21 (The List Series)

by Rhonda James

  “Still dating?”

  “I wouldn’t say Tori and I ever officially dated. I mean, we did for a while, right after high school. We were more or less fuck buddies. Don’t get me wrong, we had some good times, but I wasn’t ready for the kind of commitment she needed.”

  “Guess she never got the fucking memo,” I scoffed as I opened the closet door and crouched down to pull back a corner of the carpet. There it was. The single piece of flooring that still sat slightly askew. Now all I had to do was pry it up and get what I came for, but I didn’t need Michael to hear that racket. “Every time I saw that chick, she was following you around like a lost puppy. It was pathetic.”

  “Yeah, definitely a stage five clinger, but I’ve taken care of it,” he informed me.

  Curiosity tickled the base of my spine. “Taken care of it? How?”

  “She showed up at my apartment today, unannounced, and found me balls deep in her roommate’s ass. I figured it was the perfect segue for ending it. She cried and stormed off, and I haven’t heard from her since.”

  Even to me that sounded like a dick move, and I opened my mouth to tell him just that but quickly shut it when a sound filtered through the window. A splash.

  Someone was in the pool.

  I walked over to the window and peered through the blinds. There, beneath the light of the moon in the shimmering water, sat the very woman we’d been discussing. I moved to the right and absentmindedly lifted my hand, spreading it over the thin pane of glass that separated us.

  “Speak of the devil.” One side of my mouth curled up at the corner.

  “Who?” Michael sounded perplexed.

  “Victoria Prescott,” I murmured. Christ, my dick went hard just saying her fucking name. “Your girl is here, swimming in the pool.”

  “My Tori? No shit. I should have known she’d run back home to Daddy.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t Daddy she came running home to,” I taunted, only half-joking.

  “No offense, bro, but Tori is WAY out of your league. Besides, she’s a little tame in the sack for your tastes, but she’s got this friend, Sophie, who looks as if she’d be down for anything.”

  He continued running his mouth, but I tuned him out to focus on her.

  She was perched on the steps at one end of the pool, dressed in see-through lingerie. At this distance, I was able to make out the fullness of her breasts and the soft curve of her hips beneath the shallow ripples of water. If I looked closely, I could make out the darkened skin surrounding both nipples. Nothing about this girl screamed tame to me.

  No denying it. A wet, nearly naked Victoria Prescott was hot as fuck.

  I’d like to fuck that, my subconscious screamed at me, prompting me to end the call.

  One thing was certain; my body might want her, but there was no way in hell I’d ever fucking admit it. I’d rather chew off my own tongue. I’d tease the hell out of her, but she belonged to Michael, whether he wanted her or not. Best thing to do was turn around and pretend I never saw her.

  Out of nowhere, she tipped her head back and shouted at the top of her lungs.

  “Fuck you, Michael Cross! Fuck you once and for all!”

  My dick jerked at the sound of her battle cry, and despite my attempts to fight it, a smile tipped at the corner of my lips.

  I guess it couldn’t hurt to say hello…

  CHAPTER 4

  V

  Fuck you, Michael Cross! Fuck you once and for all!

  Had I truly believed those ten little words would leave me feeling this good, I’d have shouted them from the rooftops four years ago and saved myself years of heartache. Now that they were out there, I needed to let go of the past and keep looking toward the future. A future where Michael Cross didn’t consume my every thought. Matter of fact, I didn’t even want to hear his name mentioned. The very sound of it conjured up the image of him fucking that conniving bitch, Chelsea, from behind. God, how humiliating!

  A vacation. That’s what I needed. A place to escape where no one knew me and I could try to forget the last four or more years of my pathetic life.

  I slipped below the water’s surface, swimming the length of the pool three times before reaching the metal ladder near the diving board. With my eyes still closed, I reached out in front of me and began climbing out. I made it to the second rung before a hand reached out to help me up.

  Dylan Cross.

  Six foot plus of gloriously tattooed skin. Smoldering dark looks. Body made for sin.

  Sin.

