Soaked (The Water's Edge #2)

by Stacy Kestwick

  “I mean . . .” She rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively through the air, still holding the knife. “ . . . besides that fucked up stuff your ex did.”

  I deflated. Of course, she’d heard about it.

  Everyone knew, apparently.

  I opened my mouth then closed it again, unsure what to say. Certain parts of my tropical adventure didn’t need to be shared—with anyone. “The island was beautiful. I even went paddle-boarding a few times, if you can believe it. And the photos I took there were some of my best work yet, but I don’t know if any of that matters. I haven’t talked to Grady yet . . . I’m not sure if he still plans on using them. I doubt it.”

  “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “My name . . .” I scowled. “Asher did a pretty good job of screwing me over.” Hailey froze in the act of chopping, and I mentally replayed what I just said. “Oh, God. Not like that. That’s not what I meant.” I buried my face in my hands, unable to meet her eyes.

  When she giggled, I peeked through my fingers at her. “Sorry. But that word choice was priceless.”

  I attacked the apple in front of me a little harder than was necessary. “It’s just . . . I was starting to find myself again, ya know? And then he swooped back in and destroyed me. For a second time. Who the hell does stuff like that?”

  “Assholes,” she said solemnly. “Assholes who don’t deserve to ever call themselves men.”

  I nodded and we worked in silence for a few minutes, with me ignoring the questioning looks she kept shooting my way. Finally, I dropped my knife and threw my arms up in the air. “What is it? You obviously brought me here to talk about something. Let’s talk.”

  Pushing her wooden cutting board aside, she leaned over the bar, resting on her elbows and propping her chin on her hands. Her face lit up with excitement, and her eyes shone with unbridled curiosity. “Is it true? Did West really show up and kick that guy’s ass? I know he went up there, but he won’t talk about what happened. At least, not with me.”

  My jaw fell open in shock. “That’s what you want to talk about?”

  “One of the things.” She shrugged, looking sheepish. “I’m just trying to picture West riding up there to rescue you, all knight-in-shining-armor style.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “While I’m not denying that he did give that piece of scum the beat down he deserved, let the record show that I had the situation firmly under control before he arrived.”

  Hailey dropped her arms to the bar and her eyes widened. “You were kicking his ass?”

  I tipped my head to one side then the other, then smiled with satisfaction at the memory. “Even better. I had him arrested. Let’s just say I wanted to give him the gift that would keep on giving, the same way he did to me with those videos.”

  She stared at me, frozen as she absorbed my words. “I think you’re my hero,” she finally managed.

  I threw back my head and laughed, a loud, genuine belly laugh. “That’s a girl’s secret weapon—the one men never seem to expect. Revenge.”

  With the ice broken between us, I turned the conversation back in her direction, and she caught me up on the antics of Cody. Ever since I’d pulled him from the bottom of her grandma’s pool earlier in the summer, I’d felt a bond with the adorable red-headed two-year-old. Hailey had me in stitches over an incident where he wanted to help feed his Jack Russell, Edison, and kept refilling the bowl every time the dog emptied it. Only, Cody was feeding the dog Froot Loops. By the time Hailey discovered what had happened, the box was empty . . . and Edison puked all afternoon. Which she also didn’t realize until she found Cody covered in dog vomit. Rainbow-colored dog vomit.

  She glared at me as I covered my mouth to hide my mirth. “I have a childproof cover over the pantry door handle now.”

  A tear slipped down my cheek and I hopped up from the barstool. “Oh God, I gotta pee. I’ll be right back.”

  I hurried past picnic tables and dodged my way around the games on the side, air hockey, foosball, and pool tables. Three guys were shooting pool and gave me a passing glance as I rushed by. I pushed open the door marked Ladies and slid into the first stall, barely making it in time before my bladder released. Taking a deep breath, I looked at the walls in confusion.

  Last time I’d been in here, scrawled messages—declarations of love, snarky comments about unfaithful guys, and, most memorably, a life-sized drawing of West’s erection—had covered the painted walls. But now, they were blank. Just a fresh coat of warm turquoise paint.

