Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,41

on the game anymore, but her idea suited me just fine. I got to keep my ‘almost’ really skinny body at least semi-covered.

I stood up, happy to have an excuse to leave the game, and followed the three other people who also felt like a midnight swim. Except that two of them got sidetracked by a bedroom, and the girl who’d been the one to suggest the idea, walked over to one of the pool chairs and promptly passed out face down. It was as close as she got to the water.

The pool was perfectly circular, and multicolored lights danced from beneath the surface to waver among the shadows of the night. My fuzzy mind sighed happily at the peacefulness of the scene. It was quiet besides the gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the pool.

I sensed a presence behind me, but I ignored it, walking to dip my feet in the water on the descending steps. The water crawled up my legs, as the soothing temperature lured me down two more steps, until I was submerged up to my thighs. I looked up towards the sky, hoping that maybe, just this once, the stars would shine bright enough to overpower the City of Angels.

“So which is it: model, musician, actress?” the handsome blonde asked casually, joining me on the other side of the steps. He was still as undressed as he’d been for the game. The same as me.

“How about – ‘D’ none of the above.” I stepped fully into the pool, the water tickling the bottom of my exposed ribcage. Facing him with a mysterious smile, I sauntered backwards, enjoying the texture of liquid curling around my torso.

He stopped on the second step and took a seat as he watched me with an intrigued gleam in his crystal blue gaze. “What’s your name?”

My smile only got wider. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

I used to be good at this. Flirting had come easily to me, and it had earned me a lot of attention in high school. It wasn’t until I’d stopped flirting, that Cam even deemed to honor me with his attention. He’d been too old to play my games, and I’d been more than happy to give them up for him. I’d thought I’d lost that part of myself forever too, but apparently all it needed was a little liquor to trick it out of hiding.

“Tyler Warford,” he replied smoothly, running a confident hand through his stylish blond locks. I liked that he didn’t need me to spell it out for him.

I was hungry for the look in his eyes. I wanted him to desire me the way Declan clearly didn’t. Tyler made me feel sexy and invincible. Or maybe it was the alcohol that made me feel sexy and invincible, but either way I felt good. I felt wanted.

“I’m –,”

“Adley, what the fuck?” He appeared from nowhere, almost like he’d materialized right out of the night. Declan’s eyes scolded me with their fierceness, and I quickly snatched my arms into place around my body. An entire room full of people ogling me didn’t make me feel an ounce as exposed as one look from him.

“Hey, man. We were just talking,” Tyler tried to defuse the situation he didn’t fully understand, but he could clearly read the confrontation that radiated from Declan’s voice and stance.

Declan ignored him, not even bothering to utter a word in his direction. Instead all of his anger was focused on me.

“It’s time to go. Madeline’s waiting in the car. I’m taking you home.”

For just a second, I thought about defying him. Who did he think he was, ordering me around? I was a grown woman. He had no right to tell me what to do.

I looked towards the alternative. Tyler would probably be more than happy to fulfill any need I might have, but I wasn’t under any delusions that he didn’t have a habit of turning those pretty, blue eyes on girls like me all the time. He’d been using me just as much as I was using him, and what had seemed fun and exciting, suddenly felt dirty.

Without a word to either one of them, I got out of the pool and marched through the house dripping water on every surface I passed. Declan’s limo was pulled right up to the front of the house, and the driver didn’t even blink at my undressed state as I climbed through the door he held