Page 9 of Save Me
Once all the accounting was caught up, she peeled off her clothes, donned a swimsuit, and stepped out into the warm night air for her nighttime swim.
The pool was just large enough that she could enjoy a few laps. She’d been on the swim team in high school and was really enjoying having a place to swim again.
“You look like you do that a lot,” a deep voice said when she stopped at the edge of the pool for a sip of water. She gasped and turned to see Brock sitting in one of the lounge chairs near the edge of the pool. She didn’t know how long he’d been there, but by the looks of how relaxed he was, it had been a while.
“Swim team in high school,” she answered, trying to settle her heart down.
She hated that she could be spooked so easily. Hated that even now, after two years, the fear was so easily invoked.
Brock nodded. “I was on the team for a year before being kicked off,” he said with a smile.
She crossed her arms and rested her elbows on the side of the pool. “For?” she asked, putting her chin on her arms.
“Let’s call it flirting with the coach’s daughter,” he joked.
“Oh?” She smiled.
“Laura was my first love.” He put his hand over his heart. “Until I started dating Sarah. Or was it Stephanie?” He shrugged.
“Something tells me you were incorrigible.” She laughed.
“Believe it or not, Key West is a small town. Our graduating class had fifty people in it. It was my responsibility to spread the love,” he joked as he stood up and walked towards the edge of the pool.
Her breath caught when he peeled off his shirt, exposing a hard body with a perfect six-pack. He jumped effortlessly into the water.
When he surfaced, his dark hair was slicked back, giving her an unhindered view of his face. He really was one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen.
Carl had been pudgy from the moment she’d met him back in high school. It had taken her a few years to warm up to his looks. But looking back on their relationship, she believed that, more than anything, she’d fallen in love with the attention he’d given her.
He’d been her out from the almost daily beatings.
“Where’d you go to school?” Brock asked her as he treaded water beside her.
“North Miami,” she answered, and when he nodded slightly, something told her that he’d already known that.
“Do you like it here?” he asked, watching her.
“Yes,” she answered quickly. “Why did you decide to head to Miami?”
“I thought I wanted to be where the action was,” he answered after a pause.
“Thought?” she asked. “Past tense?”
His eyes locked with hers. “Yeah, past tense.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Brock hadn’t known what to do when Crissy had walked right past him earlier and jumped into the water. It was dark, and he’d been sitting in one of the lounge chairs after getting off the phone with his dad.
He’d stepped outside so as to not disturb Crissy, whom he’d thought had been fast asleep. After all, it was a quarter past eleven already.
But after his father had finished filling him in on the details of the calls she’d been receiving, he’d sat outside and had been on the verge of falling asleep under the stars when she’d stepped outside in a sleek once-piece swimsuit and effortlessly slid into the pool.
He’d watched as she’d glided through the pool with even strokes and thought about everything she’d been through. How could a person recover from such a thing?
How could she, even now, swim through the water and not break into a million pieces? She had to be one of the strongest humans he’d ever met.
He’d watched her smile at her daughter during dinner and wondered just how she did it.
