Beautiful Illusions (31 page)

“A gift?” I feign interest while I scan the crowd for Ace.

“Yeah, I’ll let you sit on me tonight.” He grabs his crotch and shakes it. “I’ll make sure all your birthday wishes come true.”

“No thanks.” I give his shoulder a quick swat as I turn to leave.

“I get it.” He steps in front of me. “You’re still pissed.”

“Yes, I’m still pissed. And, by the way, we have to sit our parents down and tell them we’re not really engaged. In fact, I’m hoping to tell my dad tomorrow. They’re leaving for a trip oversees—”

“I know, Japan.” His jaw clenches. “I work at the office, remember? Look, wait until after the trip. They’ve got a long flight, and they’ve got enough bullshit to deal with. Trust me, they don’t need you adding any drama to it.”

“We can’t wait. They get back on the fifth. We’ll be back at Yeats by then.”

“We’ll do it over the fucking phone.” He shrugs as if it were no big deal. “Besides, that’ll give you another solid week to figure out you’re wrong about this whole thing.” He spots someone off in the crowd and nods over to them. Warren mock shoots me as he steps in their direction. “We’re still engaged. You know you want it. It’s going to be me and you in the end—Westfield and McCarthy just the way it’s supposed to be.” He melts into the crowd, and I shake my head disbelieving. Warren is proving harder to get rid of than head lice.

I pluck out my phone to text Ace, and Neva pops up with her hair teased in a beehive, dark rings circled around her eyes but strangely enough she’s still pretty. It would figure that Neva could pull off the night of the living dead look. She’s always been stunning.

“My brother wanted me to give you a message,” she growls as she pans the crowd behind me. “He said meet him at the boathouse in an hour.”

My mouth opens, but not a word flies out.

“His phone died.” She shrugs before turning to take off.

“
Wait
.” I pull her back by the elbow, and she’s quick to yank free. “Thank you—for relaying the message.”

“You’re welcome. So I guess, happy birthday. You turned into the happy little slut I always knew you could be.” Neva dives back into the crowd without missing a beat.

I pump a dry smile. The truth is, I miss her. I miss her voice, her hugs—the smell of her perfume. Maybe I’ll add Neva to the queue of people to have a talk with right after Ace, Warren, and Dad. Hopefully each one of them will understand what I have to say.

A body bumps into mine, and I jolt forward.

“Let’s do this, Westfield!” Brylee hooks her arm in mine and starts spinning us in a circle. Her boobs try their hardest to spring free from those eye patches she has them harnessed in.

“Easy.” I glide us to a stop. “I’ve got a date in an hour, and, unlike you, it’s not with the bottom of the toilet.”

“I’m not tanked.” She tries to hold up a finger, and it flails in front of her.

“You will be.”

“So you’re collecting on the big gift in an hour huh?” She grinds her hips into mine.

“It’s more than that. I’m telling him how I feel tonight.”

“
Aww
!” Brylee clutches onto my neck like we’re slow dancing. “Everything is going to be so much better after that. Just wait and see.” She flops into my chest. “But I was sort of hoping he’d tell you first.” Her fingers fly to her lips.

“Yeah, well. I’m past the dreaming stage and on to reality. Besides, telling him is sort of my birthday gift to myself. I swore no matter what, I’d let him know that my feelings are so much deeper than just friends.” I hike a smile into my cheek because I just sort of verbalized it in front of dozens of people, and it felt damn good. “I love Ace Waterman.” I say it just loud enough for my own ears to hear. I glance around, and no one seems worse for wear. The world is still spinning, and I bet my dad is alive and healthy despite my lovesick proclamation.

“Say it again with some feeling.” Brylee places her hand over my shoulder as we stare out at the crowd.

“I love, Ace Waterman!” It rips from my vocal cords so loud I can practically hear the echo off the water—but not a living soul even blinks in my direction. And, yet, I feel like a Mac truck has been lifted off my chest.

The fact that I love Ace Waterman makes me feel better than I have in years.

I’m ready to own it. And I hope he’ll want to own it, too.

It’s cooler out by the water, quiet and dark away from the party. I hug the shoreline as I make my way to the other side of the lake—the boathouse to be precise. I’ll have to send Gavin a thank you for letting us turn his storage facility into our own private love shack.

I wonder why Ace didn’t come get me himself? And sending
Neva
of all people? Maybe she offered. I bet it’s her twisted version of an olive branch. She can be weird like that.

Plus, it’s my birthday. I bet Ace wanted to do up the boathouse in balloons and rose petals. He’s thoughtful to a fault. My stomach melts just thinking about how thoughtful he is, especially between the sheets—not that there were any sheets in that tiny tent of ours. My insides burn with the memory of his hands raking over my body, his tongue tracking over the most intimate part of me.

Hot damn. Ace Waterman has the power to dissolve me to a puddle, and he’s not even in the vicinity.

I take the dirt path past the dogwoods and see there’s already a light on in the boathouse. Looks like he
is
in the vicinity. I trot up and catch him with his back to the window, his head bowed down. He lets out an audible groan, and it’s only then I see a pair of hands strapped to his thighs, a brunette moving her head back and forth over his crotch, loving him in that way that I thought only I was allowed to do.

A sharp sting ignites over me all at once as I stumble from the porch.

“Holy shit,” I hiss.

This can’t be true.

The ground rises to meet me as I run up the dirt hill, past the wandering evergreen forest with its dense thicket. My heart thumps like a series of detonations, my lungs sting from the sharp intake of cool night air as I slip and struggle my way up an embankment. A pair of headlights come over the ridge, and I bump hard into a cold, steel fender.

