Secrets Behind Those Eyes (8 page)

“You have to wear matching underwear
and preferably not cotton.”

“Seriously, Annabelle. He’s seen me in
my panties a couple of times now, both of which I don’t remember. I
really don’t plan on him seeing them tonight.”

“You never know and you should always
be prepared. Speaking of prepared, did you shave your-”

I cut her off. “Look,
Annabelle, I’ve been dressing myself for several years now. I don’t
think he will kick me out of the jeep for having on panties and a
bra that don’t match. And my lady business is just that.
My
business.” She looks
at me, defeated, which makes me feel bad. I reach and grab the lime
green lacy bra and panties she laid out for me and stomp into the
bathroom to put them on. I walk back out and she smiles and
claps.

“Are you happy now?” I ask.

She smiles and claps
again.
“Yes.
You are freakin’ hot. I wish I looked like that in my underwear. If
I had a body like yours, I’d probably walk around
naked.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m sure you would.
Now what else?”

“Here.” She shoves some clothes in my
hands.

Thirty minutes later, I’m looking at
myself in the mirror. She picked out a denim skirt that ends just
above the knee, brown cowgirl boots, and a chocolate and cream
peasant top.

“Damn, you look good.”

“Thanks, Annabelle.”

~*~*~

I hear someone knocking on my front
door and open it to find Ryder standing there, looking completely
delicious. He has a pair of biker boots on with jeans and a plaid
button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his
elbows.

He smiles. “You look
pretty.”

“Thanks.” He pulls my hand
out the door
. “So
where are we headed?” I ask.

“I was thinking we could ride out to
the island.”

I nod. “That sounds great.” I stop and
look at the Honda Goldwing sitting there. “Whose
Goldwing?”

“Mine.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that you rode a
bike. I shouldn’t have worn a skirt.”

“I won’t peak. I promise.” He winks a
me. “I thought it would be a nice night to ride. Before it gets too
cold out.”

“Yeah.” I’m sure my
nervousness is showing.

“Have you ever ridden a motorcycle
before?” he asks.

I smile, embarrassed. “No.”

“Well, come on. I promise you’ll have
fun.” He turns back and winks. “I’m glad to be your first.” We
climb on the bike and ride off.

Boy, was he right. It’s
exhilarating. The breeze and the salt smell
the closer we get to the beach.
When we pull up to the lighthouse on Tybee Island Ryder gets off
his bike.

“We’re here.”

“Isn’t this place closed?” I
ask.

“Yes. To the public, but I have a
friend.”

He reaches into the side
compartment on the bike and pulls out a blanket. Taking my hand, he
leads me toward the lighthouse. He stops and opens a door to a
small room on one of the small buildings, grabbing a basket
. Then we continue around the
lighthouse until we can see the ocean. He spreads the blanket and
pulls me to sit down.

“Wow, this is really beautiful,” I
tell him. “I’ve never been out here at night before.”

He sets out containers of food on the
blanket. “It’s one of my favorite places. I hope you like picnic
food?” he asks.

“What exactly is picnic
food?”

“Fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni
and cheese, with rolls and sweet tea.”

“Did you cook all of this?”

He laughs. “No. There’s a small
grocery store close to my house with a deli. They cook the best
damn food. I love their chicken.”

“It smells delicious.”

“Yeah the funny part is I’ll only
order when one lady is there cooking. I call to see if she’s
there,” he says.

I burst out laughing.
“That is funny. It also says you eat out a lot.”

“I do. But Dad and I
grill. I can only handle Nana so many times a week. Hell, even Nana
orders her chicken from this place
.”

He hands me a plate and a Solo cup
with tea. “Thank you.” I take a bite out of the chicken. “Holy
shit. This is awesome. I need the name of the store and the lady’s
name.”

He smirks. “It’s Tom’s Market and
Deli, and her name is Miss Phanie.”

I laugh. “I’m writing that
down.”

Chapter 12

Ryder

I really wasn’t sure what to even do
on a date. I had to Skype with Judd to figure out what a girl would
like. Most of my “dates” have consisted of hooking up at a bar and
sex somewhere close by so I could drop them back off at their cars.
I don’t bring girls home.

We’ve just finished our
picnic dinner and she’s packing up the basket.

“So you like the lighthouse?” I
ask.

Her eyes light up. “I love it. It’s
one of my favorite places to visit. It’s seriously more beautiful
here at night than I could’ve ever imagined.”

“Great. I was kinda
nervous.”

She laughs. “You nervous?”

“Yeah I don’t... Well, I’ve never
really taken a girl out on a real date before. To be honest, I
really wasn’t sure what to do.”

She laughs again. “So, let me get this
straight. You’ve never been on a real date before?”

“I’m glad you find this
amusing.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just funny. So how
did you come up with this perfect date? Did you Google it?” she
asks.

I laugh. “No but that is an awesome
idea. I Skyped with Judd.”

She falls over on the
blanket, holding her stomach. She’s laughing so hard she can’t
catch her breath.
“I’m really glad
you find this funny. Just remember I’ll pay you back for laughing
at me.”

She sits up, wiping her eyes. “I’m
sorry. It’s just you always seem so cocky and confident. It just
threw me for a loop that you’d have to ask someone like Judd for
advice on women. You and Judd have done a wonderful job
tonight.”

I pull her in between my legs. “Look
at that ship,” I say, pointing to the tanker moving
along.

“I know. I think that’s probably one
of the coolest things about living here. We get to see so many
different parts of life. We have history, art, boats, ships, beach,
sand, food, and the coolest thing of all. Ghosts.”

“Really? Ghosts top your list?” I
ask.

“I know it sounds touristy but every
year on Halloween, I do the ghost tour. I love it. I eat at Moon
River all the time, hoping I catch a glimpse.”

