Angel Beach (Summer Romance Collection) (5 page)

Chapter 9

Echo

It was completely stupid and so not like me, but I had to admit I was disappointed that Jamison had not waited in line for a roll this morning. Of course, from what I could see through the dim light of the morning sun, the waves were pumping. Or maybe it was because we hadn’t opened the kitchen window, so the enticing fragrance never made its way to the beach.

I must have glanced up toward the front window of the shop a billion times in hopes that he would be standing out there, but he never showed and I found myself profoundly disappointed. And now I was disappointed in myself for being disappointed. I mean what was I thinking? No matter how hot or charming he was, nothing could change the fact that he was a Freely.

There was no time for body surfing, skateboarding, or biking today. Mimi and I had been persuaded by Gertie to help decorate the high school auditorium and quad area for the summer barbecue. Gertie was in charge of the decorations, so naturally she chose a Hawaiian theme.

I had to admit that after three hours of hanging long strands of cheesy plastic flowers, and setting up pineapple centerpieces on tables, the place looked pretty festive, especially considering the school auditorium usually looked outdated and gloomy.

We stood in the doorway and took one last look around. “Well, Gertie, you’ve done it again,” I said. Gertie tried hard to fight back a smile. “Never in a million years would I recognize this place as the smelly, dank school auditorium.”

Gertie released the smile. “It does look splendid, doesn’t it?”

Mimi put her hand on Gertie’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful, Gert, just beautiful.”

Gertie spun around and headed to the door. “I just remembered I need to help Bill get the audio equipment.” She glanced back at us over her shoulder. “Can’t very well have a dance without music!”

After three hours of decorating followed by three hours of making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow’s customers, I hardly felt in the mood to go to a dance. Of course I had no choice in the matter. It was an Angel Beach tradition.

Two hours into the party, Zach and I found ourselves trying to devise a plan of escape. “It’s like watching a rerun of the same show once a year, on the same date, and at the same place.” Zach took a bite of his burger.

I took a sip of the lemonade that had too much lemon and not enough sugar. My lips twisted from the sourness. “Well, let’s see, the evening started the usual way with Mrs. Brackmeyer yelling at her husband for not wanting to dance with her. Mike Forrest did his usual burning of the first tray of hamburgers then promptly blamed the barbecue for being too hot. Gertie held her gripe session with the usual victims telling them how much work it was to bring the whole event together. And Jeanette, my on-again off-again friend, has pissed off every guy in town by promising them a dance and then spending the whole night with Alex Trayton.”

Zach lifted his burger to his mouth then stopped before taking a bite. “Speaking of Jeanette, here she comes.”

I groaned. “Damn, is Alex with her?”

“Nope.” He continued with his hamburger.

Jeanette threw her leg over the bench and plopped down next to me. Jeanette was one of those lucky girls who had sprouted a chest way ahead of anyone else. On top of that she had beautiful skin and blue eyes. Even though she mostly just used guys for free dinners and movies, she was still every guy’s dream girl. Even Zach had had a crush on her in junior high, until she’d called him
little guy
one day. That was all he needed to turn off the crush switch.

Jeannette reached over and grabbed one of Zach’s potato chips. He scowled at her as she popped it into her mouth. “So, Coco, have you seen the new boys? I haven’t seen them yet because, so far this summer, my mom has had me imprisoned in my house. She only let me out to come to this lame event.”

“I saw your text. How did you get grounded?”

She waved her hand. “It was so stupid, and my mom blows everything completely out of proportion. All I did was climb out of the bedroom window to go down to the beach for a midnight bonfire. She caught me on the way back in when her yappy, little poodle heard me open the window.”

“Had you forgotten that you had a dog who barks at every movement of air?”

“Yeah, well, whatever.” She reached over to grab another chip, but Zach blocked her with his hand. “Jeez, didn’t anyone ever teach you how to share?”

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to grab food off other people’s plates?” Zach snapped.

Jeanette rolled her eyes. “Anyhow, Coco, back to my original question, have you seen them?”

“Who? The Freely brothers?”

“Yeah, are they as hot as I’ve been hearing? Facebook has been lighting up on the topic of the Freely brothers.”

