Page 22 of Jump on Three

“I didn’t die.” With a grin, she splashed and whooped again. “I didn’t die!”

“No.” I chuckled, warmth spreading along my chest from her happiness. “You are very alive.”

“Ivan.” Her wet palms cupped my cheeks, and she gave me a hard, intense stare. For a moment, I felt like she was looking into me and then right through me. “Thank you, Ivan. You didn’t let me drown.”

“What would I tell Delilah?” My heart was still beating a little too fast, and my mind was rattled from her stare, but I kept things light, teasing. For her sake. And mine.

She shook her head, smiling as big as the sun. “Thankfully, you’ll never have to think of an excuse for sending me to my watery grave.”

Her hands dropped to my shoulders, and she pushed off me to swim to the ladder. I followed, climbing out right behind her. I had the urge to pull her into a hug and tell her how proud I was of her, but something told me she wouldn’t appreciate it, so I held my hand up.

“High five, Evelyn.”

Her teeth dug into her bottom lip as she contemplated my hand. “High five, Ivan.” Her palm slapped mine, and she let out a third whoop, dancing from foot to foot.

“Should we do it again?”

She raised her arms over her head and spun in a circle. “No. Absolutely not. I hated every second of that.”

If this was her hating something, I needed to see her loving something.

“What? But you’re dancing. You’re happy.”

Her hands twisted one over the other to a beat only she could hear. “I’m celebrating not dying.”

I threw my head back and laughed. Evelyn Kastanos was so fucking adorable, and I did not think she had any idea. But I did. I’d noticed a long time ago.

“You have a really nice laugh.”

I tilted my head down to her. “Do I? It’s very loud.” Evelyn didn’t like loud noises. I’d discovered this the moment we’d met at the beginning of the year. I came from a family of rowdy men who spoke over each other to be heard. It was difficult to remember to modulate my voice around her, but I tried.

“It is, but it feels good in my ears.” She pinched her earlobe, giving it a slight tug. “It’s like a bass drop that travels from my chest all the way to my toes.”

“Yeah? That’s the best compliment I’ve ever been given.” I grinned at her, tracking the trickles of water over her apple cheeks all the way down to the point of her chin. “We really have to share playlists.”

I never got my answer. The door to the girls’ locker room clanged open, and Layla and a few others whose names I didn’t know came spilling out.

“Oh. I have to go.” Her limbs, which had been loose and dancing since we’d climbed out of the pool, went taut by her sides.

“Don’t go. We were talking.”

Melty brown eyes swept over me. “Thank you for jumping with me, Ivan.”

Evelyn hurried to the bleachers where she’d left her towel and quickly wrapped it around herself. She passed the girls on her way to the locker room, pressing her back against the wall to scoot by when they didn’t make room for her. A wave of evil giggles erupted as she retreated through the door.

I would never understand why some girls were such cunts to other girls.

If I didn’t like someone, I simply stayed away. If that didn’t work, I fucked him up. None of this daily, insidious, passive-aggressive bullshit.

Too many of the girls at SA were like that. It wasn’t attractive. In fact, it was the opposite. Layla might have been pretty, but I found her grotesque.

The fact that they were nasty to Evelyn was both obvious and appalling. She stuck to herself. Never bothered anyone. Why the hell would these girls, her teammates, go out of their way to make her uncomfortable?

Now that I was on the team, I would be watching.

And there would be nothing passive about the way I handled things.

Chapter Eight

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