  Hadn’t his friend called him by that name last time we were here?

  Back then, his presence had startled me, but the water must have relaxed me more than I realized because our eyes locked and we held each other’s gaze as he pulled me the rest of the way out. No words were spoken, at least not right away.

  Feeling vulnerable, I diverted my gaze and reached for my shirt from the back of a chair. I felt his eyes raking over my flesh, and my hands shook as I yanked the material, trying to cover myself. Clenching both fists, I fought to maintain my composure, praying like hell he wouldn’t hear how fast my heart was beating beneath the flimsy material. I studied him, wondering yet again how he could tolerate wearing jeans and a T-shirt in this stifling heat. I’d just come from the pool, and my forehead was already beading up with sweat, yet he didn’t appear to have a single dot of perspiration on his.

  “You supposed to be here, Victoria?” His voice was gruff, but I didn’t miss the way it softened at the end. There was something about the way he drew out my name, enunciating the middle part a little more than the rest. Vic-TOR-ia. My girly bits noticed. And, to my horror, they reacted. If my panties hadn’t already been wet, they would have been soaked by the intensity of his gaze.

  No doubt about it, this guy was a piece of work. Sexy as hell with a cocky confidence I found unnerving. He was well aware of the effect he had on women, but there was no way in hell I wanted to admit he’d affected me, too. My lip curled in feigned disgust as I turned and offered him my best glare.

  “Are you?” I challenged, but rather than answer, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and drew his lip between his teeth. He watched with great interest as I tugged my jean shorts up my damp legs, offering no apology for the way he openly stared.

  “Always covering up the goods when I come around,” he tsked as his eyes settled on the juncture of my thighs.

  “Seriously?” I rolled my eyes and groaned. “What are you doing here? I thought you were off somewhere playing rock star.”

  “Mock all you want, little girl. One day, I’ll be famous and you’ll want me, but you and I both know we can never happen.”

  “Please. I hardly want you.”

  Dylan moved toward me, and I inched back until my calves struck the chaise. Startled, I jerked forward and would have fallen if it hadn’t been for Dylan’s quick reflexes kicking in, so I ended up in his arms. Our eyes met briefly as the heat from his touch seared my skin.

  “Oh, I think you do. I’ll bet you dream about me night after night only to wake up lonely, wishing you hadn’t always played so hard to get.”

  “Dream about you?” I laughed, hoping it sounded as haughty as I’d intended. “You’re delusional. Go ahead and get rich and famous. It won’t affect me in the least because you and I both know I could never be with someone like you.”

  His eyes narrowed, and a muscle in his jaw ticked. “You saying I’m beneath you?”

  I gulped down my fear and held his heated stare. “You said it, not me.”

  He inched closer, teasing the knuckles of his left hand down my side. Seemed as though he liked touching me, because this made the second time he couldn’t keep his hands off me. I cursed silently. Hating my nipples for their traitorous response to his unwelcome advances. “Ah, sweet V, keep lying to yourself. One of these days, you’ll come to me, begging to ride my cock. Once they see it, they all beg,” he hissed in my ear then cupped a hand around my ass and gave it a squeeze before disappearing back
into the shadows, the way he always seemed to do. The slamming of the guesthouse door startled me out of my trance.

  UGH! I gaped at the door in disbelief. That man. God, I hated him, but fuck if there wasn’t a small part that wanted to chase him down and rip off his clothes just to discover what the hell he was hiding beneath all those layers.

  CHAPTER 5

  SIN

  “Fuuuuck!” I shouted out into the empty room. Leaning against the door I’d just slammed, I grabbed two fistfuls of hair and yanked so hard my scalp protested.

  God, if there wasn’t something about that woman that got to me. Pissing me right the fuck off was what she did. Victoria Prescott. Just who the hell did she think she was, anyhow? Swimming in my goddamn pool then giving me attitude? Fuck that.

  No matter how angry she made me, I couldn’t stop picturing her. Those curves. That smug smile. The fire behind those green eyes of hers. And those soft, kissable lips…

  Stop thinking about her goddamn lips.

