Page 61 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
WE DON’T GO TOthe secret springs. I wouldn’t make it with my knee like this anyway. I nearly ruined everything when it gave out at the finish line. It was almost a relief until my dad came rushing over to me. The panic on his face was enough to make me play it cool.
I just tripped on a rock. No big deal.
“I’ll be right back,” Clara says as she heads to the one-stall bathroom at the nearby trailhead to change.
Being up here together has my traitorous brain flashing back to last winter. Muddy crushed leaves on the ground, Clara’s limbs around me in the hot water just before the storm broke. Just us. Heat shoots up the back of my neck at the memory.
Still, as soon as she mentioned the springs when she rescued me from West, my body ached to be here.
The ice in the car helped, and I’m able to walk without limping to the hot springs closest to the turnout. A family I recognize is there. The mom works at the Haven bookstore, and she helped me find books from time to time. They all send me excited, knowing waves.
I have my part to play—the Golden Boy—and wave back.
There are a few logs to the side of the springs, smoothed over from time and touch. I kick off my shoes and set the towel down on the one with initials and curse words etched into the bark. I can feel the family’s attention at my back, and I linger, checking my phone.
There’s nothing new from Legacy Lore, but panic flares when I see the follower count on the profile rapidly climbing. Like walls closing in. Made more intense by Delaney showing up at Clara’s earlier, making it clear my time is running out.
A combination of guilt and dread churn my stomach knowing I have to tell her.
Clara’s approaching footsteps snap me to attention. I quickly tuck my phone into the rest of my stuff, covering it with my shirt.
When I look up, her hair is in a messy bun on top of her head, a navy-colored towel wrapped around her. The strings of a black bikini tied behind her neck peeking out of it. It’s been hard enough to see her fully clothed. But glimpsing her smooth skin again, every moment between us floods my system, and my body doesn’t know the difference between then and now.
I don’t know why I let this happen—we shouldn’t be here together. Especially not if she brought me here out of guilt. Not when I’m the guilty one now.
The towel slips a little as she kicks off her shoes at the edge of the spring. That’s when I see it. A flash of black ink on the side of her rib cage.
A tattoo.
I know Clara planned to get one after her eighteenth birthday from her Aunt Lisette, who’s a tattoo artist. But last we spoke about it, she hadn’t decided what she wanted.
I’m burning to know what she chose to permanently etch onto her body. I can tell it’s a small plant of some kind wrapped around words, but I can’t make them out from this distance.
Clara catches me staring. Her cheekbones bloom pink, and I have to blink away from her gaze.
At least we’re not alone here, I remind myself.
Of course, in the next moment, the family gets out of the water and starts toweling off to leave.
“I just have to say, we are so thrilled for you,” the mom says to me. “Is Stanford as amazing as it seems?”
My chest gets tight. “Yeah. It’s—incredible.”
I don’t miss the way Clara’s eyes narrow.
A slight late-morning chill still clings to the air, along with the heavy pine scent of the surrounding trees. I wait for the family to drive off before I strip down. I don’t have a suit, but my running shorts under my joggers are fine. I’m more embarrassed taking off the knee brace. Fully aware that Clara is watching my every move as I do.
I used to love the way she watched me. Especially here. But now, she’s eyeing my knee with concern, and I fucking hate it.
Clara yelps as she quickly tiptoes across the cold ground. I keep my gaze off her, but at the edge of the hot springs, she drops the towel, and I catch a glimpse of her strong legs as she eases herself in.
I quickly follow. The second I slip into the springs, a sound escapes me from low in my chest.Holy shitit feels good. My sore muscles release one by one, and the jumping pain in my knee downshifts to a slow, tolerable throb. This is exactly what I needed.
And she knew it.
I appraise her across the water and am struck all over again by all the exposed skin. The flush high on her cheeks from the heat. So damn pretty.
“A tattoo?” I ask.
