Threat (8 page)

The road winds and curves and then finally, he turns on to another
dirt path that cuts directly through the trees. Up ahead I see a
small clearing, framed with looming oaks and large boulders, and
beyond it a majestic clear blue lake. It's small but somehow, it's
even more brilliant and secluded than the one near the cabin.

He stops the bike just a few yards from its edge.

For a short moment I'm transfixed by the view. It's past mid-day and
the sun is at it's highest in the sky, reflecting like a mosaic of
light off the calm surface of the water. There's something serene and
peaceful about it.

Until Threat's presence pretty much ruins all it all.

He jumps up off of the bike and scales the boulder like a wild man.
When he reaches the peak he cups his mouth and lets out a long,
obnoxious howling sound. Who does he think he is, the Wolfman?

I step off the bike and move to the base of the rock. “The hell
are you doing?” I ask with my weight shifted and a hand on my
hip.

“Welcome to dare number two!” he shouts at me, as if I'm
not standing just a few fucking feet below him. He rips off his
t-shirt, spinning it around over his head and letting it drop right
on top of mine.

“Ugh, sweat, gross!” I exclaim as I rip it off. “Would
you mind explaining why you're suddenly acting like a feral child?”

Now he's unbuttoning his pants—where exactly is all this going?

“I'm sorry sis, but the outdoors bring out the animalistic side
of me,” he says as he bares his teeth.

Next thing I know, he throws his jeans, hitting me smack dab in the
face.

Oh God, please let him stop there.

Of course, he doesn't.

He has no shame at all, does he? I'm standing right here, with a full
view of him, and he still slips his thumbs beneath the waistband of
his underwear without thinking twice about it. You have to be kidding
me. I step back and cover my eyes the second I see him slide them off
his hips and then—
oof
, I feel the fabric hit me. That's
even worse than a sweaty t-shirt!

By the time I open my eyes Threat is diving head first into the lake.
I wince when he hits the water—the splash is so loud and it
looks shallow. Is he sure this spot is even safe for diving? I start
to worry.

“David?” I call out, rushing to the lake's edge. I know
my dad warned him about taking care of me—I never thought
I
might end up losing
him
.

I call out for him a couple more times before his head comes bobbing
up through the surface of the water. He shakes all of the water out
of his hair. “Woooooooooo!” he shouts, “That was a
rush! What are you still standing there for? Come on in!”

Not happening. “Nah, I'm cool.”

“This is dare number two, Leah. Get your ass in the lake,
stat.”

I groan. I knew this was a bad idea. I knew eventually he'd make me
do something weird, uncomfortable, or frankly just dumb. Sure the
water is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I want to swim in it.

“Truth. I pick truth.”

“That's not the way the game works,” he shouts back.

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's exactly how the game works.”

“Not my version.”

“I don't want to get wet,” I yell.

“Sadly, not getting wet isn't an option when you're in water.”

I bite my thumb as I scramble for more excuses. “Can't I just
put my feet in the water or something?”

“Unless you know how to drive a motorcycle, I'm telling you
right now, we are not leaving this spot until you take a swim,”
he says as he wades in place. “Believe me I can stay out here
all night.”

I lean back against the rock and sigh. I don't doubt for a minute
that he would keep us out here all night long if I don't—I
mean, this is Threat we're talking about here. Anything to annoy me.
I weigh my options, starting with stealing his bike. He left his keys
right next to it; it could be worth a try. But I have no idea how to
work that thing and I'd probably either drive right into the lake or
crash it.

“You coming or what?” he asks.

I look back at him, hair slicked back, shoulders and face glistening
under the sun. He looks so carefree. What does that level of freedom
feel like? It intrigues me yet frightens me all at the same time.

“I—I don't have a suit,” I reply, which is the last
and final excuse I can possibly come up with.

He smirks. “You don’t need one. I didn't.”

Wait, is he suggesting what I think he's suggesting?

Of course he is.

