Cruel Summer

by Lisa Cardwell

  Rico slid me a half glass of champagne. “We need to toast our beautiful new ‘Face of Vanetti’.”

  I wasn’t entirely convinced of the beautiful part, but who was I to argue with L.A.’s hottest new designer as every Internet search I’d done called him? Blushing, I lifted the glass and clinked it along with the others, feeling a lot better than when I’d joined them.

  “Take a sip, Chey. It’s a night to celebrate,” Lorna, Rico’s wife, said with a smile. “Shall we share one more slice of cake?”

  I looked at the remains of mine on the table in front of me. JT had somehow procured an extra fork and had been sneaking bites here and there while we talked. “I suppose I could have a couple of bites.”

  “Excellent.” She smiled. “We need one more Death by Chocolate,” she told Rico.

  We sat there talking for the longest time, Lorna asking what I’d done the short time I’d been in town and telling me all I had to do and see before I even thought of stepping foot on another plane back home. It felt nice to be included, and I found myself laughing along with JT as he told his cousins about something that had happened at the bonfire that I’d missed

  By the time we left the table to head outside, the restaurant was dimming its lights behind us, and I wondered how late it was. I hadn’t even glanced at my watch the entire time we’d sat there. But for almost the first time since I’d arrived, I felt amazingly relaxed.

  We stepped en masse outside into the breezy night, the smell of fresh rain hanging heavy in the air. The streetlights reflected off the small puddles on the street. It must have rained a little while we were all inside. I shivered a little, yet again wishing I’d brought a jacket with me, but I hadn’t. Luckily, it wasn’t that big of a trek back to the vehicle.

  Lorna turned to me.

  “You have a ride home, Chey?” She looked concerned about leaving me on my own.

  I’d explained all about Dad needing to take off for a sudden, impromptu meeting when we were inside. I didn’t want them to think I’d been rudely abandoned for nothing.

  “I’ll make sure she gets home safe and sound,” JT piped up from beside me before I could open my mouth.

  “Thanks, JT,” Lorna said before she gave me a tight good night hug. “We’ll see you soon.”

  I nodded before JT and I walked away, leaving them at the valet stand.

  “Thanks, JT, but…” I started as soon as we were out of earshot. He didn’t have to play hero. I was fine.

  “You had a glass and a half of bubbly. I didn’t. Keys.” He stopped, holding his hand out. “You heard me tell Rico and Lorna I’d make sure you got home okay. Don’t make me lie to my family.”

  I sighed. “JT—”

  “I’ll drive you home, then get someone to pick me up,” he assured me.

  I pulled the keys out of my bag and pressed them into his hand, earning one of those butterfly-unleashing smiles of his. Though it could have been the effect of the Dom; who was I to know? That was the most alcohol I’d ever had in my life.

  “Now where’d you park?”

  “Down there.” I pointed across the street.

  We walked alongside each other in silence. On such a beautiful night out, it wasn’t even bad being with JT. We reached the Escalade far too soon for my liking.

  “This is it,” I said as I stopped beside the passenger door, unable to open it since he had my remote.

  He hit the button on the fob, and I heard the loud click as the doors unlocked. I slid into the passenger side while he went around. I found myself shivering as I shut the door.

  “You tired?” he asked me as he opened the driver’s side.

  “No, not especially.” I looked at him in the suddenly bright interior light. “You?”

  “Not really.”

  I looked back outside. Too nice a night to waste. “You know, I don’t have to be home at a certain time. You feel like going for a walk?”

  I wasn’t ready to go home, anyways. I doubted Dad would be home yet, and I was a little too keyed-up to sleep. A walk might be just what I needed to help lull me so I could drop into bed once I got home.

  He leaned in. “You know, this isn’t going to count as the first date you promised me, Daniels.”

  “Damn.” I laughed. “But you want to?”

  “Let’s see, take a walk with a hot girl, or head home? I’ll take more time with the girl.” He grinned. “I know a great all-night place for coffee, too.”

  “Let me guess, a twenty-four-hour Starbucks?” I teased as I leaned over, reaching behind the seat and grabbed my baseball cap from the back. I slipped it on my head, hoping it would tame the strands the breeze had kept toying with as we walked to the vehicle. Of all the nights not to have a spare hair elastic in my purse—or on my wrist, for that matter.

  He got out of the vehicle first, and I climbed out of the SUV as he locked it up behind us. I noticed he pocketed the keys, but I didn’t say anything. He did promise to be my ride home, and I had a feeling, as odd as it was, that I could trust him.

  He slid off his leather jacket and draped it around my shoulders without a word. I gave him a questioning look.

