𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 || baxter radic

30.

◈ 𝒃𝒂𝒙'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗 ◈

"Do you love me?" I walk up behind Maybelle, my voice a low whisper in her ear. She turns into my breathy voice, eating up the feeling of my voice cascading along her skin. I see her eyes blink slowly closed as my words settle in her mind.

There is a silence that follows my question. She doesn't move though, and neither do I. Her back is pressed against my chest, and I can feel her chest falling heavily when she breathes.

With the slightest affirmation, she turns and kisses my cheek. "Isn't it obvious?" With a light giggle she's off running, leaving her board at my feet.

It was obvious. She was willing to give up everything for me. She didn't care about who she lost in the process. It was quite scary honestly. That she trusted me enough to risk it all. But honestly, in way, I would probably do the same. The only thing we had left to lose was our friends and each other. We didn't have much at risk.

A voice sounds over the speakers as we all gather around the podium area. May stands at the top, clutching a microphone in her hand. Her hand trembles, but she steadies it with the other. She's sending me glances as if asking for me to save her. The spotlight was never meant to be hers.

I jump up next to her without a moment of hesitation. I was willing to make a fool of myself. I didn't care what people thought. People see you for less than five seconds and already have a preconceived idea about you. Most of the time, that first image they have of you will never change. It just so happened to be that a boy with pink hair and tattoos didn't always get the best reputation.

"Welcome everyone!" I lean over the microphone that is clung to her chest. "Thank you all for coming." I try to take the microphone from her hands, but she has a death grip on it. There is no amount of might that will pull it from her grasp.

"Maybelle," I whisper in her ear, "I'm here. You don't have to say a thing okay? I've got this." My voice is enough to loosen her grip on the object I need to convey to the people why they're here to begin with.

After slipping the microphone from her hands, I pull it up toward my mouth to continue on with a monologue I definitely don't have prepared. "So I am Baxter and this lovely lady beside me is Maybelle. We are all gathered here today in honor of her late brother Maxwell. He was tragically killed in an accident years ago. A few days ago he would have turned eighteen. To let his legacy live on like it should—the lovely Manu and Poppy have arranged this event." I take a deep breath and look at May, who is still like a deer caught in headlights.

I slip my hand into hers, and only that is enough to pull her focus toward me. "We will be having a surf competition. The winner will take home the custom board made for today." I use our combined hands to motion toward the board propped up behind us. "There are booths around so make sure you check them all out. All profits raised today will go to..."

I look toward May, but she doesn't fill in the blank. I look out toward Summer and all she does is shrug her shoulders. I guess the decision is up to me now. "a local club. Nothing like getting the youth out here able to enjoy the water like we all do. If you have any questions make sure to forward them to Manu, he's the guy with all the answers."

May tries to jump off the podium but I hold her in place. Her eyes narrow at me and I send her a questioning expression back. "Thank you." She mumbles into the microphone before jumping off, leaving me left alone.

I sigh, getting off the stage. I drop the microphone into Manu's hand and take off after Maybelle. She hasn't made it far, stopping at a tent with drinks inside. She taking a sip from a water she must have swiped from a cooler by the time I catch up to her.

"You didn't have to be scared you know? I was right there. I would have never let anything happen to you." She nods her head as she pulls the water bottle from her lips. A dampness remains above her lips and it takes everything out of me not to kiss it away. Maybe it would make everything better.

"Too many people." She crosses her arms, the water bottle leaving condensation droplets against her skin. Again I have to fight the urge to lick the water from her skin.

"I know, I know." I comfort her, placing a kiss to her forehead. "How about you focus on what we will be doing later if I win. That might distract you long enough to forget how many people are actually here." I shoot her a wink.

"That might be actual torture." She groans, a clear distinct painful pleasure in her tone. There is a hunger in her eyes, the same hunger I saw when I spent what felt like hours teasing her. I am a piece of meat to her right now. And I would rather be a piece of meat, than watch her spiral. I will take away her pain, only to replace it with a different type of pain—a better pain.

"Do you need the distraction now?" I tease. We couldn't do it now. We couldn't do it here.

She eagerly nods her head. I almost give in to her desperate beg for me now. In the past I would have found a way. I would have not taken a second to care about the person before me. I would have fucked them and left like none of it mattered. It was all so pointless. But with May it would never be pointless. That meant that there was no option to do it here. It had to be meaningful, because she meant the world to me.

"That's not how this works." I tap her nose. Her cheeks burn in a fiery red. Not out of fear, embarrassment or anger. But out of an overwhelming lust that she thinks she can't control. But she can. I've watched her do it. I've watched her slip from hungry to satisfied in a simple blink of an eye.

"You are such a teaser Baxter." She shoves against my chest. But I grab her wrists and tug her toward me before any distance is created between us. The twang on her tongue has me wishing I was my old self. Wishing that I would just take her off somewhere and have her as we both pleased now.

It was better this way, to have all the pent up frustration. We would be able to get lost. There would be no focus or fear. We could get lost in each other. We could love each other. We could enjoy everything that the other had to offer. No outside forces could tamper us then.

She knew that, and so did I. With a final kiss, the call for surfers to enter the water sounds and I leave her standing there—to scream my name in another way.