Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (20 page)

I scrunch up my nose and grit my teeth as I consider the idea of borrowing one for only half a second before rethinking. “That’s just gross. I don’t know where that pillow’s been.”

He snickers quietly, focusing on whatever he has going on while I walk across the room, dressed in my Rosemore sweatshirt, sweatpants and my socks.

Glancing to my boots by the door, I say screw it and fling the door open in a dead sprint to my camper to grab my pillow along with an extra blanket, not that it is cold in the cabin, but I might just drape it over me on the way back. The bitter cold nips at my face and the hard ground is like a block of ice sending a splintering pain up my calf with every thud of my feet. No sooner than my hand lands on the door handle, I have the door ripped open and bolt inside in a mad dash to escape the chills that are racing over the surface of my skin. The relief I was hoping to find is somewhat fulfilled, yet not nearly enough. I drape my thick comforter over my shoulders and hold my pillow to my chest, creating a suit of armor against the frosty wind that was biting me in the ass, as I made the trek here.

On the way back, I make double time as if my tail was lit on fire. Jake snaps his head around with a smirk as I slam the door and stand against it like Bigfoot is about to pound it down behind me.

“Cold?” he asks lazily, looking back to his phone.

I let out a breath and allow the warmth to envelope my entire body, goose bumps sprouting up and the hairs on my arm standing on end.

“Yeah…” I mumble, contemplating jumping right into the fireplace.

“Well, I’m out for the night.”

I open my mouth but quickly get cut off by a thud. I swing my head around to the bedroom door, but immediately halt all worries on whether one of them slipped on the hardwood floor or if the roof fell in on them, or even if there may be a brewing tornado right outside their window.

“You weren’t kidding.” I look at Jake as he slides down in bed and pulls his ear phones back over his ears. “Night…oh and good luck again.” He sneaks a sly grin in my direction before closing his eyes.

“Gee, thanks.” I flip the overhead light off and walk straight across the creaky floor till I am finally to my hovel.

Not even caring that my blanket is half wadded up in one corner, I jump in, sweats and all, tossing the pillow behind my head and pulling the comforter up to my neck. The softness of it is a complete contradiction of the inflexible surface that is boring into my back. In my opinion, this is just an outdated military stretcher. I think back for a minute, and remember seeing them at many of the bases we lived at growing up.

Closing my eyes, my body relaxes and begins to mold to the cot. A heavy weight settles over my lids as I drift off and surrender to sleep.

Thump…

My eyes spring open as more barely-there sounds filter through the air.
Oh great!
A soft girly whine, giggling and another thump and I turn on my side. Digging my shoulder into the stiff bed, I clasp my pillow in my fist and pull the other side over my face to filter out the noise; quiet. I relax again, but as soon as sleep starts to creep over me, I hear a roar of giggles and laughs coming through the wall.

I stretch my eyes open, feeling as though I am back in my apartment all over again.
Thank God their headboard is against the other wall here.
That was a pain in the ass. I cannot even count the times I beat Judd home from work and considered bolting that thing down, desperate for just a solid hour of sleep. If he wasn’t knocking boots in the next room, then Skylar was crashing my peaceful evening of sleep. At this point, my body should be used to a max of two hours of rest per night.

Thud…

That’s it!
I don’t even think about Jake sleeping about ten feet away before my fist is pounding on the wall, sending vibrations through my forearm and an echoing drumming sound through the cabin. More giggling rises along with another thump against the wall.

“Cooooome Oooon,” I groan.

“Evan,” I barely make out my name being called from their room. “Go to sleep. We aren’t being that loud.”

I hold back my laughter, widening my eyes as usual.
He always says that. Does he really flip all over that mattress all night long, laughing and doing bedroom acrobats that make the walls shake and truly not think he’s noisy?

“Really?!” I rifle back sarcastically.

The bedroom door flings open and the shadow of a head peaks out. “Are we really going to do this tonight?”