  Finishing my business, I ducked my head into the other empty stalls.

  No writing. Anywhere.

  I washed my hands, mulling it over. I wasn’t exactly heartbroken to have all the scribblings of the West Montgomery Fan Club gone. It’d always made me uneasy to see how many girls lusted over West—or claimed to know him intimately.

  Pensive, I paid more attention as I returned to the bar. The graffiti out here still covered the walls, but all the picnic tables had a new coat of whitewash. The old markings still showed through, they were just faded now. Newer doodles darkened the surfaces here and there, but it had all been toned down a notch while still maintaining the same casual, lived-in atmosphere.

  Hailey eyes sparkled as she watched me look around, a knowing smirk pulling on her lips. “You finally noticed, huh?”

  I scrunched my eyebrows together. “West and Wyatt made some changes?”

  She paused a beat, watching me. “West did. Wyatt went along with it.”

  “But . . . why?”

  She raised her eyebrows at me pointedly and plucked another strawberry from the pile to slice. When the silence stretched, she sighed, putting the knife down on the cutting board. “You,” she said simply.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s—” She waved her hand toward the bar. “—a sign. He wanted the crap all those chicks throw his way gone. But more than that, he wanted to show he wasn’t available. Maybe they got the message, maybe they didn’t. But, mostly, he did it out of respect for you. To show you he was serious.”

  Unable to meet her intent gaze, I carefully sliced the rest of the apple into precise, equal pieces.

  I’ve tried to show you. West’s words echoed in my mind.

  “Did he tell you that?” I didn’t look at her as I asked the question. My focus stayed on my task, as if her answer didn’t matter.

  As if my heart wasn’t slamming against the cage of my ribs, threatening to escape.

  When she didn’t answer, I finally stole a quick glance at her. She was smiling softly at me.

  “He didn’t have to.”

  Hot tears burned the back of my eyes, and I bit my lip.

  “Have you talked to him yet?” She pitched her voice low, hesitant with her question.

  I shook my head, and swallowed the lump in my throat. I hadn’t expected this. It was just paint, but it felt so much bigger.

  The wisest person I know, my sister, told me actions speak louder than words.

  “Did you tell him to do it? Was this remodeling your idea?”

  “No, Sadie. This was all West. I might have suggested that he needed to up his game where you’re concerned, but that’s it.”

  I nodded, relieved, and slid the apple chunks over to her. Without a word, she handed me four mangoes. We worked in silence for long minutes, the only sounds the clink of the pool balls and the steady thwap of our knives on the cutting boards. She was waiting me out, letting me turn all this new information over.

  “You knew,” I said. Two of the mangoes were done and I was halfway through the third. “You knew and that’s why you wanted me to meet you here today. So I’d see this.”

  She looked offended. “Can’t a girl just miss her friend? And want some help chopping up all this damn fruit? You did such a good job with it last time, I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

  I snorted. “Riiiiiight.”

  Her face twisted as she worked to hide her smirk, until she lost the battle and it brok
e free. “Maybe I just thought you needed a little nudge.”

  “Real subtle, Hailey.”

  She shrugged, unconcerned. “If you guys would just open your eyes and see what the rest of us do when you look at each other, I wouldn’t have to scheme. It’s so damn obvious.”

  “It’s just . . . it’s just not always that simple.” I sighed, frustrated. “And I haven’t even been able to find your brother to talk to him.”

  She made a face at me. “You lose your phone again?”

  “No, I didn’t lose my phone again,” I mocked her, my aggravation making my voice rise a little at the end. “But some conversations deserve more than a just a phone call.”

  She dipped her head in reluctant agreement. “He’ll be back in town Saturday night, the same night as the gala.” She looked at me meaningfully, as if daring me to come up with another excuse. “You are still going to the gala, aren’t you? I already told Cody you’d be there. He’s excited to see you again. Grandma is too.”

