I look up into the ceiling as I count off two minutes. I skipped a few numbers purposely just to make it go by faster.

Heath and Duke were playing video games in the living room, each time I would interrupt Heath would tell me two more minutes. But it's been ten.

"Shoot! Shoot! Are you fucking deaf?!? Did you not just hear what I said?" Duke shouts, standing up with the controller in his hand.

"I gotta go" Heath stands, placing down the controller.

"You just got us killed. Fine, I'll play by myself." I hear Duke whine.

I watch Heath as he comes over to me on the opposite couch and I sit up, ready as he takes my hand and leads me upstairs into his room.

Beau was laying on the bed, even though he wasn't supposed to be. Heath didn't like it, which is why once Beau sees Heath enter the room he jumps off the bed with his head low.

Caught red handed, poor Beau.

I run to his bed and jump on, landing on my stomach. I scoot up to lay my head on the head board and watch as Heath lays next to me.

"Are you ready?" I ask him and hop into his lap, it's my new favorite spot.

He nods but I can tell he was hesitant about it all.

"Get your floaties on because today you learn how it feels to swim. Okay?" I put my hands on his shoulders and lean in closely so that my forehead is touching his.

"Okay." He agrees, sounding serious.

"Don't worry, I'll save you if you start drowning." I smile and feel as his hands land on my waist, like they would always do.

Maybe I shouldn't put that in his head.

"Not that you will drown, I mean you could but you won't. You know why? Because you have the best teacher right here." I point to myself. I was a pretty good swimmer if I do say so myself.

"Not to brag or anything but I've been told that I swim like a frog." I was totally bragging of course, it's my specialty.

"You're not scared, are you?" I ask him softly and he shakes his head.

"no" He answers, I gotta take his word for it because I wouldn't be able to tell if he was scared or nervous.

"Then put on your swimming trunks and get ready to make BBM moves." I get off of him and stand up so that he could get up.

"What's BBM?" He asks as he walks towards his closet.

"Big Boss Man Moves. Duh." I shake my head and sit back down on the bed as I wait for him to get ready.

I was already in my brown two piece, I also put on a white cover up while we were still waiting for Lola and Mateo to arrive. We were finally going to put Heaths pool to use and teach him to swim. I was going to need help because I wasn't as confident as I sounded.

I stand up and look out into the window, scanning the yard. It had been cleaned up nice after our date, looks just like new.

Like every time I would come into Heaths room, that same safe caught my attention.

Now, I learned not to touch it but I haven't learned to stop asking questions. I was just too curious about why he even owned a gun. I wonder if he's ever used it.

The answer scared me.

I sit back on the bed and fiddle with my fingers as I get lost in my own thoughts. I didn't want to think too much into it because then I'd think the worse, and I didn't want to assume anything before hearing his truth.

Heath came back out, wearing black swim trunks and kept his white shirt on. He's wearing his towel around his neck and comes over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed.

I bite my lip and decide to just ask him about it. It can hurt to ask, right? I hope not.

"Can I ask you something?" I sit on my knees as I come closer to him. He nods skeptically and I look down at my fingers again.

"Why do you have that gun? You never answered that question." His silence makes me nervous but I don't look at him until he does answer.

"Just in case." He shrugs and looks away from me.

"In case what?" I ask, letting my curiosity wander.

"Just in case I need it." He said in a low tone, his head was hanging low, fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist.

I wanted to ask more questions and I probably would have if Duke hadn't came bursting into the room the next second.

"Come downstairs already, Lola and Mateo are here. Shit, you guys are slow at doing a simple task." He shakes his head as he walks out the door.

I hear chatter from downstairs and decide to head down there myself. I walk down by myself, thinking Heath was following after me.

"Thalia! Finally, we have lots to talk about." Lola comes over, smirking and I already knew what she was referring to.

She wanted all the details of our date and everything after that. I guess this was what girl talk was like.

"I want in on the details too" Mateo raises his hand and butts into our conversation.

"And I will tell you guys, but after we teach Heath how to swim because that's been my number one priority." I said and see Heath coming down the stairs.

