I couldn’t have enjoyed it more as I let him know with my gaze that I had no idea what we were talking about.
“I can’t really remember,” I answered my mother, watching him turn tense. “Was it Sleeping with the Enemy or Traffic?” I was going to enjoy seeing him in that situation, but he just laughed it off, wiping the smile off my face.
“I think you mean Cruel Intentions,” he responded, surprising me by naming one of my favorite movies. Ironic, when you considered that the two main characters were a stepbrother and stepsister who hated each other…
Sensing something was up, my mother asked, “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” we said in unison, and that bothered me even more.
For a moment, we were in a standoff: I was trying to intimidate him; he was trying to let me know he was having fun.
“You gonna move or what?” I asked, trying to get to the refrigerator.
“Look, Freckles, you and I need to work some things out if we’re going to live under the same roof.”
“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “How about when you come in, I’ll go out, and when I see you, I’ll ignore you, and when you talk, I’ll pretend I can’t hear you?” I cursed the moment I’d met him.
“Sorry, I got hung up on the in-and-out part,” he said—the pervert—grinning and making me blush.
Dammit.
“You’re gross,” I said and tried to push him aside until he finally yielded and I could grab the orange juice.
My mother had walked off with a cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I knew what she wanted: she wanted for me to get along with Nicholas, for us to become friends and for a miracle to happen so I’d love him like the brother I’d never had.
Ridiculous.
I sat down on one of the benches next to the island and poured the juice into a crystal glass. Nicholas was wearing track pants and a tank top. His arms were shapely, and after seeing him punch two guys in ten minutes, I knew I should stay away from him. Who knew what he was capable of?
When he turned around with his coffee, I saw it: the tattoo. He had the same one I had on my neck. The same knot, that symbol that meant so much to me. That monster had an identical knot on his arm.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as he came over and sat down in front of me, watching me until he noticed what I was looking at. Then he took a sip of his coffee, put his cup on the table, and leaned over.
“I was surprised, too,” he said.
I felt uncomfortable, exposed.
“So it looks like we’ve got something in common,” he continued. He didn’t seem overjoyed that we had the same tattoo, either.
I stood up, pulling off my hair band and letting my hair fall until the tattoo was no longer visible. Then I walked out. That last thing he’d said had shifted something inside me, as if he knew the meaning behind that tattoo, as if he understood…
I went to the backyard. There was a beautiful view of the sea, and the salt breeze was warm and fragrant. I couldn’t deny it: I loved the view and having the water so close now that I lived here.
I walked over to the wooden deck chairs next to the pool, which was rectangular with a fountain in the corner by the garden that gave it an exotic but elegant touch. Next to the cliff, to the left of the garden, was a jacuzzi located strategically between two enormous rocks to provide a beautiful view of the property.
Deciding I would try to enjoy it, I took off my dress, making sure there was nobody around, and lay back thinking I would soak up some rays and try to get a nice tan in the next week. I had to take advantage of what was left of the summer vacation because in a month, I’d be starting classes at my new and extremely expensive school. I grabbed my phone and looked to see if I had any missed calls from my friends or, more importantly, from my boyfriend Dan.
Nothing.
That stung, but I didn’t let it get to me. He’d call, I was sure of it. When I told him I had to leave, he flipped out. We’d been going out for nine months, and he was my first real boyfriend. I loved him, I knew I loved him because he had never judged me, he’d been there when I needed him…and plus, he was hot. When we started, I could hardly contain myself, I was the happiest teenager on the planet. And then I had to run off to another country.
I texted him:
I’m here and I miss you, I wish I was with you, call me when you get this.
I looked at the message. He had last been online thirty minutes before. I sighed, laid my phone on the chair, and went to the pool.
The water was the perfect temperature, so I stretched out, raised my hands, and dove in. It was liberating and refreshing at the same time. I swam, enjoying just letting the tension go and getting some exercise.
Fifteen minutes later, I got out and lay back in the deck chair, letting the sun work its magic. I grabbed the phone to see if anyone had answered and saw that Dan was connected but he hadn’t written. That made me frown.
Just then, Beth wrote, gossipy as ever.
Hey, babe, what’s up? Talk to me.
I smiled and responded, a little nostalgic:
Well, my stepbrother is worse than I could imagine but I’m trying to get used to the idea that I’ll have to live with him. You can’t imagine how bad I want to be with you all. I miss you!
I had a knot in my throat as I wrote her. Beth and I were on the same volleyball team. I had been captain the past two years. Now that I was gone, she’d taken over. She was happy, and that made me happy, too. At least she could get something good out of my leaving…even if she’d never told me she’d wanted to be team captain.
You’re probably exaggerating! Enjoy your new life as a millionaire. Like I always said: your mom knows how to pick them! Hahaha.
I hated that remark. She had told me that more than once. I couldn’t stand people thinking my mom had married for money. She wasn’t like that, she was anything but—she liked simple stuff, the same way I did. She’d married William because she really was in love with him.
I decided not to say anything about it. I didn’t want to argue, especially when she was thousands of miles away.
Then she sent me a photo.
It was her and Dan with flushed faces and their arms crossed. Dan was blond with brown eyes—a spectacle to behold. It hurt me to see him so happy. It hadn’t even been forty-eight hours since I left. He could be a little sadder, no? I couldn’t help but ask her:
Are you with him right now?
Her response took a while to come, and that alarmed me.
Yeah, we’re at Rose’s house. I’ll tell him to get in touch with you soon.
Since when did I need Beth to tell my boyfriend to answer my texts?
A minute later, a message with a smiley emoji came in from Dan:
Hey, babe, miss me yet?
Hell yes, I did! I wanted to shout, but I restrained myself and answered, mood worsening:
Why, you don’t?
It took him a few seconds to respond. I hated him dillydallying.
Of course I do. It’s not the same without you. But I’ve got to go. I’ll call later, OK? I love you.
A thousand butterflies flicked around in my stomach when I read that. I texted him goodbye and set my phone aside.
I couldn’t wait to talk to him, hear his voice. I couldn’t figure out what on earth to do to keep from missing him every second of the day.
I heard voices coming over to the garden. I turned quickly, grabbed my dress, and threw it over my head.
It was Nick with three other guys.
Shit.
I’d seen them all the day before at the party. One was tan, almost as tall as Nick, with golden-blond hair and blue eyes. One was shorter in comparison with a black eye. That didn’t surprise me. I’d seen Nick in action and could assume his friends were just as violent and reckless. The last one really caught my eye, probably because he was the first one to walk straight toward me. His hair was dark brown and his eyes black as night. He was very, very intimidating, especially with the tattoos covering his arms.
“Hey, good-looking…did you just climb out of my fantasies and show up here?” he asked, lying in the deck chair next to me.