Chapter 24

"What is it we are doing today?" he asked, trying to bring up his mood after that very delightful breakfast with my lovely mother and his goddess of a wife. A small smile on his face, he faced me, waiting for an answer as I sat on the couch. After breakfast was finished, Clare went to work in quite a hurry. Wonder why. He cleaned up the kitchen then came to find me. Luke, now sitting besides me, looked to me for an answer.

"I want to go swimming!" I said with excitement when the idea instantly popped in my head. I felt a small blush come to my cheeks at how excited I sounded. But for me, it was exciting. I never really got to go swimming often - or just have fun in general. I was always home with Clare, obeying every damn command she gave me. When I did have free time with my friends and we went out, it wasn't to do much other than causing a little trouble (which quickly became old).

He smiled at that. "Really?"

"Yeah. But I don't know where we could go swimming."

"There's the public pool or beach."

My excitement slightly fell. I really didn't want to be out in public. It was still a shock that I was home for this long with no recognition from anyone; nobody really bothered me yet or found me to harass me. Nobody even noticed the few times we were out in public. I didn't want to risk it again.

Before I could refuse that or say never mind to that idea, he must have read my expression. Something in my face gave me away. Or he was just becoming an expert at reading me. "There is also this one place not many people know about. It's a small lake out in the woods; really deep and refreshing."

I took in his words and grinned. "Out in the woods? Nobody knows about it? Ooh, Luke!" I squealed in a girlie voice. "Trying to get me as alone with you as you can?"

He scoffed. "I've known about it my whole life. When I was a little boy, I would always go out there. It's cool; there is even a rope swing tied to the tree along a bank." He shrugged, showing it was just a suggestion and it was up to me. "You might like it."

"Do you promise not to rape me out in the woods all alone?" I teased.

He chuckled under his breath as he stood. "Get ready then; we leave in half an hour."

***

"Hasn't changed one bit," Luke sighed with a smile under his breath once we were standing on the bank, taking in the sight.

It was beautiful here. We drove for about 15 minutes until he pulled his truck into a small gravel drive that snaked through nothing but woods until we reached the end. He parked there and awe walked for about twenty minutes through the thick and brightly lit woods. Then, the woods broke apart more and what was left was a grand sight of a nice and calming lake that looked quite private.

Trees and brush were spaced out and even bordered the banks which were a few feet tall. It was nothing like a beach; no sand or shallow water. We stood on thin patches of grass before the water was there, dropping a few feet from where the banks were. Looking around, there was a huge tree bound to the earth on the bank, leaning out over the pretty clear water. Like he said, there was a rope that was tied to a high branch and hung low. It nearly grazed the water from where it just dangled above the liquid.

Looking out over the lake... it was just so beautiful. The other side of the lake wasn't far at all but it would take a while to swim to it. Trees wrapped around the entire lake, not a sound hitting my ears besides that of the water lapping, the birds chirping, and the wind chiming through the summer leaves.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I nodded as I looked up to where he was standing next to me. "How does nobody know about this? It's such a nice place, you figure more people would come here."

"Nobody knows about it. It's far away from everything, it's small, and deep in the woods. Why pay any interest to it if there is a beach or pool you have easy access to? That's why nobody really knows about it," he said, shifting where he stood as he took off his shoes.

I noticed he then started taking his shirt off, grabbing the neck hole and pulling it up over his head. As he did so, the words he just said kind of moved to the back of my head with all the other irrelevant shit at the moment. Because really, how could anything else stay on my mind when I got a perfect view of his bare chest, hard stomach, and muscular arms?

I couldn't help but tense slightly. He was gorgeous and was in very good shape. Luke was somewhat lean but he had muscles along his arms and chest that made my mouth water. Small, curly hairs were spread out over his chest. His skin looked so smooth and perfect, the strength he possessed was evident from the muscle that was flexed slightly under that skin.

In other words, he was fucking hot as hell!

All remaining on him were his blue and green swim trunks. He discarded his shirt onto the ground off to the side before he turned to me. I felt my heart slightly jump as I looked up at him, his eyes light with enjoyment at being here and his smile there too.

"Ready to go in or are you still preoccupied with taking in beauty?" he asked, smirking slightly.

Instead of blushing, I smirked as well. "Don't worry, I'm done now." I slid my shoes off. I raised the cami I slid on over my bathing suit up and off too, throwing it to the ground before slipping off a lose pair of shorts too. Standing before him in my plane, red two-piece suit, I noticed his eyes looked me over slightly and smiled. There wasn't much lust behind that look but maybe just... admiration? Maybe? I didn't keep my back turned to hide my scars; I wanted him to see. The issue was he thought it was self inflicted from long ago so he wouldn't bring it up.

I walked towards the edge of the bank, planning to first feel the water. His voice stopped me. "You can't do that," Luke said.

I turned back around, looking at him in confusion. "I can't first feel the water before I go it?"

"Nope," he said, enjoying this. He looked somewhat amused at my reaction to his words but what he said, he was serious about it. "The only way you can go swimming is if you first use the rope swing to go in. And you can't know how it feels before you do it."

Was he kidding? "Oh yeah? And who says?"

