Madison narrows her eyes. “Well, I guess someone doesn’t want to join the surprise then. Being a bunch of commitment-phobes and all.”
I look out the window. Kyle’s a total manwhore, and everyone knows it. I use to bounce around from relationship-to-relationship because I don’t want to settle down with one person. I’m too young to go looking for “the one” just yet. But ever since the whole Vince thing, I haven’t had someone take care of the downstairs department in three months.
Maybe I no longer have Gamophobia, more like I have Anthropophobia. Hopefully this summer will mellow me out. Bring me back. Revive me from my personal hell.
“Bryce and I decided to not be here this summer.”
“What?” I want to scream at her. This was supposed to be our summer. I need Madison more than ever. I need to feel whole again. She’s leaving me? “How could you do this?”
I turn and glare at her. She smiles. “Calm down. I’m not leaving you. You’re coming with. We rented a beach house in Virginia Beach. We can go boating, tan, swim, shop. All the stuff you want us to do but on a beach. Say yes.”
“I …” I can’t. She’d know why and understand if she just knew everything. But it’s so embarrassing. I can’t tell her. First she’d scold me and go on about how she warned me this kind of crap would happen. And yes, she did. Many, many times. I just didn’t listen, obviously.
I don’t want to leave my big house. The only place I can feel safe.
Chapter Three
Kyle
Em looks like she’s about to hurl chunks all over the inside of my ride. “You okay?” I whisper.
She nods. But I can tell she isn’t. One, Em talks all the time with my sister. Usually it’s a whole lot of girl crap, but she’s been silent most of the ride home.
Don’t think I didn’t see the bruise on her shoulder, either. The thought of someone hurting her in any way makes me grit my teeth and clench the steering wheel. I swear whoever did it better hope I never meet them.
“So the beach, huh? That’s your big surprise? Thank God it’s not a baby. I’d smack you and your damn boyfriend.”
Emily winces while my sister snaps, “Oh, bite me, Kyle. You should probably worry about you having little ones running amok. I mean, seriously, do you even know the percentage of malfunctioning condoms?”
My sister is such a buzzkill sometimes. Who the hell wants to think about condoms not working?
Emily doesn’t chime in on this conversation. Nope, she turns her hazel eyes toward the passenger window and says not one word. Something is definitely wrong.
I try to pull her into some sort of conversation. “So, how was school?”
“It was fine,” she mumbles, not looking at me.
“Em, do you want to hit the stores this week with me?” Maddy asks.
“I guess,” Emily answers. Her tone is so depressing; it eats me up inside. She’s normally vibrant and bubbly. But the girl beside me is anything but the exuberant girl I’m used to.
When we arrive at her house, I watch Madison and Emily hug. Madison takes Emily’s spot up front, not even waiting until Madison closes her front door. “There is something wrong with her. I’m worried about her, Kyle. And no, it’s not the surprise trip. Promise you won’t say anything or fly off the handle?”
“Depends on what it is.”
She chews on her lip. “She won’t tell me anything, but something happened to her in Florida. I know it did. She’s not going back. Her phone was shut off for months. I called every day. And when I met her at baggage claim, I swear she acted like she couldn’t hear me calling her name. When I touched her shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Em isn’t skittish. Heck, she’s not even remotely shy. So this version of her freaks me out. I feel like if someone hurt her it’s all my fault for not following our plan. Do you think someone hurt her?”
I grip the steering wheel tight. I better never meet the face of the person who hurt her. “Maddy, she’s your friend. If something wrong I’m sure she’ll tell you. Relax a little. We’ve got a whole summer. Stop stressing over things that are probably nothing.” It’s a lie. I know my sister’s right but I also know Maddy and once she gets an idea she can fix something in her head that is all she’ll focus on.
“Okay.”
It doesn’t take us long before we pull into our own driveway. Sarah barrels out of the house and to my car. Madison gets out and hugs our cousin tight, then grabs her things from the back. I take my own stuff in, but don’t get too far. My mom wraps me up in a tight hug and says, “Oh, my babies are home.” She peppers mine and Madison’s cheeks with kisses.
