Riptide

Chapter Seven: Fire

'Come on,' Nathan says, and he reaches out and grabs my hand. 'We should catch up. I haven't seen you in so long.'

He's pulling me away, and I look back at Tammy but she's involved in a conversation with a few of the guys and she's forgotten about me. Through the bonfire I can't see Ryan or Kris. And so I allow myself to be dragged along by Nathan.

Nathan puts an arm around me and directs me away from the main crowd, further up the beach. We end up sitting in between two sand dunes, away from everyone, and out of sight. The moonlight reflected off the ocean and the distant bonfire is the only light. Nathan sits down close beside me, still with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I feel tense, and I don't know why.

'I've missed you, Indy,' Nathan says. 'The girls here are nothing like you. There has never been anyone that compared to you.'

My stomach feels tight, but as I look up into Nathan's eyes I try to relax. He has such dark eyes and he's staring deeply into my own.

'How have you been?' I ask him. 'What have you been doing?'

He pulls me closer to him and kisses me lightly on the neck. 'Waiting for you.'

I shift away and look back into his eyes, my lips trembling. 'Are you working?' I ask him.

'I'm working for my dad,' he says. 'He builds houses.'

'That's great,' I say weakly, and he smiles.

'You look even more beautiful than I remember,' he says, and he kisses me again on the neck, this time harder. 'I've been nothing without you.'

I feel a shiver up my spine. His breath is warm with alcohol. I remember the night, the last time I saw him. It was a stormy, overcast night, but it was the last night of the summer and the locals desperately wanted to party. I remember the smell of rain mixed with the salt from the beach and the smell of alcohol on Nathan's breath as he kissed me.

'Did you think about me, when you were gone?' Nathan asks me. 'Did you miss me?' He takes his hand and rubs up and down my bare thigh, then up past the waistband of my shorts and onto my bare stomach. I'm wearing a flimsy, almost transparent white crop top and a strapless bikini. His fingers work underneath the top and against the strap of the bikini, up and down my ribs and side. He's leaning over me now, with his opposite leg stretched over my knees so I can't move.

'Come on Indy,' he says, breathing into my neck. 'Tell me you missed me.'

I bite my lip, trying to dispel the anxiety that he makes me feel. He makes my body tense, and I can feel his frustration when I don't answer.

He kisses me hard on the jaw, and then his lips move up to my ear. He tugs gently with his teeth on my unpierced earlobe, and then trails another set of kisses along my jaw.

'Tell me,' he repeats, straight into my ear.

'I missed you too,' I whisper, and instantly he pushes me backwards onto the sand and plants his lips against mine. With his whole body on top of me he kisses me hard. My heart is racing, and my arms are covered in sand. I move them away from the ground and around his bare chest, and he kisses me harder and grinds his body against mine. The button on his shorts presses painfully into my bare stomach.

When he pulls away I gasp for air and he grins. His eyes are dark and sharp, narrowed, but his smile is triumphant. 'I knew you missed me,' he says. He rolls onto his side, still with his arm over my waist, but then he traces his fingers up my side and strokes my cheek. He pushes the strands of hair away from my face and leans forward to kiss me again, gently.

'We can go back to my house,' he says. 'There's no one home. I just missed you so much and I don't want to share you with anyone tonight.'

'I just got here, Nath,' I say. 'I haven't even had two drinks.'

Nathan tenses and pulls his arm away from me. He rolls onto his back and looks up at the stars. 'I'll go get your drinks. We can drink here. I just want to find out how you've been. Can't we talk?'

I sit up, and he does too. I try to wipe sand off my back and arms, and when I stand up I try to get the sand off my legs. He grabs my wrists, halting my effort, and wraps his arms around me. 'A few more drinks,' he tells me. 'Come on, I'll get you a few more drinks.'

He puts his arm around my shoulder again and directs me down towards the bonfire. I see Tammy drinking with a few of the boys, and Kris chatting with some girls.

Nathan squeezes me against him as we walk past his friends. 'You don't want to talk to them,' he says. 'They're all drunk, and they're dicks to girls. Trust me, stay away from them.'

'Okay,' I say.

'Where are your drinks?' he asks me.

'They're up in the esky... Ryan's esky,' I say weakly.

He stops in the sand and snaps his arm away from me. 'Ryan?' he says. 'That guy that stays in the house next to yours?'

'Yeah,' I say, my lip trembling. 'He has a girlfriend,' I say quickly.

Nathan visibly relaxes. 'Oh, okay,' he says. 'I saw the way he looked at you, two summers ago. I don't trust him.'

We walk up the sand and I find our towels and Ryan's esky, but Ryan and Rose are nowhere near. I look around for them, and spot Rose sitting on a dune, taking photos of the ocean. I can't see Ryan.

'Are you looking for him?' Nathan asks tersely. 'Do you like him?'

'No,' I say, spinning around and looking at Nathan.

He lowers his head, leaning forward and kissing me. 'I couldn't stand it,' he breathes into my lips.

I take a few of the bottles of vodka cruisers out of the esky. 'Can we sit here?' I ask him, pointing to the towels. Kris's towel has a large faded print of a galloping horse – she's had the towel since she was about ten. Mine is a plain pink towel. I've never been passionate enough about something to buy a printed towel, like Kris has.

'Let's sit near the fire,' he says. So I bring my drinks with me and take a seat with Nathan in front of the bonfire. I sit in front of him and he straddles his legs around me, hugging my body close to his. I drink one of the drinks quickly and sit it in the sand and open the next bottle. Nathan strokes his fingers along my thighs and waist, and then places his hand on top of my denim shorts. I feel hotness in my cheeks, but I keep drinking and stare into the fire, determined not to react as he rubs his hand between my legs.

// Author's Note

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