Page 56 of Filthy Beautiful
Because nothing did happen.
And if she was trying to fuck with me… I couldn’t let her win some kind of territorial rights over the pool area. I gave up any ground here, she’d push me out inch by inch.
One nipple graze at a time.
I opened the door and walked right back out there, not quite sure how I was gonna pull off the “nothing happened” act—her tits touched my face, for fuck’s sake—to find Courteneygone.
And her brother standing there.
I glanced around. There was no sign of her. Her towel and sunscreen were still there, but Courteney and her phone had vanished.
Cary was standing right by the chair where I’d been sitting, staring at me. Stock-still, like a deer at the side of the road… just fucking looking at me.
And yeah, I tried to act normal.
Did he just see Courteney out here in her bikini, and put two and two together? Was I acting weird?
Was he looking at me strangely?
No. Cary looked at everyone like that.
Fucking strangely.
Like he’d been holed away so damn long he’d forgotten what to make of other human beings.
“Hey, brother,” I said, casually, strolling over to the pool between us. “Nice day for a swim…”
He dropped the towel he was holding on a chair. He wore a T-shirt and swim trunks, his hair tied back in a knot.
He still hadn’t said anything.
“Going in?” I asked him.
“Yeah. Was gonna swim some laps.”
“Cool. I’ll hang out, grab us a beer.”
He didn’t say anything to that, just started pulling off his shirt, still kinda looking at me. So I took my ass up the path through the trees, quickly, to the house.
I headed for the kitchen, my heart drumming in my chest. Wasn’t sure if that was because of what just happened with Courteney… or running into Cary right afterward and feeling like a guilty fuck.
I didn’t see Courteney. I listened for her as I went to the fridge, but I didn’t hear a sound from the house.
I grabbed a couple of cold ones, plus a bottle of water for Cary in case he wanted it after swimming. Then I took the long way back out to the pool—through the front door. So I could see if Courteney’s car was in the driveway. Nope.
She’d taken off.
Shit.
No, wait. Not shit.
Good.
This was very fucking good. Why couldn’t I get that through my head?
She should be running the fuck away from me.
Fast and far.
