He shrugged. I moved for the next guest bedroom and he followed. Mrs. Stone had a lot of space for just one person. Well, two people if you included Ben.
“Ellie’s the oldest,” Ben continued. “Then me. Then Georgina is next. She’s eleven months younger than me. I was always closest with her. Because of the age thing. And because our birthdays fell perfectly and we were in the same grade at school. Then there’s Rose. She’s nine and more mature than all of us.” He was almost wistful as he spoke…as if the rest of this family was no longer living. Or maybe it had just been a long time since he’d seen them. “Anyway. That’s my family. Oh and Noah. Can’t forget Noah.”
“Noah?” Ellie had also mentioned the name Noah, a few times actually, and I wanted to know more.
“Yeah, Ellie kind of adopted him into our family.”
“How does that happen?”
Ben smiled. It was the first time I’d seen him smile since I came over to Mrs. Stone’s house. He walked past me into the next bedroom and went straight for something. Bending behind a white ornate dresser, he scooped up my cat into his arms. She easily let him hold her and even purred into his chest like they were best friends. I guess he’d known all along where to find her.
“Ellie’s like that,” he said as he scratched Holly’s head. “She wears not only her heart on her sleeve, constantly, but also her hopes, her dreams, and everything else right there for the rest of the world to see. She’s easy to love because of it. She’s honest and open. So it’s hard not to be honest and open right back around her. Noah’s the exact opposite though. A robot would show more emotion than I’ve ever seen him show. And when Ellie was in the ninth grade she brought him home for dinner one night—like a lost puppy. Noah never left and I guess I sort of gained a brother that day too.”
Ben handed Holly to me then walked past me like that was all he wanted to say. I trailed him back into the living room where Mrs. Stone now sat watching TV. He plopped on the couch, staring at the screen. He’d accused this Noah person of being a robot, but whatever he’d revealed to me had upset him somehow. I watched as he completely shut down. As an actor subtle clues were easy for me to notice, and in unspoken words Ben told me just how much he missed his family. Even Noah.
“I’m going to head home,” I told them. “I’ll see you all at dinner tomorrow.”
“Bye, honey,” Mrs. Stone said, smiling widely.
Ben said nothing more. So I turned and walked home with Holly clutched tightly in my arms.
Yesterday’s conversation made me question Ben’s relationship with Mrs. Stone. Was he hired help or family or something else entirely? Something wasn’t quite right. I figured I’d get more answers at dinner and I’d also get to see if Ellie was a ‘maybe’ worth chasing. So it was decided now. I would be attending this dinner.
Once I’d made the decision to see her again, nervous-excitement set it. Not something I usually had issues with, but it happened. I pushed the feeling aside, knowing I still had a full day to figure out what to make of things, and drove on autopilot toward home.
But as I turned down my side street off the PCH, approaching my house, I had to catch my breath. Because parked in Mrs. Stone’s driveway was a car I’d never seen before. And getting out of that car was a girl I recognized. Ellie.
Adrenaline prickled under my skin at the sight of her. She was just as beautiful as I remembered. Maybe even more so. Her clothes were baggy and unflattering, but her face…her face made me forget all reason. The lesbian thing and the estranged sister issue—those things screamed complicated. And after Kelly I wasn’t looking for another mistake, but seeing Ellie again…even from a distance…made me realized that I didn’t give two fucks if she was complicated or not. So I parked on the street, telling myself to keep calm, and hopped out of my car.
She wasn’t alone. A man in his mid-twenties exited the car from the driver’s side. He wore pajama pants, a white t-shirt, and had his sun-bleached blond hair tied back in a low ponytail. “You’re scaring the shit out of me,” he groaned as Ellie walked around the car from the passenger side. “Seriously. Could you please tell me who we are going to see before we get to the fucking front door? Ellie, are you telling me you dragged everyone out to California for this?”
This man was Noah. He had to be. Something inside me knew it instantly. And judging by the frantic tone to his voice—I’d say he was the opposite of a robot. Hurrying, because I wasn’t sure I liked his tone, I jogged down the narrow driveway. Neither Ellie nor Noah noticed me approaching. They were too engrossed in their heated conversation to hear me.