“Ugh. Mom! Come on. Grown men do not get kisses from their moms.”
“Oh, certainly they do,” she says.
“No, honey, they don’t,” my dad says, trying to save me from further humiliation.
She lets me go, and I head straight to my room.
Nothing beats laying on your own bed. Yeah, the dorms you get used to, but it’s not the same as your own room. Everything in here is just me.
I pick up my plastic basketball resting on my nightstand and toss it into the basket hanging on my door. I do this about twelve times until my door flies open and my ball hits Maddy on the top of her head. She glares at me, but it isn’t my fault. Knocking works wonders.
“What?”
She takes a seat on the corner of my bed and hands me my ball. “You didn’t say if you wanted to come to the beach house with us. Are you in?”
“I don’t know. The guys from my team are heading to Cali for Fourth of July week. I was thinking about going out there. Besides, I’ll feel like a fifth wheel in your weird-ass love parade.”
She shakes her head. “You won’t be a fifth anything. Em’s coming, and it’s not like you two can’t hang out together. Besides, you know Bryce and I won’t be all glued to each other’s faces. We’re not like that in public. Only gross people do that.”
“When you say gross, you really mean the skanky girls that I hang with,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. Anyway, this will be fun. Think about it. One week in Cali or … three months at Virginia Beach? Did I mention no parentals?”
“What’s the catch?” I ask her with a raised brow.
She shrugs. “Technically Mom and Dad approved if you would go. Something about keeping us in line and possibly being a guard type thing. Pleaseeeeeee. Say yes.” My sister drops to her knees and pops out her lower lip.
I groan. “Fine.” It’s always been hard to refuse Madison.
“Oh yay!” She hops up and wraps her arms around me.
“Yeah, yeah. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on you.” She walks to the door, and I say, “Hey, Maddy?”
“Hmm?”
“I know you’re worried about Em, but I promise we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She nods. “I hope so. I can’t help feeling this is all my fault.”
I shake my head. “Don’t. You shouldn’t punish yourself for chasing after what you wanted. And I’m sure Em doesn’t blame you at all.”
She gives me a small smile. “Okay.” She exits my room, and I toss the ball right into the hoop on my door. It pings and bounces into the trash can on the far side of the room.
What in the hell did I just agree to?
Chapter Four
Emily
“Em, my darling. Why … omigod who murdered your hair?” My hairdresser, Marco, asks as he lifts a thick lock.
I shrug. If there were doubts in me that I’d changed, there are no more now. I used to tell Marco everything. I mean, every stupid thing. My sexscapades, my latest crush. Oh yeah. He knows all. Until now. There’s no way in the world I’ll tell him it was me who ruined my hair. That I was too afraid to sit in a hair salon without Vince tracking me down. The guy seriously had a problem. He just couldn’t get the concept in his thick skull that there was nothing more between us.
Vince isn’t here. I know he’s not. But it still took
all my energy to pull myself out of bed and down to Marco’s shop. How can someone miles and miles away still have a hold of me?
“Have a seat. We’ll get this fixed right up,” Marco says, pulling me back to reality.
I take a seat, and face the large mirror before me. I watch Marco continue to lift pieces of my hair and tsk. “Well, this is just a nightmare. Don’t worry, darling. Your precious hair is in my hands now, and you know I would never do you wrong. What colors do you want?”
“Can we go natural this time with some highlights to bring it out?” I say.
Marco’s mouth hangs open. “Are you feeling okay?” He presses the back of his hand to my forehead.
“I am fine. I just … I want something different.”
“Different you most certainly will be. I haven’t seen this head natural since you were thirteen.”
Exactly. I was young. Innocent. And I didn’t lose my virginity to some asshat named Tucker Adams.
