“You all done?” he asks. He’s breathing harder than he wants me to know.
“Get off me,” I say.
“Not until you calm down.”
“I said get off me.”
“What are you going to do about it?” he laughs.
“I was trying to do something about it,” I tell him. “Get off and I’ll go. You can play house with Sophia. She wants to.”
“I don’t care what she wants,” he says.
“There’s no reason for us to go through with any of this now,” I say. “Sophia didn’t cheat on you. This doesn’t have anything to do with her.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Oscar says. “But it doesn’t change anything between us either. What’s happened, happened, Hale. You need to quit fighting me on it.”
“You’re in love with someone else and you should be with her!” I grunt from under him.
“I’m not going to be with her. I’m marrying you,” he growls. He exhales a warm and aggravated sigh against my neck, and then his lips are back at my ear. “I gave my word to that and, just so you know, I’m finding it incredibly easy to embrace the idea. Except when I have to pin you to the floor.”
I take advantage of having his neck so close to my mouth and bite him. I sink my teeth just hard enough that he yelps and loses his grip, so I can wiggle away. He rolls onto his heels as I scuttle away from him. My back hits the edge of the bed. He lifts his hand to his neck, draws it back and checks for blood. I can see the red marks of my teeth on him, but no broken skin.
“Someday soon,” he says with a patient laugh, “you’re going to do that because you want me as close as you can get me, instead of further away.”
The front door opens, and Amy’s voice interrupts my response.
“What the hell is going on? Why are you sitting here all alone?”
#
“I’ll just go,” Sophia says. Oscar dragged me downstairs by my hand to find Sophia sobbing at one end of the couch, and Amy bunched up beside her, shooting daggers at us as we enter the room.
“What’s the matter with you?” Amy hisses, but she’s looking at me instead of Oscar.
“I’m sorry, Sophia, but I think it’s a good idea if you go too,” Oscar says. “We’ll talk another time, okay?”
“Sure,” she says, rising off the couch. Landon, arms crossed on his chest and leaning on the front door frame, moves out of her way. Amy throws up her arms in frustration, and walks out after her friend. The door bangs shut.
“This isn’t the birthday I was expecting,” Landon jokes. Oscar runs a hand through his hair.
“Sorry buddy. I didn’t expect it to go like this either.”
“You want us to just take off?”
“No, no,” Oscar says. “Stay. Your birthday’s tomorrow. You’re not driving home all night. Hell no.”
“It’s no big deal. Amy might be pissy all weekend anyway.”
“We’ll get her over it,” Oscar says, but I can’t imagine how it’s going to happen unless I’m the one that goes home.
Sophia’s tail lights finally glow like angry eyes through the front windows, as Amy lets herself back in. Landon gives her a win-some-lose-some grin, and she returns a scowl.
“How about we eat?” Landon suggests, trying to change the mood.
“You want to grill?” Oscar asks. They go off into the kitchen together and I trail them, so Amy doesn’t jump me in the living room and eat my face. I think both guys know it’s a real possibility too, since they don’t try to assign us to salad chopping or side dish prep, while they escape out to the grill.
While Landon shapes the burgers into disks, Oscar opens a can of baked beans and dumps them in a saucepan on the stove. Amy stays right between the guys, leaning on the sink, and I hover opposite them, near the fridge. Landon makes small talk that only Oscar responds to.
Finally, Amy asks, “Did Sophia do that to your face, O?”
“Nope,” he tells her, stirring the beans and smiling at her. “This is what happens when you miss a step going up the stairs.”
“You should put ice on that. It looks awful, poor baby,” she says. The guilt sinks into me like pushpins. Amy crosses the room to my side, opens a cupboard, and pulls out a plastic baggie. She hands it to me, along with the steak Oscar threw in there from our shopping trip.
“Better take care of your man, Hale,” she says, but when she hands it all to me, she actually gives me a wispy smile. I’m totally shocked that she’s not trying to use the steak to bludgeon me.
“That’s right, Hale,” Oscar jumps in, tipping his cheek in my direction, although he continues to stir the beans. “Take care of me.”
If I didn’t think that Amy would gut me for defying her, I would’ve lobbed the meat at Oscar’s head and sent a bruise all the way to his hairline. Instead, I drop the steak into the plastic bag as I near Oscar, and lift the hard icepack to his face.
The bruise looks deep and sickly at the center, spreading out in purples and blues. Oscar hums, mmmhhh, when the cold touches his skin. His eyes close, the dark lashes resting momentarily on his cheek, and a nuclear blast of unintentional lust fires through me.
Oscar opens his eyes, and I realize how close I’m standing when he smiles. His eyes crinkle up first, and then, I notice his lips. He stops stirring and the beans bubble and blow steam.