  My heart melted a little at the thought of seeing Cody again. And her grandmother was pure gold. A true Southern lady, proper when necessary, steely when needed, and blinded by love when it came to her own family. I adored her too.

  “You’re not gonna let Aubrey’s bullshit keep you from showing up, are you?”

  I bit the inside of my cheek. I had considered bailing on the event. As much as I’d hoped to use the Sailing Regatta Gala as a chance to network my budding business, Paper Plane Photography, now I wasn’t so sure. Aubrey had made sure to spread the news of my videos among the island residents of my generation. I wasn’t sure how far her poison had reached though. An evening of people laughing at me, either behind my back or directly to my face, wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time.

  Letting Aubrey win this round wasn’t really an option either, though. But beyond the concern for my own business, was how my actions might reflect upon both Grady and West—and hell, even Rue for that matter. Although, I had no doubt that Rue would be happy to stand by my side and give Aubrey a great big middle finger if she tried to pull any shit to my face.

  “Actually,” Hailey hesitated, twisting her engagement ring on her on finger. Her fiancé was a U.S. Marine currently deployed overseas. “She’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

  I tipped my head to the side, unsure where she was going with this little detour. “Oh?” I wiped any expression from my face, bracing myself for bad news.

  “Look, I don’t like to gossip or get in the middle of other people’s relationships or whatever it is you’ve got going on with my brother,” she said in a rush, not quite meeting my eyes. I think she was watching my chin as she pushed the words from her mouth, like if she did it quick, like ripping off a bandage, maybe it wouldn’t suck so bad. “But I was working here last weekend, filling in for West when he took off like a bat out of hell to go to Tennessee, and Aubrey was here with her friends—you know, the hard plastic looking ones with perfect teeth? Anyways, they must’ve had too much grog, or not known I could hear them, or hell, maybe they just didn’t care, but Aubrey started talking about West.”

  She paused again, and peeked up at me from under her lashes, her eyes big and pleading, like a puppy’s. “And you. She was bragging about how she’d finally sent you running and West was hers again. Something about . . . some pictures? At his place? Does that mean something to you? I wasn’t sure what that was about. But anyway, something about planting some pictures and you finding them at the perfect time. And then she was cackling about you appearing out of the blue at the marina when she sprained her ankle. That the timing couldn’t have been better.”

  She took a deep breath and poured me a shot, top shelf, and slid it across the bar. I drank it down in one swallow, face blank, and then rolled the empty glass between my palms, absorbing her words. I stared at one of the pinned dollar bills over Hailey’s shoulder. The currency tacked behind the bar all had pick-up lines scrawled on them. I was fixated on one I hadn’t seen before. Do you live on a chicken farm? You sure know how to raise a cock.

  Hailey reached out, the woven nautical bracelets I knew she’d made herself sliding down her wrist, and gently took the glass from me, setting it in the bin with the other dirty ones; then she placed the knife I’d been using earlier behind the counter, out of reach. Taking precautions, I guess. “I don’t know if what she said makes any sense or not, but I don’t trust her, and if I’m going to possibly have one of you as my sister-in-law one day, I’d pick you a million times over her.”

  Her words buzzed faintly in the background. I barely heard her. Instead, I was back at the beach house West and Wyatt shared, the day I realized I’d fallen in love with West. The day I pictured a future with him.

  With us.

  And then she’d been there, wearing only one of West’s shirts, looking all rumpled. And West had sworn she’d just been drunk and sleeping it off on the couch, and I’d wanted to believe him, but then I saw the pictures in his nightstand. The boudoir pics I’d taken of her. Glossy image after glossy image of her more naked than clothed, tucked right next to his bed.

  Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? So I’d rushed out, not looking back.

  My dreams crushed.

  And he hadn’t chased me.

  But since then he’d told me he loved me, and sent me love notes, and driven twelve hours to save me from Asshole, and given me space.

  And he’d fucking painted the bathroom.

  I swayed on the seat, eyes unfocused, pulse tripping as it tried to keep pace with my whirling mind. I loved him. I did. But at the same time, he scared me.

