Deep Water (5 page)

“Nah. I’m pretty open about all my
flaws. There’s no pretense here.”

He walked me to my door. “You gonna
invite me it?” he asked with an exaggerated leer.

I grinned at him. “No way in hell.”

I shut the door in his face.

I
was the first one awake. The first thing I did was check the mirror, but my
face was clear and there was no sign of last night’s events marking me. Whether
my parents were even home or not, I did not know, but I didn’t want to risk
dealing with them. I dressed in my one piece swimsuit, grabbed a towel and
headed out to the lake. It was only six o’clock in the morning, but I could tell
it was going to be a scorching hot day already.

I dived into the water that had yet to
warm. It felt cool and refreshing on my skin as I cut through the water with
powerful arms. Using the freestyle stroke, I swam out to one of the buoys,
before turning back and heading to the platform. I pulled myself up it and sat
there, the sun was already pleasant on my skin, warming me to the perfect
temperature.

I could tell it was Joseph swimming out
just by his technique. He was so graceful, making each stroke look effortless.
I watched as he climbed the ladder, droplets sprinkling over me as he collapsed
down beside me.

“Why are you up so early?” I asked him.

He looked at me. “Why are
you
? I
come here every morning before work.”

I lay back down and yawned. This was
early for me. “Where do you work?”

“All over. My boss buys houses and
renovates them to sell when the market’s good. I do a lot of the demolition
work, but he’s teaching me some of the carpentry stuff too. It’s cool. Beats
working in the supermarket or something like that. What about you?”

“I don’t have a job.” I closed my eyes,
waiting for him to make some smartass comment about that, but he didn’t.

“You should come see the house we’re
working on at the moment. My boss let me do a lot of the stuff myself. It’s
looking really good.”

I opened my eyes and sat up again,
studying him with a half-smile on my face.

He frowned. “What?”

“Do you invite all the girls you want to
sleep with to see your work, or is it just me?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes. “Jeez. Calm down.
It’s not a fucking marriage proposal or anything. I probably
still
won’t
call you after we have sex.”

I brushed my wet hair back from my face
and shook my head at him. “Look at you. So arrogant…and deluded. Thinking that
I actually would sleep with you.”

He shrugged. “It’s not arrogance,
Jessica. It’s fact. You like me. You said it yourself–”

“
Used
to. I said I used to like
you.”

“Whatever. You’re hot for me. I can
tell. Don’t be embarrassed. Look at me? Who wouldn’t be hot for me?” He ran a
hand through his hair and gave an exaggerated pose that sent me into a fit of
giggles.

He got to his feet with a grin. “Anyway,
I can’t sit here all day just so you can salivate over my body. I’ve got work
to do. I’ll race you back.” He held a hand out to help me up. I took it, but
then he took me by surprise by pushing me into the water.

I hit it with a splash, and by the time
I surfaced he was swimming at speed back to shore. I took after him as fast as
I could, but he still made it out of the water before me. He was drying himself
with a towel while a satisfied smile sat on his face.

“What took you so long?” he asked
innocently.

I grabbed my towel. “You play dirty.”

He winked. “I bet you like how dirty I
can be.”

I rolled my eyes. “Haven’t you got a job
to get to?”

“Yes, yes I do.” And he started to walk
casually back to his car. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to engage with me
further, he turned around and yelled, “31 Hargreaves Street. I’ll see you
later, Jess-i-ca.” Then he blew me a kiss that left me standing there with my
mouth half open until he got into his car and drove away. Then that mouth
started to twitch back up into a smile that I couldn’t stop.

The Hargreaves house was an old villa
that was slowly being transformed back into something beautiful. Joseph showed
me around, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say there was pride in his
voice as he showed it off. He had his top off, and his skin glistened with
sweat. He seemed bruise free, and I couldn’t help but pay more attention to his
body than the house.

He caught me staring, but just gave a
smirk as I turned away in embarrassment.

After that, he took me to lunch.

I sat opposite him in a nearby diner. He
was staring at me, and I was feeling extremely self-conscious.

“What?” I asked finally.

“I was just looking at your face.”

“Oh. Well, stop it.”

The waitress came to take our orders
then.

“I’ll have a burger and fries, and a
coke.” Joseph looked over at me.

“I’ll have a garden salad, no dressing,
and no cheese. And a bottle of water.” I handed the menu back to the waitress
as she walked away. Joseph was looking at me, frowning.

“That sounds…really horrible. Don’t you
want to eat something nice?”

