“Aww!” Brylee clutches onto my neck like we’re slow dancing. “Everything is going to be so much better after that. Just wait and see.” She flops into my chest. “But I was sort of hoping he’d tell you first.” Her fingers fly to her lips.
“Yeah, well. I’m past the dreaming stage and on to reality. Besides, telling him is sort of my birthday gift to myself. I swore no matter what, I’d let him know that my feelings are so much deeper than just friends.” I hike a smile into my cheek because I just sort of verbalized it in front of dozens of people, and it felt damn good. “I love Ace Waterman.” I say it just loud enough for my own ears to hear. I glance around, and no one seems worse for wear. The world is still spinning, and I bet my dad is alive and healthy despite my lovesick proclamation.
“Say it again with some feeling.” Brylee places her hand over my shoulder as we stare out at the crowd.
“I love, Ace Waterman!” It rips from my vocal cords so loud I can practically hear the echo off the water—but not a living soul even blinks in my direction. And, yet, I feel like a Mac truck has been lifted off my chest.
The fact that I love Ace Waterman makes me feel better than I have in years.
I’m ready to own it. And I hope he’ll want to own it, too.
It’s cooler out by the water, quiet and dark away from the party. I hug the shoreline as I make my way to the other side of the lake—the boathouse to be precise. I’ll have to send Gavin a thank you for letting us turn his storage facility into our own private love shack.
I wonder why Ace didn’t come get me himself? And sendingNevaof all people? Maybe she offered. I bet it’s her twisted version of an olive branch. She can be weird like that.
Plus, it’s my birthday. I bet Ace wanted to do up the boathouse in balloons and rose petals. He’s thoughtful to a fault. My stomach melts just thinking about how thoughtful he is, especially between the sheets—not that there were any sheets in that tiny tent of ours. My insides burn with the memory of his hands raking over my body, his tongue tracking over the most intimate part of me.
Hot damn. Ace Waterman has the power to dissolve me to a puddle, and he’s not even in the vicinity.
I take the dirt path past the dogwoods and see there’s already a light on in the boathouse. Looks like heisin the vicinity. I trot up and catch him with his back to the window, his head bowed down. He lets out an audible groan, and it’s only then I see a pair of hands strapped to his thighs, a brunette moving her head back and forth over his crotch, loving him in that way that I thought only I was allowed to do.
A sharp sting ignites over me all at once as I stumble from the porch.
“Holy shit,” I hiss.
This can’t be true.
The ground rises to meet me as I run up the dirt hill, past the wandering evergreen forest with its dense thicket. My heart thumps like a series of detonations, my lungs sting from the sharp intake of cool night air as I slip and struggle my way up an embankment. A pair of headlights come over the ridge, and I bump hard into a cold, steel fender.
I fall backward down the hill, no worse for wear.
“Reese?”
A car door slams just as I try to get up.
“Shit!” Ace hisses, scooping me up. “You okay?” He brushes the hair from my eyes, his face rife with worry.
“Did you just get here?” I look over at the Cougar parked right where I stumbled into it.
“Yes. I just killed the engine, and you came at me.” The muscles in his jaw pop with worry. “Don’t do that.” He peppers my face with kisses. “Next time the car might win.”
“If you’re here, then who’s—” I glance back at the boathouse.
“Is someone there?” Ace takes up my hand and leads us over to the window.
Their bodies have shifted just enough to expose the girl—and it’s none other than Neva. Her head moves in slow, long tracks. The guy’s khakis thankfully block the rest of the show.
“Neva?” Ace storms through the door as Neva and the guy she’s working part ways. He scoops up his shirt off the bed just in time for Ace to clock him in the face.
Shit. What the hell was she thinking? Why the hell would she be here if Ace was supposed to meet me?
I burst into the boathouse to get a good look at the guy that Ace is busy beating the crap out of.
That carpet of blond waves, those squinted eyes, that square jaw—I know this asshole all too well.
“Warren?” My voice echoes off the walls. I look to Neva, confused. If she wanted to hurt me, she picked a lousy way to do it.
Ace hustles him outside and tosses him down the steps. “Don’t show your fucking face around here again.” He slams the door shut and turns to glare at his sister. “Why?” he roars.
