Save Me

I wasted no time in walking up to Tryce’s front door and letting myself in since it’s basically become routine as the days continue to pass. Tryce’s family is once again my family and it’s refreshing to be welcomed in at least one household. I still harbor a great hatred for my father and his gold digger and I doubt that it will be disappearing any time soon. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been so busy with Tryce that thoughts of my fatherand mother have barely been present in my mind.

Grumbled obscenities pushed forth past my lips as I walked the now familiar trail through the house and to the sliding glass door that led to his backyard, specifically his rather monstrous swimming pool. I’ve spent days working on my swimming with Tryce and I’ve still barely been able to do anything besides keep myself afloat, but I can’t complain since that is definitely better than drowning. I have no desire to learn how to swim though and the fact that I’m not putting forth my best effort probably has to deal a lot with my slow progression.

I slipped off my flip flops and carelessly threw my t-shirt over my shoulder, discarding it on the bed of grass that took up Tryce’s rather large backyard. My feet automatically carried me towards his pool since it seems that we can’t do anything but have swimming lessons in his backyard. He really wants what’s best for me even if I don’t want it. I carefully dipped my foot into the water, disrupting the still surface and making little ripples move throughout the pool. The water felt nice, cool for Florida but still a bit warm, so I eagerly climbed in, situating myself on the lowest step so that I could sit but still have my neck and head safely above water. I rested my head against the tiled wall of the pool as I closed my eyes, relaxing for a bit until a rather large and unexpected splash threw water all over my head. Tryce had welcomed me with his usual bothersome cannon ball.

“Tryce,” I growled, shaking my head and dunking it real quick since it’s weird when half of your head is wet and the other half isn’t. “Why the fuck do you have to do that every time I come over?”

“I just want to see you dripping wet,” he drawled, sarcasm dripping from every syllable as his eyes started to flicker. I mentally frowned, angry that such a thing could be a joke for him when it’s something that I unfortunately think about quite often, but I quickly brushed it off. Tryce and I are two completely different people and just because one of us has a strong physical attraction that is virtually unknown by the other doesn’t mean that the other one of us will feel the same way.

I rolled my eyes at him, bringing my arm back and skimming it across the water’s surface to attack him with it as I walked to the four foot area of the pool. Tryce has forced me to move from the three foot end because it was too easy. I thought it was perfectly fine, thank you very much.

Tryce quickly took his spot dutifully by my side, lifting me up so that I was floating on my back by myself, his hands only supporting me since I’m an idiot that can’t focus on floating and doing the back stroke at the same time even if I tried. I paid no mind to the fact that his hand was slyly cupping my bum, his other hand sitting between my shoulder blades, a sweet spot that he had accidentally discovered during one of our lessons and has been continuously playing with since.

I kicked my legs uselessly, my arms crossing over my chest as I stared at him, a look that clearly read defiance etched into my features. I really, truly have no desire to do this. I turned back to my legs as I continued to kick them uselessly, plumes of water shooting into the air every time one of my feet made contact with the water.

“You need to try, Morgie,” Tryce mumbled quietly.

“All I’m doing is kicking water,” I said deadpan.

Tryce sighed, his thumb unintentionally pushing down on the spot in between my shoulder blades, forcing my torso closer to his as I bit back a tiny whine while I did everything in my power to avoid my back arching. I looked up at him, growling a bit at his stupidity as his eyebrows furrowed. He really is oblivious to the most obvious things around him at times.

He rolled his eyes at my attitude before holding me an arm’s length away from his body, instructing me to start moving my arms again, an order that I followed though it was only half-heartedly. I did as I was told, my limbs protesting the entire time since moving my arms in circles while kicking my legs made me seem like a fish flopping on land more than anything else. Or… at least that’s what I felt like and imagined it to look like.

“I feel like a fish,” I decided to elaborate.

“A sexy fish,” he said, eyebrow raised, a challenge clearly evident in those brilliant orbs of his.

“You know it!” I said around a smile, kicking a bit more wildly because my mood has so easily been changed with a simple sentence from Tryce. He has that control over me, changing my mood so easily, making me smile uncontrollably, and making me want to work hard to impress him. He deserves the best anyway, but I’m not the best. I’m the furthest thing from the best and I probably always will be. I’m unstable, swinging between emotions like a wild hurricane since I don’t know what is right and wrong. I’m a ball of anger that’s had its outbursts, but the true explosion has yet to have been reached. I’m an uncontrollable enigma, something that someone as pure and amazing as Tryce does not deserve to deal with and worry about.

And there goes my temporary happy mood.

My limbs started slowing down as my mood continued to sour quickly, somehow prompting Tryce’s gorgeous muscles to tense. He grunted, his fingers digging into my bum and back for a second before he let me go, allowing me to slip into the water though I knew by now that I could just but my feet down and push myself up, easily surpassing the surface of the water while my feet were still safely on the floor of the pool.

Tryce glared at me before pulling me close, his hands locked around my jaw, my hips pressing against his. My breath caught in my throat at the feel of his skin pressed against my own and because of the way his hands were roughly cupping my head, a caress that would be rather intimate if it were softer, less harsh, and that of a lover.

“You need to stop, Morgan,” Tryce said seriously trough gritted teeth, shaking my head a little as it was still clutched firmly between his two hands. A frown put itself on my lips once the sudden realization that I had angered Tryce dawned on me. That and the fact that he said my full name instead of my stupid little nickname that seemed to be his and only his. My hands shot up, gripping his hips, ready to push him away, or at least attempt to, but he was having nothing of it.

He used his grip to force my head upwards so that our eyes were locked in an unwavering battle, him refusing to look away as he didn’t give me a choice. “You’re my friend and I care about you,” he said flatly, “but you’re doing absolutely nothing to help yourself right now. I don’t want to fucking waste my time, Morgan, and that’s exactly what you’re doing. I’m trying to help you.”

“I know that, but I-“ I tried to explain. I know he’s trying to help me, I really do, but I don’t want his help. I barely go in the water. In fact, I hate the water unless it’s for something amazing like a shower and the occasional dip in the Jacuzzi. I don’t need to learn how to swim for either. I think the entire experience is fucking wasted on me.

“Save it,” he cut me off, his eyes hardening a bit though his grip softened. His fingertips tangled in my hair, tugging gently at the tips, though I doubt he realized it. “It’s obvious you don’t really want it,” he muttered, allowing the silence to consume us.

I had no clue what to say because he basically hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t sit here and be a cocky bastard because he was right, but at the same time, I couldn’t sit there and deny it because he would know it’s a lie. I hate positions like this. They make me feel vulnerable and weak since I basically have no control whatsoever.

Tee took another long look at me before sighing, his hands slowly sliding down from my neck and jaw line before he patted my shoulder gently. He turned around and walked to the stairs of the pool, hoisting himself out quickly and walking into his home without sparing a glance back at me. He didn’t even bother getting himself a damn towel.

I really upset him…

Fuck, nothing can ever go right! What the hell is wrong with me?

This entire thing is just getting to be too much.