“Who, Ellie?” Noah demanded, staring impatiently at her. Then he seemed almost frightened as he said, “I have an idea in my head, but I won’t say it out loud until you do.”
“Your idea is probably right,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“Tell me,” he pleaded.
“Ben. It’s Ben. He’s alive.”
Ben? Alive? What did that mean? Of course he was alive. I saw him yesterday.
“Shit,” Noah breathed.
“Yeah. The mother of all shit,” Ellie answered.
At that moment, Ellie glanced in my direction and noticed me. About damn time too. I was practically standing on top of her by this point. She squealed, clearly not expecting to find me right there next to her, and tripped over her own feet. She landed on her ass on the pavement below me.
Her wide blue eyes stared up into my eyes.
“Where did you come from?” she gasped.
I couldn’t help but smile. Clearly this wasn’t her day. Clearly she had some serious family drama to deal with right now. Clearly my timing couldn’t be worse. But I loved how she stared up at me. I loved the surprise and the interest in her eyes.
“I live two houses over. I was driving, saw you, and now I’m here.”
She took several deep breaths. “Oh.” Still sitting on the ground, her eyes drifted between me and her friend. “Noah, this is Nathanial. We met on the plane.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said to Noah, offering my hand for him to shake.
Radio silence and a cold hard stare. That was all he gave me. He didn’t return my hand shake, say, or do anything. Instead he reached down to offer Ellie his hand, which she took without hesitation. He pulled her to her feet, making me look like a fool for not beating him to it.
Placing his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants, Noah took a step backward. In a blink of an eye, he turned into that robot Ben accused him of being. Now…Ben had shut down on me yesterday and I could still decipher some of the thoughts floating through his head. Not this guy. This guy took stoic and turned it into an art form. Ellie, however, seemed to know exactly what he was thinking because she whispered to him, “I know you’re mad.”
His jaw tightened. “Mad doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
I’m pretty sure they weren’t talking about me. They were talking about Ben and the fact that Noah hadn’t known he was alive until a few seconds ago. I let the handshake thing slide because it seemed like there were bigger issues going on.Did this explain Ben’s weird presence at Mrs. Stone’s house? If I found out someone who’d I’d thought was dead suddenly wasn’t…I suppose I’d be angry too. Or thankful as fuck. It would depend on the person.
Ellie glanced at me briefly, her eyes seeking something from mine. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I’d just walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to be here for. But I wasn’t going anywhere because that wasn’t the look she gave at all. Her eyes were begging for help. So I did the only thing I could, and stayed firmly in place.
Then the front door to Mrs. Stone’s house opened. We must have been making enough noise for them to hear inside and Ben stepped outside onto the front porch. “You’re early,” he yelled across the lawn, smiling at his sister. “Like always.”
Ellie gasped when she saw him, her hands flying up to her mouth. “You son of a bitch,” she muttered under her breath. Then she rushed across the
front lawn and up to her brother. She flung her arms around his shoulders. He stood very still for a moment, as if her embrace had shocked him, but then he quickly gave in and returned her hug. It was a love I was familiar with. My brother and I were very close. Or at least we had been as kids. These days he had a partner, kids of his own, and lived too many miles away. But as I watched Ellie happily hug the shit out of her brother, it made me almost desperate to call my own. And to hear his voice. It had been too long since we’d last spoken.
After a minute or two, Ellie let Ben go. Then she slugged him in the shoulder fairly hard. “Dumbass!” she wailed at him, playfully. “You’re such a dumbass. What would all of you do without me? I swear to God. The only one of us with any sense is Rosie.”
Ben smiled. “How is Rose?”
“She wants to become a paparazzi. That’s become her life goal. Last week she even made me go on a practice ‘stake-out.’ We stalked Rhett for an entire day, taking pictures of him from my car. Don’t tell him. He’d give me crap about it.”
“Like I even talk to anyone from back home.” Ben shook his head and laughed. A real genuine laugh. In the blink of an eye he’d become a different person with his sister—happy and easy going. “Why follow Rhett? Because he’s in a band?”
