The Bad Boys of Summer Anthology(254)

“Where’s everybody else?” he asked, looking at Montana.

“Coming,” Montana sighed. “But for now I think we need to crack open some beers.” Montana looked down at the cooler Deed had dragged in on its wheels. I was pretty sure it was illegal to have beer at a waterpark, but since we were the only ones around, I guess it didn’t matter.

The boys stepped ahead of us to get to the nearest pool. As they walked by, Gage looked at me over his shoulder and shook his head. I frowned at him and then his lips curled into a knowing smirk. I shuddered before looking away.

“So,” Cal sighed. I looked at him quickly. “Which slide would you like to go on first?”

“Um…” I took a look around. There were tons of waterslides. I couldn’t decide alone. “I don’t know. Which one would you like to go on first?” I asked, adjusting the strap of my satchel.

“We could try the one called The Tunnel. Sounds fun,” he said, nodding his head at the large blue one only a few feet away.

“Sure.”

Cal and I started our walk, but then Ben’s voice called our names. I spun around quickly as he jogged toward us, a wide smile on his lips. “I hope you two aren’t running off to do the do.” He flashed a smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

I flushed and Cal laughed, looking down at me. “Not at all, Ben. Just going to catch a few water slides.”

“Great. Liza, if you need me I’ll be out tanning by the big pool. Far away from the boys and their nasty party they plan on throwing.”

I frowned. “Party? You’re letting them throw a party here?”

“They used their money to rent this place out. They call it being spontaneous. I call it bullshit. Any fines they get are on their hands.” He pulled me in by the face to kiss my cheeks. “Later, dearest.” With that, he turned around and walked with the crew to most likely find the largest pool.

I shook my head, turning to see where the band was. I could make out a glimpse of what they were doing. Gage and Montana were racing to see who could drink his beer the fastest. How glad was I to have Cal as my partner instead of any of them? I didn’t want to be stuck with them again.

Cal hooked his arm across my shoulders and spun me around. “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure we have fun.”

I smiled up at him and we started forward.

When we made it up the stairs to get to the top of the slide, a young man was already waiting up there. He smiled, looking us over and then looking behind us, as if more people were supposed to be coming. Perhaps he’d heard about FireNine renting the park out and was looking forward to seeing them as well, just to brag about it. I could see the spark die within his eyes once he realized we were the only ones.

The boy stepped out of our way and Cal asked me if I wanted to go down alone. I looked down the length of the slide and shook my head quickly. That was a hell to the no. I couldn’t go down that slide alone. It was so high up and the pool at the bottom seemed so far away.

With a simple chuckle, Cal stepped out of his flip-flops, pulled his shirt over his head, and I gawked because I’d completely forgotten about his delicious body. I had to snap out of it, though. I was lucky he didn’t catch me staring, so I shook my head and slipped out of my tank top and jeans. I kicked my flip-flops to the side and the boy told us he was going to take our things to the bottom so we wouldn’t have to come back upstairs for it.

“All right,” Cal said into my ear from behind me. “You ready?”

I melted from his voice. He was so close, and it was like he was trying to purposely make it deep and pleasurable. With his hard body near mine, I couldn’t concentrate. When he placed both hands on either side of my waist, all focus had gone down the drain. He inched in closer and then whispered in my ear, telling me it was okay to sit. I sat down hastily, gripping the bar handles on the sides, and he sat behind me.

He moved in closer than expected, but it excited me and my heart raced. Hooking his arms around my middle, he placed his chin on my shoulder and I braced myself, taking in the wide pool at the bottom waiting for me.

“You sure you’re ready?” he asked in my ear. He seemed to be saying it in more ways than one, but I nodded and he gripped me tighter. “Do you want to do a countdown or do you want me to push forward randomly?”

I bit on my lip, debating on the answer. Finally I said, “Randomly. The countdown will kill me.”

Chuckling, his fingers splayed across my middle and I unnoticeably moved back to get between his legs more. I guess it wasn’t as unnoticeable as I thought it would be because he laughed. “Eliza?” he said in my ear.