I want to laugh at his frustration, because he full-well was supposed to have this cabin to himself. In fact, he had requested complete solitude from me when he asked me to come out and join them. I believe his exact words were, ‘You should come join us for Christmas at the lake. Piper will be there…but just know that Alyssa and I would really like to have a cabin to ourselves…like far away from you’. I actually laughed my ass off, but then put his request in with Grandpa. I guess life sucks, because Jake surprises his big bro with a friendly visit that sort of squashed their dreams of waxing the floors with their asses all week long too. Then of course, I crashed the party.

“Do you really not hear yourself?” I smile, although he can’t see it.

“We are keeping it down,” he points out in a matter of fact tone as he keeps only his head stuck through the opening of the door.

“Geez, are you standing there naked? Go finish what you were doing, but a word of advice…laughing probably means you’re not knocking her socks off, dude.”

“She wasn’t laughing at me…we were laughing…you know what never mind. Just quit pounding on the wall.”

I stifle back a laugh, my chest and stomach shaking. “You were pounding on the wall. I just thought it was a game…you know, like you knock three times and I knock three times…Blondie squeals and giggles and I moan and groan…”

“Whatever,” he spits out quickly. “And by the way, we weren’t knocking on the walls.”

“Yes, you were.” I challenge, really loving the fact that he is getting fully irritated.

I love aggravating him, of course, he’ll get me back no doubt, but I definitely have a bit more aggravation in store for the holidays.

“Evan, we’re keeping it down and we will continue…just go to sleep.”

“Ok, but I’m telling you, you were…” I start.

Shuffling like fabric on fabric sounds from the center of the room. “Actually, you know what…I can’t stay out of this any longer. You were making quite a bit of noise.”

Ha!
I sit all the way up and point to Jake with a huge ass smile, then point over to Judd, wishing the lights were on so he could see my amusement over his baby brother coming to my defense. Moreover, I’d love to see his face.

“Oh…” I barely hear Judd’s quiet response as if he is finally convinced that all night hammering is capable of depriving some of us a good snooze.

“It’s cool, I just turned my music back on. I just don’t want to hear anything else.” Jake slinks back into the bed, nonchalantly throwing his headphones back on for the third time tonight. He’s oblivious to the fact that he just made my year by agreeing with me on a four-month argument over Judd thinking he makes no noise and me informing him that any louder and they may wake the dead.

I stare back at Judd, my grin growing along with the silence.

“Told ya…” I say quietly, breaking the sudden peacefulness of crackling logs without the rocking sounds of their bed.

“Ok, well…I’m going back to bed.” He slumps back down but not before I hear his chuckle.

Damn those ear phones Jake has
; Judd doesn’t mind keeping me awake, he just doesn’t want to traumatize his little brother, whom he’s always viewed as innocent. I know better; Jake and I grew closer after Judd and Tristan’s wreck and he definitely is not a sweet, oblivious eighteen-year old; he has some skeletons in his closet just like the rest of us.

“I need my ear buds,” I mutter as the door clicks shut. Any second, the noise will start back up I’m sure.

Thirty minutes later, I say to hell with it. My ears are hot from holding the pillow over them and Jake has his music up so loud that I can hear it filtering out from his headphones. The racket from the bedroom isn’t too bad, but if I fall asleep listening to “Oh Judd”, it may send some very unwelcoming dreams into my subconscious, and I’m just not cool with that. Last thing I want is to be chanting the same thing in my sleep; so I lay here, quiet and relaxed. My phone rests on the floor beside me, lighting up every once in a while with notifications that I don’t care to check. I’ve never been much of a technology buff. I prefer to live in the real world and not on my phone.

A strange noise hits my ears like a twig tapping against the window or something. I stop all thoughts and lie still, listening. Jake’s music and shallow breaths come through clearly as I focus my hearing on every sound in the room; nothing.

Shifting onto my side, I glance over to the orange glow of the fireplace which pops and crackles every few minutes as the same tapping greets my ears again, this time louder. I stop everything and sit up quickly.
Is that knocking?
Looking across the room to Jake, he seems to be sound asleep.

Tap…tap.

My head snaps over to the door, now clearly hearing the soft discreet rap of knuckles against wood. I bolt to my feet, half excited that it may be Skylar rewarding me with the opportunity to pay Judd back for all my sleepless nights. Sure Jake may have to turn his music up louder, but it would definitely be sweet revenge.