  “I’m fine.” I was about to hand it back to him.

  “Sure you are, Daniels.”

  He started walking, and I followed quickly.

  “Which way?” I asked as we reached the street corner.

  He looked down both sides of the street.

  “Why don’t we go this way?” he suggested, motioning to the opposite direction from the restaurant.

  “Sure.” The streets weren’t that crowded. Cars passed by, but there weren’t that many people on the sidewalk. The rain earlier had probably driven everyone inside the restaurants and coffee places we kept passing.

  “I know I said it before, but congratulations on finally accepting Rico’s offer.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Glad you agreed.”

  “Me, too.” I could tell I startled him with that response.

  We walked in silence for almost half a block.

  “Rico has a lot of amazing things planned,” JT said at last.

  “Yeah?” I carefully stepped around a puddle, trying not to splash him or me.

  “Oh, yeah.” His smile told me he knew what Rico had in mind, but wasn’t about to tell me a word of it as we crossed another street. “How do you like life in L.A. so far?”

  I shrugged. Our pace felt comfortable, not hurried. The sidewalks were drying from the rain showers earlier; yet, they were still a little slick in spots. He grabbed my hand to help me over an especially large puddle. “Still getting used to it.”

  “I’d have thought you would have settled in already, hanging out with Sorche and all.”

  “She’s making sure I have some sort of social life,” I agreed, glancing in a few of the darkened shop windows as we passed. I saw a jacket I liked and glanced up at the store name, hoping to remember it in the light of day so I could drag Sorche back to try it on with me.

  “Trust Sor to be the life of the party.”

  “Judging by the way we met, I’d say that was you.”

  I could have sworn his face reddened a little, but it might have just been the neon glow of one of the signs we passed.

  “Like I told you then, I’m not used to new people.”

  “Sorry about that.”

  “Hey, it’s my fault. It’s what too much Corona gets me.”

  Deciding not to go down the road of questioning him too much and getting him upset, since he was my ride home, after all, I thought I’d better change the subject as quickly as possible.

  “So,” I glanced at him from under the brim of my baseball cap. “You’re related to Rico.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You never mentioned that at the fashion show.”

  “You didn’t ask,” he said with a grin. “We really didn’t talk much that day, anyway. Are we playing twenty questions?”

  “Should we?”

  He laughed. �
��No.”

  I smiled. “Good.”

  “You know, I like you, Chey.”

  So he kept saying.

  “You like a challenge,” I countered. I mean, I figured that much was true.

  “Is that what you are?”

  “I wonder.”

  I smiled as we rounded the corner and headed back up towards the restaurant on the opposite side of the street. Soon enough, we’d be back at the Escalade, and our little walk would be over.

  Why did it feel like we’d only been walking for a few minutes when if I glanced around and realized how far we walked, we must have been out for at least an hour. And I didn’t feel the least bit chilled in the cooling night’s air, even when I handed him back his leather jacket. JT most definitely had an odd effect on me.

  “You’re different.”

  “I’m new, that’s all,” I countered.

  “That’s not it. There’s something about you. You’re not jaded. You’re not demanding… you’re just…”

  “The next ‘it girl’,” I said with a laugh, recalling Rico’s toast that evening. I still couldn’t see it. I had nothing in common with the so-called ‘it girls’ of the past.

  There was that boyish smirk of JT’s, the one that said he knew something I didn’t.

  “No doubt, you’ve got potential.”

  We’d stopped walking, and I looked up to see a small café all lit up. “Where are we?”

  “I believe I promised you a coffee before I took you home. Welcome to some of the best coffee you’ll ever have in L.A.” He opened the door and waved me in. “My treat.”

  ***

  “Thanks for driving me home,” I said as we sat in the warmth and dryness of Dad’s Escalade. The only lights on inside the house were the ones I learned were on the timer. Dad still wasn’t home. Must be one long meeting I’d missed.

  “Glad to.” He turned the screen off on his phone. “Looks like it’ll be twenty minutes for my ride to get here.”

  I nodded. “That’s okay.”

  “You know, tonight still isn’t classified as our first date,” he reminded me, leaning back against the headrest and turning his head to look at me. Something serious in his eyes had me thinking…

  “Oh, really?”

  There was an assuredness about his nod. “Saturday good for you?”

  “I think I can pencil you in.”

  “Good.”

  I laughed softly and leaned over to turn on the satellite radio, flipping through Dad’s presets until I found a half-decent station.

  “You don’t have to stay out here and wait with me.”

