“Fascinating.” The word escaped my lips before I could stop it. Cursing myself, I clamped my jaw shut and inwardly ordered myself to never open it again.
He furrowed his brow. “What is?”
I was pretty sure my skin was flaming red. I wanted to backtrack, to pretend like I hadn’t said anything.
Thankfully, Cayden pulled into a parking lot off the beach and turned off the engine. He twisted in his seat, bringing his chest dangerously close to me. I could smell his woody cologne and feel the warmth emanating from his chest.
I literally felt as if I were sitting next to a fire.
I shifted away from him, nervous that my mind was running faster than I’d like, and shot a stare in his direction. “What are you doing?” I asked.
He glanced over at me and then triumphantly pulled out a baseball cap. “This,” he said as he brought it over his head and pulled it down.
“Ah. Famous,” I said, waving my hand his direction.
His expression faltered. I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I raised my hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
But I didn’t understand why it would bother him. I mean, he was famous. I was just stating a fact. Why would he get all sensitive about it?
Cayden shrugged as he pushed his door open. “It’s fine. It’s just something I live with every day.” He stepped out of his car and slammed the door.
I took a deep breath and opened my door as well. The smell of saltwater filled my nose, and I breathed it in. I closed my eyes as I tipped my head back, allowing the sunlight to flow across my skin.
“Hey, ready?” Cayden’s question snapped me out of my trance. I squinted over to see that he was about ten feet off.
He raised his hand and waved for me to follow.
I nodded and hurried over to meet him.
Cayden lead me over to the sand, where we slipped our shoes off. I stepped onto the hot sand, jumping a few times before taking off for the water. Once I got to the wet sand, I slowed, reveling in the feeling of the cool water.
I glanced over to see Cayden next to me. He was digging his toes into the sand and then watching the smooth waves take the holes away.
“So what are you running from?” I asked.
He glanced over at me.
Not wanting to just stand there and stare at each other, I started moving down the beach, Cayden right next to me.
We walked side by side, our arms occasionally brushing. The feather-light feeling of his skin against mine sent tingles across my skin. I tried to shush my reaction, but it didn’t help. Every time he touched me, they started up again.
“My mom-slash-manager,” he finally said.
I’d been so distracted by his arm that I’d forgotten I’d even asked him a question.
“Huh?” I asked.
He glanced over at me. His face was shadowed by his baseball cap and sunglasses. I tried to imagine those piercing blue eyes behind those dark shades. I wondered what they looked like. Were they dark and stormy?
I hated that he had to cover his face. Here I was, exposed in the elements, to his scrutiny, yet he was hidden?
“You asked me who I was running from. My mom who also happens to be my manager.” He shoved his hands into his front pockets and shrugged his shoulders. “And maybe my director as well.”
I raised my eyebrows. Well, that made two of us. “My dad? Why?”
“Your dad?”
I nodded. “I’m Chad Lamoroux’s daughter.”
He grew silent, and I wondered if I’d shared too much. Or maybe he thought I was some double agent, gathering information to bring home to daddy. I mean, we didn’t know anything about each other.
“You don’t have to tell me. We just met.” I waved my hand and dropped my gaze to the sand.
Cayden sighed. I wasn’t sure if it was about me or about his situation.
“No. It’s fine. I’m not shy about it. I’m just surprised you haven’t heard of Crazy Cayden.” He reached up to lift his hat off his head and run his hands through his hair.
I glanced over at him. “Crazy Cayden? That’s what your mom calls you? What does that even mean?”
He chuckled in a forced, almost awkward way. “That I’m out of control?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure either.
“Are you?”
He paused and turned toward the ocean. I could only assume he was staring off into the distance.
“Let’s go swimming.” He pulled his sunglasses from his face, revealing his electric blue eyes. He set the shades in his hat and then dropped them next to our shoes. When he glanced back up at me, his lips were tipped up into a half-smile that managed to make my knees weak.
“I don’t have a swimming suit,” I said as I took a step back.
Cayden shrugged as he barreled toward me.
I squealed and tried to push him away. But he didn’t let up. Instead, he flipped me over his shoulder and then ran full speed into the water. It sprayed up around us until he was waist deep, and then he set me down.
Shocked, I just stood there, the soft waves knocking into me and causing my body to shift. I glanced over to see him disappear into the water and then shoot back up, pulling his hair away from his face in one swift movement.
“What was that?” I asked, mustering the most demanding voice possible.
Cayden sunk down a bit in the water, and I could see his hands moving in circles below the surface.
He shrugged. “What was what?”
I splashed him in the face. “What if I was wearing a fancy watch or something, and you ruined it? What would you do then?”
He wiped the water from his face and studied me. “Are you wearing a fancy watch?”
I stared at him and then shook my head. “Well, no. But you didn’t know that.”
He shrugged. “I would have just bought you a new one.”
I drew in a deep breath as his words reverberated in my ears. Of course he would say that. He was the Cayden Rivers. For him, replacing a fancy watch was like dropping a dollar bill—probably less.
That was the thing with people who had money. They rapidly lost track of what was important because, whatever mistake they made, they could just buy their way out of it.