Flinging the covers off of me, I swing my legs out, then pause. There is nothing but silence until I hear something different. This time it’s the barely audible sound of footsteps out on the porch. I jump up, flying to the door with a quick glance in Jake’s direction to ensure that he is out for the night. He doesn’t move, doesn’t register a thing.

My hand falls to the door handle, sending an icy shiver through me as the cold metal sucks a bit of my warmth away. However, as soon as I have the door open and the brisk temperatures hit me, I feel nothing.

“Sk…” I stop before saying anything else as the cold winter chill that I dreaded blasting me, does nothing. I’m too stunned to register anything other than her slinky physique standing still at the edge of the porch, lit only by the distant outer light of the shower house. “Piper,” my voice comes out in a raspy shallow garble. Clearing my throat, I try again as she turns my way. “Hey.”

My mouth doesn’t even shut after my awkward greeting; it remains open, drawing flies and eager to say more if I could find the words. Even though our earlier interaction was fun and playful allowing me to see that sassy, excitable personality that she always had in my company, she is still the very last person I expected to see on my door step.
Wait, this isn’t my place.

“How’d…”

“Hey, ummm…I…oh, I’m sorry,” she stumbles around and pauses, her hand dropping to the side railing.

She side-steps, nervously and I watch her every movement as if she’s doing them in slow motion. She holds her hand up, pointing; indicating for me to finish my thought, but for the life of me I have no clue what I was going to say. I shake my head, dumbfounded.

The image of her years ago burns into my head and I step forward, taking a quick gander towards her cabin to make sure the creep she’s been seeing isn’t outside looking for her or anywhere around. I may lose it if I thought for a moment that he had caused her any worry. I come up empty handed, my eyes landing right back on her as I take in her entirety; the way she stands, what she has on, as much as I can make out anyways, and how her voice sounds.

“Oh…ummm…I, I just thought I’d come and ummm…” she stutters, looking around.

Did she not come to see me? Oh yeah, how would she even know I’m here?

A gust of wind blows through the trees, sending a howling sound that echoes around us and gives off a spooky haunted forest vibe. The cool air hits me and this time I feel it. Piper shivers, folding both her arms around her torso to protect her from the weather, or maybe the imaginary ghosts. I chuckle at the thought and move aside as my eyes catch on the fact that she doesn’t even have a coat on.

“Come in, it’s cold.” I wave my hand in front of me as an invitation, but really would like nothing more than to grab her and hurry it along. It’s freaking cold, and holding this door open might turn the cabin into a refrigerator, plus I really just want her inside.

She hesitates before giving in, her tensed up posture immediately notating her surrender as her shoulders fall and she lets out an astounding breath that she may have been holding this whole time. Moving past me, she keeps her arms across her, rubbing her hands over them in a frenzy to keep up the blood flow. It used to be that she would get these tiny little goosebumps all along her skin every time I touched her. I loved it; I’d eat up small reactions like that. It was never chills as in she wanted me away, it was a nervousness that came when she was excited, when she wanted more of me. I really doubt that is the case now, but I sure do remember that.

I think carefully before opening my mouth, not wanting to send any signals that I don’t want her here or be too rash and blurt out, ‘what do you want?’. Lining out a somewhat harmless question, I go for it, knowing full well that I am the king of put-my-foot-in-my-mouth.

“Did you know I was here or have you been stalking me all day after getting that nice view you had earlier?” It’s not entirely a foot-crammed-in-my-mouth comment, but it leaves it open for some playfulness, and I’m all about that.

Tiptoeing across the floor as I point towards my corner, she stops and takes her eyes off Jake, which she has been carefully eyeing with gritted teeth as if she was on a mission to be as quiet as possible. She snaps her attention back to me and her expression shifts.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Evan. Like I said I wasn’t impressed,” she whispers.

I hold in my laughter, giving her a wide, tight-lipped smile. “Awww…come on. You could at least humor me and make me think you were.”

Her smile grows along with mine and I see a trace of the girl I knew, ready for me to give her hell so she can hand it right back. Shaking her head, she breaks the trance I thought I had her in and dives right back into conversation.