Wes moved toward me. With his perfectly built body. Shirtless. Low hanging board shorts that were all black. The V cut of his stomach and sides leading my eyes, hands, and desires to a very full area.

  He touched my sides and I jumped. “I’d like to see you try and drown me.”

  “Oh, believe me, I can,” I said.

  He kissed me. “No, you can’t.”

  “Yeah… I can,” I said in between kisses. “I’ll fake drown. You’ll come save me. Then I’ll hold you under.”

  “We’ll both drown,” he said, kissing my neck.

  “Nope. I have better lungs.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked, laughing.

  “Yeah. You smoke. I don’t. I’ll outlast you.”

  His hands slipped to my ass and he pulled me close to him. “You really want to play that game, darling? Who can outlast who?”

  I bit my lips.

  Fuck.

  I didn’t need the pool water to feel wet any longer.

  Wes ran his lips up my neck to my ear.

  “Sorry to bother you,” Kailey said as she burst into the bedroom.

  I jumped back and curled my toes.

  “Thanks for that,” Wes said.

  “I just wanted to let you know, Emma is chasing Ryker around the pool. She wants to smash his head in.”

  “Not near the water,” Wes said. “Tell her to drag his ass down to the beach. Let the ocean take him.”

  “Stop that,” I said. “We’ll be there in a second.”

  “Just a second?” Kailey asked. “Damn, Wes, thought your reputation was better than that.”

  “You want to say that again, TT?” Wes asked.

  I grabbed Wes’s arm. “Don’t.”

  Kailey left and left the door open.

  Wes slid his arm around my waist and we walked downstairs to go to the pool.

  “You owe me,” he whispered as he opened the sliding back door.

  “Actually, you owe me,” I said.

  I broke away from him to leave him hanging.

  Leo handed him a drink and Charlotte handed me a drink.

  Ryker stood on the diving board with Emma pointing her baseball bat at him.

  “Say it again,” she said. “I’ll knock your head off.”

  “You drive me crazy, babe,” Ryker said. “We’re going to end up married. Ten kids. Road trip vacations. I can see it now.”

  “I hope she hits him,” Charlotte said. “Is that wrong?”

  “Little bit,” I said. “She loves the attention though.”

  Emma stepped up onto the diving board.

  Ryker then made the move of a lifetime as he grabbed the bat and pulled.

  The bat slid out of Emma’s hand and Ryker threw it into the pool. Emma crashed into him and he hugged her and jumped off the diving board.

  “Oh, shit,” Kailey said, covering her mouth.

  They hit the water and Emma wasted no time in hitting Ryker to get away from him. One of the punches landed right on his nose, busting it open.

  “You’re an asshole,” Emma growled. “I’ll fucking drown you.”

  She started to swim toward him as Ryker put his head back.

  “Not in the pool,” Wes said. “Moron.”

  Flynn suddenly snuck up behind Charlotte and grabbed her. She screamed and thrashed but stood no chance against Flynn.

  They were in the pool next.

  I looked over at Wes and he slowly put his drink down.

  “No,” I said.

  I started to run.

  He came after me, his strong hands against me in a few seconds.

  I let out a yell as he ran to the edge of the pool and jumped.

  We hit the water together.

  I opened my eyes and saw him looking at me.

  The crystal blue water showed Wes perfectly.

  Before we could come up from the water, we were kissing.

  And even after we came up from the water, we were still kissing.

  Everyone else jumped into the water on their own, sending rippling waves bouncing around us.

  “Spending the night again?” Wes asked me, his wet lips touching my wet ear.

  “I guess so,” I said.

  He looked at me and smiled.

  I loved seeing him happy.

  And wet.

  Chapter 17

  Aira

  I walked from the kitchen to the register to find Mika standing there with Kaci and Nola. Without hesitation, Mika took a picture of me with her phone.

  “Look at this,” Mika said, showing her phone to Kaci and Nola. “So sad to see. Her house burned down and now she’s poor.”

  “Did you need something?” I asked. “We have a great chocolate pie on special today. The crust is fresh and came from Julia’s bakery. Or would you rather me just get a fork and shove it up your ass?”

  “Where’s your manager?” Mika asked. “You can’t talk to me like that.”

  I cringed, fearing Eddie firing me for what I said.

  Of course, that’s when Eddie came from the back office.

  He looked at Mika, Kaci, and Nola and grinned. “Ladies.”

  “Mr. Eddie,” Mika said. “Didn’t realize you hired Aira.”

  “Is that a problem?” he asked.

  “Just keep the forks and knives away from her,” Mika said.

  They all started to giggle.

  And I had to stand there and take it.

  “Ladies, are you ordering?” Eddie asked.

  “Nope,” Mika said. “We saw what we came to see.”

  The three bitches walked out of Eddie’s diner.

  “Everything okay?” Eddie asked me.

  “Perfect,” I said. “I’m going to go check on my table’s food.”

  I kicked open the kitchen door, wanting to take my apron off, go out the back, and find Mika to punch her in the nose again. She was like a damn bug. I kept chasing her away and she kept coming back.

