Beautiful Oblivion

  “What are you going there for?” Brylee asks while sipping her creamy Frappuccino and suddenly I wish I would have ordered that instead. I have a tendency to want things that aren’t mine, like Ace.

  “My dad needs me to run some briefs to his buddy down the hill.” He slinks his arm around my waist again and gives my ribs a squeeze. I forgot Warren is doing an internship with his father this summer. “You up for a quick run? We’ll make a day out of it. I’ll let you beat me on the golf course later.”

  My mouth opens as I look to Ace, and he quickly deflects my gaze.

  “I was thinking about laying out. You know, catching up on a book, maybe.” Laying out? He just offered to treat me to an entire day, and I cancel because I have to work on my tan? Nice. Maybe Warren pegged me right. Maybe I’m a bitch with or without caffeine coursing through my veins. On the other hand, I’m not in a hurry to send him anymore mixed signals. I’d rather endure a third degree sun burn than listen to Warren drone on about all things legal, let alone ride shotgun in a golf cart for three hours straight.

  “I’ll go.” Brylee volunteers. “But only if we can stop at Costco. The refrigerator’s on empty, and my parents are out of town for the next few weeks.”

  “Deal.” Warren glances at me as his lips twist with disappointment. “Catch you in the p.m.? Dinner at the Blue Crab?”

  “Sounds great.” I shrug. There I go again, getting sucked into Warren’s special brand of ambush dating. But I had already turned him down once. I’d hate to cut him off at the balls in front of everyone at the table. Maybe I’ll tell him at dinner that I want to see other people. Obviously he thinks we’re exclusive even though I’d sit on an entire stack of Bibles to testify the fact we’re not.

  Ace nods over to Gavin. “Ready to go?” His face is peppered with stubble, and it gives him that sexier-than-hell look I ingrained into my memory last summer before leaving.

  “Where you off to?” I ask, trying not to sound so desperately interested. But, dear God, am I ever desperately interested. I’ve taken a mental inventory of our every exchange for as long as I can remember. I’m so thirsty for Ace in the worst way, and last night he offered a sip, but I’m greedy. I want to fall into his ocean and drink him down to the last drop if he’ll let me.

  “Emerald Forest.” Gavin answers for him. “We’ve got a quarter acre of nobles just begging for us to hack ‘em to pieces.”

  “There’s also a grove of walnuts back there.” Ace holds my gaze with his deep-sea eyes a moment too long, and I can’t look away. “We need to dry them out—season them.”

  “Dude.” Gavin shakes his head. “Like anyone cares.” He hops up and slaps Warren on the back as he heads for the door.

  “I care.” I bite down over my lip as everyone starts to disband. Warren and Brylee discuss their departure as I slide into Ace. “You think I can see you tonight?” My voice warbles like a frightened child, and I don’t know why.

  “Sounds like you’re busy.” He shoots a quick glance to Warren. A smile plays on his lips, but he won’t give it. He’s teasing me, and, secretly, I’m loving it. “Reese”—he leans in hard, his heated breath licks against my neck—“forget about what happened last night.” His lips brush against my temple, and a wild jolt moves from his body to mine. “I did.”

  Ace presses out a sad smile before heading for the exit. I watch as he piles into Gavin’s truck, and they speed off in a plume of dust.

  There’s no way in hell Ace forgot about our heated exchange. And I’ll be damned if we don’t share even more than that tonight.

  Ace

  The sun magnifies through the windshield and blinds me until we make our way west, past Pleasure Point and up into the woods. If I didn’t break my back this morning trying to add an extra hour to my routine, I’ll be sure to finish it off in the woods.

  “So where were you last night?” Gavin’s cheek twitches. That usually signals bullshit like maybe he’s lying, but in this case I’m betting he knows exactly where I was. “Did you do that whole eighties thing at Kennedy’s?”

  “She invited me.” My chest bounces with a silent laugh. The last thing on the agenda was hanging out with a bunch of stoned preppies, unless, of course, Reese was there, then I would have gone. “I wasn’t up to it, so I stayed home, chilled out. And you?”

