by Tess Oliver
Reeve’s truck was parked outside the local bowling alley. Apparently his reign of terror was not going to end with just the diner today. I was glad to be away from him and his idiot friends. The highway was nearly deserted as I drove along it. Most of it ended on the ocean side with sheer cliffs that dropped down to rocky coves, which would make swimming and surfing impossible. There was plenty of wildlife enjoying the rocks and the lack of human intrusion.
The farther I drove, the closer the highway dropped to sea level, and the wider the beach grew. I turned the jeep onto a large section of flat, grassy land that looked out over a nice stretch of beach. There was a group of gulls clustered together in the grass, and they took off as I walked toward them. My foot struck a block of cement that had rusty pieces of rebar sticking out of it. There were more concrete blocks spread out over the entire space. It had obviously been the site of a large building at one time.
I walked toward the edge of the lot and looked down. A very rickety, very steep stairway wound its way down the hillside to the beach below. A rusty chain hung across the entrance to the stairs. I climbed over it onto the first step. It was worn by sea and wind, but it seemed to be strong enough to hold me. The hand railing was another thing altogether. The minute I grabbed onto it, it fell over. I was going to have to climb down the steep steps without it.
Sections of the stairway were more treacherous than others and a lot of the steps were covered with the weeds and vines coming up from the hillside, but I made it to the bottom without breaking my neck.
I walked along the beach for several minutes. It was a pretty stretch of coast surrounded by picturesque cliffs and it was totally useable. Sometimes I wondered if Dad went after places like Angel Beach just so he could feel the rush of causing a bunch of crap for other people. He saw a quiet, cozy town like Angel Beach and immediately set out to try and destroy it.
We’d struggled once and he could never understand how anyone could be happy with meager surroundings. He’d never been able to comprehend that for some people wealth and extravagance were not needed for happiness. It wasn’t even out of pure meanness that he planned to buy the town out from underneath its inhabitants. He actually believed they would be thrilled to be given a decent sum of money to pack up and leave their homes.
Hunger stirred me from my thoughts. I glanced back at the shabby stairs zigzagging up the steep hillside and wondered how I got down them in the first place. Ten minutes later, after a difficult climb back up, I’d made it to the clearing where the jeep was parked. And that’s when I saw her. My heart started beating faster than it had on my death-defying stair climb.
Her light brown hair blew in the breeze, and even from the distance I stood, I could see the tiny spray of freckles across her nose. She was pushing a bicycle with a flat back tire. It was definitely a long haul back to Angel Beach, especially with a broken bike.
My jeep caught her eye, and she stopped and glanced around until she spotted me. I waved. She hesitated before returning the wave. I jogged over to her. Her face was flushed pink from the walk making her hazel eyes stand out even more.
“It looks like you could use a ride back to town.”
She kept pushing the bike and shook her head. “No, it’s not that far. I can make it.”
“You’re kidding, right? It has got to be at least four more miles on this highway. Seriously, let me give you a ride. You can put your bike in the back.”
She stubbornly kept walking. “It’s only three point six miles from Emerald Beach back to Angel Beach.”
I walked along next to her. “Is that what this beach is called? Emerald Beach?”
She nodded and tried her hardest not to look annoyed at the fact that I was walking with her. “At dusk, the shadows from the surrounding cliffs cause the water to look to emerald green.”
“It looks like there used to be a building here. What happened to it?”
She pushed a little faster, but I kept pace with her. “It burned down about twenty years ago. My grandmother said no one wanted to rebuild it. They thought the site was jinxed, so it has remained a vacant lot.” She peeked sideways at me. “Aren’t you going to head back to your jeep?”
“Nope, I’m going to walk with you and annoy you until you let me give you a ride back.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t bite, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t throw your bike into my jeep so I can give you a ride home.” I glanced out at the horizon. The sun was already dropping quickly. “It’ll be dark soon, and this is a narrow highway. It will be dangerous for you to be walking along it. Anyhow, won’t your grandmother worry?”
She kept walking, so I grabbed hold of her handlebars. She scowled up at me and managed to look cute doing it. “I’d rather take my chances with the dark highway or anyone else who happens by as long as their name is not Freely.”
I released her bike, and she kept walking. I followed. “So if some guy with a patch on his eye and a hook on his hand and a wrapped up body in the back of his truck came along and offered you a ride, you’d get in as long as his last name wasn’t Freely?”
She lifted her chin in the air. Haughty, another look she pulled off with amazing appeal. “That’s right.”
“Well, I’m not leaving you out here alone, so I’ll walk back to town with you.”
“What about your jeep?”
I shrugged. “Reeve can give me a ride back to it later.”
She glanced at me then stopped and looked back at the jeep. It was a good distance away already.
I smiled. “Just think how much more time you’ll be spending with me if we’re walking instead of driving.”
She sighed and turned the bike around. “But if that one-eyed, one-armed driver comes by while we’re walking back to the jeep, I’m going to flag him down.”
“Understood.”
