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“Not funny,” I grumbled.

Shaking his long, sun-bleached, dreadlocked head he added, “I’ll cancel on the boys. I promised you lunch so that’s what we’re going to do.”

I wanted to smile and throw myself at him but there was something about the look he was giving him that made me rethink the idea. I immediately became suspicious.

“Only if—”

“I knew it! I knew you had some crazy scheme up your sleeve.”

Hunter burst out laughing. “You are too much, cousin. I was
going
to say: admit surfing is a professional sport and you got yourself a deal. Jeez.”

“And if I don’t?” I challenged.

“Hey, my surfboard is in the back of my truck ready to go,” he teased, folding his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes and drew out a sigh. “Fine.”

“Say it.”

“Really? You’re really going to make me?”

“Damn right.”

“Surfing is a real sport…” I mumbled, pulling a face.

“I can’t hear you,” he said with a giant grin.

“Surfing is a real sport with
real
men.”

“And your cousin Hunter Sinclair is one of the greatest—”

“Don’t push your luck,” I growled pointing a threatening finger up at him.

With another laugh, Hunter raised his hands as a sign of defeat. “Give me ten to change,” he said spinning around. “Jeez, I sure hope Willah doesn’t ever get pregnant,” he mumbled under his breath before rushing off in the direction of his bedroom.

I giggled to myself, trying to imagine a pregnant Willah, and Hunter having to deal with his twin. Poor boy wouldn’t stand a chance; her mood swings were bad enough and at the moment she’d gone baby crazy

.

CHAPTER 33

Hunter and I agreed on a small restaurant with ocean views close to the pier. I had reasons for wanting to be near the ocean, such as clearing my head from the recent, unwanted thoughts of New York, and of Ryan Fox, that I was having since reading my father’s letter. I wasn’t entirely sure of why Hunter insisted that we pick
this
particular restaurant, that is, until we stepped inside and I saw him practically salivate over one of the waitresses.

We’d just ordered a few entrées to share when I grew excited after Willah called saying she’d finished shopping with Gran and were on their way to join us.

I eagerly waved over the only waitress looking in our direction— which just so happened to be the one Hunter had been eyeing off. As she approached, my cousin started to get fidgety; he averted his gaze to the table, and played with the end of one of his dreadlocks.
What on earth?
By the time I’d ordered two extra entrées dishes and the waitress had written them down, Hunter was an uncomfortable wreck.

I waited until she was gone before I decided to get to the bottom of it. “So, who is she?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb. You practically dragged me to this place and I’ve caught you staring at her many times
and
you were just acting really weird a moment ago.”

“I don’t know who she is,” he replied shrugging.

“
Liar
. You know everyone around here,” I reminded my extremely social cousin.

“Yeah, I thought so too but I guess some people just have a way of sneaking up on you.”

“Yeah. Yeah. So you’re not going—”

The sound of my cell ringing interrupted us. Pulling the phone out from my bag I saw Derek’s name flash across the screen. I was about to answer it when Hunter made a deliberate coughing sound. I looked up to find him shaking his head at me.

Hunter was like that. He may be loud, highly annoying at the best of times and speak with his own ‘surfy’ language but he never appreciated rudeness, no matter who it was from.

“Sorry,” I said, pulling an apologetic face. “I thought I’d set this thing to vibrate.” I switched the phone to vibrate and placed it back in my bag.

“As I was saying, I don’t know her, that’s just it. She’s new around here.”

“So, is that why you’re gushing over her? Because she’s new meat to you?”

Hunter looked appalled by my choice of words. He opened his mouth but quickly shut it once he sensed the waitress arriving with our meals. Thankfully, it was a different waitress.

“Firstly, don’t ever use the word ‘gushing’ ever again, I may have to disown you and secondly, ‘new meat’? Who
are
you?” he lectured once the waitress had left.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the look he gave me. By the way he behaved, no one would ever guess that he was two years younger than me. “Isn’t that how men speak to each other?”

“Looked in the mirror lately, Eves? You aren’t exactly a dude and as for your question, no we do not. At least I don’t anyway.”

I watched him pick away at the cold meats he’d ordered, deliberately avoiding my eyes. “Oh my God! You have a crush on her! Hunter Sinclair has a crush!”

His head shot up immediately. “Shut up, will you!” he hissed with narrowed eyes.

Knowing I’d irritated my cousin made me laugh. I loved seeing Hunter uncomfortable. It was such a funny sight.

“You are the worst cousin ever,” he muttered under his breath before going back to his entrée plate. I continued to chuckle to myself, shaking my head as I picked up my fork.

“Now, now. What has Evangeline done to get you all flustered, Hunt?” said a female voice I knew all too well.

I looked behind my shoulder to see Willah and Gran, both standing right behind me with matching silly grins on their faces.

“I just figured out one of his dirty little secrets,” I said, smiling proudly as Gran and Willah took their seats at the table.

“You didn’t figure anything out because I don’t have a secret,” Hunter deadpanned.

“Liar,” I retorted.

“He’s right, Eves,” Willah replied, trying to pick at Hunter’s meat plate while he swatted her hand away. “He doesn’t have a secret.”

“Ha! I told you!” said Hunter throwing me a ‘told you so’ look.

