We pulled up at the cottage, and what was supposed to be a small BBQ looked like a huge party. I put the car in park and stared in awe at the amount of people filling the cottage grounds. There must have been at least a hundred people already―they were not just some of the guys, like Nolan had said. I got out and Nolan ran up to meet me. He looked very unhappy.
“Nice BBQ,” I joked. He didn’t laugh.
“You have to go,” he said as he pushed me back into my car.
“What?” Kyleigh said.
“What?” I repeated.
He looked down, not meeting my eyes. Something was definitely wrong. I looked at the crowd and the people there and spotted Lily and Oliver on the front porch kissing. Surprisingly I didn’t care. I wouldn’t let her ruin my nights anymore.
“I don’t care about that,” I told Nolan pointing to Lily. “I’m not going to let her stop me from living my life, not anymore.”
Nolan frowned and shook his head. “It’s not her. I just … I just don’t want you getting hurt. You have to go, Sadie. Trust me. You don’t want to be here.”
My stomach clenched. What was going on? I was knocked for a loop. Nolan was completely serious.
“Okay. Fine.” I was mad, but not at him. He grabbed me before I got into the car again.
“Listen, Sadie, I promise to tell you everything tomorrow. Just know that I never meant to hurt you. I never meant for you to get hurt by anyone.” He was talking so strangely. I was more than curious as to what his reason for all of this was. He hugged me fast and quickly turned around. I got in my car and Kyleigh threw her hands up in the air.
“What the hell?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Kyleigh. Let’s just go see a movie,” I suggested. She put her feet up on the dash and nodded.
“That sounds better than this anyway.” She was lying through her teeth, but that’s when I realized she was a true friend.
***
The next morning Nolan wasn’t at school. I frowned when I sat down next to his empty chair. Nash was there waiting for me when I pulled in, but instead of greeting him, I hid in the girls bathroom. I didn’t feel like seeing him. He wasn’t what I thought he was, and there was something about Nash that I didn’t trust. Maybe it was him telling me his mom died of cancer; that, it turned out, was a big fat lie. I had found out his mom attended a book club with Kyleigh’s mom. She said his mom was alive and well, although she’d never met her. So for once I was blowing off a guy instead of the other way around.
He was being really sneaky with me and cryptic. The practice schedule with Oliver and how I couldn’t be there was just weird.
So, I sat through my morning Nolan free. I talked more about the book with Kyleigh and wrote a paper. Finally lunch came. I took Kyleigh with me to the diner, and we ate the same sandwich. I texted Nolan three times and got no response. When I got back to school, Nash’s truck was gone.
When school ended, I felt horrible, like something bad happened. I decided to go to the cottage and look for Nolan myself. Odds were he was there, and I didn’t know where he lived anyhow.
I pulled into the driveway, and Nolan’s car was parked off to the side. He was here, and I hoped he was alone.
When I knocked, no one answered. I knocked again and still nothing. Where was he? I walked to his balcony and the lights were dark. Maybe he was sick, and he was asleep? I left, but I felt awful still. An odd feeling came over me; I couldn’t shake it.
You’re scaring me. Where r u? I texted. Still no reply.
***
The rest of the week was the same. I blew Nash off and Nolan wasn’t there. Me and Kyleigh hung out after school every day at the lake. I didn’t tell her how I felt or how I was trying so hard to work up the courage to tell Nash I couldn’t go to Clear tonight with him. Instead, she gave me tips on what to wear and what to avoid. She frequented Clear, it seemed, because she knew the place in and out.
“Are you excited?” she asked catching me off guard.
“Oh, yeah. Totally,” I lied and faked a smile.
She put her hand on her hip and shook her head. “Liar.”
Why was I lying to her? It wasn’t like I had anything to prove to Kyleigh. She wasn’t like Lily. She wasn’t judgmental, and she wouldn’t care.