  All I needed to do…

  “You gotta find the balance of the wave, man,” Bartly’s voice echoed.

  “Hey, are you getting my food together or talk…”

  I lost my words as I circled around the kitchen.

  Bartly stood with a towel over his shoulder. Right next to him was Ryland.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “You can’t be back here.”

  Ryland looked at Bartly and winked.

  “Have at it,” Bartly said as he walked away. “I’m going to grab a soda and breathe in the beach air.”

  “What the hell is this?” I asked.

  Ryland grabbed a spatula and flipped a burger on the grill. “I work here.”

  “You work here? Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Bullshit,” I said. “I’ll have you fired in ten seconds.”

  The kitchen door opened.

  “Tick tock then,” Ryland teased. “Ten… nine…”

  I turned and looked at Eddie. “Ryland is cooking?”

  “I hope not,” Eddie said. “He can’t put butter on toast.”

  “Ah, cut me some slack Uncle Ed,” Ryland said. “Bartly showed me how to cook a burger.”

  “Uncle Ed?” I asked.

  Eddie walked around to the grill and knocked Ryland’s hand away from the grill and took the spatula.

  “You know Ryland, right?” Eddie asked me.

  “Oh, she knows me,” Ryland said. “She hates me.”

  “Hates you,” Eddie said with a laugh. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  I was shocked. Just standing there speechless like a fool, my eyes moving between Ryland and Eddie.

  “If he gets out of line, Aira, you tell me,” Eddie said. “I’ll throw him right out the door for you. Never thought I’d see the day Ryland would want to lift a finger and do something.”

  “I have a good reason,” Ryland said as he stared at me.

  “I’m sure you do,” Eddie said. “Please don’t touch anymore food. I have a business to run here. Don’t need you getting anyone sick.”

  “Too late,” I said.

  Eddie laughed. “I like this girl. She’s fast. And smart.”

  “And beautiful,” Ryland said.

  I curled my lip.

  This really was all a game to Ryland. Just to mess with me. Just to get to me. Just to find a way to get to Wes too. Because I was the easiest way to making that happen.

  “Okay, my great man, back away from the grill,” Bartly announced as he returned.

  Ryland put his hands up and stepped back. “I kept it warm for you.”

  I wanted to walk away but I needed the food.

  Eddie walked away with a grin and a nod to me.

  He had no idea what Ryland really was. Or maybe he did. I didn’t know.

  I couldn’t even get a part-time job to just get away from it all.

  The secrets of Hidden were always close by.

  So were the worst parts of it all.

  As Bartly plated the food, Ryland was quick to grab the plate. He walked it toward me and stared down at me. I could never tell what his stare meant.

  “You’re just full of surprises,” I said.

  “I’m everywhere, Aira,” he said. “You can’t get away from me. And I just wanted to check on you.”

  “No you didn’t. You can tell yourself that though.”

  “We have to get along. We’re going to be working together. Side by side. Shift after shift. When you’re here, I’m here.”

  “Good thing I don’t need this job that bad,” I said.

  “Oh? That’s not what I heard.”

  “More rumors, huh?”

  “Behind every rumor there’s some kind of truth,” Ryland said.

  “No. There’s just a piece of trash like you who enjoys it.”

  I took the plate out of his hand and left the kitchen.

  After I delivered the food to the table, I turned and took two steps before I froze in place.

  I felt the color leave my face as I saw my next table.

  “So does the turkey club come with fries or is that extra?”

  I swallowed hard.

  It was Wes’s father.

  * * *

  “Can you sit for a minute, Aira?” West asked me.

  “No,” I said. “I’m working.”

  “I get that,” West said. “But it’s very important.”

  “To answer your question, the fries are extra. Is that what you’d like?”

  West closed the menu. “No, thanks. I’m actually not hungry at all.”

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Doubt you have what I’m looking for,” West said. I watched his eyes move down my body and back up. “At least, drink wise.”

  I slowly stepped back. “Then I have nothing to say to you.”

  West put his hands to the table and slowly stood up. “Nothing to say to me, huh? I get that a lot. There’s a lot said about me when I’m not around. So it paints a picture that maybe isn’t true.”

  I took another step back, realizing that in this moment the only person who could probably save me was Ryland. And that was not something I wanted.

  “My son is in love with you,” West said. “Not that I can blame him.”

  The way West looked at me made me feel gross.

  “I remember you, Aira. I remember you and Wes together when you were kids. I remember your parents too. Your father had a good head on his shoulders. He was smart. He understood it.”

  “It?” I asked.

  “It,” West said. “The way the town worked and where it was going. You’ll hear them say I left. I took off. I did what I had to do. Can’t just sit around and spin my tires in the mud, you know?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  West stepped toward me and I stepped back.

  “My son thinks he’s all grown up,” West said. “That he has the world figured out. Because he’s been guided by my father and by Jett. That in itself is sad. I feel bad for Weslee. At the same time, I’m happy he has you. It takes a lot of strength and bravery to step into the world you have, Aira. I hope you know that.”

  I swallowed hard and kept inching my way away from him. My eyes scanned left to right, wondering if I should turn and run, or scream for help.

