Lake Taboo Read online

  Lake Taboo

  Clea Kinderton

  Published by Red Lamp Press, 2014.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  LAKE TABOO

  First edition. September 2, 2014.

  Copyright © 2014 Clea Kinderton.

  Written by Clea Kinderton.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Lake Taboo

  Further Reading: Get Out of My Bedroom!

  About the Author

  The Jeep bounced over a rut and all three of us shouted and then broke into laughter.

  We were taking the trail way too fast, the trees whipping by the windows like big green flags, but we were all so excited to be going camping — six young adults on a weeklong getaway — that we just didn't care. I stuck my head out the rear passenger window and let the hot summer air blow my hair into tangles, trying to spy Matt and Cassie's Land Rover on the trail behind us through the dust. I saw the flash of the grill appear around the bend in the dirt road and Matt started laying on the horn.

  My adopted brother Brandon honked back and spun the steering wheel and we careened around the corner of the trail, smacking a low-hanging tree branch as the jeep lunged into the air on the way down the hill. Rachel, my brother's girlfriend, let out a roller coaster squeal and Brandon and I laughed hysterically.

  At the bottom of the hill, the trail opened out onto a small campground, a rocky, grassy beach hugging the south-west side of Parson's Lake. Parson's Lake wasn't so much a lake as a big pothole where water from the stream collected before moving on to the river. It was small and out of the way and hard to get to but for a week every summer it was the closest thing to paradise that I could imagine.

  Brandon drove the Jeep onto the gravel and slammed on the brakes, grinding to a halt not twenty feet from the remains of last year's fire pit. Matt pulled in sharply beside us and one after the other six doors opened and all six of us jumped out to land in the dirt.

  I slammed the door behind me and took a deep, satisfied breath, inhaling the familiar scent of wildflowers and cedars and pines and the tangy, murky odor of the open water. The sunlight made everything brighter, the water sparkle, the mosquitoes and dragonflies shimmer like tiny dancing fairies over the lake. I felt like I was home again.

  We started unloading the vehicles and setting up tents and soon Brandon was kneeling over the fire pit trying to light the logs left over from last summer.

  My father had started bringing me, my brother, and my mother to Parson's Lake when I was five, the year after I was adopted. He'd always been a dedicated outdoorsman — first as a logger in Washington state, then as a park ranger in Oregon, where we were living now — and he'd always believed devoutly in the value of living close to nature. He often said that instincts were the best instructors, and that the only way to develop them was to spend a lot of time in a place that required us to use them.

  It seemed only natural that when my brother Brandon got his drivers' license, we began our own tradition: driving up to the camp by ourselves, bringing along anyone who wanted to come, and leaving our parents behind. My mother wasn't too happy about it at first, of course, but my father, pleased to have had such an impact on his kids, was adamant that the experience would be good for us and so she allowed it.

  This year there were six of us: Brandon had brought his girlfriend Rachel — they'd been going steady for two years now and things were beginning to look serious — Rachel had invited her best friend Cassie, and Cassie had brought along her boyfriend Matt. I'd come alone, having broken up with my boyfriend not two months earlier, but Rachel had insisted on meddling and invited one of Matt's single friends, Andy, a big, good-looking linebacker from the college football team. She’d been joking about having a dual wedding before I’d broken up with my ex and I couldn’t help but feel that she hadn’t entirely given up on the idea. Much to my chagrin, there were only three tents and I was expected to shack up with Andy though I hardly knew him. I wasn't sure how I felt about spending the night zipped up in a tent with a burly, two-hundred and fifty pound stranger even if his friends were only a tent over.

  The campground was on the south-west side of the lake. The north-east side of the lake, opposite of the campground, was a sheer wall of limestone forty feet high. Once a year, typically on the day we arrived, Brandon would go around the long way through the woods in nothing but swimming trunks and climb to the top of the hill to dive into the lake. Every year I'd watch him from the camp, my stomach tying itself in knots, fearing for his life and too chickenshit to try it myself. This year, he convinced Andy and Matt to come with him and soon all three of them had disappeared down the trail.

