Love and Relativity (6 page)

The screen turned on and he started strolling with it, away from my chair. I strode after him, trying to peer over his shoulder and snatch it away. “He did
what
with her tampon?” His eyes flew wide, a smile twisting his lips in surprise. “Holy shit, Em. What are you reading?”

I reached for it again but he dodged my grab, picking up speed as he rounded the corner of the pool. “Jackson, I swear, if you don’t give it back to me—”

“His red room of
what
?” His brisk walk turned into a full-on run and I started to chase him, his laughter booming as he weaved in and around the lounge chairs. We’d completed our first circle around the pool when Kayla, Kelly, and Michelle sat up from their beauty sleep to lift their sunglasses and glare at us as we raced by for lap number two.

We zipped past the tiki bar and Jackson dashed through the gate and out into the surrounding garden, skidding to a stop when the scorching cement walkway burned his bare feet. “Damn!” He bounced on his feet and grabbed my arm, pulling me onto the grass and underneath the garden’s Greek column-style archway. A matching bench sat underneath, cascades of lush foliage overflowing from the top of the arch, providing a nice sliver of shade.

“Are you happy now?” I planted my hands on my hips and he sat down on the bench, tugging my hand to pull me down with him.

“I feel like I just won the lottery.”

“Congratulations. You discovered my secret.”

“You’re a romance junkie. And here I was thinking you were reading about the meaning of life.”

“Hey.” I grabbed my Kindle from his lap. “A lot of people give romance a bad rap, but there’s a lot to be learned from a good romance novel.”

“Oh?” He leaned back on the bench on the heels of his hands, eyes flickering over my scantily-clad body. I adjusted the triangles of my bikini top and shifted to cross my legs. “Like what? The ingredients for an amazing orgasm?”

I laughed and shifted again, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “That’s such a stereotypical thing to say. Yeah, sex is a big part of romance. It’s the physical extension of a couple’s relationship. It shows how they feel about each other and how they interact with one another. Romance is an exploration of those elements, but it’s so much more than that.”

“Really? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure that tampon scene was all about gettin’ it on.”

“Yeah, it was.” I laughed again at his boyish enthusiasm. “But I’ve never bought that whole romance-only-equals-smut equation. Sex tells a story; how the couple deals with it, and how they have it says a great deal about what kind of people they are. It’s just as legit of a storytelling device as fantasy or science fiction. And the scene you’re making fun of is just one of many in that series that shows how the characters grow to trust and compromise with one another. They have to figure out boundaries, decide how far they’re willing to go for one another...their sex life draws great parallels with the other challenges in their relationship. It’s what makes their love so powerful in the end.”

“Leave it to you to make it sound like something life changing.”

“Love stories are life changing.”

He studied my face for a moment, then stretched and stood to his feet, offering me his hand. I accepted and stood to meet him, our fingers still linked. “Did you love that Chris guy?”

“Love is like art.” I shrugged. “It’s relative.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s absolute. You know when you love someone.”

“I don’t know. I think it’s only absolute when you both see love in the same light. You have to share a mutual definition of what love is to be
in
love. Clearly, Chris and I didn’t.”

“Chris is an idiot.”

“True.”

“But I call bullshit on that.” He pulled on a piece of the hibiscus around us, tugging on the leaves. “That’s just a case of unrequited love. It doesn’t make your feelings for him any less real.”

“I guess you’re right. But if I had to answer in black and white...I didn’t love him.”

“How do you know?”

I blinked and took a deep breath, the ache from the betrayal still tender, even after all this time. “Because when he dumped me, I was more upset over the loss of my future with him than I was over the loss of our relationship. I think I wanted it more than I wanted him.”

“That still sounds like love to me.”

“It was, I guess. A different kind.”

“You can love the idea of loving someone. It sounds like you lost a dream, not love.”

“Yeah,” I glanced down with a wry smile, “I guess I should look at it that way from now on. It might help me let my stupid grudge go.”

My lashes fluttered when his fingers found my chin. He tipped it up to bring my gaze back to his. “You have a right to be angry for what he did to you. Don’t downplay that.”

Our fingers locked tighter and my breath caught at the intensity that rained down from his stare. I stepped back. “We should get back.”

“Yeah, God only knows where Whitney buried Ruben’s body by now.”

“She’ll be after you next.”

My fingers left his, and as I turned away to walk back to the pool, I could feel his stare burning holes into my back.

***

My ears pounded as the music shook the hotel room walls. Who knew how long it’d be before someone reported the party. I weaved around random people and smiled.

I could care less.

This was exactly what I needed tonight. Loud music, laughter, and life. I took a sip of my water and scanned the suite’s crowd for Whitney. She’d promised me she’d be back after a quick dance with Enrique, but was nowhere in sight after witnessing Ruben and Kelly’s shameless grind session. Poor girl. Ruben really
was
an asshat.

“Can I offer you something stronger?” A tall, blond surfer type approached me when I reached the end of the hallway.

I looked down at my water bottle, then smiled up at him. “Nah, I’m good, thanks.”

He bent down to bring his mouth closer to my ear. “You’re not dancing.”

“You’re not either.”

“You want to remedy that situation?”

I scanned the room once more. Still no sight of Whitney. “Sure. Sounds good.”

Extending his hand, he leaned in even further. “Brian. Nice to meet you. And you are?”

“Emma,” I said, taking his hand. His grip was solid, firm.

“After you.” He touched the small of my back and nudged me forward, and I took his hand to lead him into the crowd. We instantly fell in step with the music’s rhythm, Brian’s arms encasing my waist as I swung my hips from left to right. People pressed into us from every angle. A trickle of sweat rolled down my neck and back as we picked up the pace. Brian’s eyes roamed my body, taking in my halter’s plunging neckline, then settled over my shoulder, where I felt another warm body press against me from behind. He smiled and nodded, and I followed his gaze behind me to find another tall, athletic blond.