“Yeah. His band still sucks balls though.”
Ellie and Ben continued to talk, forgetting Noah and I existed. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed watching their reunion. They didn’t seem ‘estranged’ in the least. And all of it made me want to get to know Ellie more. She seemed so at ease in her life. Completely in control and happy. Something I longed for. Noah on the other hand, he was a strange one. Instead of being happy to see Ben, I swear to God he now looked like he wanted to murder him. He kept swearing under his breath. Until he reached a breaking point and said, “We need to go, Ellie. Now.”
What the fuck was his problem? He couldn’t let her have one moment alone with her brother? I kind of wanted to tell him off for it too. But Ellie spoke before I could.
“We’ll be back for dinner, Ben.”
Giving Ben an extremely quick half-hug, she leapt off the front porch and hurried back to Noah. It was as if Noah had said jump and she’d asked how high. Noah didn’t even acknowledge Ben. Not even a simple hi. He turned and walked for the car. He pulled open the door and disappeared inside. The passenger side this time. Kind of like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
“He’s pissed,” Ben said, still standing by the door. I lingered there with him. “I didn’t know he was capable of so much emotion.”
“He has every right to be.” Gone was the fun, light vibe between the siblings. “We’ll talk more tonight. There’s a lot that’s happen since you’ve been gone and I kind of sprung all this on Noah today. Anyway, dinner still at seven?”
Ben nodded and then disappeared inside Mrs. Stone’s house. What was I? Chopped liver. I swear, did any of these people have any manners? Jesus Christ. Everyone kept interacting like I wasn’t even there. I was about to walk off when I felt a soft hand touch my forearm. I looked down and found Ellie standing there with me. Touching me. My skin tingled at the spot her fingers lightly brushed. Her eyes stared up at me with a small desperation behind them.
“I need a favor. I know things didn’t end all that smoothly between us yesterday,” she said, swallowing hard. Those eyes of hers were such a startling shade of blue that they nearly took my breath away. “Honestly, I’m still not even sure what happened—”
“You saw me naked and we almost fucked. That’s what happened.” My words came out much harsher than I intended them to. And I was thankful her friend in the car couldn’t hear us.
“Right,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Right. Never mind.” She started walking for the car.
“What’s the favor?” I called after her. “Because I’ll do it.”
“It’s too much.” Her voice shook as she spoke. This wasn’t the confident girl I’d met on the plane. This was a girl doing everything in her power to hold it together and all I wanted was to help her. “I was going to ask if you could drive us to our hotel. I’m a crap driver on a good day and the traffic here makes me especially nervous. Noah’s going through some shit right now. But it’s too much to ask. I always overstep my boundaries with people and…just…never mind.”
“Sure.” I crossed the small distance to the car, stopping her hand before she could open the driver’s side door. “Sure. I’ll drive you anywhere you need to go.”
CHAPTER 7:
ELLIE
The second Nathanial started the car and pulled out onto the Pacific Coast Highway, I unbuckled my seatbelt, wove my arms around Noah’s seat, and gave him a giant hug from behind. Noah wasn’t a guy who made public displays of affection often or talked openly about his feelings. But I knew my friend. He worried more than most and I knew he needed a hug. It was the least I could do right this second and tears filled my eyes as I held onto him. Briefly, his hands gripped my forearms and he returned my gesture. Then we both let go—Noah said nothing and I sat back in my seat.
Several minutes passed in silence. My eyes stayed glued to my window. My heart slammed in my chest, harder and harder with each passing second. Partly over the stress of this day—but mostly over the fact that some way, somehow Nate West had ended up as my own personal chauffeur.
We were in the same freaking car, breathing the same freaking air. How did this happen? I thought when I’d left that airplane yesterday I’d never see him again. Now he was suddenly in my life again.
I didn’t dare glance forward. I didn’t want to chance catching his stare in the rearview mirror. He was consuming my every thought and making me question everything all over again. And I didn’t need to add to that by looking at him too. Without even trying, this man had some strange hold over me. I blamed it on the fact that he was a celebrity. Not on the fact that he was one damn fine male specimen.