“Yeah?” I was about to turn and get a glimpse of him through the corner of my eye, but then he pushed forward and the cold water ran beneath my bottom. My heart lurched and I screamed as Cal laughed.

A tunnel appeared ahead and as soon as we were beneath it, it blocked my view of everything and I screamed even louder, ready for the darkness to fade. I guess there was a reason they called it The Tunnel. Cal laughed again as he held on to me, and I begged to the heavens that his grip wouldn’t loosen.

The tunnel finally ended, but the slide looped and continued down. I finally settled a bit, realizing I was actually having fun and that I hadn’t caught a panic attack yet. The slide was exciting and the cool water running beneath us felt good. I was too busy basking in the sun and enjoying the feel of the water that I wasn’t expecting Cal’s grip to slack and for a whole body of water to consume me.

As I hit the pool and sank beneath, I choked and gurgled and pushed my way up to surface, swallowing some of the chlorine-filled water on the way by accident. “Holy shit!” I sputtered, spotting Cal, who was just surfacing with droplets of water running off his blond hair and eyelashes. He met my gaze and laughed before swimming in my direction.

“See, wasn’t too bad, right?” he breathed.

“No. That was fun! We should go again.” I felt like a big-ass kid, but I was so excited and eager for the next. It was a thrill and I hated how I hadn’t experienced it earlier than the age of twenty-one.

“We can go again, if you’d like,” Cal said, pulling me in by my waist. “Did you think I was gonna let you go on the way down?”

I nodded, looking at him beneath my eyelashes bashfully.

“I wouldn’t have let you go, Eliza.” He gave me a crooked, heart-throbbing smile and I grinned, glad the water kept me cool. To avoid his beautiful green eyes, I took a look around to see which slide we could go on next. I pointed out a few in my head, but as I was about to look at Cal again, I caught sight of a pair of narrowed hazel eyes.

I gasped, staring right at Gage as he walked by, a beer in his hand, his eyes still hard on me. He stole glances between Cal and me, but I couldn’t look away. I wanted to ignore him, but when he nodded slowly at me, his eyes still narrowed, I felt guilty. He was nodding as if he knew why I’d rejected him. But I didn’t reject him for Cal. I just couldn’t get caught up with someone like him. I knew he was assuming I’d chosen Cal over him, but I hadn’t chosen either one. I wasn’t about to choose at all.

Cal seemed to notice the frustration taking hold of my features and looked toward Gage, but Gage had turned around, his shoulders slightly hunched, while taking a sip of his beer. He had tattoos on his back as well. More tribal ink and Bible verses, I was sure. I’d even spotted a blue dragon on his right rib cage as he rounded a corner to start a new path. His back was perfectly creased and it was so hard to hate his presence yet feel excited by looking at his body. He wasn’t too stocky or too lean; he was just right. He had the nice, athletic build, which proved he worked out just enough to keep himself in shape.

With a ragged sigh, I looked at Cal, who was already looking at me. “Trouble in paradise, I see,” he said, smiling.

I shook my head quickly. “No. I’ll never understand someone like Gage. He’s his own person.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

I shrugged.

“I think you deserve better anyway,” Cal said.

I didn’t want to talk about Gage at all so I grabbed Cal’s hands beneath the water and grinned at him. “Let’s go find us another slide.” He nodded and we swam toward the ladder to climb out, collect our clothes, and then head to another tall water slide.

Spending time with Cal was pretty cool. Not only was his body pleasant to look at (especially when dripping with water), but also he was a sweet guy and actually made me laugh. It was odd that I was making comparisons between him and Gage and, sad to say, Gage was on the winning side in my mind. Even though we were drunk the night of the party, I had more of a connection with Gage than I had with Cal. As hot as Cal was, he was extremely corny but really sweet. I could only be friends with him. It just seemed like the type of relationship I was supposed to have with someone as kindhearted as he was.

Whenever we would take a break and grab a drink or some ice cream, Cal would always bring up his job for the magazine or how tough it was to get interviews with the boys when they were always on the go. He said his toughest so far was getting one with Roy, but he was determined to do so one way or another. I doubted him highly on that one. He also kept telling me I deserved better than Gage, but I always changed the subject.