“Emma, this is Jace,” he shouted.

I drank Jace in over my shoulder, greeting him with a playful smile. Hell, he was sexy.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, his hand already on my hip. I gave him permission and shut my eyes, surrendering to the music, swaying with them both until all I could feel was the vibration of the blaring tunes reverberating in the souls of my feet. I brought my left arm up and over my shoulder, loosely wrapping it around Jace’s neck to pull him closer, and let Brian lean into me from the front, sandwiching myself between them.

“This dress is sexy on you,” Jace said, mouth to my ear. “Shows off your neck. I like it.” His fingers found the base of my neck and I rolled my head to the side, onto his chest, as we continued to move.

“Yeah?” I pressed into him and slipped my fingers up into his hair.

“Oh, yeah.”

I could get used to this. Flirting with these guys was easy. Fun. Something I didn’t make much time for back home, with the one exception of my nights at Pete’s Tavern with Whitney. But time for guys? Whitney was right. I barely bothered dating. This was just dancing. No pressure.
Perfect
. The best part was I’d never have to see them again after this weekend if I didn’t want to.

Brian broke away from us to grab another drink, returning with two cups and another water in hand.

“A friend of mine and some idiot are fighting over there,” he said. “Hey Jace, I think we should go try to break it up. It’s getting ugly, man.”

I gratefully reached out for the water, standing on my tip-toes to peer over his shoulder and find the source of the commotion he was talking about. Brian’s body suddenly flew toward me, the drinks in his hands splattering over my dress, and I stumbled back and slammed into Jace’s chest, the impact knocking the wind out of me.

People started to yell, the music fading into the background. Glass was breaking, and a group of people to my left started filing out of the side doors.

“Are you okay?” Jace steadied me from behind.

I nodded and regained my balance, bending over with him to help Brian up. His shirt was just as soaked as my dress.

Brian stood to his feet and threw his hands up when he looked down to find the mess. “Damn!” Spinning on his heel, he turned his attention to the shouting in front of us. The entire sea of bodies surrounding us had shifted, pushing us farther and farther to the back of the room, making it impossible to see what was going on.

A flicker of movement to the far left caught my eye as I surveyed the backs of the heads before me, and I craned my neck to follow it, gasping when I zoned in on Whitney’s wide eyes. She was across the room, waving frantically to me, calling out for me to join her.

“I’m sorry, guys,” I turned to face Brian and Jace, “but I have to cut this short. My friend needs me.” Before they had a chance to respond, I darted forward and pushed myself into the crowd, forcing myself through the small gaps of people to get to Whitney on the other side. The yelling grew louder, with everyone trying to peek over everyone else to get a glimpse of the scuffle that had broken out near the center of the room.

I wiggled my way to the clearing and stopped short when I caught sight of Jackson and some guy I didn’t recognize in the middle of a brawl, Jackson’s fist pounding into the guy’s stomach, the guy gripping Jackson’s head and throwing his weight forward to knock him backward. Whitney screamed and waved again, even more desperate this time, and I zipped around the fight, jutting my head back to steer clear of its punches. Ruben appeared next to Whitney and charged forward into the clearing, reaching for Jackson to pry him off of the guy.

Whitney reached forward and locked hands with me, pulling me back into the crowd and as far from the fight as possible.

“What happened?” I shouted. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Jackson. His shirt was torn and his eyes were wild, a nasty smear of blood spread across his cheek. I’d seen him get into shouting matches with people at Pete’s before, but never anything like this. He was unrecognizable.

“I don’t know. But Ruben said that’s Chase Barker. Jackson went to high school with him or something. Guess they have history.”

I cringed when I heard another smack, Jackson delivering a weighty blow to Chase’s side. Ruben shouted at Jackson, working hard to break it up, but he was failing miserably.

“It won’t be long before the staff or the cops get involved,” I said. “Where are Jeff and Enrique? They need to help Ruben!”

“I haven’t seen them. Probably off with Kelly or Michelle and Kayla somewhere, I don’t know.”

All it took was one more glance at Jackson’s rage and Ruben’s failed attempts to tame it, and I knew we couldn’t wait around for someone else to step in. This had to be stopped before things got worse.

Letting go of Whitney’s arm, I nudged past the front row of the crowd—now audience—and jumped into the clearing.

“Em!” Whitney shouted from behind me, but I inched forward, determined to get just close enough so Jackson could hear me.

“Jackson!” I yelled. “Jackson, stop it, damn it. Stop!”

Ruben swung around to meet me. “Emma, get the hell back. Just get back there with Whitney.”

“No, not until he stops.” I took a few more steps forward, pulling the clip from my hair to let my waves fall around my shoulders. The bun I was wearing was giving me a headache, the room’s adrenaline intensifying the throbbing pain in my forehead. It was too hot, and I could feel myself growing dizzy.

Jackson slammed his fist into Chase again and straightened up, his head doing a double take when he saw me. “Emma, get back.” Chase stumbled backward and landed on the floor with a thud, but quickly sprang back to his feet.

“No. Let’s get out of here.
Now
.”

Chase rebounded and flew toward Jackson with so much momentum, I shuddered at the sight, knowing the next punch would render one or both of them unconscious. This was ridiculous. Dashing forward, I screamed at both of them to stop and flung my body between them, Ruben pouncing on my heels to grab me before they collided.

Jackson caught me first, wrestling me to the side and then shoving me behind him, right into Ruben’s arms.