“What?”
Cayden’s voice drew me from my thoughts. I turned to see him standing a few feet off, looking contemplative.
I folded my arms and shrugged. “Nothing. Just thinking.”
Cayden hesitated and then inched closer to me. His confident expression had morphed into one of concern. Besides his laughter earlier, this was the only genuine look he’d given me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you. If you want, we can leave right now. I’ll take you home and you can get changed.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Sometimes I just act, and I don’t realize what it does to other people.” He extended his hands in a gesture that I was assuming meant he was sorry. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into the ocean. Forgive me?”
Wow. Didn’t see that coming.
It was hard to imagine the guy that Teen Pop magazine labeled this year’s biggest rebel would actually say sorry to me—a nobody.
I drummed my fingers on my arm, making him wait a few seconds. I bet every girl he knew forgave him instantly. I wanted him to sweat it out.
Cayden leaned into me slowly. His eyebrows rose as he studied me.
Finally I sighed and nodded. “Sure. I mean, it was all in fun, right?”
Cayden whooped and clapped his hands together. He reached over his shoulder and patted himself on the back. Confused, I stared at him.
“What was that?” I asked.
He shrugged as he moved his hand in the water in front of him. “Nothing.”
I splashed him again. He wiped his face and then moved even closer to me. His body inches from mine. Suddenly, the world around me spun as I stared up at him. My tongue felt as if it were being tied in twenty different ways.
The sun glistened off the water on his s
kin, and his bright blue eyes caused my breath to hitch in my throat. Every part of my body was responding to his closeness. My heart pounded in my chest as I anticipated what he was going to do.
And for some strange and inane reason, I wanted him to lean forward. To brush those ridiculous, formed-by-the-gods lips onto mine.
Wait, what?
I blinked a few times, forcing those thoughts from my mind.
What was happening to me?
“You need to stop splashing me,” Cayden said. I wasn’t sure if the huskiness in his voice was real or just something he’d perfected over years of being on screen.
“I do?” I whispered. It was embarrassing, but I just couldn’t speak louder than that. There was something about being around a hot guy that caused my throat to close up.
He nodded. “Once you start something, you better be able to finish it.”
I held his gaze, paralyzed by what he was doing to me.
And then, slowly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw his hand move. I knew I should have ducked, should have gotten out of the way, but I was frozen to the spot.
And, just as my mind predicted, water went shooting from his hand, across the distance between us, and all over my face.
My jaw dropped as Cayden’s laugh filled my ears. I moved to grab him but to no avail.
He didn’t seem hypnotized by my closeness. He ducked and ran away, the speed at which he trudged through the water frustrating me.
“I told you,” he yelled as he finally stopped running. He dove into the water, only to pop back up ten feet away.
I glowered at him, but Cayden just shrugged.
I was really trying to be mad at him, I was. But there was something about him. Something about his smile or the way his blue eyes lit up when he was actually being real that was drawing me in.
And, for some reason, I liked it.
His chaos. His impulsivity. It seemed to be exactly what I needed.
Weird.
Chapter Four
We stayed in the water for about thirty more minutes before I declared that I was turning into a prune and started making my way out. The beach that Cayden had picked was sparsely occupied—which was probably due to the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday.
Regardless, Cayden nodded and followed me back, keeping his face tipped toward the ground. I didn’t have to ask him why he was doing that. I’m sure that smartphones meant he had to worry about amateur paparazzi everywhere.
When we made it back to our shoes, Cayden slipped on his hat and glasses and then turned to grin at me.
Our shirts and shorts were dripping wet. We tried to squeeze out the excess water, but it was pretty futile. Cayden motioned down the beach to a small shack.
“Snow cone?” he asked.
I nodded, still trying to wring out my shirt.
Cayden waited until I was next to him before he started walking. I would be lying if I said I didn’t like that he’d waited for me. Like I was someone important to him.
Was I?
No. Stop being stupid, Scarlett.
I forced myself to focus on what Cayden was saying. Something about Bob’s Snow Cone shack being the best place in Hollywood for snow cones.
“Really?” I asked.
Cayden chuckled. The real, not for show laugh that I was enjoying immensely.
“Yes. The best. Cayden Rivers stamp of approval.”
I hugged my shoes to my chest as I nodded. “And that’s all anything needs to be deemed the best in Hollywood?”
We arrived at the shack, and Cayden glanced up to study the board above the order window. He kept his gaze on the options as he shrugged. “Pretty much.” Then, his famous for-show smile returned as he stepped up to the counter and ordered.
Once he was done, he thanked the grey-haired lady who took his order and then motioned toward me to do the same.
I ordered a small cherry snow cone. Cayden pulled out a wet twenty from his wallet and handed it to the woman. She offered him change, which Cayden just waved away.
A beefy man, who I could only assume was Bob, shoved his large, hairy arms through the window to hand us our snow cones. We thanked him, grabbed some napkins, and headed over to one of the picnic tables that were set up in the sand next to the shack.
We sat across from each other and ate in silence. And it felt…good. I liked not feeling as if I needed to fill the silence with mindless chatter. And I liked that Cayden didn’t feel that way either.