“Only because we all already know about his little crush on the waitress,” his sister added, finally securing some prosciutto and plopping it in her mouth before Hunter had the chance to stop her.

“Is this really what I gave up an afternoon of surfing for? To be picked on by my two favorite ladies?” Hunter questioned, giving up on trying to stop his twin from swooping in for seconds.

“And what about me, young man?” Gran asked, faking a pout. Oh, my grandmother had the best sense of humor.

I tried to hold back a smile but failed as Hunter tried to explain that Gran and Pop meant so much more to him.

With Hunter distracted by Gran, and Willah laughing along and eating everything in front of her, I figured that it was a good time to find out why Derek had called. If it was just to talk, I’m sure I could manage to squeeze in a few minutes to talk with my best friend.

I excused myself from the table and made my way towards the bar. I might as well get everybody a round of drinks while I was up.

I placed an order of three sodas and a glass of orange juice for me, asking the bartender if he would kindly take the sodas to the table while I stayed and made a call.

Derek answered on the first ring.

“Where have you been? I have been trying to get a hold of you for almost an hour,” he asked in a worried tone.

“I’m at lunch with my family. Why? Is everything okay?”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“Great, what is the media saying now?” I groaned, picking up my juice and taking a long sip from the straw.

Derek went silence.

“Derek, are you going to tell me or not?”

“It’s about Ryan.”

“Is he alright?” The words escaped before I had time to think about them. A dreaded feeling washed over me, fearing that he was hurt.

“Relax, he’s fine…”

“But? I swear if you don’t—”

“He ran off!”
Huh?
“I mean, I was watching the game live on TV and it was Ryan’s turn to bat. He didn’t come out of the dugout. After awhile it was revealed that he’d left and run off somewhere.”

“
Okay
?” I asked slightly confused. “So why are you telling me this?”

“Evan, they’re playing in Anaheim. Where do you think he’s—”

I didn’t get to hear the rest of Derek’s sentence because something had caused me to drop my phone. The loud bang of the restaurant door closing made everyone inside the venue turn and look up at the tall, handsome figure standing in front of it. I immediately froze as those familiar hazel eyes swept across the room before locking on mine.

I stood there unmoving, bewildered, as my entire body tingled excitedly, aching to be closer to the man who was suddenly making his way over to me.

“Evie…” Ryan whispered, as he approached and stopped half an arm reach away from me. He made no other move to touch me; we just stood there staring into each other’s eyes.

I was unaware of how much time passed between us, but the tiny smile that suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth and the electrifying touch of his hand on my chin broke me from the spell. He closed my mouth then gently caressed my cheek with his fingers. The simple yet overpowering sensation caused me to shiver and my eyes to flutter close.

“Is this the jerk that knocked you up and screwed you over?” interrupted Hunter, whose presence I suddenly felt beside me.

My eyes snapped open just in time to see Ryan blink then slowly turn his gaze towards Hunter. The expression on his face immediately hardened.

“Who are you?” Ryan asked through gritted teeth. “Aren’t you a little young to be messing around with my girlfriend? Are you old enough to be in here?”

“‘
Girlfriend’?
You’re a little late for that title, dude,” Hunter retorted, puffing up his chest.

Sensing the clear sign of hostility in the air, I took a big risk and stepped right into the middle of the two men and tried to separate them. Would they be stupid enough to start a fight in the middle of a restaurant?
Wait
. I knew the answer to that.

With his lean physique, surely Hunter knew that he’d be no match for Ryan in a fight. Ryan was not only taller, but much wider, and I’d never seen my young cousin in a fight my whole life, whereas Ryan…

“Guys, really? Are you both going to do this right here? In front of my Grandma?” I asked, holding my arms up to hold both men back. I managed to keep the space between them, but realistically it wasn’t going to take much to push me aside if they wanted to brawl. So I tried another tactic. “Ryan, this is Hunter: my
cousin
. Hunter, meet Ryan.”

The only response I got from both boys was a slight nod and a grunt while they continued to size each other up.

“So, you
are
the guy that screwed her over. Well, you’re not welcome here. Go back to your t-ball game, my cousin’s not interested.”

In reply to Hunter’s comment, Ryan scoffed and raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s cute, beach boy, but it’s time to take a step back and let the grown ups talk.”

I closed my eyes and sighed inwardly, wishing there was a wall close by I could bash my head against. It was like dealing with a couple of children fighting over a new shiny toy. Well, there was only one other option; I had to speak to Ryan. He came for a reason, and the sooner that was out of the way the sooner he’d leave.

I opened my eyes and turned to my cousin first. “Hunt, thank you for being worried about me but I can take it from here.” When he looked as though he was about to argue, I looked him in the eye and continued talking before he had a chance to start. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

I could tell Hunter wasn’t particularly happy about the idea but he eventually gave in and went back to join Gran and Willah at the table.

When I knew he was out of earshot I turned to Ryan, whose proud, victorious smile disappeared and was immediately replaced by a nervous half-smile when our eyes met.

We stood staring at each other for a moment before Ryan finally broke the silence. I could feel his wide-eyed, starry gaze slowly taking every part of me in, devouring me. I felt more self-conscious than ever.