Crush: A YA Romance Collection Read online

  “Ah, man we are so busted,” Brooke whispered as she tried to hide along the wall of the pool.

  “It was your idea anyway,” I said jokingly, swimming out of the guard’s line of sight.

  “No it wasn’t. It was your idea!” Brooke practically yelled as she passed the blame on to me. Her voice echoed off the surrounding concrete and made it seem louder than it actually was.

  “Shut up, you idiot!”

  “Who’s here?” the guard asked as he flashed his light into the pool’s water.

  I glared at Brooke, hoping that she would understand that she had to keep silent or we would both be in deep shit.

  “I know you’re here so why don’t you just come out?” the guard asked, as if anyone that broke in here would actually say something to get caught. Her eyes flashed from me to the guard who was cautiously making his way around the pool area. I could see the worry in her eyes. I knew that she didn’t mind getting caught because she’s been in trouble with me before, but she obviously had a problem with getting caught stark naked in front of an old man. She was probably worried he was a closet pervert.

  As the guard passed by I glanced at Brooke again, and put my finger to my lips to tell her to remain silent. She nodded and looked at me as if I was crazy for thinking she would move and get looked over like a piece of meat by the security guard. I shook my head at her before I slowly slipped my body out of the water and made my way to the supply room by the lifeguard station. I had worked here as a lifeguard a few summers ago before getting fired for calling my boss a delusional prick when he asked me to clean the men’s rooms.

  My feet made a splash sound as they slapped against the tiles while I looked for the set of pool toys that swim teams used during practice to learn breath control. They were a set of rings that could float down to the bottom of the pool, but my purpose for them was a little bit different.

  I tiptoed back onto the pool deck to see the guard getting uncomfortably close to Brooke; she looked like she was about to scream. I tossed one of the rings as far as I could over the fence. I heard it cling against the metal of the fence before it ruffled the bushes. The guard’s light flashed toward the bushes as I tossed the second one in the same area. I heard the guard’s footsteps race across the pool deck, and then the cling of the chain fence rattling as he exited the pool. I tossed another one in the opposite direction to distract the guard while Brooke ungracefully wormed her way out of the water. She stepped onto the pool deck but instantly fell backwards into the pool, causing a huge splash and slapping sound as her back landed flatly on the water’s surface.

  I started laughing when she resurfaced and grimaced as the pain spread over her back.

  “It’s not funny, that really hurt!” Brooke said as she got out of the water more carefully this time.

  I laughed harder when I saw how red her back was. “Wow, it really did hurt.”

  “Shut up!” Brooke said reaching for her towel.

  “There you are!” a voice yelled. I turned to see the guard coming toward us. Brooke and I just stared at each other and silently agreed to run. Our feet slapped the concrete pavement as we broke the number one rule of the pool: no running on the pool deck. We ran as fast as we could, taking a small detour so that I could grab my towel, and then over to the short fence that we had jumped earlier, leaving our clothes behind so the guard wouldn’t catch up to us.

  Once we were both safely on the other side of the fence, we ran like our lives depended on it. We heard the sirens before we saw the flashing lights of a police car. My heart was racing as we dashed down the street and behind a long hedge, making sure that we were safely hidden from view. My chest rose and fell quickly. It was terrible how out of shape I was. I was willing to bet a million bucks that Stephen Hawking would beat me in a race.

  “Crap, what do we do now? We don’t have any clothes and it’s not like we can just go back for them!” Brooke whisper yelled as the police car rushed by. She was obviously more stressed about this situation than I was. I was mostly mad that I had left behind my favorite pair of jeans. I’d gotten a lot of compliments in those.

  I sighed. “We run back to my house and pretend like this never happened. They didn’t have security cameras and no one saw us so it’s all going to be okay,” I reassured her, my voice coming out in rasps as I was still trying to catch my breath. Then, standing up straight, I started walking toward my house, completely ignoring the fact that I was I wrapped in a towel that wasn’t doing a sufficient job of covering my private areas.

