Beautiful Oblivion (30 page)

“Yeah, well”—she makes a face as Ace and Warren speed over—“you may not be the only coward I know.”

Boy, wouldn’t that be nice.

Warren cuts Ace off and knocks his canoe over as he glides up in front of us. I watch as Ace rights himself and paddles forward with the water beading off his smile.

“What the fuck?” Warren pants his way over as he falls into the sand next to me.

Ace pauses before taking up his boat and walking toward his house.

“Waterman!” Brylee calls for him and my adrenaline picks up. “Get over here. Dude, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in like a week.”

Shit. Brylee is such a fucking troublemaker.

Ace tilts his head at her a moment before dropping his boat and heading on over.

Perfect. I’m sure Brylee would want nothing more than front row seats when I finally pour my heart out to Ace. But Warren is here, and, in the event she hadn’t noticed, we have a faux engagement I’m still pretty ticked over.

“And what about you?” Warren kicks my foot as he gets up on his elbows. “Ken said you were with Whitney Summers and those airheads she hangs out with. You guys have fun?” Warren’s face is clean-shaven, his hair trimmed close to his head on the sides. He looks like a poster child for prep schools everywhere, and Ace sports the perfect five o’clock shadow, his wet hair is almost down to the base of his neck.

I cut a quick glance up to Ace. “Yeah, we had fun.” Shit. It’s not that I want to lie to Warren but I’m pretty sure he’d slit Ace’s throat if I told him the real story—that a faux honeymoon was involved—that nonstop love making ensued for the last eleven days. My insides throb with grief at the thought of not having Ace on command.

“Are you sure you were with Whitney?” Brylee winks into the sun as she studies me with that shit-eating grin locked on her face. “I mean, I thought I saw her last week in Collingsworth, but I could be confusing her with someone else.”

Crap.

“Yes, I’m sure.” I give her a hard stare. “I was there. I would know who I was with.”

Ace turns his head a moment before getting up. “It was nice seeing you guys. Gavin’s hauling me out to Medford. There’s an entire forest of Redwoods with my name on it.”

Warren glares at him. “Season that shit right this year would you? I’m tired of listening to my parent’s bitch about it. Tell Gavin he’s about to lose the entire lake if his ass doesn’t shape up.”

“Will do.” Ace holds my gaze a moment before taking off down the shore. There he goes, drifting further away from me, his body turning into a fierce shadow.

“
Wait
.” I jump up and run after him. “Medford is far,” I pant while my heart tries to pummel its way out of my chest. I glance back at Warren and Brylee as they chat in the sand. “And I’m sorry what I said about Whitney.” I press my lips together to stave off tears. “I wanted to say it was you.”

Ace shakes his head just barely. “Why would you say it was me?” His sad eyes pull toward his cabin, and he starts heading that way again.

“I go back to school on the fourth.” I match him stride for stride. “Kennedy wants to get settled, so we we’re going back a week early.”

“Got it.” His eyes widen as he nods into the idea. “You want to pencil in a few more trips to the boathouse—no problem.”

“No.” My heart drops at what I might have implied. “It’s not that.”

“No?” He arches a brow, still making his way down the lake, and I follow. “I must have not impressed you.”

“Believe me—you impressed the hell out of me,” I pant, struggling to keep up with him. “When you come back, do you think we can get together?”

“Yeah, sure.” He lifts his canoe up over his head and hikes toward the narrow trail that leads to the main road. “See you around.”

“Ace?” I call to him but he’s already in the thick of the holly bushes that line the walk.

See you around. That’s what you say to a friend.

And my heart breaks.

Ace

Gavin is at the house by the time I get there, and I try not to start beating up the furniture and smashing the windows the way I want. Instead, I toss the canoe into the bushes and stick my face under the garden hose for a solid minute.

“You ready?”

“Not yet.” I turn off the hose and glance back at the north side of the lake where I see three small dots in the same place I left them.

“So how’d it go? She everything your wet dreams promised she’d be?”

“That and then some.” I lean on the Cougar a moment as I set my gaze in her direction.

“So what happened?” Gavin says it measured as if he knows.

“She’s ashamed of him.” Neva’s voice surprises me from the porch. Shit. I didn’t notice her lounging on the bench, and now I’m sorry I ever came home.

“We’re just friends,” I say. “Get it straight.”

“I don’t think you’re just friends.” She sits up and leans over the railing. “I think you’re nothing but her little bitch.”

“Fuck you.” I tuck the canoe under the house and kick the shit out of the tail for sticking out.

“My”—Neva muses—“temper, temper.” She purrs like a cat. “What do you think Warren would do if he ever found out?”

“He’s not finding out because there’s nothing to find out.” I glare at her a moment. “We’re just friends, Neva. Get it through your skull and forget the rest.”

“Let’s get out of here.” Gavin jumps in his truck and revs the engine.

“It’s not right what she’s doing to you.” The whites of her eyes magnify. “Warren has the right to know his girlfriend is a cheat.”

“They’re not together.” I shake my head because a part of me is starting to think they might be.

“Bullshit,” Neva seethes. “Warren says they are.”

“Warren is lost in his own delusions.”

Neva belts out a laugh. “I guess that makes him a lot like you.” She heads into the house and slams the screen.

I guess that would make Warren a lot like me.

I hop in Gavin’s truck, and we take off. I watch as Loveless rises in a plume of dust in our wake. I can’t help but wonder if that’s what Reese and I will have reduced our friendship to in less than two weeks.