  “I was at the party.” He shakes his head. “I thought maybe you had some chick in the back. Rumor has it, those sorority girls are hot and wet in all the right places.” He blinks a smile.

  “You can always get your ass back in school if you want. Lots of girls roaming those halls down in Collingsworth.” It’s been a sore spot with him recently especially since I announced I’m transferring to Yeats in the fall. Gavin has pretty much taken care of himself after his parents died in a car accident his junior year of high school.

  “Nice try, but let’s stay on topic. I saw your shiny white ass crawl out of the lake on my way home. And whose beautiful ass did I spy crawling out with you? And is she free tonight? Because if you’re done, send her my way, bro. She looked like she had a serious rack to contend with.”

  Shit. I let out a breath.

  Gavin’s not a player. He’s just enjoying the hell out of himself while he breaks my balls.

  “It was Reese.”

  I watch as his eyes widen then retract before he straightens out the wheel.

  “And, no,” I continue, “I’m not sending her your way.” I let him in on the arrangement she tried to haul me into.

  “Are you shitting me?” He swerves for a moment.

  “Nope, I’m not shitting anyone.”

  “So, are you in?” He slows the truck down as he parks in the clearing.

  “Hell, no. She’s got Warren. She was probably pissed at him for not getting her latte right, or, who knows, maybe it’s some game to get him worked up.” That kiss we shared pulses through my mind, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I didn’t think it was possible to feel that way with just a simple kiss, but nothing about that kiss was simple.

  “Maybe she doesn’t want Warren.” He swings open his door and pauses. “Maybe she’s into you. You ever tell her how you feel?”

  “Not going there.” I shake my head at the thought. I’ve made the mistake of mentioning my emotional hard-on for Reese one too many times before.

  Gavin tugs on his ball cap. “If I were you, I’d tell her how I felt. But, if you’re too big of a pussy to own up, I’d take her up on the offer anyway. Might be the last chance you get to hook up with the girl of your dreams. And for the entire summer?” He shakes his head while staring at the trees. “Something is definitely up. I’m betting she’s feeling it for you, too.”

  “No way.” Even if she were, I’d never be enough for her.

  “I think you’re wrong.” He tosses out a knuckle bump. “Let’s go hack down a forest.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  I step out and secure my baseball cap over my head.

  That final exchange with Reese at the coffee shop runs through my mind. I tried to put out the signal that I wasn’t interested—that she shouldn’t venture in my direction, but if she does make an effort to find me tonight maybe I will take her up on her offer.

  Hell—I know I will.

  In the evening, after hours spent decimating an entire forest with Gavin, I sit my ass on the front porch of the cabin and nurse a cold one. I pretend not to notice the fact Warren’s Beamer is still missing from his driveway, even though it’s a quarter to ten. I know for a fact they left around six because I passed them on my way down to the dock to help tie my dad into his slip.

  The heat of the day still radiates from the boulders like a furnace. Loveless is socked in with hillsides in all directions, so the heat tends to settle and pretty much turns the lake into an inferno from May to September.

  A beat up Chevy Impala pulls in front of the cabin like it belongs here, and A.J. Goodman, my sister’s boyfriend, hops out clad in black with his combat boots lac
ed to his shins. He’s got at least a dozen piercings I can see and probably a dozen more I don’t care to know about.

  “If you’re going to wear those things, maybe you should enlist?” I say as he jets past me. He’s sporting his Saturday night Mohawk, his thick guy liner—a requisite to scaring the crap out of old ladies at the mall. I wish he’d scare Neva. She’s been dating him on and off since Christmas and neither my dad nor me are too happy about it.

  “You should enlist.” He twitches his bottom lip. He’s got a double loop woven through it and a tongue piercing that still hasn’t healed right. Any day now I’m expecting to hear a report that its fallen off, sort of the way I wish his dick would fall off. Just because my sister and I aren’t that close, doesn’t mean I want anybody fucking her.

  “You enroll in college for fall?” I don’t mind breaking his balls a little. It’s no secret he’s been leaching off Neva the past few months. I know for a fact she shells out her hard-earned cash each time they go out.

