swimming. I really  doubted he'd just let us go, which meant taking us back to camp, telling  Gary. Gary and I were cool, but he'd never let me get away with this.  These kids meant everything to him.

He'd tell Charles Kaplan. Lake's dad would obliterate me, no doubt, but  what about her? He was her world. If he thought she'd snuck off with me  in the middle of the night, how would that change their relationship?

"You're right, he might escort us back, probably will," I said, checking  the rearview mirror. The officer had parked behind us. "But we'll get  in worse trouble if he finds you."                       
       
           



       

"He won't. I can be quiet."

The black-and-white driver's side door opened. We were out of time.  "I'll handle it," I promised her. What else could I do? "Just stay  still. Don't make a sound." I wiped my upper lip on my sleeve. "I'll  handle it."

He took his sweet time walking up to the window, checking my plates,  looking over the truck. I turned off the heater and stereo. Crickets  chirped. I'd been pulled over before. The window was already down, so I  put my hands on the wheel where he could see them. My palms sweat around  the leather. Thank fuck we'd been interrupted, not that I would've  taken it any further. Would I have?

Boots shuffled in the dirt. A uniformed man not much older than me  appeared at the window. He aimed his flashlight into the truck, barely  skimming the back. "Evening," he said. "Car trouble?"

"Yes, sir. It won't start."

"Why'd you turn it off in the first place?" He looked around. "Not going to find much help in the middle of nowhere."

"I almost hit a coyote, pulled off, and the car just died on me."

"I see." He squinted at me. Or past me. I couldn't tell. If he were to  lean in, really get inside the window, I doubted he'd miss Lake's blonde  hair. "License and registration."

I considered arguing. He had no reason to suspect me of anything. It  might've made things worse, though, and he was just doing his job. I  pulled out my wallet and gave him my ID before leaning over to the glove  compartment. "I'm sorry, Officer. It's a friend's truck." Fortunately,  the paperwork was right where I needed it to be. "He was drinking, so I  offered to do a beer run."

He read my license. "What about you, Mr. Sutter? Been drinking?"

"No, sir. That's why they sent me to get alcohol. I'm just on my way back."

"Oh, yeah? Where you headed?"

"Next exit. Young Cubs camp."

"You a counselor?"

"Yes, sir."

"Pretty sure you guys aren't supposed to be drinking, but . . . I would  be if I were in your shoes. All those damn kids." He nodded at me.  "Where's the alcohol then?"

Fuck. It was in the backseat. I blanched, a deer in cop lights. I had to  come up with something. If I didn't, he'd have reason to doubt me and  who knows where I'd end up. Probably at the station, a deer in the  spotlight . . . of an interrogation room. I stuck an arm over the back  of the seat. My hand brush against something soft. Lake. She pressed a  bottle into my hand, and I handed it to him. He stuck his notepad under  his arm and tried the top. "It's sealed, so there's no problem."

"Great," I said, trying not to sound too relieved as he gave it back.

The tension in my chest eased as the officer backed away from the window. "Step out of the vehicle, Mr. Sutter."

At first, I thought he was dismissing me. I almost answered him with  "thanks." When his words registered, though, I was suddenly frozen to  the spot. "Sorry?" I asked.

"Out of the vehicle."

My hand felt heavy as I put it on the handle and pulled. The door stuck,  so I had to ram my shoulder into it. The officer moved back as it  popped open.

I wanted to ask why. I'd just had a little car trouble-there was no  reason to make this into a thing. But I didn't. I was guilty. Not of  what he thought, but I'd done a bad thing tonight. If I argued, he might  get suspicious and look for more than what he had, which was nothing.

"What's this about?" I asked, stepping into the dirt. I sounded guilty even to my own ears.