3
Tessa.
Summer days in this house are always the same. The heat sticks to your skin, and the world feels muffled, like even the air is half-asleep. After this morning—after sneaking out of the bathroom with my heart thundering, after almost getting caught by Mom—I should be exhausted. I should want nothing more than to hide away and forget the way Liam’s hands felt on me.
But I don’t. I want more.
So I’m stretched out by the pool in a tiny red bikini I dug out from my old dresser drawer, sunglasses perched on my nose, a paperback splayed open across my stomach. My skin glows in the sunlight, golden and slick with sunscreen. I feel exposed, but I like it. The breeze tickles my thighs.
Liam is pretending not to watch me. He’s on the other side of the pool, lounging in one of those brok
