Chapter 2

“I’m not,” Kevin told him. “Not tonight. Not

with you. Now get the hell off my chair before I throw you out of

the pool, you hear me?”

“Jeez,” Danny pouted. He jumped down and

kicked one of the chair’s wooden legs for good measure. “I’m not

the one who disappeared the other night, dude. I go to open the

door for my friend and when I come back, you’re gone.”

Kevin shook his head. Did Danny seriously

believe that crap? Kevin was the one who got ditched, not the other

way around, and he wasn’t about to let it happen to him again.

“Whatever.”

“Do you know how long I’ve dreamed of getting

into these red swim trunks of yours?” Danny asked, tugging at

Kevin’s shorts.

“Keep dreaming.” Kevin moved his leg away and

stared pointedly across the pool. “You lost your chance.”

“Why you doing me like this?” Danny kicked

the chair leg again, petulant. “Come on, Kev—”

“Don’t come onme,” Kevin warned as he

shook Danny’s hand off of his ankle. “Touch me again and you’re out

of here. Get it? Go.”

“I’ll change your mind,” Danny promised, but

when Kevin’s jaw clenched in anger, he backed away. A few feet from

the lifeguard station, he turned and shouted, “Tonight, I swear

it.”

Adrenaline roared like the ocean in Kevin’s

ears as he turned away from Danny. Beneath his breath, he muttered,

“You wish.”

* * * *

At nine o’clock, Kevin blew his whistle to

signal that the pool was closed. The few lingering students

gathered their towels and headed for the gym doors but Danny wasn’t

among them. Maybe he left already,Kevin thought. The fact

that he hadn’t noticed—and that Danny didn’t even bother to say

goodbye—bothered him more than he cared to admit.

Quickly Kevin checked the locker rooms that

branched off near the deep end, but they were empty at this hour.

Now he had the pool all to himself. He’d swim two laps around the

perimeter to warm up before running through his competition strokes

for practice. Climbing up onto one of the starting blocks that

lined the shallow end of the pool, he bent his knees a few times

and pumped his arms to get the blood flowing, then took a deep

breath and dove into the still water below.

For one refreshing moment, the water parted

to let him in before closing above his head. All senses

disappeared. Resurfacing, Kevin pulled himself through the water

with a fast front crawl. At the deep end he kicked down to touch

the bottom of the pool seven feet below. The water was dark there,

and deathly silent. There was a scary moment when he wasn’t sure

which way he was swimming, his lungs screamed in protest, but then

his fingers scraped the bottom of the pool and he turned around,

pushing off against the tiles with his feet to propel himself back

to the top. He broke through the surface and gulped in fresh air as

he smoothed back the blonde bangs plastered to his forehead

Behind him, something splashed into the

water.

Kevin whirled around, heart racing. He should

be alone. “Hello?” he called out. There was someone in the water,

near the lifeguard chair. Kevin pinched his nose and blew hard to

clear his ears, then noticed a pair of blue swim trunks lying on

the concrete floor beside the pool—Danny’s, he remembered seeing

them earlier. That meant … as Danny swam towards him, Kevin

scrambled for the ladder at the edge of the pool. Beneath the

water, something brushed against his foot and he kicked out, angry.

“Danny!”

Cold, strong hands gripped his legs, pulling

him back. Kevin kicked into a soft stomach, felt a swirl of hair

tickle his knee, then felt fingers pulling at the waistband of his

swim trunks. When he twisted away, the shorts slid down to his

knees, then slipped off completely. “This isn’t funny,” Kevin

hollered.

With a laugh, Danny popped up out of the

water nearby. “Told you I’d get you out of these,” he shouted as he

held Kevin’s shorts up above his head like a prized trophy. “Didn’t

I?”

“Give them back.” Kevin lunged, but Danny

swam out of reach. “The pool’s closed.”

“You’re in here,” Danny pointed out. As Kevin

watched, he swung the shorts above his head, then let them go to

land in a wet heap on the side of the pool, far enough away from

the water that Kevin had to climb out to retrieve them. He glared

at Danny, who laughed again and said, “You want them back? Go get

‘em.”

Kevin eyed the distance between the ladder

and his shorts—there was no way in hell he’d walk that length

naked, not with Danny watching. When he didn’t speak, Danny ducked

back into the water. Kevin swam for the edge of the pool, thinking

he could get out now, get dressed or at least get covered before

Danny came back up for air, but just as he reached the side, Danny

resurfaced behind him. Kevin felt a hand smooth along his thigh

then higher, tracing the curve of his ass, and he kicked out to

shake it away. “Don’t touch me,” he muttered.