  West got closer, then I hit the main counter and had nowhere else to go.

  “Be careful, Aira,” West said. “It might look like fun and games from the outside. And I get that. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. That’s what I fear for you. I care about you. I hope you know that.”

  “Everything okay here?” Ryland’s voice asked.

  I slipped to the left and hurried around the counter.

  Now I was too close to Ryland, but I felt like I could handle him over Wes’s father.

  “Ryland,” West said. He threw a hand over the counter and Ryland shook it.

  “West,” Ryland said. “Heard you were back in town.”

  “Just passing through,” West said. He winked.

  Ryland nodded.

  Nothing about it seemed right or normal.

  I watched as West exited the diner.

  I looked at Ryland.

  “We go way back,” he said.

  Something snapped inside me and I raced from the counter to the door. I opened the door and saw Wes’s father with his phone in his hand.

  “Why don’t you just leave?” I called out.

  West turned. “Leave? Why would I leave? Everything I own is here.” He stepped toward me again. “Aira, I don’t know what you’ve been told. Or convinced to believe. That shop is mine. The land is mine. Everything Pop owns is mine. Yeah, I have a brother. But he’s out of the picture. I’m sure Weslee would love to get involved with all we own too. But he doesn’t understand what it’s meant for. So, again, why would I leave? This is my town. I had my son here. I had a family. Sure, things didn’t work out with Weslee’s mother, but that happens. It’s life. I’m sure you understand that. I’m sure things didn’t always work out the way you thought.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was just talking normally or hinting at threats.

  “Just stay away from me,” I said. “And this place. And stay away from Wes.”

  “I think it’s cute that you protect him,” West said. “What’s not cute is when people tell me what to do. Things can go up in smoke…” West snapped his fingers. “Like that.”

  His cell phone started to ring and he took the call, walking away.

  I went back into the diner and saw Ryland staring at me.

  I suddenly felt trapped.

  When I saw Eddie, he paused and pointed at me. “Aira, are you okay?”

  “Actually, I’m not feeling all that great right now. I’m sorry, but would you mind if I left?”

  “No,” Eddie said. “Go. Get out of here. Get some rest. You look a little pale.”

  “Aira,” Ryland said. “Be careful.”

  I hurried through the diner to get my stuff.

  I needed to get to Wes.

  * * *

  Cherry’s house was busy.

  She was in the kitchen making dinner for everyone. And by everyone, that was herself, Carolyn, Noelle, Flynn, Leo, Jett, and even Pop. He sat at the kitchen table with his flask of whiskey, sipping away, staring off into space.

  When Cherry saw me, she wiped her hands on a towel and rushed to hug me.

  She rocked back and forth as though we hadn’t seen each other in years again.

  “Love that you can just stop by here,” she whispered to me.

  “Me too,” I said.

  “Grab a drink. And a plate. You need to eat. You were at work?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I got out a little early.”

  I glanced at Wes.

  “Cherry, we’ll be right back,” Wes said.

  As we passed by the kitchen table, Jett pointed to me. “I never got to thank you for helping me out that night.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” I said. “It was all Wes. But your house is amazing.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Jett said. “Also heard you’ve been there more than once, huh?”

  “Oh, baby,” Flynn said as he started to drum his fingers on the table.

  Leo turned and punched Flynn in the arm. “What the hell is your problem?”

  My cheeks burned hot.

  And poor Pop literally just sat there as though he wasn’t actually there.

  “I’m just kidding with you, Aira,” Jett said. “My house is your house. That’s how it goes around here.”

  “Give us a second,” Wes said.

  “Just a second, huh?” Jett asked.

  Jett and Flynn kept laughing as Wes took me out back.

  When he picked me up from the diner I told him I just needed to get out of there. He didn’t question it.

  Until now.

  “What happened?” he asked me.

  “West came to the diner,” I said.

  “Shit,” Wes said. “I’m so sorry, darling. What did he do to you?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “He just kept talking. But everything he said was…”

  “I know,” Wes said. He pulled me in for a hug. “I’m so sorry. I fucking hate him.”

  “Between that and Ryland…”

  “Ryland?”

  “He works there now too. Eddie is his uncle.”

  Wes curled his lip. “He’s not going to let up. This whole thing is going to explode.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to take care of this. Stay here with my mother and Cherry.”

  “Wes, no,” I said.

  I tried to dig my hands into his arms but he shook me away.

  He hurried away, lighting up a cigarette.

  I stepped down one step and heard someone behind me. “Don’t bother, sweetie.”

  It was Wes’s mother.

  I turned and looked at her, my chin quivering.

  “What’s happening here?”

  “It’s their curse.”

  “Curse?”

  “The way they act and the way they feel,” Carolyn said. “His father and grandfather are the same. Always have been too.”

  “Where’s Wes going now?”

  “Looking for his father,” Carolyn said. “They’ll work it out. I told his father this was going to happen.”

  “Aren’t you upset?”

  “I’m upset. I’m hurt. Trust me. There’s nothing I can do though.”

  “I can,” I said. “I can go find him. Keep him from getting into any more trouble. This has to stop.”

 

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