Page 21 of Loathing Ryan
I felt exposed under his scrutinizing stare, my cheeks heating up again. I suspected the new blush on my face wasn’t from the sun. When butterflies erupted in my stomach, I had to take a mental step back and really evaluate—what was happening here?
10
RYAN
Holy shit.
Who knew that seeing Bells in my old gray army shirt would have this kind of effect on me. The damn thing almost swallowed her whole. I was that much bigger than her. For the second time in the last few days, I felt a warmth start deep in my belly, and my dick twitched in my swim trunks at the sight of her wearing my clothes.
“Ryan?” she asked, wringing her hands together in front of her. She was looking at me with concern. “Are you okay?”
“What?” I responded, snapping out of it. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. You’re welcome.” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Now you won’t get sunburned.”
She nodded and turned around to her book again. Damn. Smooth, Ryan. What the hell was that? It was just Izabel. Wearing my t-shirt. Sitting in the sun looking like an angel. I was the one who offered it to her in the first place, so why did my brain decide to shut down after that?
I knew why. But I wasn’t ready to admit to myself that I might be somewhat attracted to Izabel. Attracted to the way her blue eyes lit up with every emotion she was feeling, or how she would purse those full lips off to the side when she was annoyed with me. Even now, she nibbled on her lower lip as her eyes flew across the page, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her. I got caught up in the pranks and the games too often, and I forgot about how pretty she could be.
But now, here I was, trapped in a kayak with her wearing my t-shirt, and it was staring me right in the face. I couldn’t ignore the hormones raging in my body forever. I readjusted myself and leaned back again to try to relax and not think about the beautiful girl in front of me.
Wearing my t-shirt.
Looking sexy as hell.
The river was quiet except for the sound of the currents and birds chirping in the woods surrounding us on either side. The trees were gently swaying with a nice breeze. Being out in nature like this reminded me of the times my father would take me camping during summer breaks in elementary school before I was a student at Bennett.
Dad would always find a secluded camping ground, no matter where we were living at the time. We would spend two weeks with no electricity and no contact with the real world. Just dad and son, roughing it old school.
We did that every year until he was deployed again. When he was overseas, I would sit on the windowsill at my mom’s house, waiting, making plans for our summer camping trip. I waited and planned. Until the officers came and informed me that I was never going camping with my dad again.
The sadness emanating from my chest started to get a little painful. Rubbing my hand across my sternum, I tried to redirect my thoughts in a more cheerful manner before I got sucked away, thinking about my morbid past.
I thought of everything that had happened yesterday. The plan went without a hitch. Once the capture-the-flag game had finished, Todd, Liam, and I quickly ran over to the girls’ dorms so I could find what I was looking for.
Liam kept watch outside for the girls while Todd and I searched through suitcase after suitcase. I knew which one was hers by the loads of history books she brought. No one in their right mind would bring garbage like that to a summer camp.
No one but Bells.
As I dug through her suitcase yesterday, I tried not to dwell on the fact that I was digging through her actual underwear. My poor teenage hormones were not prepared for that revelation. She had some sexy stuff, which pretty much floored me. I felt my shorts tighten as I pulled out a hot pink lacy number.
Who was she buying that for? The jealousy had hit me like a stack of bricks, quickly diminishing the tightness in my crotch. I swallowed it down, not ready to deal with that thought process either. I stayed focused on the task.
We got everything we were after and set about hanging it up. I was looking forward to seeing her reaction. Never in a million years had I thought she would have such a visceral response and punch the shit out of me. That hadn’t even been a scenario I considered.
I could have thought of a lot better punishments than sticking us as partners. Old Man Bennett was getting weak in his old age, yet even still, I would take it. She was amusing to me, at the very least, and way too much fun to pick on.
I must have fallen asleep, because I was jolted away by Izabel’s panicked call. “Ryan!” My eyes startled open, and I looked around. Her eyes were wide and worried. “Ryan, it’s starting to rain, and I can’t see anyone else’s kayaks around. I think we should get out of the river.”
Sitting up, I looked at the sky. Sure enough, dark clouds had rolled in and taken away the sun’s bright rays. It was just starting to rain, and I could feel the drops landing on my chest.
“Jesus, how long was I asleep?” I asked as I ran my hand over my face, trying to shake off the sleepy feeling from my eyes.
Izabel shrugged. “I don’t know, I got lost in my book.” She looked sheepish and played with the hemming on my shirt. “Maybe an hour, maybe longer?”
Well, damn, I was really out. I picked up my paddle, and we started working together. We paddled furiously for about fifteen minutes before the sky totally opened up and dropped buckets of rain on us. My hair was soaked, getting stuck on my face, and the shirt I had loaned Bells now clung to her like a second skin. When she turned around to give me a concerned glance, I could see her pert little nipples sticking through, pressing their way through her bathing suit and my t-shirt. My blood heated, and I averted my gaze. I did not need this distraction right now. I shook my head to clear it.
“Come on, Bells, keep paddling,” I encouraged her. My heart was racing in growing panic. I knew that with this type of heavy rain, we were in deep shit if it caused flash flooding. “We’re almost there!”
We weren’t almost there. If I had to guess, we had about another mile and a half to get through before we made it to the let-out docks. I was kicking myself the whole way. How did I let myself fall asleep? I should’ve been keeping better track of time.