He shrugged, innocently. "That's just how it's always been. When I use to come down here with my friends, it was kind of a rule that nobody could first go in without using the swing. You also can't know what the water feels like."

"And why not?"

"Because then it shows you're not brave enough to do it."

"Oh bullshit!" I chuckled, turning back towards the bank, ready to feel how warm the water was. And if it was warm, I was going to go in by use of my own feet. I was brave enough. I just didn't want to do it.

"Whatever," he said behind me, nonchalantly. "Then I have the right to call you a chicken."

I froze. Damn it. Turning back to him, I asked. "And for how long?"

"Life," he said, smiling. "So I suggest you do it for your own good."

I thought for a moment before coming up with an idea and nodding. "Okay, fine. But you go first!"

He laughed, his chuckle bright, even in the shade of the trees. "Very stubborn. That's a quality I admire in most but it can be extremely annoying at times." He looked down into my eyes, his happiness fully back from where it had slightly descended this morning. "Fine. I'll go first."

He walked past me towards the tree that held the long rope. Moving closer to the bank, he grabbed hold of a near by branch and used that as support. He leaned his body forward and was able to reach out over the water and grab the rope, bringing it in. Moving back to my side, the thick rope resting in his hands, he faced the opening of where he was about to swing.

The next moment, he jumped up off the ground slightly, grasping a high point of the rope (which was where I noticed a knott was tied). Swinging out quickly over the water on the rope, he howled in delight before letting go, his body then dropping into the water. Interrupting the peaceful movement of the lake, his body penetrated the surface and went under the water. My excitement went up a lot, just looking at him doing that and now, I was anxious to try. It looked really fun.

When he resurfaced, I saw he was in past his head since he looked to be comfortably swimming at the spot he was in. He was breathing slightly harder, his eyes a little wider. Did that mean it was cold? I guess I was about to find out.

"Alright chicken," he shouted to me. "Get your ass in here!"

"I'm not a chicken! I'm doing it for Christ sake!"

"You're a chicken until you do it."

I scowled at him as he laughed. He swam slightly in until he was just under the rope. It was hanging above his head and he looked up, jumping slightly, and he grabbed it and swung it back in my direction on shore. Reaching over the bank, I was able to grab it and stood there. I wasn't sure how to do it because I never did this before. But what the hell, how could I not do it right? I recalled what he did and jumped higher, grabbing onto the rope and wrapping my legs around the rope. I swung out over the water in a swift motion and then let go, dropping down and into the water.

It was incredibly fun. The swinging part, that is. When I hit the water, that's another story. The liquid seemed to have pierced my skin with a million shocks of ice, the cold surrounding my body in less than a second. I felt my body go cold and I raced up to the surface, freezing.

"Oh! Holy fuck!" I squealed loudly in the air when I came up, splashing around like crazy. I looked around for him and when my eyes found him, he was laughing. My eyes were wide, my mouth open in shock at the freezing water. "What the fuck, man?!" I yelled, splashing him in slight anger. A lot of it was just the need to splash and yell because I was so cold. "How do you not freak out when you hit the water? Damn!"

He swam closer until he was a few feet away. His hair was damp, looked black, and was pushed back over his head and behind his ears. The water drops over him caressed his cheeks and any skin above the water like shiny crystals. He was beautiful and I was getting annoyed at how that was affecting me - because I wasn't even sure in which way I was being affected.

"I'm just good at hiding it. It's freezing, yes. But you'll get use to it."

By the time he said that, I noticed I was already getting use to it. And in the heat of the summer day, it felt amazing. I took a deep breath and smiled. I hadn't been swimming in quite a while. It felt great once getting past the cold. My body weightless and free, I moved my arms and legs to keep my head above the water. My hair that was tied up in my bun let water seep down and back against my neck. It was refreshing to me.

"Yeah, I can feel it now." I pushed myself back more, floating into the coolness. I found myself floating on my back, the water swallowing my hair and the back of my head. Looking up into the sky, I sighed and smiled. Moving my hands, I glided slowly over the water for a moment. "I love this," I said softly just under my breath. I shut my eyes for a minute, letting the morning sun seep through my lids and warm me.

A minute later, I was startled by a loud splash of water that was no more than a few feet away from me. I knew what had happened; he just dropped into the water after swinging from the bank. I sat up quickly when I felt the water splash me and a minute later, I watched Luke appear not a foot in front of my face. I was about to say something to him - or splash him in return - but I didn't. His eyes widened slightly and I knew that he didn't expect to come up so close to me. I could feel his presence in the water between us, his breath in my face fresh and warm.

When he resurfaced and saw me right in front of him, he didn't expect it. But even then, I assumed he would be quick to back off and give us both our personal space back. That didn't happen right away. His eyes met mine and they just grew at looking straight into mine. I figured it was out of surprise at first but he remained that way for much longer. He blinked a few times as we floated there in silence, his green eyes holding sharp tints of tan and gold as they penetrated mine. He just... stared. Wide eyed and shocked. He searched my face but just went back to my eyes.

"Luke?"