“They are Freelys. Which means they are jerks. Or did you forget that they are trying to buy up this town?”

Jeanette looked annoyed and frustrated. “I didn’t ask you if they were jerks. I just wanted to know if they were hot. Besides, my parents already signed a deal that they would sell their house to Mr. Freely. They’ve wanted to move back east for awhile, and since I’m going to college in New York, this was a perfect opportunity for them.”

“They sold out to Freely?”

Jeanette put her hand on my shoulder, and I wanted to push it off. “Relax, Coco. They didn’t sell out. They wanted to leave. You always make such a big deal out of everything.” She got up and I was happy to see her go, but seconds later she sat back down on the bench and leaned within whispering distance. “They’re here. The Freely’s are here, and they are definitely hot.” She jumped up and left as quickly as she’d sat down.

A tiny flutter of nerves took over, and I tried to convince myself that it had nothing to do with Jamison.

Zach’s eyes widened as he looked past me. “This is not going to be good,” he said quietly.

I twisted around. The horrid older brother, Reeve, was standing in the food line with the same squishy faced girl tucked beneath his arm. People were making fools of themselves trying to be nonchalant and all the while being anything except nonchalant. Then the younger brother walked in dragging a girl by the hand and cussing out his brother for parking in a mud hole. The onlooker’s feigned looks of indifference turned to shock.

As annoyed as I was that they’d shown up uninvited, I still caught myself looking toward the front gate to see if Jamison had come with them. But he wasn’t there. He seemed to want little to do with his brothers. Or maybe I was just hoping that was true.

Someone must have alerted Gertie that unwanted guests had arrived. She came scurrying out on her sandals with a pineapple shaped cup in one hand and the other hand pressed against her chest with concern. Gertie saw me and rushed over to where Zach and I were sitting.

“Oh my, I surely didn’t expect them to show up here,” Gertie said. “Should we be worried?”

I glanced over to the condiment table where the jerk was dousing his hamburger with ketchup. Then he swiped his finger through it and wiped it across the girl’s skin along the low cut line of her tank top. She laughed loudly, and he bent over to lick it off.

“Oh my,” Gerite said again. “What should we do?”

“Hide the ketchup?” Zach suggested.

I smiled. “I think if we ignore them, they’ll get bored and leave.” Of course I had no idea if it was possible to ignore them. Their whole purpose in coming here was to be noticed, and they would probably put on a good show to make sure it happened.

Poor Gertie looked pale with stress. I placed my hand on hers. “Relax, Gertie. Why don’t you go back inside and find Mimi.”

“That’s a good idea. She always knows how to calm me when my nerves are frazzled.” Gertie left just as the Freely gang decided to take a seat at our table. The bench creaked as Reeve sat down next to me. He smirked down at me.

“You’re not going to scare me away, if that was your intent.” I took a chip from my plate and ate it.

He laughed and then tossed a piece of lettuce at Zach. “Scram, leprechaun boy.”

I could see Zach clench his jaw, and I worried that he might tear up but he didn’t.

I glared up at the ass. “It’s better to be small than a giant bag of useless shit like you.” Zach stood and left. My instincts told me he was pissed that I’d spoken up to defend him.

“Why don’t you follow your little pal? We’re using the table now.”

“Why don’t you go to hell,” I said. One shove with his massive arm and I flew off the end of the bench but managed not to fall. The girls at the table laughed. I glanced around and saw looks of concern. For Gertie’s sake, I decided not to make a scene. It took all of my will to walk away.

“Hey, barbecue man, this hamburger tastes like crap,” Reeve called from the table. I turned back just as he threw his entire plate on the ground. Mike slammed down his spatula, but several of the other men stopped him from confronting Reeve.

I walked up to Mike. “Your hamburgers are perfect. He’s trying to cause a stir. Just ignore him.” I glanced up to the sky wishing that a giant storm cloud would blow through to put an end to the night, but it was crystal clear.

Loud laughter erupted from the table. Gertie had apparently seen the plate being thrown to the ground. She pushed out of the auditorium door and raced over to pick up the trash. As she dropped it into the trash can, he threw another plate on the ground then turned back to the table. Gertie looked as if she might break into sobs.