  “Fuck you.” He heads inside and slams the screen.

  “Nice seeing you, too.”

  Dad comes out onto the porch and lights up a cigarette. His hair is still plastered down from the hat he wears all day, and he’s got his Loveless patrol jacket on even though it’s a balmy eighty degrees out tonight.

  “Where you off to, all spit shined?” I tease and kick the rocker next to me for him to take a seat, but he doesn’t.

  “Down the mountain for a while.” He blows a white tornado from his lips while staring back into the house from the screen. “Remember Darnell Potter?”

  “Redhead with neck gear. Warren McCarthy used to sock him in the arm on the way to school just for the heck of it.” Junior high. I remember those years. It was before dollars really meant anything, and all the Loveless kids used to hang out.

  “Ran into his mom, Charlene.” He taps his cigarette over the railing, and the ash lights up the night with its orange tail. “She invited me over to catch a flick.”

  Right. More like catch his dick but I’m not going there with my dad, not now or ever.

  “I’ll be back in the morning. Watch the kid for me, would you?” He pats me on the shoulder and heads down to his truck.

  “Will do.” She’s twenty and doesn’t listen to a damn thing I say, so it’s mostly lip service, but I know he needs to hear it.

  In the distance, a car takes the turn a little too quick and zips into the McCarthy’s estate. It’s Warren. I’d know that erratic driving anywhere. They’re home.

  I don’t even notice as Dad pulls out and Gavin pulls in, hopping up to the porch and planting his ass next to mine until his cologne clots up the air like its about to strangle me.

  “Dude, did you bathe in that shit?” I fan the air a moment.

  “You know it turns you on, princess.” He slaps my back. “You want to hit Kooks?”

  Kooks is a bar on the other side of the ridge where their motto is, it’s easy to find love in Loveless.

  “No thanks.”

  A car door slams in the distance, and I try to gauge which direction Reese might be headed next. I can see her from here, small as my thumb. Reese has on a miniskirt or shorts, either way I can appreciate her long, bronzed legs, and I’m not objecting one bit.

  “I see how it goes.” He nods across the lake. “Why don’t you call her in an hour? See if she’s up for another dip? Wet your wick for real this time and put the both of you out of your misery.”

  “It’s not like that.” In fact, I want to smack him for thinking it is. “She’s never been with anyone. I’m not doing her in the lake.” I bite down on the inside of my cheek. “At least not the first time.”

  Gavin shakes his head and takes a quick sip of my beer. “I’m out of here. Kennedy’s having a private party tonight—just a few chicks and dicks. She call you?”

  “Nope.” I go to shake my head and pause. “Looks like Reese’s social calendar is double booked for the night. Speaking of dicks, I doubt mine is getting the company it was hoping for. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to turn her down.”

  “What the hell did you turn her down for?”

  “Look at me.” I hold out my hands. “I’m living at my dad’s.” I tap my hand over the armrest. “Neva is a fucking mess. Where would I take someone like Reese? The back seat of the Cougar?” Dad gifted me a ‘67 Mercury for my sixteenth birthday. It was my first and last birthday gift, but it was well worth the wait.

  “So that’s the dilemma. And I take it nature’s a little too raw. I get it.”

  “I’m not hitting the bushes with her, dude.” I blow the frustration through my lips. “McCarthy’s got a million bucks to take her to any place he wants. His parents are gone half the time. He’s got the house to himself, plus he’s got an apartment at Yeats.”

  “Slow down, Ace. You stalking him?” He pushes out a laugh. “You should tell Reese you got in. You’ll have a dorm on campus, right?”

  “Maybe. The scholarship details are still in the air. The coach is trying to get me a room, if not, I’m on my own.” Which translates into an hour and a half commute both ways. The gas alone will kill me. I’ll have to take out a loan just to fill the tank three times a week.

  “All right.” He digs his palm into his eye. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’ve got the shop in order—”

  “I’m not sleeping with her in the shop.” I can see it now, an air mattress among the wood chips—Carl, his three-fingered assistant, showing up at sunrise and kicking us out.