So I told her the truth. “I don’t know what it is about Nash, but he kind of creeps me out now. I feel like he’s hiding something from me. And the way he covers up for Oliver, it makes me sick,” I confessed. “Nolan told me to leave the other night and afterward he didn’t come to school the rest of the week. I just have a terrible feeling.”
She plopped down in the sand next to me and brushed a stray hair out of my face.
“Sadie, I knew something was up. I knew you weren’t at all happy about this,” she laughed. “Just don’t go. It would teach him a lesson, that’s for sure.” I knew Kyleigh wasn’t on Team Nash, she had warned me in the beginning about him. I was thinking that maybe I should have listened to her.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Nash can be pretty cocky. I’d like to see him knocked down a peg.”
I nodded. I did see him being cocky at times, but he was always nice to me. The first guy ever to pay me any attention and I did say that I’d go. I didn’t want to flake out and be rude. Maybe it was just this thing with Lily making me feel the way I did. Maybe when I got there I’d feel better. All we needed was some time alone. Some time to actually spend together for once with no interruptions.
“No. I’m gonna go. I owe it to myself to see just what type of person Nash Rylan is,” I said. “And I need to have a little fun.”
***
I wore a silver maxi dress with heels and my hair up in a tight bun. I looked good. Not sort of good, but damn good. My mom had a fit about my dress, but I told her it was in style now. She didn’t believe me and tried to put sweaters on me to cover me up.
“Mom, once you dressed like this. I know you did because I saw pictures,” I told her before I left. “I’m not going to turn into a hooker just because I’m wearing a short dress. You can trust me.”
She considered what I had to say and in the end decided that I was right. “Well, just be careful, okay?”
I kissed her on the cheek and said, “I promise I will.” Thankfully she gave up on the idea of meeting Nash when I told her we were just friends and there was no romance. It was sort of true in a way.
I sat waiting for Nash to pick me up. I felt like a total idiot waiting for him at the end of my street. I kind of did feel like a hooker; I was standing on a street corner for God sakes. Finally, I saw his big black truck barreling down the road ahead. I stood taller and pulled my dress down just a bit. He pulled up in front of me, and I waited a moment to see if he would open my door. He didn’t. Rude.
The door opened for me from the inside, and I came face to face with another girl. What the?
She smiled at me with a huge grin and in a sweet lilting voice said, “Hey there, you must be Sadie. Come on in, sweetie.”
I grabbed the handle and pulled myself into the truck. Nash’s face stared dead ahead, and he didn’t say a word. What the hell was going on?
I sat next to the girl, and she put her hand out. “I’m Amelie, nice to meet ‘ya. Nash here said we’re giving you a lift to Clear, and I said that is just the best thing ever.” Her southern accent was thick. Most of us had a little twang, but this girl was full on. I could tell she came from a rich southern family. It was apparent from her big hair and her sense of style; she dressed like a debutant in a pink dress that came to her calves. She was modest, and I was dressed the complete opposite. I pulled my dress down a little more.
I took her outstretched hand and shook it. Was she his sister?
“So, Amelie … um …” I didn’t know what to say. I pulled the door closed, and as I looked at my house, I thought I could just get out and run back there. I turned around and faced Nash, who still looked ahead as he gased the engine and we took off. So much fo
r running home. Instead I tried to talk to her again, “You said you’re giving me a ride. Does that mean you’re not staying at the club?”
She laughed. “Of course we are, silly. Nash, does Sadie not know that we’re meeting him there?”
“Meeting who?” I asked. I was completely clueless at this point and trapped in a truck with a psycho-debutant and the driver from hell. He sped through town and gripped the wheel. He looked like a crazed lunatic. Maybe next time I should listen to my instincts and stand the guy up.
Amelie laughed again and playfully hit me on the shoulder. “Nolan, of course. Your boyfriend, silly.”
“My what?”
I was shocked at her words. She was definitely confused. Then I looked at her closely and everything fell into place. The way she sat next to him as he drove, and the way her hand grazed his thigh, she wasn’t his sister.
“Holy shit! You’re his girlfriend, aren’t you?”