Marco leaves me. I stare at myself in the mirror. Will I miss my wild colored tips? Will I miss this part of me that made me so different? Maybe. But I need this. You need this, Em.
Marco returns with a white plastic bowl in hand and rubber gloves on. Looks like he’s ready for surgery on my head. “All right, darling. Are you ready?”
I squeeze my eyes shut, exhale loudly and say, “Do it.”
An hour and half later, he reveals my hair to me. There I am. The old me. “Well, how’d we do?”
“You did great. Thanks, Marco.”
“I don’t know what the sudden change was about, but I just hope it’s for you. Em, I love you like you were my super cute little sister. It’s probably not my place to say this, but you need to hear it. When you walked in here, you weren’t your spunky fun-loving self that I’ve come to adore over the years. You walked in here like a damn zombie. I hope this new you finds your spunk back.”
I smile and swipe away an unshed tear. “That’s the plan.”
“Good. I talked to Maddy the other day. She said you two were going on a trip.” Maddy and I have been going to Marco for years so this news doesn’t surprise me. “If you find your spunky self again and are planning on putting some wildness back into your hair, please call my friend. She’s amazing, and I trust her with my own hair.” He hands over a business card with the name Color Waves, and the owner is named Kenndi Bail.
“Thanks.” I kiss his cheek, pay him for his service plus tip, then head over to Maddy’s.
I ring the doorbell two times before someone finally answers. It’s not Madison.
Kyle rubs his hand over his eyes and yawns; then he blinks. “Um … can I … Em?”
I glare at him. “Seriously? My face didn’t change, Kyle! Just my hair.” I push past him and start for the stairs.
“Whoa. Whoa. Em. You look … wow.” I turn back to him and see him scratching at the back of his neck. “Your hair makes you look different.”
I sneer at him and hold back my snarky comment to that astute observation. “Right. That’s the point.” I turn back to the stairs.
“She’s not home. Just me. I was taking a nap when you rang the bell.” He says.
My mind turns instantly dirty. Kyle napping. Images of him shirtless in his bed. My body flushes. That same bed I did things with him in. I shake myself from my perverted daydream. This is what got you a stalker, my friend. Do you want to flee the country next? Pull yourself together and stop thinking about Kyle in that way.
Besides you had your shot, remember? You walked away. “Oh, um …” I smile. “Where is she?”
“I think she had to pick up something at the mall. Sarah and her left together. I’ll tell her you dropped by though. Want me to keep the new hairdo a secret?”
“It’s just hair.”
He lifts a brow. “Just hair. The very thing that defined your wild personality? Right. You feeling okay, Em?”
“I’m fine. God. Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
Kyle glares at me. “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re a whole fuckload different. Almost like a goddamn alien snatched your body and took over. What the hell is going on with you?” He runs a hand through his mane.
I head to the door. I don’t need this third-degree shit from him. Who the hell does he think he is? My boyfriend? “Nothing is going on with me besides changing. It’s what people do, Kyle.”
Chapter Five
Kyle
I have no idea what just happened. Not a clue. I woke up from a nap and was greeted by Emily, only she didn’t look like the girl I’ve grown used to seeing. Nope. It was like looking at a younger, annoying version of Emily. Her hair went from its typical wild color combo like jet-black with hot pink tips to reddish brown with dark brown lowlights in it.
I could say this is the only thing that’s changed, but it’s not. She’s no longer flirting with me. She no longer teases me. Like when I said I was napping, she didn’t say something like “Sure; if that’s what you call it.” A typical response I would expect from her. Nope. I got nothing. Wonder if she’s still put off from Christmas? I didn’t turn her down; in fact, I was more than ready to give her whatever she wanted.
She left me with the hardest case of blue balls I’d ever had. If anyone should be all moody, it should be me. Not sure what’s happening to Emily, but I’m going to find out. Even if it takes the entire summer to do it.
Madison eyes me up from across the dinner table . “What?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. You’re acting weird,” she says.
