The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club (20 page)

I got out of the pool and went back to my towel, letting the sun dry me. Zack swam laps. Did he ever run out of energy? I dangled my legs over the side, thinking that he had to be conditioning himself for the major leagues. I knew scouts were looking at him. so it was if he got signed, it was when.

And when he did, all those bubblehead sluts were going to be fighting over him. He would just be hot. He’d be hot, famous, and rich.

I pouted, watching the line of trees.

Something was out there. I saw it move again. Behind a big bush with purple flours was a smattering of red. Tall red. Wide. And it shifted, darting behind a smaller bush, heading off the property.

“Sure,” I squinted. Nope, nothing behind the bush now. It was long gone or hidden really well. And it wasn’t a person. It couldn’t be. No one lived behind us. Must have been a bird…

“No.” I wasn’t all that hot. I knew it wasn’t a bird, or a flock of birds. So if it wasn’t animals, wasn’t a person…what was it? A ghost?

I pushed up, thinking I’d go inside. Zack caught my leg before I could get away. “Whoa, explain this too me. What do you think you see?”

I licked my lips, throat going dry, and plopped back down onto the deck. “I felt someone watching me. Then I think I saw him.” I pointed, “over there.”

“I’m not sure it was him though.” I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me, feeling less exposed now that I was covered up. After all, I was in my bra. “Can we go inside, where there are locks on the doors?”

He swam back. “You’re really spooked?”

“I know what I saw.” I tucked the towel tighter under my arms and shivered, despite the sunny day.

Zack gripped the pool wall, slipping between my legs where they dangled in the water. If he dunked me again, I was going to hurt him. “I believe you.”

I blinked, surprised at his softened voice and understanding, “So lets go inside.” I tugged on his arm, but that only made him drift closer.

Chapter 21

I was shocked, for about a second.

Then I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him back. He lost his grip on the wall and we sank into the pool. It was like fireworks went off inside me. The harder I kissed him, the harder he kissed me.

His arm wrapped tight around my waist. My hands slicked through his hair and over his shoulders. Our feet weren’t close to touching the bottom of the pool, so he kept one hand firmly planted on the deck. It was like we were never going to stop. We kissed until my lips felt tingly and swollen and numb. Until I was limp like I would sink happily to the bottom if he let go of me.

“Chloe,’ he breathed. I could feel his words vibrate in my mouth, “I think he got the point.”

“Right.” I nodded, pulled away. Then I actually started to sink.

Zack curled free arm back around my bare waist, holing me against his chest. The towel had floated somewhere off behind me. His fingers were burning my skin, like they’d leave marks when he took them away.

“We should go inside.” He said, eyeing my lips again. I licked them, knowing he wanted to kiss me more.

“Sure.” I boldly started another round of kisses.

We somehow made it back to the shallow end of the pool. Zack sat on the steps, pulling me into his lap. Never once did we break our kiss. His hands were all over me now. Sliding up my legs, my thighs, grasping my butt. I felt like I couldn’t get close enough to him. My body was screaming for him. Our breathing was so heavy I was sure someone would hear us if they got anywhere near the pool. But I couldn’t make myself care.

I allowed him to kiss me once more, and pulled back. Our eyes locked instantly. The blue of his gaze made me shiver. “Wow.”

He ran his thumb along my bottom lip. “Yeah.”

“We should stop, our parents could see.” I glanced down, realizing that not only was I in his lap, my legs were locked around his waist.

When I finally extracted myself from his hold, my legs and arms were shaky. I wasn’t sure I could lift myself out of the pool. I’d never kissed anyone like that before. Not a real, soul-shaking kiss. The only other kiss that got close to open mouth was with Eddie Winooski last year at a party. I’m not even sure if you could consider what Eddie and I did as kissing, more like knocking heads and teeth.

Now I knew what Lana meant when she said that just kissing could make her feel faint.

I managed it to get out of the pool without falling face first onto the deck. I snagged another dry towel, wrapped it snuggly, and headed for the house, reeling from the fact that I’d kissed Zack.

