Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge) (24 page)

Chase interrupted me by pressing a finger deep into the arch of my foot. “In the beginning, I got it all wrong. There’s no coming back from you.”

He
indicated me to come towards him. Complying, I settled the back of my head on his neck and I heard him squirt some soap onto the washcloth. He started washing the back of my neck.

“Have you ever liked any of the girls you were with?” I
wondered.

“I
didn’t like myself, so it was almost impossible for me to like anyone else.”

“Do you like yourself now?”

I could hear the smile in his voice before he spoke. “I wouldn’t be with you otherwise. You deserve more than some guy who doesn’t like himself. I thought it’d never happen, but I like who I am. And I was celibate for six months.”

“Do you wish you could take tonight back?”
I angled my head to the side, looking at him. I really hoped he didn’t, but I wanted him to be honest. Sex added a layer of complexity to any relationship, even the strongest ones.

He chuckled loudly, his broad
chest and outsized arms shaking. Some of the bubbles popped. “Babe, if I didn’t have you soon, I really think I would’ve had a permanent case of blue balls.”

Smirking
, I turned my head away from him and he cautiously moved me forward as he washed my back. It felt so soothing and sensual. “How about you?”

“I like myself, but there are days when I really don’t.”

“I have those days too.”

“But that’s not what you meant, huh?”

“I was asking about your previous relationships.”

“Hmmm…and how do you know that
I’ve had previous relationships and not random escapades?”

“Call it my gut feeling.
”

“My ex was Greg
ory. We were in middle school and high school together. He was nice to me, and like Jake, he wouldn’t tolerate anyone talking smack about me and treating me like shit. He hung around us sometimes. We became a couple during our junior year. Went on group dates with Mariska and some other people we knew when we could. Jake didn’t do dates.” I sighed. “When we first had sex, we both thought it was the right time since we really cared about each other.”

“Did you love him?”

“Not how I should’ve, Chase. And Gregory wasn’t in love with me either. I was considered the slut and he was the ‘nice boy with severe acne,’ when he really wasn’t confident enough to try and date another girl because the idea intimidated him. Because we hadn’t thought we could find anyone else who would want us, much less respect us. I set him free a week after prom and now he’s engaged to a girl, who seems wonderful from the Facebook photos I saw. He looked more than content, genuinely ecstatic, when I think about it, and we’d never had that.”

After Chas
e washed my ankles and my feet, I retrieved a washcloth and started washing his neck like he’d done with me. “So, when do we have to check out?” I wanted to stay in this room with him for days.

“We can stay until the morning. Don’t you start work at
eleven tomorrow?”

Bethany

Aunt Deborah had just left the house with Cassidy when I was on the last bite of my egg white and spinach wrap. Uncle Anton was out of the door when I came downstairs. He hadn’t mentioned Chase’s name since he talked me in his office days ago, but he definitely still wasn’t a fan of Chase like he had once been. I recalled how he’d regarded Chase warmly during the first dinner I’d had with everyone. Aunt Deborah and he were getting along much better, but there was still some tension between them, and I knew it was about Cassidy.

As I check
ed my email on my phone, Brianna sent me a text.

Brianna:
Running late. Chase is on the phone with his boss. And Gavin is dead tired from his overnight shift.

Me:
It’s cool. I’ll ask Nancy to give me a ride. Are you okay?

Brianna:
Forgot to turn my alarm on. Just woke up. Sorry.

“What’s wrong?” Nancy asked me with a frown, and set her cup of coffee down.

“Brianna is running late and can’t drive me to work. Chase is busy and Pierce doesn’t start work till two. Would you please take me?
”

“Of course
. I am going to collect my keys and purse. I’ll be right back.” She paced in the direction of her room.

Ten minutes passed and I was getting worried. I
’d texted Nancy to see if she was all right. She hadn’t responded. I’d never been in Nancy’s room before, and to be honest, I felt odd as I walked to hers, but she may not have been feeling well. She was fit and moved fast, and in any other instance, she’d be in the kitchen by now.

M
y phone vibrated. I ran back to the kitchen and picked it off of the island and checked my new message.

Pierce:
I am out front.

Me:
I am gonna check on Nancy first.

Pierce:
Spoke w/her 5 min. ago. She’s fine. Told her I’d take you to the Paloma.

In forty minutes, I had to start work. When I looked around, Pierce was in a dark gray, brand-new-looking Ford Focus Sedan.

“Hey Pierce. New car?”

“Noodles, it’s your new car.”

“You bought me a car?”

I heard laughing behind me and peered at Nancy by the half-opened door.