I suddenly break out in fit of laughter. “You are clinically
insane if you think I'm going to skinny dip with you!”

“I don't
think
it's going to happen. I
know
it's
going to happen.”

I stomp one of my feet, shaking my head. “No. Absolutely not!
No way, no how, not ever.”

“Look,” he says as he turns in the water. With his back
toward me he covers his eyes with his hands. “See, I'm turning
around and my eyes are closed. I won't look at a thing.”

“I'm still not fucking doing it,” I holler back at him.

“You have a window of about sixty seconds here, Leah. After
that I'm turning around and looking at everything and I'm not fucking
leaving here until you do it!”

I throw my head back and shout to the heavens. If there was a course
in how to annoy Leah Parker, he would have a freakin' master's.

“Fine,” I grumble as I rip off my top and throw it hard
on to the ground next to his clothes, watching him carefully to make
sure he doesn't turn around.

“Forty-five seconds.”

The heck? Where did the last fifteen go?

I hustle, shimmying out of my shorts before climbing up on to the
rock. Good thing he's not looking, it gives me the opportunity to
pull down my bra straps—he'll never know the difference from
beneath the water. Sure, it means riding home with damp underwear but
it's better than the alternative.

“Thirty seconds!”

“Shut up and stop counting, I'm coming in.”

“Twenty-nine, twenty-eight...”

Welp, here goes nothing.

I run a few steps up to the edge of the rock, the jagged surface
cutting into my feet, and then I launch myself off the edge as far as
I can. I holler with excitement as I fly through the air—it's
exhilarating, like a high I've never felt before. And then I hit the
water with a crack—
ouch
! It stings my flesh and I sink
to the bottom, the cool liquid engulfing me and pulling me down to
the depths. My toes touch the squishy, wet sand at the lake's floor
and I push myself back up. My legs scissor through the water, guiding
me closer and closer to the rippling beam of white light, until I
finally bob up above the surface, gasping air into my lungs.

I clasp my hands over my wet face, laughing uncontrollably. “Oh
my God, that was a rush! I cannot believe I just did that!”

“What did I tell you? I knew you had it in you,” Threat
says. I clear the water from my eyes, only to see him looking at me
like he's genuinely proud.

And then he holds his hand out and says, “Now hand them over.”

“Hand
what
over?”

“Your bra and panties.”

My eyes go wide. I barely pay attention to the fact that he figured
out I still have my underwear on. No, it's the way he says the word
panties
—he makes a simple word sound so dirty.

It leaves me totally tongue tied. “I, um, what?”

“I'm not as stupid as you think, Leah.”

I make an unintelligible, disapproving sound. “Don't you dare
look at anything,” I say with arms covering my front.

“I can't see shit under the water. Can you see me?”

I look down and he's just a blur. “No, not really.”

“Exactly. Take that shit off or I'll take it off for you.”
The look on his face tells me that's a promise he more than intends
to keep. I'm not intrigued, I swear.

“Fine,” I mumble as I unhook my bra and slide out of my
underwear.

“Thank you,” he says, snatching both away from me. He
angles his arm back and then chucks both pieces as far out into the
lake as he can. I look on in horror as the rippling tide takes them
down stream.

“What the
hell
did you do that for?!”

He swims even closer to me, his finger inches from my face. “You
broke the rules of the game, don't fucking do it again or the
consequences will be worse.”

I'm tempted to bite that finger right off. At least I have more
packed, but what an asshole thing to do.

Before I can protest he starts to swim away from me. “Come on,”
he says, “this way.”

“This way what?”

“Just follow me.”

“Follow you where, exactly?”

“God damn you are hardheaded! Look, you can't get back that
way,” he says pointing back to the boulder we jumped from.

He's right. When I look back I realize how steep and high the incline
is. It looks like a tiny cliff, but not one small enough to scale.

“How the hell are we going to get out?” I start to panic.

“Like I said, follow me and I'll show you the way.”