  Rachel, Cassie and I changed into our bikinis in the tents, lathered up in sunscreen, and ran out to splash around in the water. The water at the edge of the lake wasn't too deep and was warm as a bath and within a few minutes we had a beach ball and an air mattress inflated, tired lungs, and cheeks that were sore from laughing. We started a game of Don't Drop the Ball while we waited for Brandon, Andy and Matt to appear at the top of the hill and between the bright, hot, beautiful day, the sparkling water, the fresh country air, and the laughter of my friends the afternoon was beginning to seem like pure magic.

  Cassie started pointing and yelling and Rachel and I looked up in time to see the boys appear at the edge of the cliff.

  "Jump! Jump!" Cassie started shouting and Rachel and I joined in, yelling and waving our hands like sirens trying to trick pirates into a cold watery grave.

  This was Andy's first time and he looked nervously at Brandon but my brother was nodding and smiling and encouraging him to dive in with waves of his hand. Andy held back and Matt stepped up to the plate, his face split in a wide grin. He'd come with us the previous year and seemed to relish the opportunity to show off his skills.

  Matt took a few steps back, sprinted forward and leaped into the air. He tucked into a dive and hit the lake like a knife, going deep and sending up a high arc of water. Matt swam like a dolphin and rose up from under the surface to lift Cassie in his arms like some kind of merman. She clung to his shoulders, screaming in delight while Rachel and I cheered from the sidelines. It was possibly the most romantic thing I'd ever seen.

  Reassured by Matt's success, Andy made a powerful standing jump, tucked up his knees, and hit the water like a bomb. Matt, Rachel, Cassie and I all screamed, doused by his enormous splash. Andy got turned about in the water and swam off a bit to the side and broke the surface a few yards further along the beach, wiping the water from his eyes.

  It was Brandon's turn and he was peering over the edge of the cliff, watching our antics and waiting for us to give him some room. Matt carried Cassie to the edge of the lake and Rachel and I swam a few yards back, each holding on to one side of the air mattress. Brandon walked to the very edge of the cliff, crouched down, and then leaped.

  He flipped once and then plunked into the water like a stone, only a few yards from the air mattress. Rachel and I screamed at the same time, squinting and sputtering from the splash. I looked to Rachel, waiting for Brandon's head to burst through the surface, and yelped in surprise when I felt a pair of strong hands slide up the back of my thighs and grab my ass cheeks.

  I felt myself being lifted out of the water, just like Cassie, and my brother's head shot up between my breasts. I grabbed him by the shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist, holding on for dear life as he hoisted me up onto his hips. His strong, muscular body pressed against my own, sending fireworks from my toes to my ears.

  Brandon shook the water from his eyes and then opened them wide in surprise.

  "Stacey!"

  "Well, this i
s awkward," I said, laughing nervously.

  My mind raced, screaming at me to let go, to leap away, to distance myself as quickly as possible, but Brandon's firm hands on my buttocks, his hard, tensed torso against my belly, his shimmering blue eyes staring wide-eyed into my own were a disaster of epic proportions. In one instant, I felt the world shift, as if it had fallen from its axis.

  My heart was racing, my pulse throbbing in my ears. I could feel my stomach tightening into a knot of anticipation, the way it always did just before a man pushed his hard cock inside of me. It was an unmistakable sensation of pure, primal lust and no matter how much my mind raged at me to flee, to run, to hide, to reject, to deny, my body refused to listen. It was possessed, it was ready, eager, hungry. It wanted him, more than it had ever wanted any other man, and I felt my body yielding, opening to him, moistening, desperate to feel his hot, hard cock inside of me.

  "Brandon! What the hell?!"

  Rachel's cry of outrage broke the spell.

  I inhaled sharply and snapped my eyes shut. It seemed like I'd spent an eternity staring into Brandon's eyes, but I knew it had only been a few seconds.

  My brother dropped me suddenly, as if I were an angry rattlesnake, and backed away with a powerful kick of water. "I — I thought you were Rachel," he stuttered, appalled.

