Page 141 of Rules of Association

“What?” someone asked. I blinked over my shoulder to see it was my sister. Alta had come up behind me and was placing steady hands on my shoulders and Melissa was running over with a bottle of something in her hands. I blinked around but couldn’t see anything past the curtain of family crowding me. I shook them off.

“Guys, I’m fine. Just let me walk it off,” I said, trying to stand. I was a little clumsy to start, but eventually, with the help of many hands, I stood.

I leaned into the closest body there, which I thought was my sister’s but ended up being one even more familiar. The guy who was supposed to be acting like we didn’t know each other well, was instead acting as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Him sliding an arm around my shoulders and letting me lean completely into his side.

“I’m gonna take her over to sit in the shade. Can I get some ice from the cooler?” Con said. Someone materialized with ice in less than a minute. “Thanks.”

With no further explanation he began leading me toward the other end of the park, toward the little hut for bathrooms and vending machines and possibly some air conditioning I could sit in. I knew because that’s exactly what Con told my family as they started to follow him, asking him where he was taking me and why.

“Maybe we should take her,” Alta piped up from behind us.

“I got it,” Connor answered simply.

“We could take her in the bathroom and get her cleaned up,” Lis tried.

“I got it,” Con said a little slower, a lot sterner this time.

So hewasn’tso calm then. He was grumbling again, and at my sister no less. I absently patted at him, trying to reassure him I was fine. But I could hardly focus on anything other than the itching feeling that my family was looking at us strangely as we walked off. Connor with his arm around me and me not able to peel myself from his side even if I wanted to. On top of that, ithadbeen Nina and Christine I thought I heard before and now I was passing their horror-stricken forms with a ginger wave and a dazed smile. Connor held up a finger to them that I assumed meant‘one moment’as he led me past them and far away from everyone to enter the little hut in the center of the park.

It was busy. People in and out of the bathrooms on both sides, kids running around or sticking fingers into the vending machines, harsh noises and sounds coming from every direction. Connor must have noticed my wince at the loud assault on my senses, because he led me straight through to the other doors on the opposite side and back out into a warm but shaded air. We rounded the front side of the building and quickly located an empty stone bench pressed up against the wall. It wasn’t as cool as the air conditioning inside, but it wasn’t as warm as the direct sun, either.

Once Con had me sitting, he kneeled in front of me. One knee on the ground, one pressed into the bench beside my thigh. The ice my siblings brought him had been put into one of Al’s reusable zip-up baggies and was now being placed on the back of my head where Con felt the bump. The cool sensation as he pressed the icy pack into my warm scalp both stung me with alertness and relaxed me simultaneously.

“Mmm,” I moaned, and let my eyes flutter closed as I took a moment to situate myself.

It was Saturday. I was with Connor and my family. My head hurt a little, but not too bad. And I was going to kill whoever fucking hit me.

My hand lifted, but not by my own command. Connor was pressing my palm into the makeshift ice pack so he could free his own hands up to reach beside him for something. A water bottle. Big and blue and adorned with a butterfly sticker on the front. Mine.

Opening up the nozzle, he held it up to my lips and landed his eyes squarely on mine. “Drink.”

My eyes held steady on his, curious of his mood as I leaned forward and wrapped my mouth around the straw piece and drank. He had been happy today. Normal again. Mine again. Then the world had gone black for a second and when I opened my eyes he was this. Serious, his jaw a little too tight and his shoulders a little too stiff.

A breath seeped out of him as he watched me. In relief maybe? Not sure. When I finished, he set the bottle aside before replacing his hands on my skin. Grabbing onto my shoulders and kneading large fingers into the muscles that connected them to my neck. I groaned.

“You took a hard fall,” he said, eyes moving on me as I leaned into his touch. I hummed my agreement, the only sound I was able to make as I focused on the feeling of his fingers on me, loosening up tight muscles and peppering me with this magical pressure that both wound me up and set me loose at the same time. Lately, I was learning that Connor Ferguson gave thebestmassages. His next words pulled me out of my pleasureful haze. “I was worried.”

“I’m okay,” I said, my eyes popping open.

“You are,” he agreed, his head nodding but his voice was still gruff. “Are you happy now?”

“Happy?”

“Yes,happy,” he said. “You’ve had your fun now, so,are you happy?”

The question seemed simple but something in his eyes gave me the impression it was more serious than he was letting on. I looked from one of his eyes to the other, trying to read him. But my head felt fuzzy and honestly I was tired of guessing.

“What does my happiness have to do with anything?” I asked.

Shaking his head, he let his hands fall still on my body. Let his palm raise up the slope of my neck to rest on my jaw. Let his eyes bore into mine as if he was trying to invade my mind with his laser stare. Leaning in slightly, it was like his words pulled him toward me as he murmured. “You know you’re a pain in the ass, right?”

I nodded slowly. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything either.”

He clicked his tongue. “You’ve driven every single person here crazy with your self-righteous silent treatment bullshit.”

I shrugged.

“And we’re all bending over backwards to try and make it up to you,” he went on, leaning in even further. “And on top ofeverything, you have the nerve to scare us half to death?’

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