He’s gone way too far by bringing my parents’ home into it, but if I’m honest, I still have my doubts that he’ll act on it. All I need to do is push him and force him to admit that he’s full of shit.
“He made it seem like he was so invested in making this community feel like a family. He said it was why he joined the HOA, to make sure everything was open and easily accessible in case anyone had any concerns. I can’t believe I fell for that,” Ashleigh says. “Ugh. What a jerk.”
As the light dawns on Ashleigh about Nate’s true character, an idea starts to form in the back of my mind.
“What did he want to make open and accessible?” I ask. “The HOA?”
“Um . . . yeah.” She nods and her brows furrow together. “Most HOA boards only have a few meetings and nobody ever knows about them. Nate convinced the other members to host monthly meetings. They post the schedule in the Reserve at Horizon Creek Facebook group.”
There really is a Facebook group for everything.
“Can you check and see when the next meeting is?”
“Sure,” she says.
She grabs her phone and starts tapping around on the screen. As I wait, my skin begins to buzz the way it used to when the first embers of a new story idea started to burn. My brain spins and turns, plotting out endless possibilities while I wait for Ashleigh to find any information.
“Oh!” She shoves her phone in my face, pointing to the screen with her pink polished nail. “There’s one coming up soon!”
I take my time reading through the post, scanning over all the comments and rolling my eyes at Nate’s pompous replies. His skill for well-placed snark is truly remarkable.
I hand Ashleigh back her phone when I’m finished. My shoulders, which had been aching from hunching over my laptop, feel fantastic. The stress headache pounding away at my skull for the last four hours magically disappears. Any ailment can be cured by the simple pleasure of a well-formed plan and the potential of publicly humiliating my enemy.
Who needs essential oils when you have bad intentions and vengeful ideations?
“I hope you don’t have plans this Friday,” I say to my new friend, “because we have an HOA board meeting to crash.”
Chapter 7
When I moved to Los Angeles, I did my best to avoid the sun whenever possible. This means I frequently skipped out on beach days and if I did manage to be coerced to hang poolside, I made sure not only to slather my body in sunscreen, but also to wear a hat so large it was mistaken for an umbrella a time or two.
Sure, they may say Black don’t crack, but that doesn’t mean that Black can’t get skin cancer. Plus, my Black has been cut in half and I don’t want to test the strength of my Irish genes.
So it’s safe to assume that if I avoided the stunning waterscapes in California, I for damn sure wasn’t spending my summer days lounging by the pool at the Reserve at Horizon Creek. In fact, aside from the one time my mom forced me to go to a bridal shower for one of her church friend’s daughters, I’ve stepped foot in the clubhouse approximately two, maybe three, times tops.
“Wow.” I take in the space, which is a far cry from the dingy carpet and beige walls of my memories. The hardwood floors gleam beneath modern light fixtures with large area rugs sectioning off the space. A coffee bar with a mini fridge filled with creamers sits along the far wall, and now I know where I’ll be the next time my mom tries to force hazelnut coffee on me. “At least now I know where the HOA fees are going.”
“It’s so nice, isn’t it? You should come with me to the pool,” Ashleigh suggests, oblivious to my disdain for UV rays. “I go on weekday mornings after Grant goes to the office, after swim practice, but before it gets too crowded.”
“As much fun as that sounds—” I start, but I am distracted by the booming laughter I hate to admit I remember so clearly.
I turn toward the sound just in time to see Nate with his head thrown back, a huge smile making him seem years younger spread across his face. I don’t mean to stare, but I can’t look away.
While I might be here on a revenge mission, my heart squeezes with regret and fondness for the boy I once cared for so deeply. I stand frozen, overcome by memories of sitting in my backyard with him and the way my skin would tingle with pleasure when I managed to make him laugh. Even when we were kids, his laughter was elusive, like there was so much hiding beneath his too-cool persona. But before I could figure him out, he upgraded his style . . . and friends.
I turn my attention back to Ashleigh before he can catch me staring.
“Hey.” Ashleigh drops her voice to a whisper. “Are you okay? What he did was really messed up, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want.”
“Thank you, but I definitely want to do this.” I shake my head free of silly childhood memories and prepare myself for the battle ahead of me. “He’s not going to know what hit him when I’m done with him.”
Bullies bank on silence.
But if Nate thinks he can do whatever he wants while I sit back and allow him to step all over me, he’s made a gross miscalculation. People don’t up and abandon the life they’ve spent ten years building to move in with their parents because they’re winning at life.
No, no, no.
When choosing an opponent, it’s wise to find someone with something to lose. It makes it easier to predict their next move. Nate didn’t do that when he decided to mess with me. Because me? Well, I hit rock bottom weeks ago, and unlike Nate and his carefully crafted life, I don’t have anything to lose.
“So . . .” She drops her voice and glances over her shoulder to make sure none of our neighbors are within earshot. “What’s the plan again?”
I can tell she’s nervous, but much to her credit, she’s hiding it well. Her smile is the only thing giving her away. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Ruby’s from her pageant days. Gorgeous, but strained at the corners and a smidge too big to be natural.
“We’re going to watch and gauge the crowd at first, then we’ll act according to them. If they hate the HOA as much as everybody on the internet says, I’ll go with straight heckling. Add on to everybody else’s complaints and fan the flames of anger. If it’s more laid-back and polite, then I’ll have to be the chaos creator.” It’s a title I’d like engraved on my tombstone one day. I reach into my purse and pull out the letter Nate gave me along with a list of tough questions that will “stump your HOA every time” that I found on Reddit. “I’ll start going through the questions one by one until Nate looks like he’s ready to explode. No matter what, I’ll gently toss in little comments about blackmail just to watch him squirm. He’s banked on his stand-up, good-guy act. He’ll freak if he thinks I’m going to blow his cover.”
“And what do I need to do exactly?” Ashleigh asks before huffing the amber roller bottle she’s clutching in her hand.