Page 3 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

“I got you. It’s okay.” A slightly out-of-breath male voice says as he drags me to the side.

“Let me go!” I drag my nails over his forearm once I know he’s not one of the staff members.

“I’ll get you out.” He ignores me.

“I don’t want out!” I cringe when I realize I shouldn’t be yelling but jeez! This guy is annoying. Then to my absolute surprise, he effortlessly lifts me and sets me on the side of the pool before hauling himself out.

Oh man, he is cute. Blond hair darkened by the water glints in the moonlight, deep blue eyes roam over me brimming with concern, and golden tan skin covers a somewhat lanky but toned body.

“Are you okay?” He squeezes my shoulders with his absurdly large hands. “Why were you sitting at the bottom like that?”

“I was thinking. It’s my quiet place.” I say, taken aback by this beautiful boy looming over me with such intensity.

His eyes widen at my response. “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You think at the bottom of the pool? It looked like you were dead!” His voice cracks a bit when he raises it.

I slap my hand over his mouth and hush him. “Don’t draw attention. No one is supposed to be in the pool at night.” I look around. “I don’t want anyone to know that I do this.”

“You are so stupid.” He says with his brows drawn together. “I saw you get in and freaked when you sank and didn’t come back up. Were you trying to kill yourself or something?”

“No!” I whisper shout outraged. “My bunkmates are annoying, so I come out here to think.”

“You don’t need to be at the bottom of the pool to think!” He yells again.

“Be. Quiet.” I get in his face and slap my palm over his mouth again.

His lips are soft.

Ewww, that’s a gross thing to think. Yuck.

He licks my palm. “Gross!” I squeak and scramble back.

“Quit putting your hand over my mouth then,” he smirks. “How do you hold your breath like that?”

“I have good natural lung capacity.” At least that’s what my dad tells me. I’m not totally sure what it means, but I sound smart saying it.

“Right.” He blinks. “I’m Levi.” He holds his hand out.

Manners from years of boring adult parties have me taking his hand to shake. His grip is firm and adult-like. He’s really big. He has to be a few years older than me.

“Ivy.” I look down and see that he jumped in with his sneakers on. They’re as waterlogged as the rest of his clothes. “I’m here for swimming. You didn’t need to belly flop into the pool to save me.”

“I didn’t belly flop,” he grins.

“Sounded like a whale breaching.” I shrug.

He throws his head back and laughs, and I see he’s got the fancy kind of braces, not the wire kind with garish colored rubber bands.

“You’re funny. I’m not here for swimming.” He says.

“Clearly.” I snark sarcastically. “Can’t come off the block like that. What are you here for?”

“Football and basketball.” I’m not surprised. He’s built for those two sports. “How old are you?”

“Eleven.” I answer hesitantly. Even though he’s annoying, I still kind of like talking to him. I don’t want him to ignore me when he realizes I’m younger than he is.

“Me too, well at least until next week.” Surprise must be written all over my face because he grins at me with twinkly eyes.

“I know. I’m big, everyone always thinks I’m older than I am.” He’s about to say something else when he notices movement across one of the fields beside the pool. “Shoot! Someone is coming. We need to go.” He pulls me up, barely giving me time to grab my clothes and shoes.

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