I lifted her bike into the jeep, and she slid her long legs across the seat and sat down. As I started the engine, she grabbed the seatbelt and fastened it. “Just in case you drive like your brother . . . the blond barbarian.”
I laughed. “That is actually a perfect name for Reeve. And for the record, I don’t do anything like my brother. We are polar opposites.”
She nodded weakly as if she was not really convinced. I guess I couldn’t blame her. Sometimes even I found it hard to believe that Reeve and I were related, let alone brothers.
“Your cinnamon roll was awesome, by the way. I’m thinking of lining up again tomorrow. That is, unless the waves are cranking.”
She stared out the window at the ocean. “I’m sorry about today,” she said quietly.
“That’s all right. I’m sure Reeve recovered quickly.”
Her face turned to me. “No, I’m not sorry about kicking sand at him.” She stared down at her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t very gracious to you after you stopped me from lunging at him. Truthfully, I’m not sure what I would have done to him.” She laughed softly and it fit her perfectly-- sweet, sexy and amazing. “It’s kind of comical now that I think about it. I mean he’s built like Cyclops except with two eyes instead of one.”
“I like the Cyclops nickname even better than barbarian. Barbarian is actually too cool for him.”
“He really pisses me off.”
“Yeah, try living with the guy.”
She turned to look at me and seemed to be trying to assess whether or not I was being honest with her. Then she faced forward, rolled down the window, and stuck her face out.
She glanced back at me for a second, long strands of hair danced across her incredible mouth. “This is my favorite section of coast.” She turned back to the view and pointed down at the water. “The seals have come in for the night.” She sat back with a sigh. “Too bad you can’t see them from your side. They are so cool to see with their big blubbery bodies stretched out over the rocks.�
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“So will you be a junior or a senior this year?” I asked.
“Neither. I graduated this year.”
“Really? I thought you were younger.”
“I am. I skipped a grade. I’m only sixteen.”
I turned back onto the road that led into the heart of town. “Ahh, one of those super brainiacs. Cool.”
She lifted her smooth, dark eyebrow at me. “Somehow, the word brainiac does not sound complimentary.”
“No, really, I meant it the nicest way. I’ll amend it to just plain super brain.”
“Better.”
We were halfway through town and a mile from her house when loud music and voices pulled up behind us at a red light. The grill of Reeve’s truck was in my rear view mirror.
“Speaking of Cyclops.”
Echo’s mouth tightened and she looked upset. “I’m going to walk from here.” She went to open the door but I stopped her.
“Let me just take you the rest of the way home.”
Right then something hit the jeep’s back fender, and we lurched forward a couple of feet. I hung my head out the window. “You better not have left a dent you asshat or you’ll have to pay for it.”
The driver’s side door opened and Reeve hopped out just as the light changed. Cars were honking at him as he walked right through the lane of traffic. He raised his hand up in the air and flipped them off.
“You really are psycho, do you know that?” I asked as he leaned his face down to the window.
He ignored my comments and glared at my passenger. Echo did not turn to look at him. “What the hell is that little witch doing in your jeep?”
Cars continued to drive around us with drivers honking and cussing us out as they sped past.
“Get out of the road, you idiot, before someone runs you down,” I said.
Reeve didn’t say a word. He continued to stare at Echo, who continued to ignore him. A police car was coming toward us.
I glanced at my brother. “Here comes your friend. See ya.”
Reeve had to jump out of the way of my tires as I took off leaving him standing in the middle of the road holding up traffic.
I pulled the jeep up in front of the shop just as Reeve sped past in his truck. He laid on the horn as he drove by and did not stop until he reached our place. I opened up the back and pulled the bike out.
Echo smiled up at me for only a millisecond but it made my day. “Thanks,” she said and disappeared down the pathway between the shops.
I headed home and dreaded seeing Reeve and his crew of jerks. As soon as I walked in, Matt ran up to me smelling heavily like beer. He was waving a pink flyer in my face, and I smacked it out of his hand.
“Dude,” he said looking insulted, “we’re going to a party. The town’s having a dance and we’re all invited.”
“I’m sure we’re not on their guest list,” I said and headed to my bedroom.
“Uh, your room is occupied at the moment.” Matt flopped on the couch. “Julie’s in there with Brandon.”
Reeve stepped out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand. “So the traitor has returned.”
I went over to my bedroom door and knocked loudly on it. “In order for me to be a traitor, I would have to have some kind of loyalty to you. But I don’t have a shred of it, you or Dad for that matter.”
The muscles in Reeve’s jaw twitched as he glared at me with enough anger to burn a hole through me. And at this point, I wasn’t too sure that he wouldn’t attempt a hole with his fist. There was no answer from the bedroom, so I kicked the door open. Julie screamed and covered herself. Brandon sat up ready to fly at the intruder until he saw it was me. He backed-off immediately.
“Get out, both of you. And take the sheets with you. I don’t want them anymore.”
Julie wrapped herself in the quilt and picked up her trail of clothing. She sneered at me as she walked past. “Jerk.”
