I tie my hair back into a ponytail. “Let’s just forget about it, okay? I’m your friend, and I respect your feelings. I’d never want to make anything awkward between us. We’ll just pretend it never happened.”
I pray he can’t see through my façade, because I feel just as vulnerable as I did last night and even more humiliated.
Still, I honestly don’t want him to feel uncomfortable around me. I just hope I can stop feeling uncomfortable around him.
Before he has a chance to reply, I grab my beach bag and head for the door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
His gaze is troubled, but he nods. “Okay. I have a few things I need to get done around the yard today.”
“See? It’s all good,” I say forcing a smile. “Later.”
The screen door bangs closed behind me, and I jog down the porch stairs, away from the cottage.
I’m a total chicken, and I know it. But if I don’t put some distance between us, things are going to get even more awkward.
I head down to the lake and walk along the shoreline, lost in thought. It’s quiet out, and that helps me relax.
Despite Will’s rejection, I still think it’s best that I stick to my original plan. I’m stretched so tight; I swear I might snap like a rubber band. I desperately need to let loose and just be a normal twenty year old. Flirt with guys, and yeah, maybe hook up with someone. It just totally sucks that someone won’t be the one guy I desperately want.
I’m going to milk this vacation for all it’s worth, because soon I’ll be back in New York City to start the fall semester. God, I’m dreading going back to school. I desperately want my parents to be proud of me, but I know now that I don’t want to be a lawyer. My dad wants me to follow in his footsteps and go into law school after I graduate, but it’s not for me. And majoring in Physics? How the hell did I let him talk me into that?
Still, University hasn’t been all bad. I’ve met a few friends that turned me on to fashion and makeup. Trips to Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, and Sephora have been my stress relief. I could probably open up a makeup mini-store—that’s how many eye shadow palettes, lipsticks, and assorted other products I’ve accumulated.
For the past eight months, I’ve been running a makeup and video blogging channel on ZeeTube, and it’s gained a ton of followers. When I added a website and blog into the mix, things really started to take off. I’m even earning a little paycheck from advertising revenue.
Living in New York City helped me to examine the type of image I wanted to project to the world. I used to shun all things traditionally girly, much to my mother’s horror. She wanted the perfect high-society daughter that she could take to tea with her friends and show off at parties. To say I was a fashion embarrassment to her would be the understatement of the decade.
After too many months of feeling like a frump in my designer—yet baggy—tomboy clothes, Shaya, my roommate, gave me a head-to-toe makeover one night. After that, I slowly started experimenting with makeup and fashion.
Honestly, tomboy fashion is super, super cute, but it wasn’t cute the way I had been going about it all those years. I’d never really given much thought to my clothes—I just used to pull on what was clean.
I decided to depart from my tomboy roots and go with more traditionally feminine fashion choices.
I kept things fairly conventional until after last Christmas. When I got back after my break, I really threw myself into developing my own style. I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but I love mixing bold colors, classic pieces, and ultra-feminine hand-made jewelry. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I’m having a lot of fun experimenting.
I grab a rock and skip it across the water. Being back in Ontario makes me realize how desperately homesick I am in New York City. I miss my friends so much.
I wish I could find a way to get my parents to let me move back and go to school here. I’d be so much happier. I want a career in beauty and fashion, and I want to make that happen in Toronto.
I skip another rock and hear a deep chuckle behind me.
I turn and see a tall guy with closely-cropped brown hair and bright blue eyes standing a few feet away. He stares down at me, his arms crossed and his lips curved into a smirk.
“Not bad for a city girl,” he says.
“Hmm.” I peer at him over my sunglasses. “And how do you know I’m from the city?”
“Just a guess. Am I right?”
“I’m from Toronto, but I live in New York City.”
“See?” He grins at me. “I’m usually right about these things. I’m Jackson Bailey, by the way. And you are?”
“Emmy Sullinger.”
He picks up a rock and skips it across the lake before sweeping his gaze over me.
“So how long are you here for, Emmy? And when can I take you out?”
Well, he certainly doesn’t waste any time.
He’s cute enough, I guess. Cocky, but cute. And he might be the perfect way to forget about this total mess with Will. I can tell just by looking at this guy that neither Will nor my brother would approve of him, and that suits me just fine. I’m fed up with everyone having a say in how I live my life.
I give Jackson a coy glance. “Take me out? Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe we can talk about it over a swim?”
I skim my jean shorts down and off, revealing my bikini bottoms. He does another slow, lazy sweep over my body with his eyes as I kick off my shoes and wade into the water.
He tugs off his shirt and grins. “Sounds good to me, Emmy Sullinger.”
He’s not anywhere near as built as Will, but he’ll do just fine. It’s not like I’m looking for perfect, anyway. I just want to blow off a little steam and relax.
Pushing everything that happened last night to the back of my mind, I slide slowly under the water until there’s nothing but silence and darkness. The only thing I can do is tune out the noise in my head with a little fun. And Jackson Bailey is the perfect distraction.
For now.