"All you have to know is that, I'm officially off the market." Lola's eyes widen as I tell her that and she gasps.

"I knew it." She says and her eyes widen again when she looks at my neck.

"Thalia. Is that a hickey on your neck?!?!" She says loudly for the whole world to hear. Everyone looks at me now and I can't handle it all.

"Me? No. What's that?" I pretend to be clueless and Pull my hair over my neck to cover anything.

"I think you know if your the one with the hickey on your neck." She smirks at me.

"I blame him!" I point to Heath and it was mostly true because he wouldn't leave me alone.

And I wouldn't leave him alone either but still. He would start kissing me every chance he got.

"You little freak" Duke smirks, shaking his head at me.

"Am not." At least I don't think I am. My mind might be but my body? It is a sacred temple.

Heath didn't say anything to clear any of it up but just kept that dirty smirk on his face.

"Do you hear that? I think it's time we leave this conversation and head to the pool. Come on." I grab Heaths hand and walk to the staircase and into a door that leads to the indoor pool.

The pool was long and the room was steamy as we walked in. Typical. I liked that there were open windows as walls surrounding the pool so you could see the backyard from here. This is fancy rich people stuff.

I place my towel down and take off my swimsuit cover up and right away go to dip my toes. Luckily, it wasn't too cold.

"I think this is the first time you've used this pool." Duke snickers and takes off his shirt.

It was no surprise that underneath his shirt he'd only be covered in even more tattoos on his chest. And muscular.

I sit on the edge of the pool and watch as Heath comes around and sits next to me. He does what I do and puts his feet in the water to feel it.

I watch him carefully as he reaches for the ends of his shirt and slowly takes it off. I feel like I shouldn't be watching but I can't look away. It's too glorious.

As if he couldn't get anymore perfect, he goes and does that. His chest was clear of any ink which showed off more of his muscular features and abs. I do like a man with abs...

"You're staring." He says and I have to forcefully look away.

"You wish I was." I scoff and look at the water. I totally was.

I stand up and look down at Heath, still sitting down. Some faint scars on his back catch my attention and I can't stop myself before I'm reaching for them.

"What happened here?" I ask as I trace one of the scars. They looked old as they were a little bit faint but they were noticeable.

Heath shrugs my hand off and glares at me before he walks over to where everyone else was. That's a sensitive subject, I see.

"Heath, wear this." I take out some floaties that go around the arms. I'm pretty sure they were for kids but maybe he could squeeze into them.

"That's too small." Heath makes a face as he looks at it.

"That's what she said." I snort and walk over to him.

"No, no girl has ever said that to me." Duke interferes, looking confident.

"Would you like to find out why, Thalia?" He smirks at me and before I could say anything, I'm pulled away into someone's arms.

"Stop." Heath glares at Duke and wraps his bare arms around me.

From a distance I see Lola and she's winking at me, giving me a thumbs up.

"Are we gonna swim or what?" Mateo shouts and jumps into the pool before anyone could answer.

"C'mon. Let's teach you to swim." I dtag Heath into the pool and he stays holding on to the walls.

"Okay, first watch what I do." I make sure he's looking at me before swimming, it sounded like a better idea in my head but I don't think I can be a swim instructor.

"Now do exactly what I did." I tell him but he doesn't move.

"If I did what you just did, I would already know how to fucking swim." He grumbles out. He does have a point.

"You're right. Im gonna need you to come a little closer." I watch him as he hesitates to walk closer to the 4ft level.

"Move it granny." Duke slightly pushes Heath out of the way as he swims over to Mateo and Lola.

"Now what" Heath asks, he was still dry from his hair up to his chest, that needed to be changed.

"Hold on to the wall, then start kicking like this." I demonstrate kicking and he takes a deep breath before trying it himself.

He splashes way too much and it looks like he's drowning. I don't think he knows that he could stand up.

"Stand up." I tell him but he keeps on kicking.

"You can stand now, if you want." I said again gently but he only continues.