  Gritting my teeth, I pushed away from the door and made my way down the hall, hoping to put Victoria out of my mind once and for all. I stopped in front of the closet and dropped to my knees, peeling back the corner of the carpet to reveal the hardwood underneath. To the naked eye, it looked like any other hardwood floor, but if you looked closely, you would see that one board was slightly askew. I pulled a knife from my pocket and slowly pried the board loose.

  Tucked beneath the boards was the single subject notebook I’d hidden away three years ago. Before my incarceration. What I held in my hands represented four years of hard work. Every song I had ever written, plus a few I’d only started, lay between the flimsy cardboard covers. It represented every hope and dream I’d allowed myself to have. I opened it up, and a smile ticked at the corners of my mouth when I saw the words written on the first page.

  Maybe one day I would share these songs with the world, but for now, I felt better just knowing they were back in my hands. Someday, the right inspiration would come along and ignite the fire that burned inside me. Until then, I’d get by the way I always had.

  I shoved the notebook in the front pocket of my backpack then snapped the board and carpeting back in place. I considered heading over to Hawk’s place now, rather than waiting until morning, but he’d mentioned something about Melody stopping by, and I didn’t want to interrupt, seeing as how he hadn’t seen her since we were in town two months ago.

  We weren’t meeting until nine, so really the only logical thing for me to do would be to get some sleep. The drive to Panama City would take about eight hours, and that’s only if we didn’t make too many stops along the way. I set an alarm for eight and lay back on the bed, fully dressed and on top of the comforter.

  It felt strange to be back, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fall asleep. A single light was on in the Prescott home. I rose and moved to the window, and through the low light I saw Victoria pass in front of the window. A few seconds later, she came back into view, but this time, she paused and appeared to be staring up at the sky. My own eyes darted heavenward and were rewarded with a spectacular display of stars. I stopped gazing when I sensed I was being watched. I looked toward her window and our eyes met, but only for the briefest of seconds. I pulled back and closed the blinds, putting an end to whatever that was, then fell back against the bed, heart hammering in my chest.

  Sleep wouldn’t come fast enough, but something told me I’d still be seeing those eyes when I closed my own.

  ***

  I woke to the sound of pounding against the front door followed by Hawk bellowing my name.

  “Sin! Get your pretty ass out of bed and answer the door!”

  “Fuck,” I muttered and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Standing, I tipped my head from side to side until I heard a loud pop. Meanwhile, Hawk continued beating on the door until I yanked it open. “What the hell?”

  “We have a serious problem,” he shoved his way inside.

  “Good morning to you, too,” I groaned and turned my head a few more times, working out the kinks. It had been a while since I’d slept on a mattress that firm, not that I’d gotten that much sleep. “What’s up?”

  “Van took a shit. Styx said it started this morning, and within minutes it overheated; after that, it kept stalling when he’d turn it over. Now the engine won’t even crank. He’s been working on it since six and thinks we may have blown a head gasket.”

  Billy ‘Styx’ Harrison was the drummer we’d hired to replace Gunner. It had taken awhile to find him, but he’d been with us five months, and there was no denying he was a perfect fit. It also didn’t hurt that he was hands down the best fucking drummer I’d ever met.

  “Fuck. That’s a costly repair.” I ran a hand over my face and blew out a frustrated sigh. “What are we gonna do? We need to be on the road by ten if we want to get some rehearsal time in before we go live tonight.”

  Hawk laced his hands behind his head and paced the living room. “I’ve called every rental agency within a thirty-mile radius. No one has a van or anything comparable. They said those reservations have to be made in advance. Unless your daddy’s got a van hidden in the garage, I think we’re screwed, least for tonight.”

