“Come in the water with me,” he insisted, sounding totally back tonormal.
I stared at him. “I don’tthinkso.”
He stared back at me. “You’re going to regret it later when you think about it,” heeggedon.
How could I have forgotten how well heknewme?
I scoffed again, ignoring the truth to hiswords.
“Come on, will you? Just you and me,” he said gently. “Ruronforever.”
Of all the things he could have said, he went with the one that I loved and wanted to hate at the same time.Ruron.Ugh.
What had to be his toes pressed to the side of my foot. “Ruby Cube. You can hold on to whatever you want if we go in. I won’t let anything happentoyou.”
He had me. He had me big time. And I waspathetic.
Fisting my hands, I groaned in resignation and held back a whine. “Just for… two minutes. Two minutesisall.”
I slid an eye in the direction of the waves gently rolling on to the beach, calm, black, black, black. No part of me wanted to go in there, but… I knew what he was trying to do. He knew what he was tryingtodo.
But…
I squeezed my hands into fists at my sides and told him the truth in a near croak. “I’mscared.”
He blinked and the next thing I knew, he was dropping into a crouch directly in front of me, his face just above mine. Both his hands went to one of mine, enveloping it in between his. His words were soft and gentle as he brought our palms toward his chest. “I’ll be with you the whole time. You know I wouldn’t just leave you out there tobemean.”
The worst part was, I knew he was telling me the truth. That was something my brothers would do, but not Aaron. Never Aaron. Not if he knew I was genuinely scared, whichIwas.
“Two minutes, that’s all. I just want you to know there’s nothing to be scared of. It’s pastfeedingtime—”
I stoppedbreathing.
“Ruby.” His chuckle was low. “There’s more scary shit in the world out there than in the water, but it’s all about how you face the things that you’re not sure about,understand?”
I groaned at his words and the truthinthem.
“You understand,” he answered his own question when I hadn’t. “Come on. I won’t leave you. You’re braver than youthink.”
I was, wasn’t I? Or at least… I could be. Hadn’t I already shownmyselfthat?
I didn’t want to be that chicken Ruby anymore, even though I might always be. Maybe. I didn’t want to be so scared of things that I actively avoided them. My mom, who had gotten her heart broken time after time, relationship after relationship, didn’t stop being scared of falling in love because it hadn’t worked out for her in the past. Besides losing, I couldn’t think of a single thing Jasmine was scared of. They were the two most fearless people I had ever known. I could be like them. We had the same DNAafterall.
I didn’t even realize I was getting to my feet until I was on them. I definitely didn’t notice I was pulling off my shirt until it was over my head and I was dropping it on top of Aaron’s pile of clothes. What I did realize, just as my hands went to the elastic band of my shorts, was that Aaron was now standing uponcemore.
He was watching me. His eyelids were a little hooded and his eyes might have been focused in a dozen different places, but I couldn’t be sure because of the darkness. It was his turn to ask the same question. “What are youdoing?”
I tugged my shorts down my legs and did the same shake he had before I stepped out of them. “Getting out of my clothes so I don’t get them wet,” I explained, using his exact same words. “I’m not gettingnaked.”
Even in the darkness I could tell his throat bobbed. But he didn’t say another word as I set my shorts down on top of the rest of the pile. Nerves and anticipation thrummed through my veins and arms, but screw it, I was going to do it. Two minutes. I could go in there for twominutes.
The breath that came out of my mouth was shaky and weak. “Are you sure I can hold on to anything thatIwant?”
Aaron raised an eyebrow in a way that had me thinking he was second-guessing hisoffer.
“All right, don’t forget what you said,” I warned him, taking a step closer to the water. “Let’s get this overwiththen.”
He kept his gaze on me a second longer before dipping his head just enough for it to be counted as a nod and then took a step forward. I waited until he was at my side to turn to face the water and wade in. His hand hung loosely at his side as we walked side by side, deeper into the cool but not cold water hitting my ankles, my shins, my knees. It wasn’t until the water lapped just over my knee that I shivered and took a half step to the side, closertohim.
