Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) by Wendy L. Wilson Page A

disperse.
    With a fleeting look towards the path on the other side of the property, I can no longer see Piper. My mind is distracted with where she went; all I want to do is chase her down and put Judd’s advice to work.
    “Ahh, no. I actually need to get to work super early on the heaters.”
    “Oh hey, you want me to join you in the morning?” Judd asks as him and Alyssa make their way around the once blazing fire that has been reduced to a pile of coals.
    “Yeah, that’d be nice. Do I need to swing by and get your ass?”
    Judd laughs as Skylar continues to stay in front of me, one hand on her hip and the other playing with her hair. I glance around again, over her shoulder, to the light at the shower house and then further down the path. Nothing.
    “No please don’t, because I know you won’t knock and I’d like to wake up gracefully instead of to the sound of your mouth.”
    Alyssa giggles, hugging herself to him.
    “Well you better wake up to the sound of your alarm, because I need you down there at 5am.”
    Judd gives a quick salute and takes off.
    Skylar crinkles her nose with a goofy little smile, then spins around, deliberately shaking her ass as she walks off.
    “Careful! I’m not ashamed to throw you down right here for four, five and six.”
    She slowly turns her head with a challenge in her eyes as she waves. Damn…if I wasn’t so determined to put this whole thing between me and Piper behind me, I’d chase her ass back to the cabin and kidnap her for the night.
    Once she’s out of sight, and the faded camp fire has dulled to a quiet crackle with the sputter of a few spare moist sprigs of wood, I turn and look back at the shower house. My feet move beneath me hesitantly, as if I am being marched towards my own execution. What I’m going to say gets pushed to the back of my mind as I draw nearer to the dock and see nobody there. Where the hell is she? Knowing for certain that her return would not have escaped me, I amble further down the property, staying on the unlit path. The moon is hidden beneath a cluster of clouds in the sky, but peeks out every few minutes to barely light my way. As the soft, crumbly ground begins to glow, I pick up my pace and look up, secure in my footing.
    After walking a good while and searching, a dark shape comes into view that I know all too well; I’ve made it to Grandpa’s boat dock. I don’t have the keys to any of the boats, no fishing supplies or even a jacket, but I still continue in on my quest. This is the only place that I would think she may have gone. I’ve never felt so driven to talk to her. Most of the time, I hold back out of fear of what all she will say to me and how shitty she could make me feel, but not tonight. Judd made a good point. I’ve never just listened when she starts in on her rants. Yeah, I try to talk, but I don’t stop. I keep trying to get a word in to defend myself; to make sense of it.
    Stepping onto the dock with a quiet knock of my boot against the wood surface, I stare forward, making out a small silhouette positioned on the edge, looking out to the water. Just as I thought. I take a deep breath and my heart stumbles, completely lost in my memories.
     

     
    “Catching anything good?”
    Sitting quietly with my feet swaying below the edge of the dock, the squeaky voice comes as a surprise. I turn my head, keeping my hands gripped to my fishing pole. Standing above me is the same girl I saw earlier today. Her black hair hangs in a mess over her bony shoulders and pale white skin. A ruffled brown swimsuit hangs around her neck, topped off by blue jean shorts with frayed white strings suspended along the entire circumference of her leg.
    “Not much,” I say, looking up through my eyelashes.
    “I bet there’s some big fish in there. What all do you do around here?”
    Her question strikes me as odd given there is a lake to swim in, boats and jet skis to rent, a beach and docks to jump and fish off of.
    “Pretty much