Chase’s lips press into a firm line, and after a moment, gives nothing but a curt nod, heading out the door, Brady and Cam right behind him.
“Be downstairs in five you guys!” she shouts, and then they’re gone.
Mason wears a blank face as he looks from Noah to me, and then to the door Chase just walked out of and back. “What’s his problem?”
I sigh, grab money out of my purse, and shove it in my back pocket. “I don’t know, Mase. Maybe you should ask him.”
“I’m asking you.”
“And I said I don’t know, all right?” I lift my shoulders.
He glares a second longer, then lifts his hand and clasps Noah’s shoulder. “Ready to get your ass soaked on some bumper boats, Riley?”
Noah glances at me, and when I nod, he turns to Mason. “Lead the way, Johnson.”
Off we fucking go.
Laughing, Cam and I turn our boats, strategically making our way past the rock waterfall without getting sucked under it.
On the other side, we split.
“Okay, tuck into that corner and I’ll take this side.” She backs up so she’s hidden from the opening. “And now we wait.”
We wait a good three minutes and are just about to give up and go back out to the main water hole, when it grows eerily quiet.
Suspicion flourishes between us, and I mouth, ‘what do we do?’
Her eyes narrow instantly, and she shakes her head knowingly, because she understands exactly what I’m likely to do.
This kind of thing makes me nervous and giddy and I can’t stand it. It’s that feeling you get when you’re walking through a haunted house, knowing full well you’re about to get scared, so you start laughing or screeching, your stomach twisting.
I can’t handle it; I turn my boat back on, and she rolls her eyes with a smile.
We come together, ready to creep around the side, but the second we do, we’re met by a strong front of four smiling men, their water cannons pointed right at us.
We scream and squeal and they crack up as they do their worst.
The excitement and freezing water have adrenaline taking over, and I gun it over to the water’s edge, hop from the boat, and dart up the side of the waterfall.
“What the hell, Ari!” Mason yells through laughter, but I keep going, dipping around the fake palm trees that make a nice little lagoon setting. The water splashes behind me, my friends’ laughter loud and growing nearer, so I know they all jumped out too.
“Hey!” the ride attendant shouts. “You guys can’t be up there! And you can’t take the guns off the boats!”
I yelp, cutting to the left where she can’t see me.
The others are yapping away behind me, but I keep moving. I hop over the small stream running through the rocks and tuck into a shaded corner behind a shadowed boulder.
I smile wide, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to calm my breathing.
“You ditched me, bitch!” Cameron yells from somewhere, and in the next second, she’s squealing. “Goddamn it, Mason!”
He laughs, both of them shouting, “Oh shit!” in the next breath.
The place echoes with a call to security.
“Look what you started.”
My eyes fly open, landing on a gun-yielding Noah. I jerk right, but I’m met with more rock, one too tall for me to climb. I whip around, facing him once again.
Noah’s blue eyes gleam as he glances around. “Looks like you’re stuck.”
“Or you could be nice and give me a five second head start?” I give a giant, cheesy smile.
His eyes crinkle at the sides as he takes a step closer, his mouth taking on a devious grin. “You mean let you go?”
Another step.
I nod, but my smile slips as I look at him. I mean really look at him. His hair is drenched and dripping, the dark even darker, shinier. His T-shirt is soaked along with his athletic shorts.
As I look at his face, I find his smile has faded too, and his eyes, they’re on my lower legs, dripping wet just as he his.
Step.
My breathing grows labored as I try to figure out what’s happening here.
Noah’s my friend. We’re friends.
Friends don’t look at friends this way…
He’s directly in front of me now, all tall and gorgeous and confident, and so close we’re breathing the same air.
“I’m a smart man, Juliet,” he whispers, his gaze dropping to my lips. “Only a fool would let you go once they had you where they wanted you.”
“Oh,” I breathe.
Noah apparently appreciates my breathy response because a slow smirk takes over his face and he steps into me. I place my hand on his chest, a little unsure and a lot curious, as he runs his tongue along his lips, his teeth sinking into his bottom one a second later.