I leaned forward. “You mean do I want to
eat something that’s laden with fat and grease that will make me look like a
big, fat heifer? No, I don’t.”

His eyes scanned my body now. “You’re
all skin and bone. You could do with some more meat on you.”

“Oh, really. I thought you said my body
was ‘perfect’ the other week.”

He leaned back, grinning. “Don’t throw
my words back at me.”

“I can’t help it. You irritate me to no
end,” I teased.

He sat up straight, reaching for my
hand. “Irritate you? Or turn you on?” he asked in a low voice as I felt his
other hand under the table. It was searching up my thigh and beginning to push
my skirt up. I lifted my leg up and placed my foot squarely on his crotch and
began to rub gently.

He gave a surprised laugh. “That, uh,
that feels good.” I removed my foot. “What are you doing? Don’t stop.”

“I don’t want to get you all riled up
before our food comes. I want to enjoy my salad without you molesting me.” His
hand was still on my thigh, but it had stopped trying to push my skirt up.

“I’m not molesting you. I’m seducing
you. And I gotta say, it’s taking a lot longer than it normally does.”

I played with the pepper shaker that sat
on the table with my free hand. “What about Katrin? How long did it take to
seduce her?”

He let go of both my hand and my thigh
at the same time. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

I looked him directly in the eye. “Why
not?”

“Because I’m here with you right now.
She has nothing to do with us.” He looked away from my gaze like he was
uncomfortable.

Our food arrived then. We ate it in
silence. I kept my eyes firmly on my plate as I speared the bland salad with my
fork.

“You want my fries?” Joseph nudged his
plate in my direction. I pushed it back.

“Yuck. No thanks.”

“Go on.” He pushed it back. “Just have
one.”

“No.”

“Here, just a bite.” He picked one up
and pushed it close to my mouth. I gave him an annoyed look and snatched it
from his fingers, taking a bite. I chewed and swallowed.

“There. Happy now? I’m one step closer
to being craned out of my house.” I threw the remainder of the fry back on his
plate and shoved it back to him, as far away from me that I could get it.

He watched me with a half smile on his
face like he’d won something.

After he had dropped me back at my car, I
said, “Well, thanks for lunch,” and went to turn away. But he took my hand,
stopping me.

“Wait. Are you coming to the lake
tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Good.” He cupped my face before kissing
me gently. When, after a while, we broke apart, we both had small smiles on our
faces as we shared a look.

“I, um, better go. I’ll see you tonight.”
I walked backward toward my car, not wanting to lose sight of him.

“Bye, Jessica.”

I didn’t turn back to my car until he
was back in the house.

My
mother was back to her perfect housewife self that evening. She had her hair
curled and lipstick bright as she worked in the kitchen. She made me help her,
and together we concocted wonderful dishes that neither of us would eat more
than a mouthful of at the most.

I set the table while she got changed
for dinner. I wonder if she got those traditions from a TV program or
something, because I’m sure that would not have been the trend in the house
that she grew up in. Then we sat at the table and waited for my father to show.

And we waited some more.

She started on her second glass of wine
as the food began to cool.

“Maybe he went into the office. Did you
call him?”

Her knuckles were white as she clutched
her wine glass. “I told him we would have dinner at seven,” she said tightly
before she downed what remained in her glass. I watched as she refilled it.

I pulled out my phone and called him,
moving to another room as I did so.

He picked up on the first ring. “Hey,
honey. What’s up?”

“We’re waiting for you, Dad. Dinner’s
getting cold.”

There was silence on the other end of
the line before he cleared his throat. “I told her I had a business dinner
tonight and wouldn’t be home.”

“Well, she obviously didn’t get the
message. Can you come home? Please? She’s gone to a lot of effort, and she was
in a really happy mood. She wants you there.”

I heard a women’s voice in the
background. “I’m sorry, honey. I can’t. This is important–”

“So is Mom’s mental health!” I hissed at
him in a hushed tone.

“I told you, Jessie. I have an important
client–”

“Stop lying! Since when do you have a
business dinner on a Sunday? Are you with that Anna woman?”

“Jesus,” he said in an angry tone. “Are you
drinking your mother’s kool-aid now? I have to go, Jessie. I’ll speak to you
tomorrow.”

He ended the call. I clenched my phone
in my hand and took a deep breath as I re-entered the dining room. My mother
was pouring another glass of wine. She looked at me with hope in her eyes.

