Into the Fire (9 page)

“Here, I’ll take that.” I spread it out on the grass and sit down.

“We brought you a sandwich. I didn’t know if you ate yet.” She holds the sandwich out to me.

“Thanks.” I’ll force it down.

Jeremy sits down unusually close to Cara. Is it me? I wouldn’t think I’d intimidate him. He’s the brother, even if he is a year younger than us. “So, you just moved here?” he asks.

“Yeah. I haven’t met many people yet.”

He nods and eats his sandwich. I guess the small talk is over.

Cara hands me a bottle of water. “Tomorrow’s the last day of school. I’m sure you’ll get to meet everyone once that’s over with.”

I nod and take a sip. Jeremy’s watching me like he’s our chaperone. Maybe this was a bad idea. “You know, I’m not all that hungry. I think I’m going to swim some more.”

“Oh, um…” Cara looks at Jeremy, who waves her on.

“Go. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

What’s up with this kid? Why is Cara doting on him like he’s a toddler? Jeremy gives her a stern look, and she finally turns to me. “Care if I join you?”

“Not at all.” I extend my hand to help her up, which makes Jeremy’s eyes narrow. Cara hesitates, and I can’t help thinking about the last time our hands touched. It feels like eternity before her hand slips into mine, and it’s unusually warm. As soon as she’s on her feet, she lets go and removes her tank top and shorts. New bikini. How many does the girl have? This one is red. Good color on her. She catches me staring, and I turn away.

“Nice day, huh?”

She laughs as we move toward the water. “He’s not a chaperone, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

I turn back to Jeremy, who’s watching me, and not trying to hide it, either. “Kind of feels like it.” I look at Cara, keeping my eyes on hers and nowhere south of them. “Do you not trust me? ’Cause I’m sort of feeling like maybe you invited me because you wanted to get to know me better, but you freaked at the thought of being alone with me. Is that the real reason your friends aren’t here?”

She’s not breathing, which means I’m dead on about this. “I’ve never met anyone like you, but Jeremy really did need to get out of the house. He’s been cooped up for days.”

I nod. “It’d be nice to not have to look over my shoulder. That’s all.”

“Why? What is he stopping you from doing?”

She’s calling me out? Wow. I didn’t think she had it in her. “I’m not sure yet.” I smile and reach for her hand again, which makes her look back at Jeremy. “See, that right there. What’s that about?”

“Nothing.” She lets out a long exhale before taking my hand. “You’re right. It’s just weird with him here.”

“So then, let’s get in the water. That will shield us a little from Big Brother over there.”

“He’s my
little
brother.”

“I know—never mind. Not important.” We step into the water, and I expect Cara to let go of my hand, but she doesn’t. She holds on to me like she doesn’t ever want to let go.
Take that, Anton. I’ve still got it.

Cara pulls me toward the waterfall, probably so Jeremy can’t hear us. “Tell me more about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” Most girls don’t ask me questions. They see the track trophies and my killer abs and they know all they need to know.

“What did you do back in New York, other than run track?”

Dated lots of girls. “Hung out with Anton mostly. You know, typical stuff.”

“Do you have a girlfriend back home?” Her eyes are focused on the water.

“No, and I’m guessing you don’t have a boyfriend, since you’re here with me.”

Her eyes meet mine. “I’ve never really had a boyfriend.” Her words come out slowly, almost painfully.

“Me either.”

She laughs. “Good to know.”

“No, I meant I’ve never had a real girlfriend.”

She tilts her head to the side and the sun catches the red in her hair. “I was only teasing.”

“You don’t do this a lot, do you?” I ask.

“What?” Her hand stiffens in mine, and I tighten my grip, not wanting to let her go.

“Flirt. You’re good at it, though. Probably better than you think.”

She smiles. “I—”

A car pulls into the parking lot, beeping its horn obnoxiously. I don’t care who’s in it. I want to rip their head off. I was finally making progress with Cara, even with her brother here.

“Oh no.” Her hand slips from mine, but not before I notice how warm she feels. Weird.

“What’s wrong? Who is it?”

“My friends.”

Why is that a problem for her? “Do you not want them to see you with me?”

“No. That’s not it. It’s Jeremy. He shouldn’t be around too many people. I should get him home.”

“Cara, he’s fine. You can’t baby him just because he has mono.” I take her hand again, lacing my fingers through hers. Her eyes drop to the water, like she’s trying to see our hands.

