“I’m going to sit in the pool. Preferably away from everyone. Come get me if you need me for anything besides arm candy,” I said, grinning.

She smiled but didn’t say anything, just nodded in agreement.

I slid into the pool and pulled my hat down low. This way I was technically at the party, but I didn’t have to socialize.

I could also see Daisy’s every move from here.

If this was how people lived every day of their life with the opposite sex when they liked them, it really wasn’t as much of a mystery to me now why the guys lost their minds trying to get their girl.

A girl swam up to me, coming way too close to only be friendly.

“Hey. Kye, right?”

“Yes,” I said, not matching her friendliness at all. There was no reason to be so close to me, and I could already feel the creep of disgust moving over my skin.

“Wow, Daisy’s mentioned a few things about you, but she never mentioned how hot you were. I like the whole, I’m dangerous, leave me alone thing you have going on.”

“Okay,” I said, sliding farther away from her. I had plenty of women come up and hang all over me, but none of them had ever been friends with my fake girlfriend, so I couldn’t exactly handle it the way I always did. Which usually ranged from one of the girls in the crew stepping in or me turning and walking away immediately.

Here, I was trapped.

I moved down the wall of the pool, putting a few more feet between us, but she seemed intent on closing it again.

“Going somewhere?”

“I assume some space would be appropriate.”

She looked back at Daisy, who was wrapped up in a conversation with someone, not noticing what was happening. “I don’t agree. Do you not like pretty women near you?”

“No.”

She laughed now, her hand resting on my arm. Bile rose in my throat and I ripped my arm away. I needed to keep my cool, but I was already so overwhelmed dealing with Daisy touching me and liking it, that I was struggling to keep control of my body’s visceral reaction to this girl.

Apparently, the test of liking other people touching me had a clear outcome.

“Can you please get off of me?” I asked, taking a deep breath.

“Get you off?” Her confident hand reached down, sliding her hand along my stomach, heading towards my dick. “Are you saying that you don’t find me attractive?” she asked, the purr of her voice making my skin crawl.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I said, as her hand landed on me again.

I moved to grab it, intent on pushing her away as a body came down into the water next to me, stepping between us.

Daisy’s body slid against mine, the soothing calm of her coursed through me. My arm snaked around her waist, pulling her hard against me. Every part of my body calmed, and I could finally take a breath.

“What are you doing, Sydney?” she asked.

“Just meeting your boyfriend,” Sydney said with a smirk.

“Wait, this is Sydney? The girl Dean said he was going to sleep with after your breakup?” I should have known, but it didn’t occur to me that Daisy would even think to invite her. “Now she’s over here desperately trying to grab my dick.”

“Are you serious?” Daisy asked, pushing back into me and shoving me harder into the side of the pool. Her back pushed against the front of me, and all I wanted to do was curl my body around hers.

“No, he’s not serious. He was the one all over me, Daisy. Maybe keep better track of your boyfriends.”

“Don’t even try it, Sydney. Dean might have been a cheater, but Kye wants nothing to do with you. Go away before you embarrass yourself anymore.”

She scoffed and turned, swimming away without a word.

“Why is she here?” I asked, glad we were in the water. The touch of her washed away and was replaced with everything Daisy.

“I had a stupid idea that I could keep up appearances,” she said, turning to face me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize she would be desperate enough to assault my boyfriend.”

“Fake.”

“That was implied.”

“Is there somewhere I can go for a second?” I asked, taking a deep breath. “I just need a minute away from…people.”

“Yeah, come on.”

Her hand wrapped in mine and I held on, letting her lead me out and pull me along until she was shutting us in the pool house.

“I’m sorry about her. I really wasn’t expecting that. I should have, though. It’s not like it’s the first time she’s tried to take my boyfriend.”

“It’s fine. She just wanted to get under your skin.”

“Yeah, it always worked with me on Dean. I would get so upset and storm off.”

I leaned back, sitting on some barrels while Daisy hopped onto a few boxes across from me. “So, are you mad, then? But you didn’t storm off?”

“Because I was always upset before, not mad. This time, I was pissed. Why would she think she could do that? You looked horrified. There’s no reason to be mad when you’re the one who was basically assaulted. Dean’s face was always…lustful. He liked it.”

“I was horrified. Not a big fan of friends who betray people or women who try to grab me so blatantly. The touching,” I said, my body involuntarily shivering.

“It’s funny. If you would have put you and Dean next to each other before all of this, I would have figured you would be the one to put me on edge and make me feel insecure.”

“Why?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Don’t even play that game. You know what you look like, what you act like,” she said. “I’m not the only one who assumes it. And you know what it does to me, so I guess I should have assumed it would do it to other people, too.”

“I didn’t realize I was doing anything to you.”

She reached out, moving to swat at my knee with a smile, but I flinched away. 

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at me, but didn’t ask more about it. “But I don’t set you on edge like that? Or do you just hate me touching you in any way?” she asked.

I let out a hard breath, knowing it was time to come clean. I wasn’t even sure how to tell her that I couldn’t stand to be touched, but then to add on that out of everyone I’d ever met, I like her touching me. If I kept trying to hide it, though, this was only going to get messier.