“He’s not coming. He says he has a
business dinner.” I sat back down on my chair. She had changed her gaze down to
look at her plate, and she just sat there staring at it for a full minute. I
wondered if she’d heard me.

“Mom?”

She grabbed the plate and threw it, so
it shattered against the wall, then she took her wine glass and followed suit
with it.

I flinched with each crash but didn’t
move. She sat there looking at the mess she had just made, her chest heaving up
and down as if she was trying to stop from crying. Then, she stood up and
calmly said, “I’m going out, sweetheart. Leave the mess. I’ll deal with it
tomorrow.” She left with a slow walk as if she was trying to control every
single one of her actions.

I didn’t move until I heard her car back
out of the driveway.

I did leave the mess. My Dad could
fucking well clean it up whenever he decided to come home. I sped to the lake,
half dying to get away from home, and half dying to be with Joseph. The party
was roaring away when I got there. Eve engulfed me in a drunken hug before
bounding off to hug other people whether they wanted it or not.

I spotted Joseph straight away. He was
drinking a beer in the firelight, and for just a moment I stopped and stared at
his beautiful profile. I took a step in his direction, but Ewan intercepted me.

“Hey, Jessie.” Again I was hugged by a
drunk.

“Hi, Ewan.”

He stepped back and bowed his head down
to whisper in my ear. “Are you okay? Really okay, I mean.”

I took a step back. “I’m wonderful,
Ewan. Really. But thanks for caring. I appreciate it.”

He gave me a goofy, drunken grin. “You
know I care about you, right?”

“Of course.” And then Joseph was at my side,
his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me to him.

“Excuse us,” he said to Ewan, and a jolt
of excitement went through me. For a moment, I felt claimed as if he were
telling the whole world that I belonged to him. I wasn’t sure what Ewan’s reaction
was because I was being spun around to be kissed by Joseph.

I giggled when our lips parted; I
couldn’t help it. It was like every other problem in the world escaped from my
conscious, and everything was perfect.

“You’re so cute,” he told me, as he planted
another quick kiss on my lips. “Come swimming with me.”

“I didn’t bring my suit.”

He grinned and leaned in close to
whisper in my ear. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll both go skinny dipping.”

“Joseph!” I went to push him away, but
he held me tight.

“Don’t worry.” His voice suddenly had an
oddly serious note to it. “We’ll go up the beach further, no one will see, and
I won’t touch you unless you want me to.”

I held my breath for a second, and then
I looked into his eyes. He was watching me, waiting, with almost a somber
expression on his face. He looked so adorable at that moment that I didn’t
think I could have denied him anything.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

His lips flickered into a smile. “Okay.
Come on.”

Holding my hand, we walked up the beach
further, climbing over a group of rocks to go where the lake curved around so
we couldn’t be seen. It was so dark there, only lit by moonlight. It was like
we were the only people on earth.

He stripped first, pulling off his
t-shirt then discarding his shorts. They were thrown carelessly away, and he
ran into the water.

“Turn around,” I told him. And he
surprised me by his obedience. Casting a quick glance around, I quickly
undressed and then ran as fast as I could into the safety of the water. I swam
in front of him until the water covered the tops of my breasts.

He immediately swam to me and grabbed my
waist.

“You said no touching!”

His hands left my waist and came out of
the water. “Whatever you say. But you can touch me. If you want.”

I did want. I palmed the back of his
head and forced his lips down on mine. I kissed him with all the passion that I
could muster while he kept his hands obediently at his sides. When I broke away
from the kiss, he said, “You’re killing me right now. You know that, right?”

I just smiled in a way that I hoped was
seductive and said, “I know,” before kissing him again. This time, my hands ran
down his chest and then sloped down to his ass. I squeezed it in the most
satisfying way, and he gave a slight moan.

“Can I just–”

“No,” I cut in. “I’m the one doing the
touching, not you.”

I touched his penis. It floated, erect
in the water. I stroked up it, amazed at how hard and smooth it was. I let my
thumb wander to its mushroom shaped tip, and swiped it in the center. He let
out a groan.

“Don’t, Jessica,” His voice was
strangled. “Not unless you want me to…” He jerked underneath me. “And I know
you don’t,” he panted.

I released him and settled for kissing
him instead. His mouth hungrily devoured mine, while his cock rubbed innocently
upon my stomach in the water. It was amazing. It felt like hours that we stood
in the water, naked and vulnerable, and kissed all our worries away.

Later, we curled up together on a bed
made of our clothes and slept till sunrise.