She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Of course, silly. Nash, this girl is funny!”
“Yeah.” he said.
Then he didn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive. He clenched the steering wheel, and I clenched my fists around the door handle. Could I jump out of this car? Would I die?
The answer was yes. The way Nash drove to the club, I would jump out and he would run me over just for fun. His eyes looked angry and evil, and I was certain I’d never seen a guy look like this ever before. My dad would get angry, but not like this. And really, why was he so angry? I was the one who should be pissed. He had a girlfriend! From the looks of it, a longtime girlfriend too. The longer he drove, the angrier I became. Especially since Amelie didn’t shut the heck up, ever! She went on and on about her volunteer work with the ambulance squad and her work at Camp Haven. She was just too damn good. I couldn’t be mad at a girl who gave mouth to mouth to a little girl and saved her from drowning just yesterday.
Besides she didn’t know about me either. As far as she knew I was Nolan’s girl not Nash’s. She was innocent in this just like I was, but that didn’t mean that made this situation any easier or sitting next to her more bearable.
Finally, we reached Clear’s parking lot where Nash jerked the truck into a tight spot and got out in a hurry. He slammed the door behind him.
“Nash Thomas Rylan,” Amelie shouted. “You open the door for us ladies right now. Don’t you remember your manners? My goodness, Sadie, I’m so dreadfully sorry. I don’t know what’s come over him tonight.”
I did. He was stuck in the car with his girlfriend and the girl he’s been making false promises to for the past three weeks. I wondered how Nash got himself into this mess in the first place. How did he even think that having two girls would be easy? Or fair?
I looked at Amelie and shrugged. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Nash was cheating with me. And honestly was he? We hadn’t kissed. He’d snuck into my room, flirted like crazy and held my hand, but we didn’t do much more. I knew though, if given the chance, he would have done more and heck, so would I. Why he didn’t tell me about his girlfriend was beyond me. I would have understood that he was involved and left him alone. But he didn’t seem like he wanted that. He wanted to be alone with me tonight, and that didn’t happen. I turned away from Amelie and felt the tears coming fast and hard. Why was I crying? I didn’t do anything wrong. I had to get out of the truck fast, so I opened the door and Amelie got out after me. I slammed the door and when she headed in, I walked the opposite direction. No way would I be hanging out all night with the two of them watching them dance and kiss. No thanks.
I found a bus stop up ahead and slipped off my shoes. The walk would be too painful in my heels, and I’d rather barefoot it.
“Wait!” I turned to the voice behind me expecting Nash but seeing Nolan instead. He ran toward me, waving his arms. Part of me wanted to run to him and let him hug the tears away, but the other part hated that he kept this huge secret from me. Nash was his brother, and there was no way he didn’t know about Amelie. All this time he didn’t tell me. Instead, he hid it from me while claiming to be my friend. At that moment I was angrier at him.
Fourteen
I turned away and ran from him like I wanted to run from Nash’s truck when I saw another girl in it. Sure, it was silly, but I wanted to get away from him. I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust anyone. I turned a corner and ducked into a quiet coffee shop. Just as I got inside the door, Nolan ran past. I sat at a table and a cute waitress came over to take my order. I fished out the only money I had for the night and ordered a plain coffee. She smiled at me like she could see I was not having the best night. A few minutes later, she brought me a latte and a cookie. “On me,” she said with a kind smile.
I thanked her and slid down into the chair. The hot latte burned the pain I felt away. I was getting good at heartbreak lately. I could really handle shitty situations.
The chime on the door rang, and I looked up to see Nolan scanning the room for me. Once he spotted me, he bit his lip and came toward me slowly, afraid I was going to bolt. I considered it―that or throwing my latte at him and heading out the back door. I decided to sit still and see what he had to say, so I could act like I didn’t care.
He held out his hands. “Can I sit down?”
“I don’t know, can liars sit down?” I cocked my head.
He looked stunned for a second. “Liar? Me?”