“Chloe, what’s wrong?” he kept up with me, looking unfazed by our kiss. He was cool and barely ruffled. Me, I was a mess inside. “Stop.”

“Not to me. I don’t go around kissing people.” I whipped back, hurt by the fact that he could kiss me like that and not feel anything. was he really so cold? I poked him in the chest, forcing my sadness to become anger. “You are the first boy I’ve ever kissed like that.”

How could I argue with that logic? “I know, but you’ve made it worse.” So much worse. How was I supposed to live with him now that I’ve kissed him? Now that I know what it feels like? Now that I know I love it? I pulled away and turned for the house.

“You dragged me into this.” He shouted, sharing in my anger. Good. I wanted him to be mad. I couldn’t handle him being nice or wanting to help me. I needed him pissed so I could be pissed and forget how much I liked kissing him.

I darted through the door. He slammed it hard enough behind us to rattle the glass panes. Mom and Glenn looked up from where they’d snuggled up on the couch. Great, just what we need, an audience.

“It was an accident.” I forced my voice to sound hard and upset. We were supposed to be friends for our parents, not real friends, and not more than friends. That was the original plan. I can’t believe I allowed myself to become attached to him when I knew what lay in the future. He’d go back to pretending I didn’t exist, and I would be left wishing he’d man up and admit his feelings.

“I know it was an accident.” He retorted. “And now you think I’ve made it worse, I get that. But I don’t understand why.”

“You got Max suspended.” I said through gritted teeth, trying not to let our parents hear. “And you…well, you know what else you just did.”

“I did it because you have no business being near him.” His cool gaze swept over my head to focus on our parents, and then flicked back to me. His expression changed. He wanted to say something else, but the other two people in the room weren’t supposed to hear it. He pursed his lips.

“Who I’m with is not up to you. Maybe I like Max. Did you ever think of that? In fact, I’ll go find him.” I smiled, hiding my cringe, and marched right back to the door.

“Are you insane?” Zack blocked my way out.

Mom and Glenn were off the couch now. I could see them behind us in the reflection of the window. They were hanging on our every word. I suspected they were too shocked to say anything.

“I get it.” I said, wishing we had stayed outside to argue. “Max isn’t all that bad, you guys have issues with each other. Competition maybe?”

“No,” he frowned. “I can’t sit by and watch you go out with a guy like Max.” His voice was low, menacing. It surprised the hell out of me. Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “That’s my reason for…what I did.”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation, and in front of our parents! They’d probably pulled up chairs and popped popcorn.

“What are you saying?” I asked, because I had to know it in plain English. Did he want to be my boyfriend for pretend? Or was this a for real thing?

Zack and I were staring at each other rather stupidly, so I guess this must have been enough of a pause for our parents to find their voices.

I turned to mom and Glenn. It was time to steal a base. “Look, what you just saw was not a lover’s quarrel. It was a misunderstanding.”

Zack grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the stairs. I had to run to keep up or risk being dragged. “And we need to sort a few things out before continuing this conversation.”

“By the way,” mom shouted after us, laughter in her voice. “Vince will be here in a thirty minutes. So hurry up!”

I shut myself in my room, locked all the doors to change into a blue sundress and sandals. Then I went to the bathroom, raked a brush through my half dried hair, decided it would have to do since I didn’t have time to shower, and knocked on Zack’s door.

I slipped inside. He wasn’t wearing a shirt again. I suddenly felt like one of the many girls who spent time drooling over him, and decided I liked this view of him better than any I’ve had to date. The way the light filtered out of the closet behind him, almost otherworldly, godlike. He was my own shirtless, superhero, baseball player who rescued me from stinky boys on dirt bikes—time to lay off the romantic movies.

“I think I was a little harsh earlier.” He stepped out of the closet, shoulders hunched slightly. Did he feel even the least bit self-conscious? “I was caught off guard, and didn’t expect to feel the way I did after we kissed.”