Chapter Five
WILL
It’s hot as balls in cottage country today. I wipe off my forehead with the front of my t-shirt. Christ, I bet I’ve sweated off five pounds while cleaning up the outside of the property. I’ve organized the stuff in the shed, mowed the lawn, trimmed back half of the bushes, and tackled the weeds.
During the year, I pay someone to handle the necessary yard work. But I always use one of my vacation days to give the place a thorough once-over. Physically, it’s taxing, but on the bright side, it means I can skip my regular workout for the day.
My dad and I used to do this work together when he was alive, and working in the yard always makes me feel close to him somehow, even though he’s gone. He loved doing this stuff, and I can almost feel him with me while I work.
My primary goal today is to get the larger tree branches trimmed back away from the cottage. The way they are now, it would only take one good snowstorm during the winter to bring them down onto the roof.
Glancing down at the lake, I see Emmy splashing around in the water with a few people. She’s sitting on some guy’s shoulders, wrestling and laughing with a blonde girl who’s perched precariously on the shoulders of another dude with dark red hair.
I’ve watched them off and on all afternoon, and it’s obvious that the guy hanging out with Emmy—I call him Crew Cut—is really into her. He’s been flirting hard and putting his hands all over her.
What bugs me is that I can’t tell if she’s simply having fun or if she’s actually attracted to this asshole.
She’s wearing a shiny black and silver bikini, and it flaunts every bit of that hot little body. Crew Cut’s noticed. Any guy with a pulse would notice.
I fire up the chainsaw and tackle some of the larger tree branches. It distracts me for a while, but it doesn’t take long before thoughts of Emmy invade my headspace again.
She’s avoiding me. I know she’s hurt over what happened between us last night, but her pulling away from me—e
ven a little bit—sucks.
It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, and I want her to spend every drop of precious time with me. In a few days, the rest of our friends will be here, and I’ll have to share her. Yeah, I’m crazy about her, but she’s also one of my best friends in this world, and I treasure every bit of time we get to spend together.
I stare down at the lake as Crew Cut slowly slides his hands along Emmy’s thighs, no doubt in a simultaneous attempt to hold her steady and cop a feel.
Fuck. I hate that his hands are all over her.
A few minutes later, Emmy topples the blonde girl off of the redhead’s shoulders and into the lake. Crew Cut gives a celebratory yell of victory before dunking Em under the water. She comes up sputtering and laughing, and he spins her around in his arms.
I climb down from the ladder and get to work on the hedges, chopping angrily at them with the manual clippers. Apparently, she’s still planning on hooking up with someone, and Crew Cut’s the front-runner.
The only thing left for me to do is to try and derail her plan. If I can keep her busy until Sully and the rest of our friends get here, she won’t have as much time to hang out with Crew Cut.
It’s petty and small of me, and I know it. But I can’t sit around and watch her try to hook up with some other guy right under my nose. At least when she was dating Aidan, it wasn’t in front of my face. I only had to tolerate him for one Christmas dinner, and that was bad enough.
I glance over at the shed and get an idea. Just because things have gotten a little weird between us doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. If she wants to have fun, I can make that happen.
I’ll just have to show her that old friends are as good as new ones.
Chapter Six
EMMY
I make my way back to the cottage around dinnertime. I’m a little sunburned and a lot waterlogged.
Jackson introduced me to two of his friends, John and Brooke. And though I’d had a good time with them, I spent most of the day trying to forget what happened last night with Will.
I missed him today.
Delicious smells invade my senses as soon as I open the door, and my stomach lets out a loud growl of protest. The apple I had for lunch wasn’t enough.
Will’s sitting on a stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen. There are various fresh, chopped veggies and shredded cheese on a serving tray, a big pot of spiced beef, and a bowl of rice pilaf in front of him.
He holds up a corn shell. “I made tacos. You want some?”
“You did all this?” I ask, staring at the yummy buffet.
He grins. “Sure. Who else?”
Now I feel like total shit. He’s been working hard around the cottage all day, and yet he still managed to make us a nice dinner. I should have offered to do… well, something. Not that he’d ever want me to cook dinner for him, though. Unless he wants to die of food poisoning, or perhaps by fire.
“It’s no big deal,” he says. “It only took a half an hour. Come on, sit. There are burrito shells, too.”
I take a seat across from him, fix myself a taco, and scoop a helping of rice onto my plate.
He raises an eyebrow. “That’s all you’re having?”
“I’m sorry, Will, I didn’t realize you were making all this food. I agreed to go to a barbecue later with some people I met down at the lake today.”
Aaand now I feel even shittier.
“No worries, Em.”
“Do you want to come with me?” I ask. “I told them I was staying here with a friend, and they said the more, the merrier and all that.”
Will despises parties. He’s not much for hanging out with people he doesn’t know well, so I’m completely floored when he accepts my invitation.
“Sure. I’ll go with you.” He fixes himself another taco. “Sounds good.”
“Really?”
“Unless you don’t want me to go.” He studies me for a moment. “Did you just invite me to be polite?”
“No! No, of course not. You just usually hate parties. I’m surprised, that’s all.”