  “I am not walking the streets butt naked,” Brooke huffed, causing me to stop.

  I turned toward her, shrugging my shoulders. “You act like we have something to hide. I’m sure a majority of the planet has seen a naked woman’s body. Porn is a very popular thing these days.”

  Brooke crossed her arms. “Fine then, you walk home, get clothes, and bring me back something that I can wear. I’ll sit here.” She looked down at the ground, then mumbled, “Correction, I’ll stand here.”

  I rolled my eyes and walked toward her. “Then what do you suggest we do?”

  “We would get to your house quicker if we cut through backyards,” Brooke suggested as a dog barked off in the distance and the police car that had passed us turned onto the street again to presumably search the area.

  “Run. Run now!” I said as I hopped behind the hedge that she was standing behind, pushed past her, and began hopping a chain-link fence that separated the hedge from someone’s backyard. The bright side of not having clothes on was that I didn’t have to worry about tearing my jeans. I just hoped my dad was asleep by now because I didn’t want to have to explain why I was running around naked at two in the morning with Brooke. I was pretty sure that would be the most uncomfortable conversation to have with someone, but I was wrong.

  As we were racing through backyards, Brooke somehow got ahead of me and hopped the next fence just as a dog sprinted toward me, barking loudly. I let out a scream, which instantly shot fear through my system as I heard a door open from the house. I raced into the bushes and hid from sight as lights flashed on and allowed the yard to come into full view.

  “Titan, come here boy!” I heard a male voice call to the dog.

  The dog growled at me before he walked over to his owner. I heard the male voice speak again to the dog before the door shut, cutting him off. Once the yard was clear I waited until the lights shut off, but they didn’t.

  “What are you doing? Get out of there!” I heard Brooke say through the fence behind me.

  “I can’t. Not until the lights shut off. I don’t want to be seen by whoever this is!” I groaned, "Just go back to my house and I’ll meet you there,” I said as the door opened again and a shadow stepped out into the back yard.

  “No, I think I’ll wait and see what happens,” Brooke replied as she crouched down to hide behind the wooden fence. I turned to see her blue eyes peeping through the thin spaces in between the slits and groaned quietly.

  “You’re a pervert,” I whispered.

  “No, I’m not,” a male voice spoke from behind me. I whipped around, looking up to see a familiar face, but I couldn’t place where I had seen him before. I was just thankful that he hadn’t come far enough to see me. Not that I minded being seen naked, this situation was just very awkward. “While I’m sure you’re very attractive while you’re naked, and I would love to see for myself, I will respect your privacy and give you and your friend this. Have a wonderful night ladies and thanks for the show. Chase and I rather enjoyed it,” he laughed as he walked away and eventually shut the door.

  “What is it? What did he give us?” Brooke asked from the other side of the fence. “And why was he up so late?”

  “Same reason we are,” I speculated as I glanced at the ground where he had once stood to see two folded t-shirts and pairs of basketball shorts in his place. “He left us t-shirts and shorts.”

  “Oh thank God! I love him! Please give me one, this branch is in a
really uncomfortable spot.”

  I tossed her clothes over the fence as I slipped on the over-sized shorts and threw on the T-shirt. Once I was clothed I hopped the fence and met Brooke on the other side, draping the tiny towel over my shoulder.

  “Let’s go to your house instead, I don’t want to explain this one to my dad.” I sighed, as I looked her over in the men’s extra-large t-shirt that could have been a dress on her thin physique. “He’s probably asleep but I don’t even want to chance it.”

  “I think it would be a great story to hear a daughter tell a father. Oh you see, we went skinny-dipping in the local pool then ran home naked after a security guard caught us, but lucky for us, two strange boys came out and spared our humility and gave us clothes! Sorry for missing curfew dad.” Brooke’s mouth parted into a soft smile to let me know she was joking.

  “I can only imagine the reaction. I’m sure it will be about the same as Austin’s when we show up looking like this.”

  “Well, it would have been worse if we showed up naked.”

