Schooling her expression, she turned and gave him her most commanding look, a look her mother wielded often. "It's not that I don’t like it. It's just…embarrassing."
A wolfish grin tilted his mouth, lighting up his perfectly handsome face. "Why? Everyone in town knows how obsessed your dad is about you. I'm surprised he didn’t name itEbony's My Favorite."
"Stop it or I'll kick you off." She pointed to the water.
Cameron held up a hand in surrender. Holding out the bag he had been shouldering, he held it up like a truce offering. "I brought drinks and snacks."
"Drinks?" she repeated slowly, a pit forming in the base of her stomach. Cameron knew she didn’t drink, so why would he bring-
"No, not alcohol, officer Sean." He teased, cutting off her spiraling worries. "That bastard already checked," he said tilting his head in the direction of the retreating boat. "I swear it felt as if he wanted me to bring something just so he could shove me off the boat and make me swim to shore."
Ebony laughed. The crazy part was both would do it. Officer Sean would indeed shove him off and out of anyone in Stardust, Cameron could swim to shore even from this distance.
Pulling out the drinks from the bag, Cameron held them up. The second her eyes landed on the pink can a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Strawberry soda," she exclaimed. Immediately, she reached for it, even more pleased when she realized the can was cold. "You remembered."
His mouth twisted with a wry slanting smile. "How could I not? I watched you chase Gavin around your living room with a pillow and beat him with it because he drank the last one." He had a pleased look on his face as if he was recalling a favorite memory.
Ebony covered her eyes while holding up the other hand to stop him. "Please," she begged. "That was so embarrassing. I was so mad at him and forgot y'all were there."
Cameron shook his head, satisfaction brightening his eyes. "Nope. That's a top five memory." He paused suddenly, his eyes catching something as he looked over her head. "Oh shit, you brought your drums?"
Surprised by the change in topic, she glanced back at the drums and shook her head. “No, this is another set.”
He gave her a quizzical look, so she added, “Um, yeah—it’s weird, but my parents like us to play for them when we’re out on the boat.”
She laughed when his expression twisted into something even more confused.
“It started as a dumb joke about making us ‘earn our keep,’ like in pirate days or whatever. Somehow it turned into Gavin and me being the official entertainment.” She pointed to the sofa next to her drums. “His keyboard is under the bench.”
Cameron’s gaze lingered on the sofa, sharp and unreadable, as if he could see the keyboard buried beneath. "I forgot he played the piano, too."
Ebony frowned, confused by that but dismissed it. Maybe he had forgotten the time Gavin played for the whole town at the Stardust Cove Fall Festival when he came to the rescue of an underclassmen with stage fright. The hole in her chest throbbed at the memory.
It was one of her most cherished memories of Gavin. As usual she had been volunteering helping out with various festival activities, one being the talent show. Everything had nearly come to a disastrous halt when the boy performing his solo froze. Dressed in his half mask and cape the boy had only gotten out the first line ofThe Music of the Night. No one knew what to do. Everyone, the staff and the crowd, were frozen in awkward silence just staring at the terrified boy. Ebony was preparing to run out and gently usher him away but Gavin had just walked calmly past her. Wearing his own cape and phantom mask, extras they had kept backstage, he calmly went to the piano taking the place of Mrs. Melton. And like snow gently falling from the sky the chords of the song drifted into the air followed by Gavin’s cursedly beautiful voice. He had saved the day, and that boy, but worse he reminded everyone in Stardust Cove that he had a wonderful voice which only made social media explode.
Annoyed that she allowed her thoughts to return to Gavin she turned and laid down on the couch. "Now that you know the rules, entertain me," she said in her best English accent.
Cameron chuckled and sat beside her. "I believe the rules as you stated are for you to provide the entertainment."
"Well, you're too late. I was playing before you got here." She shook her head. "Now sit, and do your job."
Like a soldier obeying an order, Cameron dropped to his knees on the opposite cushion of the U-shaped couch, stretching out with his head propped in one hand. "Yes, ma'am. Where should I begin in my quest to entertain you? Should I tell you about growing up in Mississippi or should we talk about something deeper like how Nietzsche saidGod is deadbut probably never dreamed pretentious undergrads would quote him for clout."
Ebony couldn’t help but laugh at that. It felt good too. Like a pressure valve finally being released letting her breath and temporarily forget the constant ache. They continued to ramble like that for hours. He told her about the fight his younger brother and sister were having over getting a new phone. They discussed gossip around the school and who was dating who. To his surprise she was quite in the dark when it came to the current affairs around school.
"Wait a minute you are basically the queen of the school. You run every damn event we have. You only have a handful of classes and all I do is see you running from point A to B. How could you not know what happened with Elijah Vogel?"
"It's because of exactly that. I'm busy," she groaned. "Normally, Taylor keeps me informed. And thanks for reminding me, I'll have to tell him he's been slacking." She wasn't joking. She was already planning her text to him.
"Speaking of…why isn't Taylor here?" Cameron turned over on the cushion, making the muscles in his powerful swimmer's shoulder flex beautifully beneath his coppery skin. "Normally you two are inseparable. So much so I thought Gavin had him on retainer to help keep guys away from you."
Pulling her eyes away, Ebony stared up at the fluffy white clouds overhead. "Taylor is my friend, he doesn't need to be paid. And…" she paused, smiling at the memory of Taylor trying to talk to Hazel Perez. "Taylor is currently very interested in a particular girl at the moment so I've been encouraging him to pursue that."
"Mmm," Cameron nodded. "Yeah, I think I saw him talking to someone at the pool party."
"Besides you're here because you texted me."
He sat up, brows lifting with slow disbelief. "Because I texted you?" he repeated, incredulous. "Don’t tell me the only thing that was holding me back was a simple text?"
