Second Chance Summer (Chance #1)(23)
Author: Emma Hart

“You’re bein’ real cryptic, Reese.”

“Stop talking, and just listen.”

I sigh but do as he says, staring at him and his expectant face. He swallows a little and his eye twitches the way it does when he’s nervous about something. The sound of running water reaches my ears as his eyes search mine.

“Is that…?” I tilt my head to the side.

Reese backs into a bush and pushes some leaves out of the way, pulling me with him without saying a word. I have no idea where we are, but faced with the sight before me, it doesn’t really matter.

Shadows cast over the area in front of us, falling easily across the pool of water and nudging at our feet. My eyes drink it in, the sunlight glaring through the break in the trees. It makes it easy to look across the surface of the still water to the rocky cliff behind it. But that’s not what makes this place so beautiful – the pure beauty is in the water falling over the lip of the rocks to the pool in front of us.

I look around. There’s nothing here apart from the water, the trees, and us. It seems unreal. It’s the kind of place reserved for overexaggerated love scenes in movies, for exuberant declarations of love and forever – the scenes you simultaneously swoon and scoff at.

But this? This isn’t a movie scene. This place is real and beautiful.

And I had no idea it even existed.

“How did you find this place?” I drag my wide eyes away from the waterfall and toward Reese.

He drops my hand, stuffing his in the pockets of his shorts and kicking at the ground. “I spent a lot of time thinkin’ after you went to New York, Kia. I dunno what I was thinking about half the time. Hell, I don’t even know if I was thinking half the time… But I ended up out here one night after Christmas. It was f**king freezing, but I just needed to be alone and away from all the gossip in the Grove.” His eyes meet mine. “I found this place completely by chance, but I knew instantly it was your kinda place.”

“It’s beautiful,” I say in a low voice.

“It’s my treehouse.”

I nod, looking away from him, and walk toward the water. It’s crystal clear and even with the shadows cast over it by the cliff, I can see there’s nothing there. No fish, no plant life, nothing. It’s pure in every sense.

I bend down and stare at my reflection in the water; my still-damp, dark brown hair hanging around my face and falling into my blue eyes.

I hate the fact Reese needed a sanctuary because of me. I hate the fact what I did hurt him so much. Even though he’s said it a hundred times since I got back, him bringing me here twists the knife he doesn’t know his words have stuck into me.

I dip my fingers into the water and make it ripple across my reflection, distorting it freakishly. His phone rings, breaking the silence, and he curses under his breath as he answers.

“What?… You’re kiddin’ me? I told ya, Pheobe, I’m not her damn pet. You can stop checking up on me for her.” Reese’s voice strengthens, and I try to keep a hold on my emotions.

Pheobe Kirk. My least favorite person, and the girl that has crushed on Reese since she was thirteen. The girl Hana has on his back.

I bet she doesn’t know about Pheobe’s little crush.

“Yeah? Is she worried about me, or worried I’m seeing someone else?… Well, you can tell her I’m just fine.” He snorts. “And you can remind her that she’s not my f**kin’ girlfriend, so it’s none of her damn business who I may or may not be seein’!” His accent strengthens with the annoyance threading through his voice. It’s one of my favorite things about him, and the very reason I used to wind him up so much. I’d do stupid little things we’d laugh about hours later, because his annoyance never lasted long.

He mutters under his breath but I don’t turn around, no matter how much I want to. He said Hana wasn’t his girlfriend, so it’s none of her business who he’s seeing. I’m not his girlfriend either, so it’s none of my business why Pheobe is calling him. Hell, the whole Hana thing isn’t really my business. Even if we are suspended in a f**ked-up relationship which is all my fault. Again.

I can feel his eyes on my back, burning into me, and I scratch the back of my neck as an unsettled feeling crawls across it.

“What?” I ask the water.

“Nothin’.”

“No, what?”

“Just you,” he replies cryptically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I look at him over my shoulder, pulling my hand from the water.

“It doesn’t matter.”

I stand. “It does to me.”

He shrugs, his hard eyes meeting mine. “Like the fact you didn’t speak to me for two days matters to me?”

I flinch and whisper quietly, “Yeah; I deserve that. Just like I deserve you to be mad at me, but you ain’t.”

“I’m mad at you.”

I laugh. “Then you’re a damn calm mad. Nothin’ you’ve done today has shown you’re mad.”

“What’s the point in yelling at you? It ain’t gonna change anything.”

“What if I want you to?”

One side of his mouth pulls up. “You want me to yell at you?” he asks.

“Yeah – yeah, I do! I want you to be stinking mad at me and yell at me!”

He throws his arms out with a hollow laugh. “What’ve I gotta do, Kia? I’ve tried everything, but it’s never f**kin’ right. Shit, I can’t even be mad at you right.”

“I know.”

He takes a deep breath and drops his arms. “So what’s the excuse this time? For ignoring me?”

“I don’t have an excuse.”

“Good. I guess. I don’t want excuses. I want a damn reason.”

“I don’t have one of those either,” I admit.

“Great. Why did you even bother to come today?

“Despite Luce practically dragging me by my ears? Because I needed to see you. Even though I ignored you like a total shit for two days, day three broke me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” I cry and rub my face. “This… This is so f**ked up. Everything about this place is f**ked up. Everything about how I feel is f**ked up, so contradictory. I’ve wanted to do nothin’ but avoid you since the day I stepped back into town, and here you are asking me all sorts of crap. Well, there’s your answer. I don’t freakin’ know! I have no idea why I’m here, I have no idea why I came today, and I have even less of an idea why I’m tellin’ you all this.”