“Yes, you, Nolan. You and your brother. Both liars.” I squared my shoulders and squinted my eyes. “Are you going to say that you never lied for your brother?”
He sat in front of me and scooted his chair closer to the table. “In my defense, he’s my brother. At first I didn’t even know you. He asked me to not mention Amelie, so I didn’t. I didn’t know what he was up to. He then told me that he and Amelie broke up.”
“Uh-huh. Go on.”
“Then at the party I saw that she was working that night on the ambulance squad. She was one of the people to load Lily in the back of the ambulance.”
She was there? I jogged my memory from that night and realized I did remember her.
“So, is that why he took off?” I asked.
“Yes. He saw her, and he knew he had to hightail it out of there or face the wrath of her questions. He was at a party when he told her he was hanging out with my dad. He lied to her.”
The puzzle was fitting together nicely now. Nash was a huge liar! His story to me about his mom dying wasn’t true. He took off because his girlfriend was there when just moments before, he was on top of me tickling me. I felt so stupid.
“What about the lie he told me that your mom died of cancer last year?” I asked.
“What? He said that to you?” Nolan questioned looking shocked.
“That’s what he told me. That was his reasoning for taking off that night. He said he didn’t like to be around sick people,” I said as I took a bite of my cookie. It melted in my mouth and made the whole situation better. I loved cookies.
“There’s no excuse for that one,” he said shaking his head in shame. “I have to tell you, I didn’t like what my brother did. Honestly, I knew he was lying to you about practice nights because he was back with Amelie. He was spending all his time with her. That’s why I offered to take you up to the cottage on those nights.”
“So you could help him out? So he could be with Amelie and I wouldn’t be any wiser?” Heat filled my cheeks, and I knew I was yelling. I didn’t care.
“No,” he whispered. “No, Sadie, no I swear. I did it because I felt bad for you. I felt bad that you were caught up in all of his shit. I wanted to tell you that day at the cottage, I swear. But …”
He paused.
“But, what?”
“At first I thought you were just like all the other girls. Obsessed with Nash Rylan, but I realized you were different. So very different. And up at the cottage when I wanted to tell you about Nash, you started talking about Lily, and I didn’t think I c
ould hurt you. I knew if I told you about my brother lying to you, it would be one more thing for you to handle. It would be another injury to your heart. When you came to my barbeque the other night, he was there with Amelie; that’s why I told you to leave. He’d turned it into his own party―like he always does―and he invited her. I didn’t want you to see them together, I’m sorry.” His eyes dropped from mine and they fell on the table. He looked so sad and young.
He was protecting me from getting hurt again. I couldn’t be mad at Nolan because it wasn’t his fault. It was Nash’s fault. He was the real asshole here. Instead of telling me about Amelie, he lied and spun a huge web that I fell into. But with Nolan’s help I was coming free.
“I knew there was something about your brother,” I admitted, recalling what I had told Kyleigh earlier in the day.
“You did?”
“There was this feeling in my gut, and I couldn’t shake it. I guess I should have listened to it, huh?”
“I always say to listen to your heart. It’s the most honest thing about a person,” he said. He took my hand from across the table and squeezed. “Let me drive you home.”
I shook my head. “No. Please, I’m not ready to go home yet.”
“Then let’s go up to the cottage.”
I nodded and threw the measly five dollars I had on the table. Nolan took my hand in his, and I felt the warmth spread through me. He took my five dollars, handed it back to me, and placed a twenty on the table. He was truly gentle and kind and honest. Why didn’t I meet him first? Why did I have to waste these last few weeks on Nash?
I put my shoes on and limped down the street to his car. He took notice and shook his head.
“Do your feet hurt?” I nodded. “Here.”
He bent down and scooped me up in his arms cradling me, then draped his jacket around my legs covering me up. He carried me cradled up like that until we reached his car. He set me down carefully, placed his jacket over my arms, and opened the door. I stared up at him and realized I was missing something here―something huge―Nolan Rylan was a catch.
Who We Were Page 9