“Best snow cone?” he asked me while I was mid-bite.
I covered my mouth with my hand as I nodded. “Yes,” I said through melting ice. After a few more bites, I added, “However, I come from Chicago, so take my opinion for what it is. Snow cones aren’t too much of a staple for us.”
Cayden grabbed a napkin to wipe his lips before glancing over at me. “I get that. Probably don’t want to eat what annoys you every winter.”
I nodded. That was so true—especially last winter. We got record snowfall. It was miserable.
I tipped my face toward the sun, reveling in its warmth. This was so much better.
“Have you lived in California your whole life?” I asked, keeping my eyes closed as I soaked in everything I loved about summer and the beach.
“For the most part. I’ve been here since I was six. Hard to live somewhere else when this is where I work.”
There was a hint of sadness to his tone that caused me to wonder. I peeked over at him. He was staring at the tabletop, and his lips were pulled into a tight line.
“Is that a bad thing?” I would never want to be in the limelight like he was, but was it really so bad?
He scoffed and then lifted his rainbow snow cone to his lips and took a big bite. “You can’t go anywhere. Your whole life is on display. Even when you’re hurting, there’s someone there to take pictures of you.” He took a deep breath. “It’s a great life.”
Every word dripped with sarcasm. He seemed so lost. So…sad. I felt bad for him.
“Then why do you do it?”
He met my gaze and then shrugged. “It opens doors. Gives me money. Takes care of my parents. I mean, why does anyone work?”
I traced the wood grain of the picnic table with my finger as I thought about what he said. “Is this what you want to do forever? I mean, are you a career actor?”
He took a few more bites. It was kind of unnerving to not know if he was looking at me. His sunglasses made it impossible to know what he was thinking or doing.
“I guess I never really thought I had much of an option, you know? My life is planned for me. What else am I going to do?” He brought the rim of the paper cup to his lips and tipped his head back. He crumpled the empty cone in his hands.
He zeroed in on a trashcan and sank the mangled cup into it. I hurried to finish the last few bites of mine and then attempted to do the same. When it landed a good two feet away, he chuckled as he pulled off his hat and set it on the table.
“I’m assuming you don’t play sports,” he said as he walked over to pick it up. A loud, shrill scream surprised both of us. We turned to see a group of teenyboppers standing behind us.
Their mouths were hanging open with their hands pressed firmly to their cheeks.
“Cayden Rivers!” they screamed.
I glanced over to see regret flash across Cayden’s face before his phony smile returned. He finished throwing away my garbage and then sauntered over to them. They squealed as he shook their hands and posed for pictures.
I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. It was embarrassing, sitting here while all those girls fawned over Cayden.
Was that me? Did I do the same thing?
And then I felt like a giant idiot.
Of course I fell for him. Guys like Cayden were perfect at pretending.
Here I was, assuming we were growing close, when he was just playing a part. I mean, the smiles and winks he was shooting those girls made me feel sick.
I wasn�
�t like this. I knew better than to get caught up in this world. Dad broke Mom’s heart, and that was exactly what I was setting up for myself.
Feeling frustrated that I’d even allowed myself to go down this path, I pushed away from the table and stood. I may have left my phone and purse in Dad’s office, but I was sure someone would loan me their phone. I’d call Michelle and get picked up.
Then I’d go on with my perfectly normal life, sans Cayden.
“Where are you going?” Cayden’s voice made my ears perk up. I hesitated, wondering if he was talking to me. Then I shook my head.
I needed to stop imagining that I mattered to Cayden. I didn’t. It would be better if I realized that now.
But then the warm feeling of his fingers wrapping around my arm halted my retreat.
He was talking to me. I hated the feeling of excitement that bubbled up inside of me. He didn’t care about me, I reminded myself. He probably just felt responsible for driving me here and dragging me into the ocean.
I forced a smile and turned, breaking his hold on me. “You’re with your fans. I was just going to slip away and head back.”
Cayden’s sunglasses were off, and the confused look in his eyes was causing my stomach to flip. He looked genuine, I’d give him that.
“Scarlett—”
“Who’s this?” A tall, leggy blonde asked as she approached us.
I grinned at her as I shrugged. “Just another fan.”
Cayden furrowed his brow as he stared at me. “I think you’re more than just a fan,” he said as he stepped up to me.
The group of girls who were fawning over him gathered around, and from the corner of my eyes, I could see them aiming their phones at us. Heat pricked at the back of my neck as I swallowed.
I needed to get out of here.
I dipped my head as I moved past the group, toward Cayden’s car.
This was not where I wanted to be. This was not what I wanted to be doing. I never wanted to be in the limelight. I didn’t want people around me, snapping pictures.
I was a fool to run off and leave the studio. I should have stayed.
“Scarlett,” Cayden’s voice grew louder, and I could only assume he was running after me.
I clutched my shoes as I ducked down and quickened my pace.
Rule #6: You Can't Fall for Your Fake Summer Fling: A Standalone Sweet High School Romance (The Rules of Love) Page 3