Cheaters Anonymous

chapter 10 | little white lies

Something about swimming felt amazing. It was as if you could escape in the waves, and the moment the coldness consumed your body you felt free. Free from the things that made you shameless, from everything you were running away from, from all the little white lies. 

I wanted to feel free like that always.

I rose up from the water, pushing my wet hair back.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I knew who the voice belonged to before I looked. I turned to see Ellis, shirtless with a towel draped over his arm. His swim shorts hung dangerously low revealing his v-line, and even though he had just woken up he looked good. His hair was tousled, and I tried not to think about how it might've been because of a night with Talia.

"Just wanted to go for an early swim before the pool was crowded," I said. 

Ellis sat down on one of the pool chairs, watching as I went back in for a swim. I felt the coolness of my body chain alongside the water droplets trickling down my stomach. As I stood up, I was glad I had chosen my cuter black bikini. 

"What's the real reason you came this weekend, Dakota?" He looked at me with hooded eyes, and I felt a surge of electricity run up my spine.

He didn't know. He couldn't have known.

I shrugged. "Didn't want to pass up a chance at free liquor." 

He let out a little laugh, as if he wasn't surprised by my answer. "Right."

"I get it, you know. Why the four of you choose to live like this. It's a lot easier to pretend like things are okay when you have distractions. Parties, drinking, money." I gave a small smile as I tread water. "It lets you hide."

He shook his head slightly. "You know what they say. Money solves all your problems." He sounded almost bitter, but I didn't push it.

"Are we going to talk about what happened last night?" I looked up at him.

"What's there to talk about?" His ring glistened in the sunlight as he brought his hands together. "I don't really want to get tangled into my best friend's dad's business. Maybe he was meeting someone from work."

"At the creek?" I said. "You have to admit, that's pretty suspicious."

"Always a mystery with you, Dakota Reeves. Sometimes I think you can't leave things alone, even when you're better off not knowing." He dived into the pool, splashing me in the process. I wiped water from my mascaraed eyelashes, blinking and holding my hand up so I could block the sun and peer at him.

"That's not always a bad thing," I said.

"Never said it was."

For a moment we stayed like that, close but not touching, with neither of us moving. Finally he moved towards the edge of the pool, sliding a hand through his wet hair.

He swam a few laps, and we grew into a comfortable silence. I pretended like I wasn't discreetly watching him swim, arms sturdy and water glistening on his tan skin as he waded through. 

I stepped out of the pool, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I started heading towards the sliding doors when I heard him calling behind me.

"It's not worth losing sleep over. Some things are better to forget."

I stopped momentarily. I didn't reply- I didn't know how to. I pushed open the screen doors instead, letting the unspoken words between us envelope us as I disappeared inside.

✤

"Okay, on a scale of 1 to fuckable, you look beyond sex." Jasmine let me finally open my eyes to look in the mirror.