  Rachel's mouth was frozen in a look of disgust and horror. Andy, Matt, and Cassie were almost doubled over with laughter.

  Brandon turned to Rachel. "Honey, I'm sorry. I thought—"

  "That's your sister!" said Rachel, splashing his face with water.

  "It's hard to see down there," he said, becoming defensive. "You're wearing practically the same thing."

  Cassie swam up to me and poked me in the arm. "Make sure you keep the light on in your tent," she said. "Who knows what he'll do when the sun goes down."

  Unable to endure the laughter of his friends, Brandon stormed from the lake, his face red with embarrassment.

  Rachel swam after him, staring daggers at me as if I were somehow responsible for the mix-up.

  It's not like I tried to seduce him, I thought, becoming angry. It was an accident.

  It was true, and I could have said so, but the butterflies in my stomach made it feel like a lie.

  I walked up to the beach and hid in my tent, my cheeks flushed, tears stinging my eyes. I knew that by all rights it had been a mistake, an innocent misunderstanding. The way Matt and Andy and Cassie had laughed about it showed that they didn't take it seriously. But Rachel was acting like he'd done it on purpose; worse, like I had had something to do with it. I couldn't mistake the look in her eyes, the jealousy, the resentment. The doubt. It was as if she'd suddenly seen the relationship I had with my brother in a new light. As if his stupid, failed attempt to copy Matt's romantic gesture had revealed some hidden connection between us. She would try to keep Brandon and I separated, as if I were some sort of rival. As if I were going to try to steal him away. But she didn't have the right. Brandon and I were family. Brandon and I would be together forever, long after he dumped her paranoid, jealous, suspicious ass.

  I put my hand between my legs. My sex was still tingling, still humming with excitement, damp with more than lake water.

  "Stop it," I said.

  A few minutes later, Cassie entered the tent. Her face was contrite.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "We shouldn't have laughed at you."

  I shrugged. I'd pulled on a t-shirt and shorts and was trying to comb the tangles out of my hair. "It was just a silly misunderstanding," I said, forcing a smile. "I don't know why Rachel was so upset about it."

  Cassie giggled. "She's terrible, isn't she? She gets so jealous. I don't blame her. I mean, Brandon's a total hottie—"

  "Cassie, please. Brother. Remember?"

  "Oh, right. Sorry." She giggled again. "She'll get over it. It just surprised her. She was expecting this big romantic moment and then ... well, you know. We're going to roast some wienies. Want to help?"

  "Sure." I tossed the brush down on the sleeping bag and followed Cassie outside.

  Brandon was bent over the fire again, trying to make a little pyramid out of the left over branches. He was still shirtless and I had to make a conscious effort to avoid looking at his rippling muscles and the way his wet swimming trunks clung to his buttocks.

  "Aw, you put clothes on," said Andy, holding out a beer. His ball cap was on backwards, in good bro fashion, and he was wearing sunglasses. His beer was already half-finished.

  "Sorry to disappoint you," I said, smiling politely and taking the beer. Ugh. Awkward. If that's what passes for flirtation in his book, count me out.

  Rachel was digging around in the cooler, a towel wrapped around her waist. "Didn't you bring any ketchup?" she said, talking to no one in particular.

  "There are some packs in the glove compartment of the jeep," I said, extending an olive branch. "Brandon tosses them in there when he doesn't use them."

  Rachel flinched at the sound of my voice, but covered her distaste with a smile. "Ugh. Better than nothing," she said.

  "I'll go get them," I said, smiling back.

  "Thanks," said Rachel, walking over to the fire with the hot dogs and buns.

  I walked over to the jeep, opened the door, and popped open the glove compartment. Sure enough, there were several packets of ketchup from the last time Brandon had gone through the drive through. There was also an unopened condom.

  I took the ketchup and shut the glove box. I hesitated for a second and then re-opened the glove box and retrieved the condom and slipped it into my pocket. I wasn't planning on sleeping with Andy, but, well, we were going to be here a few days and I'd probably get pretty drunk, and he was kind of cute in an oafish sort of way. Better safe than sorry.

