Page 36 of Our Darkest Summer

“Connor invited us.” Braxton locked Connor’s neck into a hug. “He told us how stressed you’re about schoolwork,” he explained. “It’s not healthy to think about school on a break, Converse Girl, I hope you know that.”

I glanced at Connor, who grinned, clearly proud of his lie, then back at Braxton. I couldn’t not notice the two boy’s similar energy as they stood next to each other with the same cocky smile on their faces and their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders.

“That reminds me.” Connor looked at Braxton. “You promised me a round on your bike.”

I snorted, trying to picture Connor on Braxton’s red bike. Well, on any bike, really.

“And I’m a man of my word, little Rhodes.” Braxton ruffled Connor’s blond hair, which made the latter grimace. “But we have the whole day for that. First, I need some vitamin D.” He turned toward the lake.

“Do you really think this is a good idea after, you know,” I muttered so only Connor could hear me.

“Well, I think we’ll find out.”

His answer made me uneasy.

“Aaand it’s still summer, after all,” he added a moment later, gently elbowing me in the side. “We should have fun. Even…you know, with the current circumstances.”

“Oh, and I invited Samantha,” Braxton shouted, from the edge of the pier.

Samantha. The girl he had chased after at the party, and who I saw yesterday in the flower bed.

“Man, don’t tell me you’re still chasing after her,” Kevin shouted back, pausing his conversation with Aaliyah.

“It’s not chasing when the woman clearly wants me, Kev.”

“Are you sure she wants you, though? Because last summer you said the same thing and, well, nothing has changed.”

Braxton rolled his eyes. “Kev, Kev, Kev. Believe me, nobody can resist the Lee charm.” He winked. “I’m playing the long game you know.” With that, he saluted us and dived back into the water.

“Samantha can, apparently.” Kevin sighed, and Connor and I exchanged a confused look. “I don’t know if I’m surprised he invited her or not at all.” Kevin brushed a hand over his short, afro hair.

“Yeah, well…I feel like I just had a stroke.” Connor turned to me. “What I wanted to say is that Thomas went to get food, and we left the grill in the tool room until he gets back.”

That made sense. Still, it was surprising that Thomas agreed to this. Especially after talking about those ground rules last night.

I took a step toward the house to change into my bikini, when a hand landed on my shoulder.

Connor flashed me a mischievous smile. “But you were just about to swim.”

“Connor,” I warned him, trying to step away, but he held me strong, which was surprising given his slender figure. “Connor, I’m warning you,” I tried again, but he still didn’t budge.

“Don’t be my brother.” He tipped his head with a pleading look, and I sighed. The moment I stopped resisting, he used the opportunity to pull me toward the water.

“Connor!” I shrieked, trying to gain a foothold in the grass, but it was no use.

“Kevin, if he throws me into the water, I’m going to have to kill you!” I screamed as Connor got me dangerously close to the shore.

“Me? Why me?” Kevin shouted back but my attention was on fighting with Connor, who had the audacity to laugh.

“He was sweet before he met you!” I screamed, dropping my phone on the grass right before Connor yanked me into the dark water.

Chapter Seventeen

Thomas

My morning startedwith a long talk with my brother as he tried to convince me to have a party—or as he called it,get together. After listening to him go on and on, for over an hour I decided to give in. Not because I agreed it was a good idea, it was probably one of his worst, but I knew him enough to know he would somehow get his way, anyway. At least like this I could keep an eye on them both.

I pushed the small electronic shop’s door open and stepped over the threshold. There were only two people inside, and one of them was the cashier. The other was a red-haired girl searching one of the shelves. I walked up to the cashier and stopped in front of him, resting my palms on the cold surface of the counter while I waited for the guy to turn his attention away from the monitor he was gaping at.