  I didn’t want to be hurt again. Could you love without risk? I didn’t think so.

  The room blurred around the edges, and I exhaled the breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding.

  And I realized.

  He made me want to believe in the magic of paper airplanes.

  MY NAME. SOMEONE was saying my name.

  “Sadie? You okay?” Hailey waved her hand in front of my face. Her brows dipped in worry and she pushed another glass across the bar to me. Water this time.

  I snatched up the glass too fast, splashing some over the rim as I took a long swallow. Drops splattered across the front of my cotton shirt, but I ignored them.

  “He’ll be back in two days?”

  She nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face. “You’re gonna talk to him, aren’t you?”

  I lifted a brow. “If things go right, I’ll do more than just talk to him.”

  “Ew.” She threw a towel at me. “You realize he’s my brother, right? I don’t want to think about his . . . extracurricular activities.”

  I mopped up the mess I’d made on the worn, wooden bar top and dabbed at my shirt, sopping up the worst of it.

  “So he gets back the same day as the gala? Dammit, I’m gonna have to try to corner him beforehand. Or on the way there. Or something.” I was thinking out loud, forming my plan.

  “Oh.” Her voice trailed off and Hailey spun around, busying herself with the fruit in the cooler. She dumped in the rest we’d cut up and poured a whole bottle of Everclear over the top.

  “Hailey?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Why won’t you look at me all the sudden?”

  She shook her head. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Just something I overheard at the house the other night, during one of the planning meetings Aubrey came over for.”

  I rolled my eyes. Could she drag this out any longer?

  “ . . . and?”

  She stirred the fruit with a wooden spoon, studiously avoiding my gaze.

  “What’d you hear?”

  Reluctance and apology colored her voice. “Aubrey was whining about how hard it is to drive in heels and Grandma sorta kinda volunteered West to go pick her up.” She mumbled the last part, and it took me a second to process what she said.

  I pursed my lips and my knee started bouncing in irritation. “So your brother is t
aking Aubrey to the gala.” It wasn’t a question. It was me acknowledging Aubrey worming her way between me and West. Again.

  “I mean, I don’t think they’re going together like, a date or anything. I think he’s just . . . picking her up,” she finished, looking at me helplessly. “Honestly, she set the whole thing up. Grandma fell for it, and West was stuck looking like a jerk if he refused. It’s only a mile away.”

  “And Aubrey is incapable of driving in heels? When I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in flats.” My sarcasm wasn’t lost on Hailey.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sure you’re the one he hoped to take as his date.”

  I drummed my fingers to the same rhythm I was bouncing my knee. “Yeah? I don’t know.”

  “I’m sure he just—”

  “You know what? I’ll see him there. I’ll drive myself. In heels, no less.”

  THE NEXT DAY, I stood outside of Grady’s penthouse office at the Water’s Edge resort, fighting the nerves that had my stomach rolling. I’d requested the meeting, hoping to apologize and find out where I stood with the company. If I still had any employment at all—as a photographer or a lifeguard.

  My expectations weren’t very high on either count.

  I picked a piece of lint off the pale pink shell I’d paired with slim black pants and pointy-toed flats. I’d pinned my hair back off my face too, trying to exude a professionalism I certainly didn’t feel as I waited for Grady to answer my knock.

  A minute passed. Shit. Maybe he didn’t hear me? I’d knocked more timidly than I meant to, my anxiety showing through the too-soft action.

  Or . . . maybe that was his response? Maybe not answering the door was the message he was sending me. That I wasn’t welcome here any longer.

  But, no. The Grady I’d come to know, the one who’d taken salsa lessons with me on the island and surfed with abandon, he would never be so rude. He’d at least hear me out before he sent me packing.

  I raised my hand again, and squared my shoulders. My knuckles had almost met the dark, solid-wood door when it whooshed open. My hand continued its arc, not meeting the expected resistance, and rapped Grady’s shoulder, hard enough to make him take a step back.