“Cara!” Jeremy’s at the water’s edge.

Cara nearly gives herself whiplash turning to face him. “Get in.”

Jeremy comes in and swims right toward us. Cara’s hand leaves mine again. One step forward… three steps back. I watch Rachel and two guys get out of the car. Rachel ditches her clothes in seconds, not even slowing as she heads for the water.

“Made it.” She dives in, surfacing a few feet from us. “Canceled my eye doctor’s appointment. I see just fine.” She swims over to Jeremy. “Hey, good looking. I take it you’re feeling better.”

Jeremy and Cara exchange a look. I feel sorry for him. Cara probably told him her friends are off limits. She clearly hasn’t told Rachel, though.

“He’s not a hundred percent, Rach. I just thought he could use some fresh air. I wasn’t expecting a crowd.”

“Fine. I won’t go cozying up to him…yet.” She wags an eyebrow at Jeremy. Poor bastard. He must be dying to make a move on her.

The stocky guy with brown hair swims over to Jeremy. “Hey, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you out any time soon. Not after yesterday.”

“I needed some air.” Jeremy moves closer to Cara.

“You know, I think we should go soon. You really don’t want to overdo it.” Cara’s eyes fall on me, and I can tell she doesn’t want to leave.

“You can’t leave,” the stocky guy says. “We just got here, and you haven’t even introduced us to your friend.” He looks at me. “I’m Nick.”

“Logan.”

“Transfer?”

I nod.

The tall blond guy finally catches up to the group. “Hey, I’m Rob. The future Mr. Cara Tillman.”

He’s not wasting any time marking his territory. Of course, he’s also clueless to Cara’s eye rolling.

“You idiot!” Rachel shoves Rob in the chest. “If you married Cara—which you are so
not
doing, by the way—you wouldn’t take her last name. The girl takes the guy’s name.”

“Whatever.” Rob shrugs. “Are we here to argue or swim?”

“Swim,” Jeremy says, already swimming away.

“How about a race?” Rob says. “Me and Cara against Rachel and the new guy.” He reaches for Cara, but I take her hand first.

“Actually, Cara’s here with me, and she was just about to show me the falls.” I meet his stare, letting him know I’m not going anywhere without Cara.

She looks relieved as I pull her toward the waterfall. “Thanks,” she says once we’re out of earshot. “He can be—”

“A dick?”

She laughs. “I was going to say overbearing, but that works too. Besides, Rachel’s into him, so even if I did like him, which I don’t, I wouldn’t go there.”

She’s a good friend. That’s another point in the plus column. “Why do you guys hang out with him if you’re really just tolerating him?”

“For Rachel. Plus Nick likes everybody. It’s sort of his thing. He’s really good friends with Jeremy, too.” She looks out toward the lagoon, where Jeremy is swimming by himself.

“Speaking of Jeremy, is he okay? He didn’t seem happy when your friends pulled up.”

“He really should get home and lie down.”

“Can you stay a few more minutes?” I run my thumb across the top of her hand.

She flashes me her killer smile. “A few.”

“So, I haven’t been to the top waterfall. Care to take my third-tier virginity?” She nearly chokes. Yeah, she startles easily. I’ll have to remember that. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that.”

“No, it’s okay. Come on.”

We head to the stairs and climb all the way up. “The view is amazing. I don’t normally go for ‘nature and all its beauty’ crap, but I’ve never seen anything like this.” Having a hot girl in a bikini next to me doesn’t hurt either.

“I love it up here.”

“I can see why. In New York we have skyscrapers, but they never look down on anything like this.”

“To the ledge!” Rob yells from below us.

“What’s that about?”

“They like to do flips off the ledge. It’s sort of a competition.”

Apparently everything with Rob is a competition. “Are you game?” I’ve never done anything like this, but how tough can it be? If that Rob tool can do it, so can I.

“If you are.” She tilts her head and the sun catches the red in her hair again.

“I’m game.” I motion for her to go first. It’s the polite thing to do, plus I like the view.

Cara climbs down the stairs to the ledge at the first waterfall. She leaves enough room for me to squeeze in next to her. My left side presses up against her, and I feel the heat from her body. This girl is hot in so many ways. Thank God the others are around, because I wouldn’t be able to control myself if they weren’t. I’ve never waited this long to make a move on a girl. I’ve never needed to. But I don’t want to scare Cara away.

