Angel Beach (Summer Romance Collection) (6 page)

“Where is Zach? I haven’t seen him all night.”

“He got his feelings hurt by that thick-headed brute, and I owe him an apology too.”

Mimi placed her hand on my cheek. “I’m sure you’ll make everything right. I promised Gertie I’d stay a bit longer but then we can go home. We’ve got an early start in the morning.” Jamison was walking toward us. Mimi smiled back at me. “Don’t be too hard on this one. He’s smitten.” With that she walked away.

I turned and headed to the bleachers and Jamison followed.

“You know you don’t have to try so hard with Jeanette,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Your dad has already bagged that deal. Her parents have already sold out.” I climbed to the middle of the bleachers and sat down. He stood in front of me with that expression that always did a number on me.

“I don’t care about my dad’s business dealings or Jeanine or whatever the hell her name is.” He looked at me and his throat moved up and down. “I care about you, Echo. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you stole my wave.”

“You stole my wave and please stop thinking about me.” It took courage for me to say it but it took even more courage not to look away from the hurt in his expression. “You and your brothers need to stay away from me. If you’re going to buy up this town then so be it, but leave me the hell alone.”

His long lashes drifted down but then his face lifted quickly. He stepped closer and touched my arm. “Are these finger prints from Reeve? I saw him storming out of here.” His eyes widened. “Did my brother hurt you?” His expression of anguish quickly flashed into white hot anger.

I hugged myself against a sudden chill that swept across the bleachers. My arms were tender where Reeve had grabbed me. Zach was standing by the exit looking sad and lonely. “Please, Jamison, just leave me alone.”

He stood there for a moment longer then walked down the bleacher steps and out the door of the auditorium. I swallowed back the dry feeling in my throat. I’d flung some harsh words at him and deep down I hadn’t meant any of them.

Zach saw me sitting on the bleachers, and I waved weakly back at him and sent him a smile that I hoped he would return. He stuck his hands deep into his pockets and headed out the doors. What a night. Usually this evening was painfully dull, but this year it was just painful.

I sat for the longest time with my arms wrapped around me hoping that Mimi would lose enough bingo to decide it was time to leave. Zach had not come back inside the auditorium, and I thought it was time for me to find him and apologize. We never stayed mad at each other long. The night temperature had dropped dramatically, and aside from a few people hovering around the warmth of the barbecue, most people had either left or gone inside. The brothers and their minion were nowhere in sight. Mimi was amazing. It was improbable to think that her scolding had scared away Reeve Freely, but he seemed to have left the party without further incident. And Jamison must have left with them. He seemed genuinely hurt by my words tonight, but it was hard to believe that it would last long. He was probably already on to his next conquest and that thought actually pained me, another good reason why giving him the brush off was a smart idea. The last thing I needed was to become hung up on Jamison Freely.

“Mike, have you seen Zach?” I asked.

“I think I saw him walk out the gate. I’m just glad those other boys left.”

“Me too.” I headed to the parking lot figuring Zach had decided to sit the rest of the night out in his mom’s car. I could hear loud radio music blaring as I reached the lot. Reeve’s big truck was parked across three spots. Unfortunately, they had not left completely.

Reeve’s massive body was leaning against the side of the truck with a girl on each side of him drinking beers. The jeep was still in the lot too. The lighting was not terrific in the school parking lot, but I could see Jamison sitting on his bumper with a girl standing between his legs facing him. He got over heartbreak even faster than I would have expected. At least I no longer had to worry that I’d made the wrong decision.

I found Zach’s car but it was empty. I decided to head back inside before any of the Freelys spotted me, but then something caught my eye. Zach was in the parking lot after all. He was standing in the bed of Reeve’s truck gulping a beer.

My first instinct was to race over and pull him away from the truck, but he’d been so pissed at me about coming to his defense at the table, he would probably never speak to me again if I interfered with him now.

Reeve threw another beer up to him and he popped it open. The light was out over the front steps to the auditorium, so I walked over and sat down. I would just watch from a distance to make sure nothing happened to Zach. It was my only choice. Several times I peeked over at Jamison. He was kissing the girl, and it was really hard to watch.

Zach laughed loudly as he climbed clumsily over the side of the truck bed. He took a couple of faltering steps backward before regaining his balance. The others laughed too, but I knew they were laughing at him-- not with him. I had no idea what had prompted him to make this horrid decision.

A girl’s giggle floated over from the jeep, but I could not bear to look that way. This night was slowly deteriorating into a complete nightmare. Reeve’s chilling laughter filled the night air. He was holding a beer just out of Zach’s reach. Zach was jumping like a trained monkey trying to get to it. They were laughing at him, and I wanted to throw up. I badly wanted to march over there, grab his hand, and drag him away, but I didn’t want to make things worse.