He shook his head and got out of the car. “Get in.”
I switched places with him and was in the driver’s seat. The car even had that new-car smell and Betsy hadn’t had that smell when I’d bought her. “I did.”

“Are you
joking?” I was sure I was waking up the neighbors. “Because if you are, that’s cruel, Porkchop.”

His
had a crooked grin and gestured me to start driving.

I reached out and hooked my arms around him
. “Thank you.” I was two more paychecks from getting the used car I’d had my eye on for weeks.

“
Do Brianna and Chase know that you were bringing me a new car!” I couldn’t contain my elation.

“Yeah. Bri was at work when she texted you, but Chase really had a phone call with his boss.”

I nodded. “And where am I taking you?”

“Back to the Paloma.
I start work in thirty minutes too. Most people back from their vacays, as you know, but I need to be there.”

***

Chase

“Are you changing your number?” Joel asked. Seamus put the cover around Joel’s neck.

“What happened?” Rylan asked me.

“Last month, I missed some calls, but I couldn’t call back ’cause the number was blocked. And my phone isn’t supposed to allow blocked calls. I hadn’t even thought about it since it happened, but I got a call from Pierce, or so I thought, when Joel and I were at La Floridita with Beth’s friends—”

“I’ve been texting with Jake and
Mariska. They’re my friends too,” Joel interrupted with an exaggerated smile.

“Like you were saying,” Rylan said.

“Pierce told me that he didn’t call me.”

“You sure he wasn’t messing with you?”

“Nah, he’s not.”

“It could be one of them programs you kids use to manipulate calls and messages,” Seamus said. “If it’s someone you know, it may make no sense to change your number or even your phone if the
y’re gonna do it again.”

I
shook my head. “But I could find out who it is that way. Only select few have my number, and even less people are getting my new number. When I parked here I got a call from a blocked number again and I could hear someone breathing on the phone.”

“You think it could be Cassidy?” Joel
studied me from the mirror.

“Nah, I don’t. According to Beth, the Pruitts have got
Cassidy on lockdown.” I raised my shoulders. “I don’t even think she has her phone anymore. They were paying for it.”

Joel
made a sound. “I don’t believe that the recording Pierce played has made her stop thinking about you. Is there a computer in her room?”

“
I don’t know.”

“I’d change my number,” Rylan said.

After Rylan had his shape-up, he and Joel were on the waiting chairs, playing with their phones. Seamus was cutting my hair. Gavin was going to come with us, but he needed to sleep for a few hours since he was taking on some extra hours waiting tables at La Floridita before he worked as a bouncer for the night shift.

“Bri texted me that she and Beth are at the beach already,” Joel said
.

“Amberlynn and Maude asked if they c
an meet us there,” Rylan told Joel.

Joel shrugged. “
It’s your call.”

***

Beth and Bri were coming out of the water when we placed our chairs at our usual spot. She was wearing a red and white bikini that almost left my jaw open. When I’d taken her here other times, she’d worn a sarong around her waist or a tunic, especially after she’d changed out of her work clothes. But I liked seeing more of her skin, and thankfully, even with her body drenched, the material wasn’t see-through.

Pierce made my girl happier and I liked that he loved his cousin so much, but I wanted to meet all of her needs. I wasn’t in a position
yet to buy Beth her own car. As self-serving as it was, I wanted to the first and last man she could rely on. But I’d sleep easier at night when she wasn’t with me because she could count on her family. And that included Jake. He’d been there for Beth longer that I had been.

Beth squeezed the water out of her hair
when she was close to me. “Hey Chase.” I kissed her on the lips and said hello to Bri as Beth and I walked to our chairs. Once I was settled into my beach chair, Beth sank down between my legs. Her usual honey and vanilla scent mixed with a hint of the sun and water. I stroked my fingers through her silky damp strands and she rubbed my knees.

Her azure gaze
quickly swept over my face before she looked away. “I like your haircut and clean-shaven face,” she said in a low tone. “But I love how your face feels when your hair is going in.” Heat stained her cheeks as she crossed her legs. I shot her a knowing look. That pretty pussy of hers nearly swelled like a ripe plum when my face brushed against her folds.

“Concord grape for you, missy.” Joel’s voice halted the thoughts I was having. With a ti
tter, Beth took the tiny bottle. Joel handed me a bottle of water.

Beth took a sip and then
positioned the bottle on the floor.

“Who
’s the guy?” Bri’s question made Beth and I look away from each other.

Mona was in dark bikini with a guy almost as big as me carrying tons of shit
—and knowing her, she had no intention of lifting a finger to help. We waved at her and she did the same. The guy arranged her chair and her umbrella for her fast. He’d certainly done it before.