He just smiles and takes a big swallow from his water bottle. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to make of that smile so, instead, I ignore it. I finish my dinner and take the empty plate to the dishwasher.
“Thanks, Will. That was yummy.”
He smiles again. “Sure.”
I go upstairs to my room to get ready for the barbecue. After a nice long shower, I pull on a clean pair of denim shorts and a light purple tank top. I blow dry my hair and pull it back into a long, sleek ponytail before applying a minimal amount of makeup.
It’s just a casual barbecue, and I don’t want to look like I’m trying that hard for Jackson. Because honestly? I’m not. He’s a bit aggressive in his approach and a little too much in love with himself. I haven’t made up my mind how far I want things to go with him. I need more time to see how I feel. So far, I don’t feel anything.
I head back downstairs and plop down in a chair. Will’s sitting on the couch, scrolling through something on his iPad. “Ready to go?”
He looks up from the screen. “Wow. You look too nice to be going to a barbecue.”
“Really?” I look down at my outfit. “It’s just a tank-top and shorts. I’m not dressed up.”
“Well, you look good.” He pauses. “Hey, do you have a few minutes before we head out?”
Oh God. I hope he doesn’t want to talk about last night again. Things are just now starting to get less awkward. The last thing I want to do is revisit all of that.
“Um, sure. What’s up?”
He stands and opens the sliding glass door that leads to the back of the property. “I want to show you something. C’mon.”
I follow him into the large backyard, which is surrounded by forest. In front of the shed is a dark blue quad bike.
“Oh my God! The quad!” I circle the bike and attempt another ridiculous happy dance. “I didn’t know you still had this!”
“I couldn’t get rid of it. No way.”
The summer I turned fifteen, Sully, Will, and I spent nearly every single day on this bike. When we reminisce about past vacations, we refer to that one as “The Summer of the Quad.”
Of course, between my dad and Sully being overprotective maniacs, I wasn’t allowed to ride the quad by myself. It didn’t matter, though; I’d had a blast regardless.
Will was always more adventurous on the bike than Sully, and I loved riding with him. I think he felt bad that I wasn’t allowed to ride alone, so he made up for it by being just a little bit wilder behind the wheel.
He elbows me. “Want to go for a spin?”
I can’t contain my excitement and bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. “Yes! Do you still remember how to drive it?”
“Sure. I took it out last year.” He climbs onto the bike.
A wave of sadness washes over me. I had no idea Will came up here last summer.
“Wait, so you came up here by yourself?”
Will shrugs. “Yeah. I didn’t want to miss a year, even if everyone else couldn’t make it. It wouldn’t have seemed right, you know?”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “I guess it wouldn’t.” Still, it breaks my heart a little.
He hands me a helmet and starts up the quad as I climb on behind him.
“Safety first,” he says, grinning as I pull on the helmet. “You ready?”
“I was born ready, remember?”
“Hang on tight to me, okay, Sunshine?”
My body tingles at the deep timbre of his voice, and I wrap myself around him. His stomach is rock-hard muscle under his thin t-shirt, and he feels solid and safe. I want nothing more than to trace my fingers along the ridges and planes of his abs, but somehow, I force myself to remain still.
Will maneuvers the bike onto the old trails and does a slow test run to make sure they’re clear.
“Alright, here we go,” he yells.
We take off, speeding along the tr
ails deep into the forest and racing over the small dips and hills. I cling to him, my chest glued against his back as we fly through the woods.
His laughter drifts back to me over the noise of the quad and the wind. He guns the bike up another hill and down over the other side, and I shriek with glee.
Honestly? This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I feel free and young and so damn happy. The farther we get into the woods, the farther away we get from the stress of the city, university, and my parents.
Not once do I doubt Will’s ability to handle the bike. I feel completely safe with him. Even when he was younger, he always exuded a quiet kind of confidence. He’s sure and steady with everything he does.
After fifteen minutes of tearing around the trails, he pulls the bike back into the yard and kills the engine.
“I’m deaf from all your yelling,” he says, pulling off his helmet. He looks over his shoulder and gives me a playful wink.
Jeezaloo. All he has to do is wink, and I melt into a pile of happy, quivering goo. He looks so freaking sexy when he does it. It’s just… damn.
“Well, I can’t help yelling—you drive really fast.” I unsnap my helmet and yank it off. “God, that was so much fun!”
Will maneuvers to sit next to me on the bike. He glances over at me and smiles.
“My hair is a total mess, I’m sure,” I mutter, embarrassed.
He reaches over and gently tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “No. You just look happy, Sunshine. And it’s so damned good to see.”
His gaze drops to my lips and a spark of heat flares deep within his blue eyes. The desire there is undeniable.
“Are you happy, honey?” he asks softly. My breath hitches as he gently strokes my cheek.
“Y-yes,” I manage. He’s so close now that our lips are only inches apart. I can feel his warm, soft breath against my skin. His fingers trace down my cheek and along my jaw. His touch is light, but it burns me up. I want him to kiss me so much.
I lean closer and close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable touch of his lips against mine.
Unbreakable Page 4