His thick eyebrows that held shinny droplets of water dipped. Though I was more than happy with being this close to him, I was relieved to see him snap out of it - whatever it was. Because that look was something that was completely one of surprise as well as awe at the same time. I never saw such a look on his face.

"Well, that was close, wouldn't you say?" he said, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah.... But hey, don't try to say it was on accident. You just wanted to be on top of me. Try again; you might be able to do it next time."

He scoffed and moved back a few feet in the process, floating there as he continued to enjoy the water like me. We spent that morning swimming and laughing, yelping as we would swing into the lake. We took turns doing so, competing to see who could swing out the farthest and land when hitting the water. And though he claimed he won, you guys know it was me, right?

We swam around for a while, just enjoying the lake after the exhausting contest. Looking around at the beautiful outdoors, I recalled his words from before. My eyebrows dipped and I turned around in the water once more, facing him a few feet away where he was relaxing in the water too.

"How do you know about this place since nobody else does?"

His lips shined softly under the sun as he slowly swam backwards and me forward towards him, mindlessly. "Well, when I was younger, my friends and I use to come out here all the time. I'm not sure how but one of my friends knew about it and showed it to me. So during the summer we would always just swim here and relax, hang out. I haven't been here in years though," he said, smile growing at now being back. He floated on his back for a moment as I swam with him, unconsciously following him.

"Why?"

His eyes left the sky when he stopped floating on his back, now facing me as we moved in circles it seemed. "What do you mean why?"

"Why haven't you been here in years?"

He looked at me with a strange expression I could not decode. He sighed and he looked to be having trouble answering. "Uh... well, life I guess happened."

"That's not an excuse."

He groaned, his smile still there though he struggled for an answer. As we swam slowly parallel to the bank, his eyes never left mine as he stayed facing me. "Being a teenager doesn't last forever. College happened and... well, I was determined to become a cop and that required a lot of work. Now, I'm married and had wanted to start a family."

Wanted. Not want.

"So that means you can't have fun and relax anymore?"

"Um, for certain things, yeah."

"That's bullshit buddy. You golf."

"I golf when I can. Which is rare."

"Why?" I had a feeling I knew the answer. I smirked as I stared into his eyes, silently begging him to admit the reason why. With each 'why' I ask, we slowly are going back to the roots of the problem.

He bit his lip, sighing deeply. "I uh... " he stopped moving ahead and I did as well, watching his face as we floated there. "Because I need to put my priorities first. I need to put Clare before those things."

There you go.... He just phrased it in a way that sounded good in his case. Really, it meant that Clare kept him from doing those things. She was dragging him down.

I scoffed and for some reason could feel this really hitting a nerve. Not sure why; I shouldn't care about why he doesn't have much fun anymore. I did though and was interested. I know; pathetic. "Okay so in other words, you have no freedom."

"I didn't say that."

"You meant it."

He sighed, getting frustrated slightly as well. He paused for a minute, just watching me as I floated there before him. His expression no longer consisted of much of a smile; more of a guilty and confused face. I told myself to drop the subject but for some reason, I just couldn't.

"Why were you so happy this morning?"

So far, he has tried keeping up that wall, that blank face, that denial. He didn't want to admit I was right about these things. For as long as I have known him, he really tried to ignore that he had problems. He tried brushing them off as he was now. Tried finding an answer that didn't involve Clare looking bad or his marriage in ruins. Don't get me wrong; he was obviously trying to get closer to me and open up a bit. He just refused to go that far and side with me. Yet, after I asked that question, I got the first sign of a truce between both our words.

"Look," he sighed. "You're right. I haven't had fun or much freedom with Clare outside appropriate standards. It's not just her though because I've been this way for years. No fun, just work and money - especially in the past year. So I was happy this morning because I knew I would be spending it having fun with you. I'm not use to this kind of freedom and... I love it," he smiled. "It reminds me of how things use to be before I met the ugly world as an adult."

I smiled and am ashamed to say that it was a real one, one that came about from deep within me. I know right? 'Deep within me' sounds like some dramatic shit but it's the truth. Pushing back, I moved through the water and we continued swimming as we talked.

"See? All you had to do was tell me the truth. Or you could have just said I was right - like I always am. So, I made you happy this morning?" I said, turning his words around.

He rolled his eyes but he smiled. "I said I was happy because I was going to have fun with you."

"Yeah," I teased. "With me. Without me, you wouldn't be having any fun. I make your life worth living."

"I think you are over-thinking how much I like you."

"Ha! Whatever. Play you're silly game. I know you worship me."

We continued to joke around like that for a while, just swimming and chatting. It came so naturally now, just talking to him. I didn't even question the softness of my being any longer because I knew I was pure fluff now. I couldn't help it though because it was so nice being with him. Oh dear god, listen to me! Maybe I am insane; I was comfortable with having feelings, with talking openly to him. It was something I never had before and it appealed to me more than I wanted to admit. I had nobody I could ever talk to, complain to, or even listen to. His voice was magic and smooth and I loved how he spoke to me. He didn't judge me when I would ask him questions and was open as well--

Yep, I am as fluffy as I can be. Talk about pathetic right? Like i said, I can't say I don't like it.