I felt all eyes move to me, and I forced a smile. The second her parents looked back at Sasha, I looked at Chloe, shooting her a look that I knew she would understand. A look that said,What the fuck did you volunteer me for?
She squeezed my hand. “What? You are a good teacher,” she said quietly as Sasha was preoccupied with whatever her parents were saying.
I leaned in. “I only taught you as an excuse to have my hands on your body,” I whispered in her ear. I bit her lobe before pulling back.
She grinned and rolled her eyes. “Consider it your good deed for the day. Come on. Up,” she said, shooing me away.
Annoyed, I took a deep breath. “Alright, Sasha. What do you say? It seems like nobody is going to leave us alone until you give it a go.”
“I don’t know…” she muttered.
I stood and held out my hand. “Come on. I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.” I gave the best smile I could muster.
She looked up, and her green eyes sparkled as they met mine. They were breathtaking, the darker shade of green swirling and looping through the lighter shades. Toward the center, they even had a hint of gold.
She bit down on her bottom lip as she thought it over, eventually releasing it and agreeing to give it a shot. “Alright, but only for a minute.”
That was fine by me because I didn’t want to teach her to swim anyway. If anyone other than Chloe had asked me, I would’ve refused. I couldn’t say no to her, though. She knew it, and she abused the power she held.
I jumped into the in-ground pool and turned to see Sasha following me over. She left her towel at the table, but she looked embarrassed and uncomfortable in just her black bikini. She refused to look at me, and she wouldn’t stop adjusting her suit as she made her way to the pool.
“This part of the pool is shallow, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to touch,” I told her as she hesitated at the edge. She frowned at me like she wasn’t sure she could trust me.
“I’m serious. Look.” I stood to show her that the water only came up to my waist. After seeing that, she took the first step into the water.
We took a few minutes to let her warm up to the water, then went through the motions in the shallow end of the pool. Once she seemed a little more comfortable, I started leading her deeper and deeper.
Chloe, her mom, and dad were all cheering for her from the patio table. It wasn’t until they started to cheer that she realized what she was doing. She was swimming on her own. There was no standing because we were on the deep end, where she couldn’t touch. When she realized this, I saw the panic fill her eyes.
“You’re doing great. Just don’t think about it,” I told her, but I could see her fear in her wide eyes.
I held out my hand, and she took it, pulling herself closer to me until she grabbed around my neck. I moved her back to the shallow end and could almost feel her heart pounding. She finally let go of the death grip she had on me once she could reach the bottom.
“Thank you for helping me,” she said, slightly breathless from fear.
I smiled at her. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen. Why don’t we take a little break, and we can try again in a bit?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, but I could tell that she wouldn’t be getting back in the pool. Her mom walked to the edge of the pool and handed her a towel, which she quickly wrapped around herself. I climbed out and dried off before taking my seat at the table.
“You ready to eat?” Chloe asked everyone.
The five of us sat around the patio table and enjoyed the day. We had dinner and drinks while we talked and caught up. The afternoon passed surprisingly fast, which was nice. I was more than ready to get to that alone time Chloe had promised me.
Once the sun began to set, we said our goodbyes and walked everyone to the door. Chloe’s dad shook my hand, her mom leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek, but it was the way that Sasha said goodbye that shocked me. She’d given me an awkward smile on introduction, but after our little bonding time in the pool, she leaned in and gave me a big hug.
“Thanks for helping me,” she said softly before she pulled away.
I was so shocked that I didn’t even tell her that she was welcome. She turned and rushed off faster than I thought possible. I looked over at Chloe in confusion, and she smiled up at me.
“See, don’t good deeds make you feel good?” she teased.
I rolled my eyes and acted put out by having to teach her younger sister to swim, but deep down, I felt good. I was happy to have made Sasha feel safe and protected, rather than awkward and out of place. I hoped it would be the start of a regular family relationship, rather than the awkward one we’d had since I would soon be asking Chloe to marry me. And it made me hope for a little girl of my own one day. The way she looked at me like I’d saved her life made me feel like I was some untouchable giant.
I shook the old memory away and sighed.
There was no use in reliving memories. We didn’t live there anymore.
Hell, some of us didn’t live, period.