I fall backward down the hill, no worse for wear.

“Reese?”

A car door slams just as I try to get up.

“Shit!” Ace hisses, scooping me up. “You okay?” He brushes the hair from my eyes, his face rife with worry.

“Did you just get here?” I look over at the Cougar parked right where I stumbled into it.

“Yes. I just killed the engine, and you came at me.” The muscles in his jaw pop with worry. “Don’t do that.” He peppers my face with kisses. “Next time the car might win.”

“If you’re here, then who’s—” I glance back at the boathouse.

“Is someone there?” Ace takes up my hand and leads us over to the window.

Their bodies have shifted just enough to expose the girl—and it’s none other than Neva. Her head moves in slow, long tracks. The guy’s khakis thankfully block the rest of the show.

“Neva?” Ace storms through the door as Neva and the guy she’s working part ways. He scoops up his shirt off the bed just in time for Ace to clock him in the face.

Shit. What the hell was she thinking? Why the hell would she be here if Ace was supposed to meet me?

I burst into the boathouse to get a good look at the guy that Ace is busy beating the crap out of.

That carpet of blond waves, those squinted eyes, that square jaw—I know this asshole all too well.

“Warren?” My voice echoes off the walls. I look to Neva, confused. If she wanted to hurt me, she picked a lousy way to do it.

Ace hustles him outside and tosses him down the steps. “Don’t show your fucking face around here again.” He slams the door shut and turns to glare at his sister. “Why?” he roars.

Neva tries to take a step around him, but he blocks her path.

“Tell me right now, why him?” He demands. “Why here, tonight?”

Neva glares over me, her eyes moistening with tears.

“It’s not like it was a one-time thing.” She takes a stiff step in my direction, the look of hatred ripe on her face. “We’ve been at this for
years
.” Her lips curve with slight satisfaction. “How does it feel, Reese? Knowing the person you’re with thinks you’re nothing but trash?”

“Warren doesn’t think I’m trash.” I cut a glance out the blackened window before reverting to her venomous stare. “He thinks
you
are.” I couldn’t help it. A part of me wants to hurt both Warren and Neva, and I don’t really understand why.

I bolt past the two of them and into the cool of night.

“Reese, wait.” Ace jumps down the steps and grabs ahold of my elbow.

The lake shivers in the background. The music is still at it, full tilt, across the way.

“Look”—my voice shakes as I break free from his hold—“I don’t know what the heck is going on but that was one hell of a birthday gift.”

“What?” He glances back at the boathouse as confused as I am.

“And your sister?” I say incredulous. “Why in the hell would you pull your sister into this? That’s just sick.” I take off running toward the lake and he’s quick to catch me.

“Reese, I swear I had nothing to do with what went on in there.”

I pause just shy of the boulders blocking our path.

“Then why did you ask me to meet you here?” I pant as I glance across the water at my birthday bash still raging away without me.

“I didn’t ask you to meet me here.” Ace grabs ahold of my waist, and I warm to his touch. “I have no clue what’s going on, and the last thing I would do is put Neva in that position with anybody. What made you think I told you to meet me here?” His breath plumes out in vapors.

“Neva.” I nod over at the boathouse. “She said your phone was dead, so she was relaying the message. When I got here I thought it was you and someone else.” I choke on that last half. “I didn’t see Neva.” I drop my head into his chest and let loose. I sob for what feels like weeks while Ace holds me under a violet-colored sky. I pull back and touch the long black streaks on his shirt left from my mascara.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

“Don’t be.” He strokes my cheek as he draws me in. Ace tucks his finger under my chin and gently lifts me to look at him. “I would never hurt you. I swear to God, I had nothing to do with Neva or Warren being here tonight. Reese”—he studies my features with a patina of hurt in his eyes, but there’s something deeper in them that makes my heart race—“I haven’t been honest with you all summer, and I think there’s something you should know.” He swallows hard. A smile curls in the corner of his lips. “I know that the intentions of what went on between us was platonic, but that’s not how I feel.” He pauses and the night clots up with silence as if all of creation had bent its ear in this direction to hear what he might have to say. “I love you, Reese Westfield—with all my heart I do. There’s nobody on this planet for me but you.”

My mouth opens and closes. The noise from across the lake, the horror of witnessing Neva on her knees for Warren, it was all plaguing me, and, now, Ace has said something and I think I’ve misconstrued the words.

“I’m sorry.” I move in so close I can feel his warm breath on my lips. “What did you say?”

His grin widens as he takes me in under the angel wing moon.

“I said I love you.” He presses into me with those deep knowing eyes. “I would never in a million years hurt you, and”—he pauses to land a soft kiss over my lips—“there’s nobody for me but you.”

Tears glide down my cheeks in long, hot tracks.

The sound of glass exploding rocks us out of our love struck stupor.

“Shit.” Ace pulls me along as we race up the dirt trail to find Neva sobbing on the porch after what looks to be a self-induced tantrum. The glass from the boathouse window has been reduced to shards. “Let’s get her home.”

Neva shoots a look to us, and her eyes burn wild with fire. “I’m not going anywhere with that bitch.”

“You know”—I take a step back—“I think I’ll head to the party for a while.” I lean up on my tiptoes and press a kiss just shy of Ace’s ear. “Come to my room when you’re through.”

His dimples go off and my entire body dissolves under the leadership of his smile.

He lays his lips over mine, and I greedily take him into my mouth, kissing him as if it were the first time our lips ever met.

Brylee was right. Everything is going to be so much better now.