  “And leave you alone in my driveway or sitting on my steps?” I raised an eyebrow. “You really want that role of stalker, don’t you?” I teased. “Besides, if my dad pulls in and finds you out here alone…that’s a hundred questions I don’t feel like answering tonight.”

  It had to be nearing three in the morning or so, I guessed. I really didn’t want to take a look at the time.

  “Suit yourself.”

  We listened to music for a while before he leaned forward and looked out the window, towards the gates. “I think I saw headlights on the other side of the gate.”

  I turned to look, and sure enough, it looked like a car sat there waiting. I sighed to myself, suddenly wishing the ride had taken a lot longer to get there. I turned the stereo off, and he handed me the keys.

  “I’ll let him in,” I said, about to hit the gate button on the keychain.

  “Nah, I’ll just walk to the gate. It’s fine,” he said as he stepped out and the door shut loudly behind him, breaking the sudden silence.

  “I’ll walk you down,” I said quickly, throwing my passenger side door open and stepping out, suddenly not ready to say good night.

  The rain was starting to fall again, and I pulled the baseball cap off, leaving it on the seat before I moved around to where JT stood. In the glow of the headlights, he looked like he should be on a glossy poster, in his untucked button-down shirt and jeans, his jacket wide open, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, and the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile.

  “Chey…”

  “I have to let you out, remember?” I held up the remote, glad to have that as an excuse.

  “You just don’t want to see me go.”

  I laughed, avoiding his eyes. “Yeah, right.”

  “Mmm…”

  I watched as he closed the distance between us. The rain began to fall harder, and the front of his hair started to stick to his forehead. I was just about to reach out and brush it back when he stopped in front of me.

  A hint of a smile cornered his lips, and our eyes met. He leaned down just a touch, and I could feel the warmth of his breath against my skin, smell the faintest hint of coffee.

  Before I knew what was happening and could even think about a protest, his thumb was on my chin, his fingers coiling beneath, tipping my head up. Then came the briefest meeting of our eyes, before his mouth came down on mine.

  And it was…

  Well…

  Too many words come to mind. Amazing. Awesome. Mind-numbing. Tempting, because as soon as our lips separated, I wanted to kiss him all over again.

  I took a teeny step back, all the better to think clearly. “What was that?”

  JT looked amused. “I like to think it was what they call a kiss. A pretty great kiss.”

  “Right.” I was back to my one-word answers, so that clear-thinking thing? Totally not working.

  I blinked as the Uber driver flickered his lights.

  “Looks like he’s impatient.” I slid back another half-step.

  “Looks like he just cost himself a nice tip,” he mumbled as we headed towards the gate.

  I hit the remote, and the gates moved back, letting JT through.

  “’Night, Chey.”

  “’Night.”

  I watched the gates close behind him as he walked towards the car waiting at the end of the drive, and I didn’t move ’til its red taillights disappeared in the distance. My lips still felt the sting of JT’s kiss as I headed back up to the house and noticed the door still open on the Escalade.

  I jogged over, grabbed my hat, and slammed the door, locking it behind me as I headed for the front door, my mind still replaying the last few moments with JT. A smile played on my lips as I ran a hand over my damp hair that was beginning to plaster itself to my head, but I didn’t care.

  14

  “Chey!”

  I whirled around at the sound of JT calling my name and found him running towards me, the gates shut behind him, the car long gone. And the front driveway illuminated only by the suddenly flickering outdoor light above my head.

  “What are…” I started to ask as he stopped in front of me, our faces level since I was still on the step.

  And just as he was about to answer, ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ began blaring from somewhere around us. I blinked, trying to figure out where the music came from, when his mouth opened and the words tumbled out.

  “JT?” I repeated as the muffled sound of my phone’s ringtone broke me out of my dream and I pulled the pillow over my head, wanting to drown it out—forever if possible—but it kept going. I reached down alongside the bed, trying to find the evil device that was still blaring that song. Next time, I was making sure it was on vibrate before I fell into bed.

  “Hello,” I rasped, keeping the pillow over my head. It felt like I’d just closed my eyes. Who in their right mind would be up already?

  “Hey there.”

  Sorche.

  Sounding way too perky for… I fought the urge to lift the pillow and see what time blinked on the clock on my bedside table. Whatever it said would still be too early for my liking, anyway.

  “What do you want, Sor?” I rubbed my tired eyes.

  “Uh oh, did I wake you up?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I’m thinking at quarter to one in the afternoon, I was sure you’d be up already.”
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  I lifted the corner of my pillowcase. Sure enough, sunshine was trying to break into the room through the unevenly closed curtains. I groaned and rolled over, fighting to keep my eyes shut and hang on to the last remnants of sleep.