Rob dives in first, doing a somersault and a half before face-planting in the water. A chorus of “Ooh, that had to hurt!” rings through the group. Nick is next, and he’s much better than Rob.

Rachel bumps Cara with her shoulder. “What do you say we show these boys how it’s done?”

Cara turns and gives me an encouraging smile. “See you down there.”

I nod, realizing I’d probably jump off a skyscraper after her. I watch Cara and Rachel jump together. They’ve obviously done this dual dive before. They both tuck and somersault at the same time and land in the water with pointed toes and everything.

Jeremy’s on the ledge now, too, but he’s not moving. I motion for him to go ahead of me. “You first, man. I’ve never done this before, and I’m kind of still working up the courage.”

“First time can be a little scary.” Either he remembers his first dive really well or he’s about to try a dive he hasn’t done before because he sounds and looks as nervous as I am.

“You can do it, Jer!” Cara yells.

Jeremy takes a deep breath and does a simple dive. Not at all what I was expecting. Of course he’s recovering from mono, so it’s probably all he’s up for. And that leaves me. I hope I at least do better than Rob. I take a two-step running start, like Jeremy did, and jump through the waterfall. I bring my knees to my chest and somersault. Why not? If Cara and Rachel can do it… The first time around goes well, but I’m so psyched I actually did it that I forget to let go of my legs. I spin again and can’t see where I’m going to land. I splash into the water, hitting it harder than I expect. I try to right myself, but I smack my head on the underwater ledge. Everything goes black.

Cara

I can’t breathe as I watch Logan hit the water. I know the ledge is there, and judging by his position, he won’t straighten himself out before he hits it. I swim as fast as I can to him. Rachel’s yelling for the guys to help, but they’re already racing and pretty much oblivious to what’s happening.

Jeremy recovers first and is at my side. We dive under the water and find Logan. He’s hard to miss with the trail of blood pouring from his head. My heart races, and my cheeks and arms get warm, warmer, hot. If I’m not careful, I’ll boil us all. Jeremy and I reach out, grab Logan, and pull him to the surface.

Rachel screams as blood tints the water red. Jeremy’s stronger than I am, and he’s doing most of the work, so I apply pressure to Logan’s head, hoping I don’t singe his hair. I close my eyes and tears spill down my cheeks.
Please be okay.
His head throbs in my hand. He needs a doctor.

Jeremy pulls Logan onto the grass, and I gently lower Logan’s head. “I’m calling Mom. Hold on, Logan, please.” I run for my car and throw open the door, scrambling for my cell in my shorts pocket. I pull it out and dial Mom, hoping she’s not too busy to answer.

“What the hell?” Jeremy sounds completely freaked. “Cara, you have to see this.”

I run over, thinking Logan’s injury is even worse than we thought, but Jeremy has Logan’s head turned to the side. There’s no gash, only a faint red line, like a cut that’s almost healed. I look down at my hand, the one I used to apply pressure to Logan’s head. Not a drop of blood on it. How’s that possible?

“Is he cut anywhere else?” I ask.

“Is who cut?” Mom’s voice answers.

“Mom.” I bring the phone closer to my mouth. “Someone’s hurt. We were diving at the falls, and he hit his head.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, and Jeremy’s with me.”

“You brought your brother?” She’s yelling now.

“He’s fine. He needed some fresh air. I didn’t think—look, there isn’t time to argue.” I stare back and forth between my hand and Logan. “He’s not bleeding anymore. Is that good or bad?”

“Did Jeremy touch his cut?” I didn’t think Mom taught Jeremy how to heal yet.

“I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. I don’t know if Jeremy touched it.” Jeremy shakes his head. He didn’t heal Logan. I couldn’t have done it; I don’t have my full Phoenix abilities yet. And even if I did have them, could I have stopped the bleeding that quickly? “This doesn’t make sense.” Everyone is out of the water and staring at us.

“Just get him here as quickly as you can, Cara. He needs medical attention. You’re okay to drive, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Get moving.”

“Okay.” I hang up, more confused than ever.

“What did she say?” Jeremy asks.

I shake my head, snapping myself out of the flurry of thoughts swimming in my mind. “We have to take him to her. Now.”

Jeremy and Nick pick Logan up by his armpits and legs. They carefully maneuver him into my back seat. Jeremy takes shotgun, and I drive out of there without a word to anyone. “This feels like a dream. A person can’t bleed that much one second and then not at all the next—can they?”