He then notices me watching him and stops, standing up on his feet. The water reaches only up to his waist at this level and I laugh when he realizes.

"Oh." He says, looking over at the rest of them swimming at the deeper end.

"Now do exactly that but open and close your arms every time. Can you try that?" I ask to make sure he's comfortable.

He nods and holds his breath, as he goes under water. He pushes himself off the wall and swims over to the other side. His kicking was a bit off, he kicked an exaggerating amount but other than that, his form was good.

He comes back to the surface, rubbing his hands down his face and running his hand through his wet hair. He looked like he was in one of those slow motion commercials. And he looked good doing it.

"You swim like my grandma!" Duke shouts from the end of the pool, making Heath curse at him. I giggle but stop once Heath notices.

"That's not funny." I bite my lip to hold in my laughter.

"You did good, still need a little more practice. But now you can swim from one end to another! That's progress." I swim over to him and jump on his arms.

"Can I climb on your back?" I ask and when he approves I hop on his back. I lay my head down on his back and listen to the chatters and splashes of everyone.

"Thalia!" I hear Lola and look up to see her swimming over to me.

She wore a yellow two piece that really mixed in well with her tan and blonde hair. She leans on the wall and I remain in my comfortable position on Heaths back.

"I have a plan, but I just wanted to run it by you first." She says and I raise a brow.

"Go on..." I said, what was she up to?

"Let me start by saying, I would be planning everything and that you will love it." She holds her hands up in defense.

"I'm planning a party for your birthday. There i said it." She blurts out and I'm not too against that idea.

I lift my head up at her sentence and I'm sure my face showed off my excitement.

"Really? You'll do that for me?! As long as there's food, I'm in." I said excitedly.

"Of course there will be food, it's your birthday. I'm so happy you're excited about this because I already planned everything. I've invited a few people." Her eyes glow at the thought.

"A few people? Like who? You're my only friend." I couldn't think of anyone else for her to invite, these people right here were my only close friends.

"Well yeah, but what's a real party without the people? Don't worry they're all nice. All you have to do is show up and that's it."

"Actually there was another thing, Heath.." she says, grabbing Heaths attention.

"Could we throw the party at your house? I promise it won't be too intense or anything like that." She says and surprisingly gets him to agree.

Once she's gone, I get off of Heath and lean on the wall. Heath turns to me and leans his arms on either side of me.

"Why didn't you tell me your birthday was coming up?" He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and away from my face.

"Because it's not until-" I count of the days in my head.

"Two weeks. Not until two weeks." I shrug, not thinking it mattered too much.

"When's your birthday?" I ask him, realizing I didn't even know.

"October 31" He answers and I let out a gasp.

"You mean your birthday is on Halloween?!? And you've never told me?! " I put my hands on his shoulders.

"So?" He asks, leaning in closer with each passing second.

"So, I need to start planning. We should have a costume party!" I cheer at the idea. That's perfect.

"I'm picking your costume and you can pick mine. I already know what I'm picking." I smirk evilly. He doesn't know what's coming to him.

"Fine." He dismisses it quickly and kisses me, holding my jaw in one hand.

I could feel his lips trailing down lower but I have to stop him before he gets any further.

"You gotta stop coming for my neck." I point my finger at him and he smirks.

"It's hard enough to explain to people where they came from." I shake my head away at the thought.

"They already know. You're not that innocent." He tells me and I narrow my brows.

"Well you're not either. And I'm not because of you. You're the problem here." I wave my finger in his face and he licks it quickly.

"See? Stop doing that! It makes me think weird things." I lower my eyes and feel him leaning in.

"Like what?" He asks but I'm not answering that.

"I think I hear someone calling me." I use my swimming skills to my advantage and swim away from him, knowing he can't catch me at this level.

"Thalia" I hear him call out but I pretend not to hear.

There is no way I was about to admit to anymore of my dirty thoughts. They were for me and me only and Jesus because I guess he can hear my thoughts.

If that's the case maybe I really am unholy. I need to cleanse my dirty mind.

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A/N

Thanks for reading 🤩😆

8/2/22