Now I’m back to realizing how terrible of an idea this was.
Sure it was fun and it was a rush for the three-point-two seconds I
spent flying through the air, but not so much now. I mean, it's weird
enough to be naked in a pool of water with my stepbrother. Having to
swim God knows how far just to get out is only going to make things
worse.

It's not like I have a choice at this point. So in a huff I swim
after him, following him around the curve of a cliff that seems to
loom higher and higher above our heads the farther we go.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” I call up to him.

“Yup. I've done this a million times before. Trust me.”

Famous last words.

I must be more out of shape than I realize because I start to tire
quickly, yet Threat seems to cut through the water effortlessly. I
haven't gone swimming like this in ages; I'm more of a pool or spa
type girl. Lakes are great for ambiance. We swim for a good ten
minutes straight and I feel every single second of it in my muscles.
And just when I think we've drifted off too far from the bike I see
something abnormal up ahead. It looks like an opening, right at the
base of the cliff, or some sort of cave.

Nope. Hell no.

I stop and bob in the water. “Please tell me that's not where
you're taking me.”

Threat stops too and turns back toward me. “That's where I'm
taking you,” he says, pointing backwards toward the underwater
cave.

It looks scary as fuck. Like there should be a big red sign above it
telling us to go back.

“Well you have fun, because I'm going back.”

“Right, and once you go back what are you going to do, scale
the cliff?”

Dammit I forgot about that. He practically has me trapped—I
have to trust him. And lord knows this will be the last time I ever
do.

He starts swimming toward it but I try to stall. “We don't even
know what's in there?”

“I do. Like I’ve said, I've been in here a million times.
You'll be safe with me, kid.”

Maybe I should trust him. I trusted him the last two times, and I'm
still alive. Hell, if I can survive his death mobile, I can survive
this God forsaken cave.

I think.

My pulse begins to race as we draw closer and closer to the opening.
Everything about it is foreboding. It's so dark I can't see single
thing past the first few yards inside. But Threat doesn't even
hesitate, he just slips in and quickly disappears into the darkness.

“You comin' or what?” he calls back to me.

I take several deep breathes, feeling my anxiety rise. It's not just
the unknown but the confined space that me nervous.

“Y-yeah,” I reply with a stutter, “I'm coming.”

One more giant gulp of air fills my lungs to max capacity, and then I
expel it all.
Well here goes nothing.

I swim inside and it's dark, which isn't surprising, but it's so dark
I can barely see a thing around me.

“Where are you?” I call out from the entrance.

“Follow the sound of my voice,” he says. His voice echoes
off the walls, making it a whole lot easier to do so.

As it turns out, the tiny cave is just a tunnel, with a bit of light
that seeps through the sharp rocks above at some points. I stay
behind Threat, observing as much as I can in the low light. The
tunnel winds and curves and eventually opens up into a wide corridor,
filled with vivid green waters. It looks like something out of a
pirate movie, like I could swim to the bottom and find buried
treasure. The brilliant walls sparkle all around us. I turned slowly
in the water, getting a 360 degree view of its majesty. I've never
seen anything like it.

I barely notice that Threat is watching me the whole time.
“Beautiful, huh?”

I glance at him, smiling in awe. There's a certain sincerity in his
dark eyes. For the first time, I think I see him without any
pretense.

And like my usual awkward self, I clam up and turn away.

“How did you even find this place?” I ask, swimming
toward the wall for a closer look. The rocks are slippery under my
fingers; jagged but with surprisingly smooth edges.

“I used to bring girls down this way all the time,” he
replies, his voice echoing off the walls of the cave. He turns back
to me and cheekily adds, “It never takes much to get them out
of their clothes.”

Welp, it's good to know the old Threat is back.

But I'm not letting his crude comments ruin this moment for me. I
lean back and float on the surface of the water, closing my eyes as I
let the slow current take me where it wants.

“Time for another dare,” he says.

I groan. “No. Can't I just enjoy the peacefulness of this
moment for one more minute?” It's not like I'll get many more,
considering I'll be spending the next day and a half with him.