“Damn it!” Reeve yelled. “You jumped on my foot, you little idiot.” Reeve’s big arm shot out and he shoved Zach. The impact sent Zach flying into the side of the next car. I jumped up and ran toward the truck, but thankfully, Jamison beat me there. Reeve had not finished with Zach yet. He picked up Zach by the foot and hung him upside-down in the air. Jamison grabbed Zach before Reeve dropped him to the ground.

I reached them as Jamison gently lowered Zach to his feet. He held Zach’s arm a second so he could steady himself.

“Look who’s come to your rescue again, mini man,” Reeve snarled.

This time Zach didn’t look upset by my interference. He had a cut on his head and blood was dripping down his cheek and pooling on the shoulder of his t-shirt. He shot me a look that said please get me out of here. I took hold of his hand and peered up momentarily at Jamison. The anguish I’d seen in his face earlier, after I’d told him to leave me alone, had returned.

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

He nodded but didn’t say anything.

I pulled Zach away. I glared at Reeve as we passed him. “Drop dead, you ass.”

Zach stumbled behind. “Slow down, Coco. I’m going to be sick.”

I twisted around. “Good. I hope you feel like crap for the next three days.”

Zach’s face paled and his chin dropped to his chest. “I know. I’m an idiot.”

I placed my arm around his shoulder. “Yes, but you’re my favorite idiot. Just give me warning so you don’t puke on my shoes. I’ll text your mom and tell her you’re staying with us tonight. Then she won’t have a stroke about the fact that you are flat-faced drunk.”

“You’re the best friend an idiot could have, Coco.”

Chapter 10

Jamison

Sunlight was already seeping through the blinds in my room, and I could hear Reeve’s friends packing up to leave, but I had no urge to get up or see them off. I was glad they were leaving. After Echo had made it unbearably clear that she wanted nothing to do with me, I’d stupidly started downing beers and before I knew it I was making out with Courtney. The moment I came face to face with Echo in the parking lot as she’d come to the aid of her friend, I’d regretted both of my decisions. I wasn’t completely sure how long she’d been in the parking lot watching us but I was sure she’d seen enough to turn her off completely. Not that there was much left to blow. She hated my guts, and it was hard to blame her. I needed to get out of this town soon or go mad. Unfortunately, I doubted I could talk Matt into leaving any time soon.

Matt’s hand slapped the door. “You’d better get your ass out of bed before Reeve eats all the cinnamon rolls himself.”

A familiar, mouth-watering fragrance floated beneath my door. I hopped out of bed and pulled on my trunks. My head and stomach felt like crap but I was pretty sure I could down one of those cinnamon rolls without too much problem.

Reeve was leaning over the kitchen counter licking his fingers. He reached for another roll but I grabbed it first. “That was mine.”

I ran my tongue over the icing and held it toward him. His lip curled up in disgust. “Good thing,” I said, “cause I had no intention of sharing it with you.”

Matt’s eyes were closed as he savored every bite of the pastry. “Damn, these are good.” He opened his eyes and smiled. “Hey, remember that ice cream shop Mom and Dad used to take us to on our birthdays?”

“Charlie’s Ice Cream Palace.” Reeve had resorted to licking the tip of his finger and dabbing at the crumbs in the box. “They used to have that giant ice cream platter with a scoop of every flavor on it, and the waitresses would sing as they carried it out.”

“Mom had that picture of Reeve on the television where he was sitting in front of the shop and the scoop had just fallen off his cone.” I licked icing off my lip. “Hey, how did these get here? Did you guys wait in line?”

“Hell no,” Matt said. “Someone left them on the front door step. Maybe it was that hot chick who hates us.” He dropped the last piece of roll on the counter. “Maybe she poisoned them or something.”

I took another bite. “If she did, we’d deserve it.”

“Speak for yourself,” Reeve said. “I’m hitting the waves. If I see the bakery wench, I’ll be sure to thank her before I run my board over her skinny ass.” He walked outside, picked up his board, and headed out to the beach.

“One time, Dad and I won a cool plastic dragon at the arcade.” Matt was still back at Charlie’s Ice Cream Palace.

I finished my roll and pathetically checked the box in case Echo had written a note on it. There was nothing. Maybe they’d had extras and everyone on the road got a box. That sounded stupid even in my head. The line for their shop stretched down the entire block. They would never have that many extras. I was reading too much into it, and I had to stop before I drove myself crazy or actually convinced myself that she cared. When my mind was doing crazy shit, I knew there was only one place for me-- the water.