  I shut the jeep door and headed back to the fire pit, passing Matt on the way.

  "Music," he said, smiling as he passed.

  I nodded, confused.

  Rachel and Brandon were sitting shoulder to shoulder on a log, holding wienies impaled on unbent wire clothes hangers over the fire. I set the ketchup packets on a paper plate sitting on the log by Rachel and took a wiener on a spit from Cassie. There were four folding lawn chairs arranged in a semi-circle around the fire opposite the log that Rachel and Brandon were using. Cassie took the chair closest to Rachel, and Andy was already sitting on one of the chairs in the middle. I couldn't very well take the chair between Cassie and Andy because Matt would want to sit beside his girlfriend, so I sat down between Andy and Brandon, setting the beer in the cup holder in the arm of the chair. Rachel gave me a look but quickly turned away. She looped her arm in Brandon's and leaned her head against his shoulder. Brandon kissed her on the forehead and I felt a sudden, confusing, stabbing sensation in my chest. Music started blaring from the Land Rover.

  Matt returned and took his seat beside Cassie and we talked and joked as we roasted our hot dogs. We finished off our food and our first round of drinks and then everyone had another.

  Matt got up and disappeared in the direction of the truck. A minute later, he returned, accompanied by the rhythmic beat of house music.

  And that's when the argument started.

  "Why did you pick this?" said Cassie, her pleasant, cheerful disposition suddenly aggressive.

  "I didn't. I went to take a piss. It's on shuffle," said Matt defensively.

  It took me for a second to realize what was happening.

  Where have I heard this before? It was at the club. This was the song that was playing when Cassie had caught Matt dancing with that girl. The bleach blonde in the baby doll top.

  "Well go change it," said Cassie harshly, her face red.

  "What's wrong with this song?" said Brandon. "I like it."

  I stared at my brother. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

  Rachel jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and gave him a scolding look.

  "Ow! What did I do?" said Brandon, rubbing his side.

  "Cassie thinks I was tr
ying to fuck some girl at a club," said Matt, getting up to turn off the music.

  "I never said that," said Cassie, fuming.

  "No, but it's what you thought," said Matt, shaking his head angrily.

  "What girl?" said Brandon. "What are you talking about."

  "Brandon," Rachel hissed.

  "What? I just want to know what's going on."

  "Some girl came up and started grinding against me at the club and Cassie thinks that I started it," said Matt.

  Cassie stared at her boyfriend but said nothing.

  "What? That's what you think." Matt's voice was raised and his face was red with indignation.

  "Calm down, Matt," Rachel snapped.

  Brandon looked at Rachel an unreadable expression on his face. "Don't you think Matt has a right to be angry? If he didn’t do anything wrong and Cassie doesn't trust him?"

  "Stay out of it," said Rachel. "It's none of your business."

  "So I'm not even allowed to voice my opinions, now?"

  "Shut the fuck up," Rachel said, getting to her feet.

  "Rachel, calm down. Brandon didn't do anything wrong," said Cassie.

  "Nothing wrong? You mean other than grope his own sister?" said Rachel, staring venomously at me.

  I drew back, as if slapped.

  "Jesus Christ, Rachel! It's not like I meant to. It was an accident!" said Brandon, getting to his feet as well.

  "You know what, I don't care," said Rachel throwing up her hands. "I'm done with this."

  "Done with what? What are you talking about?" Brandon tried to take her wrist but she shook him off.

  "With this. With everything."

  "Rachel—"

  "I'm tired of waiting. I've been waiting two years for you to propose to me and now I just don't care anymore. Go fuck your sister if you want to. I'm leaving." Rachel turned and strode to the tent.

  "Rachel, stop!"

  I stared after them, completely mortified. Matt and Cassie looked at me, their faces guilty. They hadn't intended to start anything and now they'd somehow managed to get me involved as well. Andy tried to put his arm around me.