“I’m not acting weird.” Okay, maybe I am. I’m still trying to figure out the whole new Emily change that I witnessed earlier today. “Have you um … seen Em?”
Madison’s eyebrow raises. “You mean since yesterday when we dropped her off at her house? No. Why?”
I shrug. “She, uh … stopped by while you were out. She, um … looked … uh … different.”
She narrows her eyes. “Looked different, how?”
Sarah enters the dining room, and takes a seat next to Maddy. My mom enters with my dad following. Since it’s no longer the two of us, I’m not talking about Emily anymore. I don’t need the looks from my parents thinking I’m finally interested in someone for longer than a week or two.
Madison seems to sense my discomfort and just rolls her eyes at me. Sarah glances between us and mumbles, “You two aren’t going to have a death match in the middle of the table, are you?”
“Nope. Although if we did, we already know who’d win.” I smile and point my thumbs at myself.
Maddy snorts. “Whatever.”
As Mom sits down, Sarah says, “Is it okay if Graham comes over later? We were going to watch a movie.”
Mom looks at her and nods. “It’s fine with me.”
Dad grumbles. “Where do you plan on watching this movie? He’s not allowed in your bedroom after what happened last time.”
My cousin blushes. Oh, man. I missed some dirt. I look to Madison to fill me in, but she shakes her head. Damn.
I kick Sarah under the table and smirk. “What were you doing?” I tease.
“None of your business,” she snaps; then she turns her glare to her plate of food. “We are going to be in the living room,” she mumbles.
I knew it. Those two got caught getting busy in the bedroom. Nice. I learned my lesson really quick in high school: Never ever bring a date around when the ‘rents are home. My mom might seem like the cool mom; the one friends go to when they can’t talk to their own parents. The one who greets them with cookies or some sort of baked goodies. But my mom is such a mood killer. Dad is even worse.
One time I brought a girl home. My mom literally sat us in the living room and asked us all kinds of far-out questions. How we met. What we had in common. What we planned on doing the rest of the week. And this was just the tip of the iceberg. She then asked if we planned on going to any of the dances. I just started talking to this girl. It was the beginning of junior year. And my mom wanted t
o know our plans. Like we were going to get married or some shit.
After that, Dad pulled me to the side and started talking to me about sex. He said, “I know guys in the locker room are all talking about how many girls they’ve had. But you don’t need to give in to the hype. Sex isn’t a game.” After that shit, I never ever brought home a girl while those two were home.
“Good,” my dad says pulling me from my thoughts.
I try not to laugh at Sarah’s uneasiness. I chuckle a little, and Madison tosses a roll at my head. What the hell?
It falls and hits the edge of my plate and rolls toward the bread basket. My mom misses this. She does catch me though snatching the roll and tossing it back at my sister’s face. “Kyle, knock it off.”
I notice my dad looks away from his plate and over at me. “Listen to your mom.” Then he goes back to his food.
Madison smirks. “Keep smiling,” I mutter. I love Madison, I do. But man, she’s got a goody-goody complex that makes me want to strangle her.
Ever since we were little, Maddy has gotten away with practically everything. An example of this, when Madison drew on the wall and wrote my name above the picture. I got my butt whipped. She later came into my room and said, “That’s what you get for stealing my gummy bears.” When she started to rebel against our parents, I thought it was awesome. She was being her own person. It also meant Mom and Dad would quit looking at her like she was a little angel. But that shit quickly faded as soon as Madison returned from college making the damn Dean’s list.
Dinner is pretty much uneventful after that. Not that I care. While I’m in the kitchen helping with dishes, Madison corners me. “Why were you all weird about Emily earlier?”
I pick up a dirty dish and scrub it while I glance around the room making sure no one else is listening. Why? Not sure. Well, that’s not true. I don’t need people thinking that I’m interested in Emily. I mean, don’t get me wrong—I am. But no one else needs to know that. And I know it won’t ever happen. Emily made that perfectly clear in December.
Kyle (Scandalous Boys Book 3) Page 2