  “Worse for me. He would have just mounted me then and there!” I joked as we cut through the conjoining backyards and crossed a well-lit street to get to Brooke’s house.

  “Ew, you can’t talk like that! He’s my brother!”

  “Sorry, I can’t help it,” I said as we stalked up her driveway and to the front door. Thankfully I had hidden my key under the mat before we left, or we would have had to knock to get in. “Austin is just so sexy,” I exaggerated jokingly as I unlocked and pushed the front door open.

  “Well, I’m glad you think I’m sexy, but I think you would look better naked than with my clothes on,” Austin’s voice stated, causing Brooke and I to freeze momentarily. “Speaking of which, why do you guys have my clothes on?” he asked from the couch as he turned the television on mute, waiting for our explanation.

  Chapter 4

  The conversation I had with my father was replaying in my head as I started ripping clothes out of my closet to find something “appropriate” to wear out to dinner. I was meeting my future stepmother today. Just thinking about the word stepmother creeped me out. Stepmothers are evil and belong in fairy tales, not in real life. I cringed at the thought of my dad kissing a rotund woman with hairy warts bubbling up on her crooked nose. Although I knew that Senator Jacobs looked nothing like that, I still couldn’t help the sick feeling that filled my stomach at the thought of even seeing my dad kiss someone other than my mom.

  I hated how selfish he was being lately. Doesn’t he even care about how I feel about this situation? I guess I just wasn’t a good enough daughter for him anymore, and now that mom is gone he’s showing his true colors. I had to dress to impress while I was out in public now since he was marrying a senator. Thanks to that dress code, he had taken it upon himself to rifle through my drawers and hide all of my sweatpants and sweatshirts.

  I frowned to myself as I continued to toss my clothing on the floor. I decided that if I couldn’t look like a bum every time I left the house then I would be sure to make a statement in other ways. This decision fueled me as my fingers touched the fabric of one of my favorite black dresses. It had three quarter inch sleeves and stopped mid-thigh, but had a plunging neckline that left little to the imagination, so what if it wasn’t deemed appropriate enough for daddy dearest.

  “Be sure to wear something nice, and actually make yourself look like you’re dressing to impress. Be presentable and appropriate. I don’t want to see any rude or crass behavior from you young lady,” my father had warned before he hung up the phone so I couldn’t come up with an excuse to not go to this stupid dinner.

  I could be having sex with Austin right now.

  “This looks appropriate enough; now let’s make it a little more me,” I said to myself as I slipped the smooth fabric over my head and pulled it down into position.

  The dress clung to my every curve and showed off the wonderful assets my mother had given me. Which was nice, but it still wasn’t me. I didn’t want to deprive the senator and her family of an opportunity to get to know the real me. I couldn’t let the newspaper reports miss a chance to get to know the “senator’s new daughter,” as I had been referenced in the latest article about the engagement.

  I pulled on a fitted jean jacket and my favorite pair of shoes, a pair of black leather ankle boots. Besides my Converses, these things got the most use, but if you compared them to my Converses, they looked brand spanking new. I grew about five inches thanks to the heels, and gained a little more confidence just by putting them on.

  My phone vibrated loudly on the bed, but without glancing at the screen I knew that it was my father calling again, and I wasn’t looking forward to his gruff tone. He didn’t like the idea of me meeting his fiancée any more than I did. I’m pretty sure he was embarrassed of me, but oh well; I was still pissed at him so I don’t care. My guess is that Senator Jacobs set up this whole dinner since my father and I haven’t even been on speaking terms for the last few days.

  “I’m ready.” I answered the phone, holding it in the space between my jaw and my shoulder as I grabbed a long necklace from on top of my dresser and hooked it around my neck. The arrow pendant hung perfectly in the low neckline.

  “Great, I’m here. Come on down and let’s go,” he said just before he hung up. I frowned as I stuffed the phone into the pocket of my blue jean jacket. He didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye, that’s just rude.