Sometimes it amazed me how much time we spent sitting out in the water on our boards. My shoulders stung from sunlight and salt as Reeve and I sat, silently waiting for a decent wave. In the distance, I heard skateboards scraping the cement walkway.

“There’s your friend,” Reeve said motioning with his head toward the sand. We hadn’t spoken two words to each other since we’d paddled out.

I looked in the direction of the skateboarders. Echo was riding a board behind the two guys she’d been skimboarding with earlier in the week. Her long legs stretched out forever below the hem of her shorts, and her light brown hair swirled around her shoulders as she raced down the walkway. She looked in our direction for a moment as she passed by.

“She’s not that hot,” Reeve grumbled.

“Yeah, right, keep telling yourself that. Maybe you’ll actually believe it.” Then my mind drifted back to the night before when she’d knocked the wind out of me by telling to me to get lost, and I remembered the marks on her arms. “You tried to hit on her last night, didn’t you?”

Reeve started pushing farther away from me. “Like I’d ever hit on that.”

“You did and she told you to go to hell.”

Reeve ignored me a minute then laughed. “The way you went after Courtney last night, she must have told you the same thing.”

His words rang painfully true. She hated me as much as she hated my brother. “Yeah, she told me to go to hell too, but I’m warning you, Reeve, don’t you ever touch her again.”

The harsh glare of the sun was no match for the harsh glare Reeve shot me across the water. “How about you stop telling me what I can and can’t do . . . little brother.”

“You can do whatever the hell you want, jump off a cliff for all I care. Just don’t ever lay a hand on her again.”

Reeve faced the beach for a minute then glanced behind him at the incoming swell. He looked my direction. “I don’t want anything to do with her, just like she doesn’t want anything to do with you. So it looks like you won’t be laying a hand on her either.” He dropped down onto his board and took off on the wave.

Reeve and I surfed in the same patch of ocean for two more hours without speaking one word to each other. My final ride ended in a pretty ugly wipeout, and my face scraped the ocean floor before I managed to surface again. I felt a warm trickle of blood rolling down the side of my face, and I decided I’d had enough.

Reeve had done his best to destroy my mood again mostly because what he’d said was true. Echo wanted nothing to do with me, and I would never be able to get close enough to touch her . . . or kiss her.

I reached the boardwalk just as Echo and her two skateboarding buddies had returned. I stopped to let them pass. She rolled past and glanced up at me then jumped off her board. Her friends looked back but she waved them on. “I’ll catch up in a second.” She picked up her board and walked over to me.

Her hazel eyes stood out in her tanned face.

“Are you all right? You’re bleeding,” she said.

Having her so near had made me forget the blood. I reached up and wiped it off with the back of my hand. “Left some skin on the sand bar.”

Her long lashes lowered and she dropped her board to the ground. She placed her foot on it to leave.

“Thanks for the cinnamon rolls.”

She looked up with a smile. “That would explain what my grandmother was doing with a box of rolls this morning when she went out for her walk.”

“Oh, well, tell her thanks.” I could not believe how disappointed I was to find that the rolls had not come from Echo.

She nodded and was about to push off but I stepped forward and my free hand reached for hers. I hadn’t realized I was going to do it but it happened before I could even think about it. She tried to pull away for a second then relaxed. Her wrist felt small, smooth, and frail in my hand.

She looked up at me with her incredible eyes.

“Echo, I know you told me to get lost but I can’t. I’m stuck here in this beach house with my two asinine brothers, and yes, my conniving father sent us here and the whole thing sucks, and I’m freakin’ miserable. But knowing that I’m going to be stuck here and that I’m going to see you every day, with those legs, and those eyes, and that confident little pout of yours and knowing that I’m never going to be close to you, just makes the whole damn thing that much worse.” I stepped closer. Her mouth was just inches from mine. “Staying away from you will be nothing short of torture.”

She looked at me a long, intense moment, and her lips moved slightly as if our proximity had drawn her into the idea of a kiss too. But she gently removed her hand and glanced down the pathway to her friends who were now several blocks down the beach. She faced me again and I still had the urge to kiss her.

“You hooked up with a girl half an hour after I talked to you.”

“I did. Your words blew a hole through me. I was upset. Sorry.”

“Seems like you’re apologizing to the wrong girl.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” It took all my will to walk away. Behind me I heard her skateboard wheels scrape the cement then the sound stopped. I glanced back.

She was looking at me. “After work, I take Riley out on the beach to play catch with his Frisbee. Maybe I’ll see you there.”

I nodded and headed back to the house with my board all the while trying to slow my racing pulse.