  “Relax, genius.” Gavin narrows into me. “Geez, you really have it bad, don’t you?” He folds his hands a moment. “I was going to say I gutted the boathouse. I had it renovated a few weeks back when my sister threatened to pop into town.”

  Gavin and his sister, Zoey, don’t always get along so I get why he’d fix up the boathouse.

  “Is Zoey coming back?” A noise rustles in the bushes, and my heart thumps as I spot a pale shadow moving in this direction. I try not to get my hopes up in the event it’s not Reese.

  “Nope. She said maybe in the winter.” He digs into his pocket and snaps a key off his chain. “It’s yours, dude.” He hops off the porch before I can say anything and heads toward his truck. “What’s up, girl?” He nods into someone just outside my line of vision, and I hear them making small talk for a moment.

  A beautiful face illuminates the shadows like a pearl in the night, as the most gorgeous girl in the world bounces her way up the stairs. Her dark hair is wound in long, perfect waves. Her silver eyes reflect the light like a cat’s.

  “You up for some company?” Reese flashes that million-dollar smile.

  “With you? Anytime.”

  Reese yanks me up by the hand and pulls me into a nice, long hug. The scent from her perfume hypnotizes me for a moment, grapefruit and vanilla—a perfect combo of sexy and sweet just like Reese.

  The truth is, I’ve been under Reese Westfield’s spell for as long as I can remember. I take in a nice, slow breath, soaking in her sweet scent. It’s the same perfume she’s worn since she was a teenager.

  “How was your date?” I nod for her to take a seat, and she does. Reese looks amazing tonight with her hair spiraling out in long, dark plumes like the feathers of some exotic bird. It takes all my self-control not to run my fingers through it.

  “It wasn’t a date, believe me.” She wrinkles her nose as she rocks back and forth in the glider. “He had the bisque, and I had the lobster. End of story.” She skims her bottom lip with her pearly whites, and my dick perks to life as if she were throwing out an invitation.

  “Lobster.” I nod. God knows I can’t afford to keep her in crustaceans. “So what’s McCarthy up to?” Really I want to know if she said anything of value to him—if he did to her.

  “He’s keeping busy, helping out his dad this summer.” She reaches over and picks up my hand, her eyes drilling into mine. “I really don’t care what he does.”

  “Does he care what you do??
?? If I make a move on Reese, I might find myself inhaling large amounts of lake water before the summer is through. Although, if the exchange rate for sleeping with Reese is something as meager as my life, I might consider the tradeoff. Reese is worth pushing up a daisy or two, but knowing Neva, I wouldn’t be lucky enough to go the casket route. She’d toss me into the fire and warm herself while I melted to ashes. When we were younger, Dad gave us strict orders not to die because funerals were expensive as shit.

  “Warren always seems to care what I do.” A cheeky smile plays on her lips. “But he’s hitting the sheets early tonight. He’s his daddy’s lackey, bright and early.”

  “I know how that goes.” I’ve pinch hit for my father on the lake more times than I care to remember, mostly just giving people warnings for fishing without a license. Not that I care.

  “So”—she digs in her pocket and pulls out a quarter that winks like a silver eye as she tosses it in her hand—“heads, we go skinny dipping.” Reese runs her pink tongue over her lips. “Tails, we find somewhere new to hang out.” She throws it high, and I catch it before it ever has a chance to fall. I flip it onto her bare thigh, and my fingers linger over her velvet soft skin.

  “Tails.” I blink a smile up at her, and my heart takes off like a greyhound down the track. “I know just the place to take you.” I hop up. “Wait right here.” I run into my bedroom and eye the box of condoms sitting on my desk. For a moment I envision Reese on top of me with her hair raining down over my face as she rides me. My dick perks up as if it were casting its vote, but I swipe the Monopoly game off the dresser and get the hell out of Dodge.

  Reese and I drive down the road about a quarter of a mile, taking that last stretch nice and slow no thanks to the rocks strewn about, threatening to take out a tire. It’s dark as hell, but that’s the best time to look at the stars. I park square in front of Gavin’s boathouse and eye the tiny structure.