  I walked through the front door and groaned when I saw my father. He looked angry and I instantly knew that I wouldn’t like the trip to the restaurant or even the dinner. If I misbehaved at dinner then the ride back wouldn’t be a picnic either. Maybe I could spend the night at Brooke’s, but then again, Austin would just rip this dress off me and I’d be in his room all night. Although, if this dinner is the train wreck I predict it to be then that may not be such a bad idea. I’ll probably be in need of a drink and a night of rough sex in order to rid my mind of it.

  Opening the door, I slid into the passenger’s side and shut the door behind me.

  “Is the front door locked?” my dad asked once we pulled out of the driveway.

  “Yes, like always,” I huffed, reclining my seat back and stretching my legs out in an attempt to get comfortable.

  “Good,” was all he said for the rest of the ride to the restaurant, which was actually a very pleasant surprise. I expected more berating on proper manners and behavior, but instead I was met with a tense silence. I spent the ride slouched in my seat, staring out the window. It took almost half an hour to get there and that whole time we only swapped three sentences between each other.

  I could almost hear him sigh with relief when he pulled into a free space in the parking lot. We were at some fancy Italian place that I knew my dad hadn’t chosen; I guess my new mommy dearest had been the one to plan everything. I hope she didn’t think that I’d be easily impressed with money. Better luck next time, I sneered as I followed my dad to the restaurant entrance and through the door to see Senator Jacobs standing there waiting for us with a girl a few inches shorter than me on one side of her, and a tall, muscular guy standing on the other.

  “So glad you made it, Jade,” Senator Jacobs cooed, leaning forward and gripping my hand tightly in hers. Her eyes roamed over my body, stopping briefly on my wrist before meeting my eyes again. “Lovely tattoo you have there.” Her tone had told me enough, she was disgusted by the tattoo and the longer she looked at me, the more disappointed she became.

  I pulled my hand back and smirked, “Thanks, it’s my mom’s birthday in roman numerals.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I turned to look at her daughter straight on. “So you must be my replacement.”

  “Jade!” Dad whisper yelled from behind me. I could only imagine how red his face was at the moment.

  The girl in front of me held her hand out princess style and smiled brightly. I shook her hand, half expecting her to curtsy like the Queen of England. “My name’s Alyssa, and this
is my brother Damien. It’s so nice to meet you, Jade.” She squealed, pulling me in for an impromptu hug. She hugged me tightly for a second and then pulled away. The hug was so quick that it barely registered in my mind. I didn’t even raise my arms up to hug her back; not that I would have. Who hugs complete strangers?

  “Nice to meet you too,” I mumbled, in shock at how friendly this chick was being.

  Dad placed his hand on Senator Jacobs' shoulder and led her forward. “Shall we take our seats?” he suggested in a questioning tone.

  Nodding, she beckoned over an olive toned hostess with thick black hair who smiled and led us to our seats. As everyone sat she handed us our menus saying, “A server will be with you in a moment.”

  Dad thanked her and opened his menu, leaning toward the senator as he pointed at something. Everyone looked over their menus while I sat peeling the nail polish from my fingernails. After everyone had chosen their meals, Senator Jacobs placed her elbows on the table and leaned forward, looking at me from across the table. Hadn’t anyone ever told her that it’s not polite to put your elbows on the table? “So, Jade. Tell me something interesting about yourself. What do you do in your free time?”

  Dad narrowed his eyes at me, silently telling me not to say something that would be inappropriate.

  Clasping my hands together, I said the first appropriate thing that came to my mind. “I like to dance.”

  “Well that’s nice. Alyssa was on the dance team at her high school last year. They came in first place in their state competition.” The senator held her head high as she raised an eyebrow at me and smiled, pushing her daughter’s achievement in my face. Did she think that this was some sort of my horse is bigger than your horse argument?

  Alyssa raked a hand through her wavy brown hair and looked at me with her orb like blue eyes. “It was nothing really. There wasn’t that much competition and our team was really competitive.”