Dust.

Gavin keeps us locked inside the redwood forest longer than expected. We don’t get back into Loveless until late Sunday. Reese sent three texts.

I miss you.

My body misses your body
.

And,
Can we talk? Please call me when you get home. I don’t care how late it is.

Gavin glances over my shoulder. “Nice.”

“I guess.” I text her back.
Just got these. On my way home. See you tonight?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss her, that my dick hasn’t been crying out for her these past few days, that I didn’t desperately want to talk to her and let her know how I really feel.

“You going to tell her?” Gavin nods into the road as if he already knows.

“I want to. I’m just not sure it’s worth losing a friend over.” Deep down inside I feel like I could never lose Reese, never live without her for that matter either.

“You won’t lose her.” He digs his palm into his eye to wipe out the fatigue. “Tell her everything. In the least, tell her you’re going to Yeats. For as much as she’s willing to hide, you’re no saint yourself.”

“Never said I was one.”

Loveless comes up over the horizon, and I glance to my left at Reese’s house. The waterfront is lit up, there’s a makeshift stage, and I can hear the bass from a live band pulsating through the window.

“Looks like there’s a big party tonight.” Gavin twitches his brows. “We’d better hit the shower and get over there. Looks like someone’s getting laid tonight.” He offers up a knuckle bump. “That would be me by the way.” He scans a group of girls in barely-there skirts as they cross the street. “Sweet God up in heaven.” He groans as one of them licks her lips in his direction. “Maybe I’ll skip the shower and jump in the lake. You think one of those girls is in the mood for a skinny dip?”

A silent laugh strums from me. That’s how it all started for Reese and me.

“If I were you, I’d avoid skinny dipping. It could lead to places that really don’t suit you.” Like a borderline commitment, but I leave that last part out. Besides, it suits me just fine. In fact, I’d die to have a commitment with Reese—the real deal.

“Skinny dipping always leads to places I like”—he corrects—“unbelievably tight places that especially please my dick.”

“Nice,” I say as he pulls up to the cabin, and I jump out of the truck. “See you down there. Try not to be such a troll.”

“You’re the troll. I’m the pervert. Keep it straight.”

I salute him with my middle finger as he kicks up the dust in my face with his tires.

Skinny dipping. I wonder if I’d do it all over again. Those hot memories of Reese writhing in my arms come back like a flash fire, and I shake my head.

Hell, yes, I’d do it again.

Every. Single. Time.

After a quick shower, and an even quicker bite, I head down to the north side of the lake as the party rages on into the night. I spot Kennedy with Keith, and Neva hanging out by herself, but no sign of Reese, or worse, Warren.

A pair of cool hands glide over my eyes momentarily. “Boo!” A cute female voice perks in my ear, and I turn to find Brylee with a crooked smile.

“Boo, yourself.” I flat line, panning the crowd once again. “What’s new?”

“You mean, what’s new with
Reese
.” She jumps in front of me and hops up and down to the music. “You ever plan on having that talk with her?”

“Yup.” Not really, but I know for a fact it’ll get Brylee off my back.

“Great.” Her eyes widen. “You should do it tonight. You know, there’s no time like the present. The present is a gift and all that crap.”

“She’s leaving soon.” I cut a glance up to her balcony, her side yard, the McCarthy’s home, but there’s no sign of Reese or Warren.

“So are you.”

“Things might get awkward if I try to turn this into some emotional battle zone. Sorry but I’m not ruining her summer.” Or mine for that matter.

The band takes a quick break but my eardrums continue to throb in rhythm to their last disaster. A group of girls belt out a simultaneous laugh. I turn in their direction and spot Reese.

The world stops as her eyes latch onto mine. My adrenaline skyrockets, and my heart starts kicking the shit out of me from the inside.

A smile rises on her face as she bolts over.

“Do yourself a favor and tell her tonight.” Brylee ducks into the crowd behind us and disappears from sight.

An older couple crosses my path.

“Excuse me.” The man with greying hair pulls in his wife as they make their way past me, and it’s only then I recognize him as Reese’s dad.

“Ace Waterman?” His wife pulls back a moment and glares into me.

Shit.

“That would be me.” I nod politely at the two of them.

“I didn’t recognize you.” Her father lifts his chin, examining me. “How’s your dad doing? I see him tooling around the lake now and again.”

Tooling around the lake? Funny. Dad refers to it as work.

“He’s doing good. Keeping busy.”

He presses out a quick grimace. “Tell him, Chuck Westfield says hello, would you?” He pauses, looking over my shoulder at the cabin. “In fact, tell him I wouldn’t mind hitting a bucket of balls with him sometime. My treat.”

“What’s going on?” Reese lands beside me, resting her arm over my shoulder as she pants out of breath.

“We’re heading in, sweetie.” He drops a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll have your envelope on your pillow by the time you get upstairs.”

Reese’s eyes glisten with tears as she nods.

Her stepmother leans into her. “Warren is looking for you, love. Rumor has it he has a dozen long stem roses with your name on them.” She gives a quick wink. “Enjoy the night.” They take off for the house, and Reese continues to glare at her stepmother long after she’s gone.

Roses. A girl like Reese deserves roses all year long.

“What are the roses for?” I’m already sorry I asked. It’s probably a housewarming gift and she’ll slap me for even looking in her direction.