I’d had enough. I picked up the giant ketchup bottle and stomped toward the table, but five steps into my assault, large fingers took hold of my arm and swung me around. I looked up into Jamison’s face. He took the ketchup from my hand and returned it to the table.

“Why are you always stopping me?”

“Because for some reason, you have deluded yourself into thinking that you can take on my brother.”

I wrenched my arm free. Mike and several other men walked over to us. “Echo, is everything all right?”

Jamison put out his hand. “Sir, how’s it going? I’m Jamison Freely.”

Mike shook his hand but with suspicion. “This is a town party, Mr. Freely. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Yes, Sir, I understand.”

I walked away but Jamison followed closely at my heels. “Dance with me.”

I opened the door and he followed me inside. The sound system was impressively loud. Mimi looked up from the bingo table. She flashed me a smile and went back to her game card.

“I don’t dance. Especially with Freelys.” I stopped and turned to him not realizing that his gaze would have any effect on me. It took me a second to find my words. “Shouldn’t you be outside making sure that your brothers don’t set fire to something?”

“Probably.” Unexpectedly, he took my hand, and even though my first instinct was to grab it from him, I let it stay wrapped in his huge fingers. We stared at each other for a long moment. He was about to say something when a shrill voice came from behind me.

“Coco!” In an instant, Jeanette was standing next to us smiling up at Jamison. She noticed he was holding my hand and cast a sly scowl my way. “Coco, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

I looked around pointedly. “I don’t see him. Besides, you already know Zach.”

She laughed flirtatiously and stuck out her hand. Jamison was forced to drop mine. “I’m Jeanette but friends call me Jeannie. And I would love to dance.”

“That’s perfect because Jamison wants to dance.” I winked at him and used it as my chance to escape.

Zach was nowhere in sight. I knew his feelings and pride had been hurt badly, and I’d stepped in to defend him without thinking. I hoped he wasn’t too mad at me. I wandered down the long hallway that led to the back room where we’d stored extra food. Hiding out for awhile seemed like a good idea. I was halfway down the empty, dark hall when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around. A massive silhouette filled the space.

“I thought you were dancing,” I said smugly.

The figure stepped forward and I gasped. It was not Jamison.

As Reeve’s feet moved forward, mine scooted back. His stride was longer than mine and he caught up instantly. He took hold of my arms and pressed me against the wall. His breath smelled like beer as his face neared mine. “Ahh, were you expecting my brother? Too bad. I guess he’s found someone more to his liking.” He leaned closer as if he might kiss me, and I wriggled in his grasp but it only made him tighten his already painful hold on me. He licked his bottom lip. “I like a chick with a little fight. Makes everything more fun-- if you know what I mean.”

“I would rather kiss a pig’s ass than let my lips come anywhere near yours.”

His grip tightened more and I winced from the pain.

“That could be arranged.” With his powerful grip on my arms, he lifted me and my feet dangled in the air.

Suddenly, the hall lights flashed on. “Release her now.” Mimi was standing ten feet away with her hands on her hips. As petite as my grandmother was, she always had a huge presence. She scowled at Reeve and slowly, he lowered me and let go of my arms.

“Now, you and your guests need to leave this party. You were not invited and you’re no longer welcome.” I could feel the heat of anger radiate off of the giant standing in front of me, but he headed down the hallway without another word.

I walked over to where Mimi was standing, and we watched Reeve push through the crowd and slam out the door. Jamison looked up as his brother walked through then he frantically glanced around the room. “That boy’s looking for you,” Mimi said. “And he looks a bit worried.”

“Let him worry,” I said. “So how did you get him to listen to you?”

Mimi laughed. “If he’d had a tail, I guess it would have been tucked between his legs, wouldn’t it have? I just used my mother tone.”

“Mother tone?”

She nodded and took my hand to walk me out of the hallway. “Yes, every woman has one. Don’t forget, every man no matter how big or how stupid, at one point they were someone’s little boy.”

“Not that guy. He was spawned from the underworld of evil.”

Mimi kissed my cheek. “I’m going back to the bingo table. Why don’t you join me?” Jamison was across the dance floor when he spotted me. “No thanks, Mimi. I think I’ll just hang out on the bleachers and wait for Zach to come by.”