Whoa, what?

“Don’t start.”

“Then wake up before it’s too late, and she ends up pregnant or something stupid!”

“I don’t understand what you’re playing at, Mom. You give me your little speech that comes after every outing with Clara, before you go, and then you approach Nico about me, for what? To make sure I have a back-up plan you can’t stick your nose up at?” Sarcasm drips from her words, but more so than that, she sounds tired. Fed up with... life, maybe. Like me.

“I have every right to worry about the wellbeing of my daughter. If I have to intervene in areas, I will. I spoke to Krista’s father before the party, we had a long conversation and he shared he sees a lot of the young man,” her mother says in a plummy voice. “I wasn’t aware he and Trent were such great friends.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, I kindly asked him if he could ensure the boy’s room was beside yours, is all.”

Good looking out, lady.

“Of course you did,” Demi says monotone. “What did you say to Nico, Mom? That your daughter is weak and needy because she wishes her mom would be around more?”

“You act as if you don’t enjoy the freedom you have.”

“What did you say to him?”

“All I asked was for him to make sure you were safe since you went alone. I have to say, he was rather eager.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“It was only a little fun I thought I’d try out, some healthy competition to see if we could evoke jealousy.”

“You... what?!”

“Honey, we have to get the ball rolling.”

“It’s never going to happen. Like ever. You’re insane and you don’t listen to anything I say!”

My head tugs back.

What the fuck are they talking about?

“You know what,” Demi adds after a long second, defeat driving her words. “I don’t know why I asked, I should be thanking you.”

“That’s what I keep trying to tell you.” The smug smile in her mother’s tone is easily caught.

She didn’t pick up on her daughter’s hurt at all.

Does she even know her?

“No, I mean I should thank you for talking to Nico.”

Silence stretches a moment, so I move closer to the fence until I can see through.

There’s a tight crease at the edge of her mom’s eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

“Me and Nico, we had fun at Krista’s party and we’ve been having fun since.”

Her mom lifts her head, squares her shoulders. “That... is great then. He’s a fine boy, promising athlete.”

Demi shakes her head and the two stare at each other before her mom speaks again.

“Right, well, I’ll be—”

“Back in a few days even though this is the first I’ve seen you since you got home last night?” Demi finishes for her, an unexpected helplessness woven in her words. “Yeah, Mom, I know the drill.”

She stares at Demi a moment before giving a small nod. “There’re groceries in the fridge you can make something with. I’ll be grabbing your card from your wallet on my way out.”

Her mom disappears into the house, while Demi drops her head back to look at the sky.

With a defeated sigh, she sets her phone on the lounger and walks to the edge of the pool. She steps out, penciling straight into the water with every piece of clothing still on.

I wait for her to pop up, almost to the point where I’m ready to scale the fucking fence and dive in to get her when finally a mess of blonde emerges. A deep gasp follows, but she doesn’t climb out.

She lays back, floating there with her eyes closed, a tense expression covering her forehead, water wafting over her mouth as she uses only her nose to breathe.

Quietly, I open the connecting gate, finding her lock was never put back on, and walk through.

Her eyes pop open immediately, a deep frown taking over her face when she spots me looking down at her as I tug off my shoes.

She allows her body to drop, now swimming in place, only her head sticking out of the water, her eyes following my hands as I pull my shirt over my head before meeting mine.

Only when my belt clinks against my thigh, does her gaze fall to my jeans. I kick them off, quickly toss my socks, and then drop to the edge of the pool, slowly allowing my body to slip into the water.

I don’t have to move.

Demi swims to me, dipping her mouth beneath the water so only her makeup streaked eyes are showing, the deep blue of the water reflecting in her stare, making the green seem impossibly darker.

Our legs kick against each other’s slightly, and simultaneously, we both edge closer to the shallow end, swimming sideways so we’re facing one another as we move.

Once I’m able to reach the bottom, I stretch out, grip her by the hoodie and tug her toward me.

Demi already knows what to do – what I want – and her long legs find their way around my waist, bringing her body close.

Her breathing speeds up, now coming in short, quick puffs, her eyes moving between mine several times before she finally allows them to fall to my lips.

“Neek...” Her voice is a breathy whisper, and her fingers slide across my neck, skimming up and across my fade. “I don’t wanna talk.”

I hold in my groan, but my dick twitches against her.

Her eyes fly to mine, fingers spanning out, covering the base of my skull.

Slowly, torturously fucking slowly, she brings me closer. My groin tightens when the heat of her mouth brushes mine.

Her eyes close.

“Oh, shit, sorry.”

Demi jerks back with less than a second to spare, her head snapping toward the interrupting voice.

Trent stands there, right inside her house with a fuddled expression.

I glare, but then Krista’s head pops up around him, a wide smile spreading across her face.

“Hey, girl, hey!” She laughs mischievously. “Should we join you or are you about to get out?”

We were about to fuckin’ kiss.

Demi snaps out of it, her limbs fly from mine and she falls back into the water, dunking under to swim to the stairs so she can climb out.

“Damn, girl!” Krista teases. “In your clothes?”

Demi laughs, pulling her soaked hoodie over her head and letting it fall to the ground before wrapping a towel around her.

My dick is as good as limp now, so I’m right behind her, and she passes me a towel.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asks them. “And how’d you get in, did my mom leave the front open?”

“Yeah, it was open. Didn’t mean to creep, thought you might want to go eat or something?”

I grab my shit off the cement, finding Demi staring at me once I turn back around.

“Want to?” she asks me.

I study her a moment, half expecting her to shy away but she doesn’t so much as fidget, so I agree. “Be right back. I need some dry boxers.”

She rubs her lips together, nodding.

A gravelly chuckle leaves me, and I tip my chin at Trent before stepping into my yard.

It’s only when I get into my room to change that what her mom was saying dawns on me.

Ms. Davenport’s first choice for her daughter is my best fucking friend.