I laugh. “Wow, you really are a ghost
nut, huh?’

She smacks my arm. “Sounds like you’re
a big chicken.”

“No, I love chicken. I thought we just
covered this.”

“Hey, did that friend of yours manage
to leave us a way to get into the lighthouse?” she asks.

I smirk. “Well now, what would a date
to the lighthouse be without going up the stairs?” I pull her up
and grab her hand. “Come on, let’s go see something
pretty.”

We start up the stairs in
the lighthouse and it sounds full of creaks and moans of an old
building. She laughs
.
“Gonna run on me?”

I smack her on the ass. “I’m no
chicken.”

She stops in front of me, making me
run into her. “Oh really. Hmm, we’ll see about that.”

I grab her waist, spinning her around
and pressing her against the wall. Leaning against her, I can feel
her heart pounding in her chest. “Your heart is the one racing. You
sure you aren’t scared?”

She exhales. “Not of ghosts.” I lean
down and take her lips and she lets out a soft moan.

I pull back with my nose still
touching hers. “So what scares you then?” I ask.

She lets out a soft
sigh.
“You.”

I pull back a little bit, still not
letting her go from the wall. “Sweetheart, you have nothing to be
afraid of with me.” I dive back into her lips and rest my hands on
her waist, pulling her tight against me. My tongue works
effortlessly in her mouth. I pull away from her a little and kiss
her just below her ear. She shivers a little. “Are you
cold?”

She shakes her head. “No. Just
nervous.”

“About me?” She nods. “Baby, do you
even know how much you undo me? I can’t think straight around
you.”

“This is just all a little much. It’s
so fast. I swore, after Dustin, I wouldn’t get in over my head
again.”

“Over your head?” I ask.

“Well, over my social
class.”

I take a step back. “Scarlet, this may
come as a shock to you, but I could not care less about your social
class.”

She turns around and walks the rest of
the way up to the top of the lighthouse without saying a word.
Looking out over the water, she finally speaks. “You say that now.
You say it doesn’t matter. Trust me, though. Eventually, it
will.”

“I don’t know what all
that little insecure bastard Dustin put in your head, but I can
assure you I am
nothing
like him.”

She looks so lost. “It
didn’t matter, not until the past few months. When we started going
to functions together or his parents’ dinners, though, they would
make snide comments about
how well I was
trying to fit in
. They always dismissed
me. Not just his parents but their friends. Then they found out
that my mom works at the museum.”

I put my hand on hers.
“First of all, you know I don’t care about money. Judd is my best
friend
.
Second, my father would rather die than make someone feel
uncomfortable about how much money they do or don’t have. As far as
Dustin’s parents and their friends, they’re just as big of
dickheads as he is.”

“I know it sounds stupid
to you, Ryder, but the way they looked at me… When I got arrested,
it was like, see, she’s crazy white trash, just like we always
said. Crazy like her mother.”

I chuckle. “Sorry, but I wouldn’t
worry so much about what those people think.”

She spins around. “But I do. Don’t you
understand? I still hear them whisper when I walk by that I’m crazy
or I should go back to the trailer park.”

“They like to talk about
me, too. I had to stop giving a shit a long time ago. Those little
shits talk about me all the time. From the sounds of things, the
whole
town
talks
about me. I would’ve either had to move or just let it go. So I
ignore it.”

She looked up at me with sad eyes.
“Why would they all talk about you? You’re one of them.”

I knew these questions
would come up eventually.
I hear thunder in
the distance and see
lightning. “We’d better go. Looks like we’re about to have a
storm come in.”

She doesn’t say anything, but she
starts down the stairs ahead of me. Once we are back outside, I
feel sprinkles of rain. Shit.

“It’s starting to rain,” she
says.

“Yeah. I can feel it,” I
snap
and dig in the side
compartments of my bike. “Shit! I guess I left my rain suits in the
mudroom at the damn house.”

It starts to rain harder. I grab her
hand and the blanket, taking off toward the building I had Ed leave
unlocked for me.

Chapter 13

Scarlet

What the hell did I
do?
I snatch my arm away as we enter the
small storage room. “What the hell? What the fuck did I do? You
tried to snatch
my
fucking arm off.”

He runs his fingers through his hair.
“Sorry. It’s just I can’t believe I left the rain suits at home.
Plus I always get tense talking about Dustin and Brandon. I’m sorry
I pulled on you so hard. I would never hurt you.”

I know he’s telling the
truth. I’ve never felt in danger around Ryder
.
“Just tell me why you hate them so much.”

He sits down on a stool.
“You aren’t the only one who’s been hung out to dry by those two.
When we were fourteen, I introduced a girl I went to school with to
Judd. She seemed to really like him and he was over the moon for
her. One night we were all hanging out, and she and Judd went off
to make-out. Well, in the meantime, I guess she, Dustin, and
Brandon had cooked up this situation to embarrass Judd. I figured
it out and ran to get Judd but it was too late. They had already
busted some windows and spray painted some shit. Judd was just
standing there. He had
tried
to talk them into stopping, but they did exactly what they’d
planned and ran off, leaving him to get the blame. I told him to
get the hell out of there. He ran off and before I could leave, the
cops showed up. I got sent to juvenile detention for the summer.
Judd felt bad that I got the blame. Dustin and Brandon laughed
about it. When I came back to town, their parents had told them I
was a bad influence and they couldn’t hang out with me anymore.
Dustin’s mom even said that maybe if my mom had been alive, she
would have raised me right.” He shakes his head. “My dad believed
us when we told him what really happened, but that didn’t really do
any good. So see? I do know what it’s like to deal with those two
and their parents.”