  “Goddammit, Hawk. I told you the engine sounded funny. Guess I better call Blade and let him know there won’t be a show tonight.” I cursed silently and headed back to my room to grab my phone. Blade Blackwell owned the bar where we were hired to play for the summer. Back in the day, he used to sing and play guitar in a band called Devil’s Playground. They were pretty famous, even toured with Guns N’ Roses at one point. A short time after he and Mom broke up, the band dissolved and Blade opened a bar down in Panama City, naming the place after his band. We stayed in touch after Mom died, and when he heard my band was looking for a gig, he offered us an audition. We beat out fifteen bands to claim our spot on stage at Devil’s Playground, and I damn sure didn’t want to let him down.

  After a brief conversation, Blade assured me everything would be fine but for us to get our asses there double time or else he’d have to give the job to another band. When I returned to the living room, I found Hawk staring out the window.

  “Who’s the hot chick in the bikini?” he asked without turning around.

  I stopped in my tracks and narrowed my eyes suspiciously. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t like the idea of another guy ogling V’s hot body. “Just a neighbor. Why?”

  Sensing tension, he cast a glance over his shoulder and flashed a crooked grin. “Thought I’d go over and introduce myself.” He started for the door, but I moved to block his exit. “What’s up, Sin? Something I should know?”

  “Fuck, no,” I exclaimed with a raised brow that went ignored. “We need to find a solution to our problem. This is not the time for you to be making new friends.”

  “This is my way of finding a solution. See that Navigator parked next door?” He jerked a thumb at the window. “Bet you fifty bucks I can sweet talk her into driving us to PC.”

  My stomach turned at the idea. “No fucking way! Not happening.”

  He arched a brow and smirked as he backed away from the window. “Either you’re doubting my ability to sweet talk the ladies, or something’s going on between you two. Which is it?”

  “Neither,” I shook my head. “She’s sort of my brother’s ex.”

  “Even better! We’ve got an in!” He rubbed his hands together and made his way out the door before I had a chance to argue.

  “Hawk!” I whisper-shouted after him. “Jared,” I threatened. Without turning, he flipped me off and kept walking. Sighing, I trudged after him because now I was curious to see just how he intended to pull this off.

  She’s going to laugh in his face, I told myself.

  He crossed through the gate and stopped next to a chaise lounge where she lay sunbathing. Not missing a beat, Hawk took one look at her in her aqua-colored bikini and turned on all the southern charm he could muster.

  Any hope
I’d been clinging to died a swift and painful death right before my eyes, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to keep it from happening.

  CHAPTER 6

  V

  “You’ve got to be the prettiest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time,” said the unfamiliar blond hovering above me, blocking my rays.

  I shielded a hand over my eyes and peered at him through my sunglasses. He wore a pair of black board shorts, flip-flops, and a well-worn T-shirt with the name Chaos Rising plastered across the front. His skin was tanned a perfect golden color, and he had the whitest hair I’d ever seen. The sun’s rays were strong this morning, and at first glance, it looked as if he wore a halo over his head. As if that wasn’t enough, he stared down at me wearing the most genuine smile I’d ever seen.

  I liked him immediately.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Name’s Jared. Jared Hawkins, but all my friends call me Hawk. You can, too, if you like,” he offered on another smile, and I couldn’t help returning it.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Hawk. I’m Victoria, but you can call me Tori.” I was about to ask him what he was doing in my yard when I looked over his shoulder and spotted Dylan approaching. I groaned, and it must have been louder than I realized because Hawk bent at the waist and laughed hysterically.

  “I think you’re the first woman to have that kind of reaction to him. You’ve got spunk. I like you already.”

  “Hawk, what are you doing? Leave her alone,” Dylan grumbled when he reached us. A small part of me wanted to call him out and ask why he’d been watching me last night. Instead, I said nothing.

  “I’ll have you know I’m just being neighborly. She likes me already, don’t you, Victoria?” I nodded in agreement and couldn’t miss the deep scowl it earned me from Dylan. “Can’t stand your ass, though.” He winked at me before turning to his friend.

  Dylan’s eyes locked with mine before he mumbled, “Feeling’s mutual.”

  I stuck out my tongue, and to my surprise, he repeated the gesture, even raised his brow for good measure. I knew we were being childish, but something about him rubbed me the wrong way.