Devil Incarnate (Boys of Preston Prep #4) - Angel Lawson Page 0,197

pool is coming for her.

“You did it.” I feel as breathless as she looks, and in that moment, all I want to do is grab her face in my hands and plant a hot, bruising kiss to her mouth, because holy shit. I’m proud that she made it. I’m proud that I taught her. It may be the first real thing I’ve ever taught someone to do.

Micha brings her a towel and wraps her in it. “Your doggy paddle is on point, sis!”

She laughs tiredly, pulling the towel around her shoulders. “Now you get to look stupid, too.” I don’t miss that she’s still inching away from the pool.

“Okay Micha, you’re up,” Coach James confirms, waving me over. I get there just in time to hear him whisper to Collins, “Micha Adams. Sophomore. This kid didn’t even want to go in the shallow end.”

I get this strange feeling that Coach James is trying to talk me up, although I’m not sure why. We’ve worked well together these past few months, but I wouldn’t necessarily call him a friend. Still, he shoots me a confident grin and faces the pool. Maybe he just hates Collins’ too.

Micha tugs on his swim cap and goggles, pulling each arm across his chest in an exaggerated stretch. I stop just short of rolling my eyes. If the exam were on acting like a skilled swimmer, he’d be getting a trophy. The girls stand up to cheer for him just as jubilantly, chanting, “Mi-cha! Mi-cha!” and Georgia joins in, clapping with them.

I pull out the stopwatch, beginning, “Are you ready?” At his very precise nod, I hold my thumb over the timer button. “Ready, set, go!”

What happens next must be the result of some reality-altering hallucinogen.

Micha takes his dive start with a form that can only be described as flawless, puncturing the surface with a graceful dolphin kick. It leads him into a perfect freestyle, his arms slicing cleanly through the water. I watch, eerily still as he stops to touch the edge, turning to swim back. It’s not formal enough to be competitive, but it’s not sloppy enough to be amateur, either.

I lead him through the drills while the girls go wild, flapping around their posters and looking excited for him. Georgia’s hugging the towel to her chest, chin ducked as she watches, and I don’t miss the way her face falls.

Micha does his float and then swims to the edge of the pool, jumping out like it’s barely even fazed him. “Did I do okay?” he asks, batting his eyelashes like he’s the most innocent thing to step into this natatorium.

I click the stopwatch, tightly announcing, “Sufficient.”

He looks unbothered by my tone, accepting the towel Georgia passes to him.

“That was…” she trails off, looking momentarily speechless. “Like, wow.”

He preens. “You’re not just saying that?”

“You were like a real swimmer,” she says, that frown returning. “Why couldn’t I—”

“He already knew how to swim,” I snap, looking to make sure Collins and Coach James are too caught up in whatever they’re bickering about to notice. “This whole time, he’s been playing us!”

“Yeah,” Micha admits, looking unabashed as he peels off his cap. “Come on. My sister is a swim star. She taught me to swim before I even knew what eyeliner was.”

Georgia’s jaw drops. “Seriously?” At his shrug, she asks, “Then why were you here? You said you didn’t—”

“My mom took me swimming when I was like four or something and I hated it, so she just assumed I never learned.” He rolls his eyes, snapping off his goggles. “I figured it’d be an easy way to check off her whole ‘life skills’ requirement. And then, once I found out Heston was teaching…” He looks at me, grinning with all his teeth. “I thought, what better opportunity to fuck with him all semester, right?”

Before storming away, I point a finger at him, seething. “You are such a dick.”

“You’re welcome!” he calls to my back.

Collins gives me a bland, unimpressed look when I enter the office, followed by Coach James and Warren. “It seems congratulations are in order. You managed to teach two mature human beings how to not drown.”

Warren looks taken aback at the tone, but it’s Coach James who cuts in.

“Heston has done more than teach those two students. He’s been a competent assistant coach this whole semester. He’s taught the middle-schoolers proper form. He’s wrangled the high-schoolers into submission. He’s been an enormous help.” He puts his hands on his hips, shaking his head.