Chapter Six
1655 Words
Chapter Six
At eighteen, I had gotten a new camera. At the time, I was still learning to develop my own style. I was in the middle of a phase where I liked to take the wealth around me and shove in something ugly. For example, I would take a pair of my mom’s designer shoes and put a news article about the state of the world in front of it. The shots were all s**t. Teenage garbage, really. I had thought it was incredibly deep but they were all overstated and childish looking.
I was nearing the end of high school and anxious to get to college and start studying photography for real. I was trying to put together a portfolio to make it look as if I was ahead of the game.
I remember that I had a great idea for a new shot. My family was staying over at the Hunter’s because the next day we were all flying to Hong Kong for some trip. I used to love taking photos at the Hunter’s mansion because everything was so over the top. It was easy to take the type of photos I wanted there.
The guest houses at the back of the property were enough to have families of four stay in them. I always had found them decadent. The nicest one of them was only opened by fingerprint scanner – no key. Only people in Kevin’s family could grant people access to this guest house.
I really wanted in there. I knew it would be perfect for the shots I wanted to take. So that night, I decided that I was going to sneak into the house and do a photo shoot. I couldn’t get in by way of the fingerprint scanner so for the first time in my life, I was going to do something illegal – I was going to break in to get the shot I wanted.
Once I figured everyone was asleep, I crept out of the mansion and down across the grounds. The grass was soft and spongy as I walked towards the row of guest houses. Only one was occupied at the time. Spencer was in there with her then-boyfriend.
I got to my target and went around to the side. There was a window that had a loose lock. I jimmied it and slid it open.
I crept in through the window, feeling like a real photographer. Here I was, about to take some real shots of what opulence was like and contrast it with the real world. My camera thumped against my hip as I landed in one of the bedrooms and stood up. The house was quiet.
I opened the bedroom door and stepped into the hallway. I didn’t know why I was being so quiet. The house was as quiet as a tomb. I wanted to go to the small inside pool. I found it insane that the guest house had an inside pool and I wanted to do my photoshoot there.
It was when I stepped into the kitchen that I heard something. Panicked, I ducked behind the counter and held my breath. I couldn’t make out what the noise was. It was something repeating, over and over again, a dull noise. My heart began to pick up the pace. Was someone else sneaking in here? Just my luck that a burglar or someone else would sneak in here the one night I had broken the rules.
I peered around the counter but didn’t see anything. I slunk through the kitchen and ended up in the living room. The sound here was louder. It was coming from the pool. Maybe a pump was acting up? Even as I thought it, however, it seemed unlikely.
I pulled my camera out of the bag. If there was someone breaking in, I could take photos of them and dart off. My phone was still in my camera bag. I crawled across the carpet. If it really ended up being a pump breaking in the pool, I was going to feel like an i***t crawling around like this.
The door to the inside pool was open. Someone was definitely inside then. My head was telling me to turn around and go back the way I came and get help. But the noises were clearer now – and they sounded animalistic.
With my own heart racing, I stuck my head out of the door to the pool. The pool was illuminated, shining like a jewel. The pool light changed colors, sending rays of pink, then blue, then green, and finally yellow, all across the pool area. Moonbeams shone down on the pool through the skylights. It was gorgeous. I felt as if I had stepped through a doorway to another world.
But it was what was causing the noises that froze me in my spot. Bennett was on the other side of the pool, with a girl underneath him. They were on a bunch of towels and he was moving rhythmically on top of her, thrusting his hips. My breath caught.
At the time, he was seriously involved in swimming. He was a year older than me, nineteen, and was competing in college in swimming. He had come down to see his parents on a school break. Our run-ins throughout the years had always been a bit sour and negative. I have to admit, even now, that I had mostly forgotten about him.
But I wasn’t forgetting about him now. The girl, someone I didn’t recognize, was squirming underneath him. They had been swimming. The water rolled off of his back as they writhed around together. He was well toned and I could see his muscles in the changing colors from the pool light.
I knew I should turn around and leave. This wasn’t for me to see. Apparently, my sister wasn’t the only person sneaking people into the guest houses. But I felt completely frozen. I watched as he laced his fingers through the girl’s hair and tugged on it. This drove her wild. Her hips were bucking against his. His lips were on her neck, kissing along it. His body glistened from the water. The colors changed the shadows. The sound I had been hearing was their flesh meeting and the two of them moaning together. I had never heard him sound like that before. The way he was moving... the way he was touching her and the way he was sounding... for a spilt second, I wanted to be underneath him.
It was then he looked up. Our eyes locked. Yet he didn’t stop f*****g that girl. Only now it felt as if he was telling me something – as if he could be f*****g me, instead of her. As if I were somehow involved in what was happening.
I let out a startled noise and ducked back into the living room. My heart was racing. My face was warm and I felt flustered and horrified. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my camera bag, heading towards the front door.
It was as I got to the front door that I could hear Bennett was following me. As my hand landed on the doorknob, he called out for me. I turned around.
He was wearing a towel around his waist and nothing else. He was dripping onto the marble flooring, creating a small puddle. I found myself looking at that instead of him. If I looked up, I would just see him looking at me...
“Did you take any photos?” he asked me.
“What?” I replied, finding my voice. “No. I’m sorry. I was going to do a photography thing by the pool. I didn’t know – I didn’t realize – I won’t tell your dad, obviously.”
Bennett was close to me now. I took a step back and realized I was pushed against the door. He was so close to me that I had to look at him. I found myself staring at his chest. The way his muscles looked with the water on them and the moonlight pouring in from the window above the door. My mouth went dry.
“I believe you,” he said in a low voice. “You know my dad would kill me if he knew I had someone in his precious ultimate guest house.”
I took a shuddering breath and finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes. In this light, they looked almost black. I couldn’t read his expression. I had a crazy thought – what if he kissed me? But I brushed it aside.
He put his arm against the door. He was inches away from my face, waiting for my reply.
“I won’t tell,” I repeated. “I don’t care enough to tell.”
“Right,” he whispered back. “That’s true.”
Even though my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth, I asked anyway, “Who is that girl?”
“Why? Jealous?” His voice was low in my ear and seemed to slink down my spine.
“No,” I whispered back, wondering if she was waiting for him by the pool, “I don’t care.”
Our eyes met again. The tension between us was palpable. It was as if a string was going to snap. Bennett, who at the time was a source of irritation for me, suddenly had transformed in front of me. In my mind, I saw him again with that girl, pulling her hair and letting out those moans. A quick breath escaped from my mouth. I wanted him to touch me so badly that it felt my heart might burst.
He whispered, “Are you sure?” and he was so close that his lips briefly brushed against mine with every word.
The physical touch, as minor as it was, sent me crashing back to Earth. This was Bennett, for f**k’s sake. What the hell was I doing? I pushed him away and opened the door to the outside, running out across the grass.
It was stupid to run. There was no point. He wasn’t coming after me. But I ran anyway, across the grass, and to the safety of my bedroom.
I never did take the photographs by the pool.
- Writer