Getting an idea in my head, I pulled my phone from my pocket. The internet will tell you anything—like a celebrity’s home address. I quickly searched Google to find out if Nate West was being honest about where he lived. Because what if he was a crazed-psycho stalker instead and I’d been stupid enough to let him drive?
Turns out he was being honest. His home address was where he’d claimed it to be—two houses down the street from Ben’s old lady friend.Okay then, not a stalker. I pushed my phone back in my pocket and went back to staring out my window, unsure what to think.
It took us almost an hour to drive back across town. At least, as the time passed, my body began to relax. I let myself watch Nathanial drive. He had such a calm way about him and it helped calm me down too. I forgot for a moment that he was Nate West—Hollywood Hunk, TV Heartthrob, and Dropper of Women’s Panties Everywhere—and for a brief second thought of him as a regular guy, as only Nathanial.
“How long?” Noah suddenly asked. “How much further?”
“About ten more minutes,” Nathanial’s deep voice answered. “If we could get through these traffic lights maybe less. Sorry. Just how it is around here. You learn to live with it.”
Noah blew out a long breath.
“You okay, dude?” Nathanial asked. “You’re shaking.”
I bit my tongue, afraid at how Noah might respond. He’d been dead silent the whole ride and surely lost somewhere inside his own head. Who knows what he thought of my new ‘man friend.’
“I’ll be okay as soon as I’m with Georgina,” Noah muttered, saying no more.
Then it happened. We were stopped in traffic and Nathanial’s eyes connected with mine in the rearview mirror. I’d managed to avoid this for an hour, but couldn’t prevent it any longer. I’m not sure what I’d been so afraid of…because there was no judgment reflected back in his dark eyes. Only care. Which was pretty damn surprising coming from this beast of a man.
“I know who your brother is,” he said to me. “It makes sense now. This past February, a young man in the Coast Guard fell overboard. I remember because
the story was all over the local news. The crew members on his ship hunted for him in the water, but he never resurfaced. He had on something like sixty pounds of gear and it happened at night so they figured he’d drown. After he went missing, boats combed the water and volunteers searched the shore line for days. Nothing. They found nothing. So they claimed him dead—lost to the sea. That wasyour brother, wasn’t it? Except he wasn’t lost at all. He’s been in Malibu this whole time.”
“Yes,” I answered in a gasp, amazed and fearful at how quickly he’d connected the dots.
Nathanial’s gaze returned to the road as we started moving again. “So what happened?” he asked as he drove. “Ben washed up on the shore next to Mrs. Stone’s house, knocked on her door, and asked for a place to stay? Then he decided he wasn’t going to leave or tell anyone he was alive? Just hide out at her house forever?”
Noah turned around in his seat to glare at me. “Seriously? Is that how it happened, Ellie?” he demanded.
“In a nut shell…yes.” I grimaced. “Everyone thought Ben died, but he was perfectly fine. And when he made it to shore, Mrs. Stone took him in. Exactly like Nathanial guessed. Mrs. Stone offered him a chance to start over. He took that chance. I don’t have a fucking clue why he wanted to quit his family. Because that’s what he did. He quit us.”
Oh Christ. Now I was crying. Not just tears lingering in my eyes, but full out ugly crying.
“Don’t give me that look,” I snapped at Noah as he watched me.
“I’m not giving you any kind of look, Ellie,” he said softly. “This is how I always look.”
I groaned. He totallywasgiving me a look, whether he meant to or not. “It’s not like I knew Ben was alive thiswhole time. I went to his funeral too. I buried my brother the same day everyone else did. Don’t think it didn’t hurt me just as much as it hurt Georgie or anyone else. Because it did. We all hurt. Then Ben called me a few months ago. He begged me not to tell anyone he was still alive. Talk about the fucking shock of the century. He told me not to tell because he’d decided he was never coming home. He said he was glad everyone thought he was dead. Okay? That’s how it went down.”
Changing Tides (Kill Devil Hills Book 2) Page 5