“He’s one of the guys she’s been seeing since last year,” Rylan said. “I think his name is Adrian. He’s not from around here. I’ve
seen him at the airport when I’ve gone to see my dad.”

“Hmmm. She met Adrian in college,” Joel confirmed.

Joel and Rylan put their cans of beer on top of the cooler and got up when they saw Maude and Amberlynn carrying beach chairs and bags slung over their shoulders. After they were situated, they said hello to all of us. Amberlynn even touched cheeks with Beth, resulting in a surprised look flashing over Beth’s face.

My phone rang and when I answered it,
I forgot that it was my general ringtone. Every person who had my number had a different ringtone.

“Is something wrong?” Beth mouthed as I said hello to the silent person on the end of the line.

I twined my fingers with hers to let her know that I was all right.

“
This is the last fucking time I am gonna pick up your calls. You wanna be a pussy and not speak up? Fine, but it’s a wrap.”

***

Bethany

“How’s summer treating you?” I asked Denise as I handed her money to pay for my gas. She hadn’t seen me as I was nearing the store; she’d been looking at herself in her compact mirror. For a second, it looked like she was incapable of speaking, but Louie, the manager of Oscar’s gas station, scowled, and that was enough to make her lips move. The dread that I felt coiled the pit of my stomach was not as strong as it had been earlier this morning. A month and two weeks ago, I would’ve held my head down like I had when I’d been here with Chase. But I suppose after my experiences with Cassidy and having time away from here, I knew that in most situations, I’d given others the power to control how I felt about myself. And from the day of my arrival at Paloma’s Edge, Denise hadn’t entered my thoughts once. She was insignificant to me.

“Fine,” she said in a chippe
r tone. “Didn’t think you’d come back,” she added when Louie began opening boxes with items that needed to be shelved.

I took my change from her. “Why wouldn’t I? This is my hometown.”

“If I had a guy like the one I seen you with, I wouldn’t let keep him out of my sight, or some other woman might just snatch him up,” she said in an innocent tone.

“Denise!”
Louie shouted at her. “Apologize to Beth, or this verbal warning will be a written one.”

I walked back to the counter and shook my head. “It’s okay,
Louie,” I assured him. “She’d be wasting more of her vocal cords than she does on a daily basis.”

“No, getting cheeky isn’t tolerated at Oscar’s.”

I snapped my gaze to her unevenly drawn eyebrows. “Cindy did a lowdown thing. She is doing a lowdown thing, with a lowdown married man. Women always get judged harshly in these situations. They’re human. They’re both adults. And they’re responsible for their affair. I’ve lived here all my damn life. I’ll come and go whenever I want to.” I twirled around and stalked to the door. When I pushed it, I stuck my head out so she’d reach over the counter, and she met my eyes. “And it’s best you keep my boyfriend out of your mouth and worry about your own. Thinking about someone else’s guy is first trait of a home wrecker.”

***

Mariska had asked me to come into her parents’ house when I parked in front. I’d told her to tell them that I said hello. They didn’t like that I was one of their daughter’s best friends. I didn’t think they’d change their tune in the near future, so I hadn’t expected Mrs. Landry to welcome me inside. A morir soñado and buttered jelly toast were on the table.

“How are you doing?” Mrs. Landry asked with the same lilt to her voice that Mariska
had. If Mariska took after her mom twenty years from now, few people would believe that she was in her forties.

“I am doing well. How are you?”

“If Mariska went to college at Jefferson I’d be happy as a clam, but life seldom affords you what you want.”

“If I were locked up in my room all day and night, then you’d be happy,” Mariska said “And that ain’t happenin’!
” She walked into the open space of the kitchen and kissed me on the cheek. “Tell me if I made the morir soñado okay.”

“If you were locked up in your room all day and night, you wouldn’t meet your future husband. How could I be happy about that?” she asked rhetorically and ti
lted her head at me. “You look well, Beth. You take care.”

I smiled at her. “Likewise.
”

Mariska
curled her mouth ruefully as her mom exited the kitchen. I gulped down the morir soñado and sent her an approving nod. “Sorry I left you alone with her for long. I had to tinkle.”

I waved my hand at her as I bit into my toast. Mrs. Landry hadn’t seemed like she couldn’t wait to get me out of her household like she had in the past. I guess she wasn’t worried about my having a wandering eye
, because Mr. Landry wasn’t here. She thought that Cindy and I were one and the same. I surveyed the kitchen and viewed Pete’s drawings on the refrigerator, but I didn’t hear any sounds.