I shrugged. “Guilty as charged.” With the room vacated, I slammed the door shut behind me and flopped down on the bare mattress. My mind drifted back to the few moments I’d had alone in the jeep with Echo. She had invaded my thoughts completely. She was like no girl I’d ever met, and I had no idea how I was ever going to convince her to trust me.
Chapter 9
Echo
It was completely stupid and so not like me, but I had to admit I was disappointed that Jamison had not waited in line for a roll this morning. Of course, from what I could see through the dim light of the morning sun, the waves were pumping. Or maybe it was because we hadn’t opened the kitchen window, so the enticing fragrance never made its way to the beach.
I must have glanced up toward the front window of the shop a billion times in hopes that he would be standing out there, but he never showed and I found myself profoundly disappointed. And now I was disappointed in myself for being disappointed. I mean what was I thinking? No matter how hot or charming he was, nothing could change the fact that he was a Freely.
There was no time for body surfing, skateboarding, or biking today. Mimi and I had been persuaded by Gertie to help decorate the high school auditorium and quad area for the summer barbecue. Gertie was in charge of the decorations, so naturally she chose a Hawaiian theme.
I had to admit that after three hours of hanging long strands of cheesy plastic flowers, and setting up pineapple centerpieces on tables, the place looked pretty festive, especially considering the school auditorium usually looked outdated and gloomy.
We stood in the doorway and took one last look around. “Well, Gertie, you’ve done it again,” I said. Gertie tried hard to fight back a smile. “Never in a million years would I recognize this place as the smelly, dank school auditorium.”
Gertie released the smile. “It does look splendid, doesn’t it?”
Mimi put her hand on Gertie’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful, Gert, just beautiful.”
Gertie spun around and headed to the door. “I just remembered I need to help Bill get the audio equipment.” She glanced back at us over her shoulder. “Can’t very well have a dance without music!”
After three hours of decorating followed by three hours of making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow’s customers, I hardly felt in the mood to go to a dance. Of course I had no choice in the matter. It was an Angel Beach tradition.
Two hours into the party, Zach and I found ourselves trying to devise a plan of escape. “It’s like watching a rerun of the same show once a year, on the same date, and at the same place.” Zach took a bite of his burger.
I took a sip of the lemonade that had too much lemon and not enough sugar. My lips twisted from the sourness. “Well, let’s see, the evening started the usual way with Mrs. Brackmeyer yelling at her husband for not wanting to dance with her. Mike Forrest did his usual burning of the first tray of hamburgers then promptly blamed the barbecue for being too hot. Gertie held her gripe session with the usual victims telling them how much work it was to bring the whole event together. And Jeanette, my on-again off-again friend, has pissed off every guy in town by promising them a dance and then spending the whole night with Alex Trayton.”
Zach lifted his burger to his mouth then stopped before taking a bite. “Speaking of Jeanette, here she comes.”
I groaned. “Damn, is Alex with her?”
“Nope.” He continued with his hamburger.
Jeanette threw her leg over the bench and plopped down next to me. Jeanette was one of those lucky girls who had sprouted a chest way ahead of anyone else. On top of that she had beautiful skin and blue eyes. Even though she mostly just used guys for free dinners and movies, she was still every guy’s dream girl. Even Zach had had a crush on her in junior high, until she’d called him little guy one day. That was all he needed to turn off the crush switch.
Jeannette reached over and grabbed one of Zach’s potato chips. He scowled a
t her as she popped it into her mouth. “So, Coco, have you seen the new boys? I haven’t seen them yet because, so far this summer, my mom has had me imprisoned in my house. She only let me out to come to this lame event.”
“I saw your text. How did you get grounded?”
She waved her hand. “It was so stupid, and my mom blows everything completely out of proportion. All I did was climb out of the bedroom window to go down to the beach for a midnight bonfire. She caught me on the way back in when her yappy, little poodle heard me open the window.”
“Had you forgotten that you had a dog who barks at every movement of air?”
“Yeah, well, whatever.” She reached over to grab another chip, but Zach blocked her with his hand. “Jeez, didn’t anyone ever teach you how to share?”
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to grab food off other people’s plates?” Zach snapped.
Jeanette rolled her eyes. “Anyhow, Coco, back to my original question, have you seen them?”
“Who? The Freely brothers?”
“Yeah, are they as hot as I’ve been hearing? Facebook has been lighting up on the topic of the Freely brothers.”
“They are Freelys. Which means they are jerks. Or did you forget that they are trying to buy up this town?”
Jeanette looked annoyed and frustrated. “I didn’t ask you if they were jerks. I just wanted to know if they were hot. Besides, my parents already signed a deal that they would sell their house to Mr. Freely. They’ve wanted to move back east for awhile, and since I’m going to college in New York, this was a perfect opportunity for them.”
“They sold out to Freely?”
Jeanette put her hand on my shoulder, and I wanted to push it off. “Relax, Coco. They didn’t sell out. They wanted to leave. You always make such a big deal out of everything.” She got up and I was happy to see her go, but seconds later she sat back down on the bench and leaned within whispering distance. “They’re here. The Freely’s are here, and they are definitely hot.” She jumped up and left as quickly as she’d sat down.