“Kiss me,” he murmurs, but suddenly I feel like the whole room is full of spotlights. I just smile and move back.
“The beans,” I say. He frowns and pulls the saucepan off the burner.
“Burgers are ready to roll,” Landon says and Amy says, “Thank God. I’m starving. Aren’t you, Hale?”
I nod, but I’m completely confused. She wanted to pull my arms off a few hours ago, but she’s smiling and talking to me now. I stick close to Oscar and he shoots me a conspiratorial grin, like he knows I’m using him as a human shield against Amy. And he takes full advantage of it. He slips his arm around my waist, as we follow Landon and Amy out the sunroom door to the grill on the side of the house.
“I hear your dad and Oscar’s work together, Hale. What does your dad do?” Landon asks as he lights the grill.
“They don’t exactly,” I begin, but Oscar cuts me off.
“Hale’s dad likes working with his hands. He’s starting up a premier environmental service and my dad thought his ideas were brilliant. You know how my dad is when he sees a good idea. He jumped in at the ground floor and plans to ride the elevator up. The company is already projected to go state-wide with the potential of multiple chains in less than two years.”
I feel like my own mouth is hanging open. I thought Mr. Maree just bought my dad a truck and a tractor, not an environmental service dynasty.
“Wow, that’s excellent,” Landon, says.
“Yeah, it’s really great,” I say.
“So tell us about you, Haley.” Amy says.
“It’s just Hale,” I tell her. She smiles dryly.
“Cool. Hale. Tell us about you.”
“She reads more than anyone I know,” Oscar says. “Her favorite color is purple, dark not light, she is picky about her Italian food, and she’s an amazing cook. You should see what she can do with eggs.”
“How long have you been together? I thought you just met each other?”
“We met about two weeks ago, but we just started dating this week,” Oscar lies. “But it seems like I’ve known her for years.”
“Cool,” Amy says again with a tempered laugh.
“How about you two? How did you and Landon meet?” I ask.
“We met through Oscar and Sophia. Our best friends fixed up their best friends.” Amy runs a hand down Landon’s back. “But it looks like now it’s going to be the four of us instead, so I guess I’m just gonna have to girl-up and make a new bestie.”
“That’d be great,” I say. Oh my God. Oscar presses his fingers into my side, and when I glance at him, he gives me a wink that says Please don’t let her be a bestie. Or maybe I�
�m imagining it all.
As we eat dinner, Amy quizzes me on my life.
“Where did you go to school?”
“Lindbolm.” I omit the fact that I just graduated a couple weeks ago.
“Lindbolm? I thought you were in college!” She laughs. “I was a Hyden girl. The guys at Lindbolm, though...oh my God. What do they put in your water over there? I swear all those guys had eight hands!”
“Are we really going to talk high school?” Landon says, reaching for another burger.
“You’re right. I’m trapping us in Dullvania,” Amy says, swooping in to drop a kiss that ends up only millimeters from hitting his eyeball. “Do you ever shop at Loot, Hale? I’m absolutely addicted to their lipstick line and their eye shadow palettes.”
“Great. Make-up,” Landon groans. “That’s better.”
“Loot’s an awesome store,” I agree. I don’t mention that I’ve only been in the store a couple times and couldn’t afford anything. I hope she doesn’t suggest that we do a make-over, since all I’ve got in my collection are a couple drug store palettes with huge holes worn through the center of each color, an ancient tube of mascara, and a few eyeliner pencils that I have to warm up with a cigarette lighter.
Amy’s cell rings and she turns to rifle through her purse, on the back of her chair, to get it. She holds it up and reads the screen with a frown.
“Poop. That was Soph,” she says, shooting me an awkward grimace. “I better make sure she got home safe. Sorry. I’ll take it outside.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I say, but Amy’s already scooted out the sunroom door. The three of us watch her shadow move toward the beach, her cell screen seeming to float away on its own, like a tiny, rectangular beacon.
“Anybody want coffee?” Oscar asks. But then his cell rings. He picks it up and peers at the screen. “I’ve got to get this. I’ll be back in a sec.”
He clicks on the phone and says, “Yeah, it’s me, what’s up?” before he goes out the front door. Landon and I are left at the table, me shooting glances toward the front door and him shooting them toward the back. I pick at my food, wondering if Sophia hung up with Amy and called Oscar. Or if it is Oscar’s dad with more bad news. Then I perk up, imagining its Sher, calling to gush about a wedding plan, which sends an unexpected little tinge of enjoyment down into my stomach. Sher’s enthusiasm about Oscar makes everything feel a little less scary, and like it will all turn out okay eventually.
Landon reaches for the bag of chips and peels his eyes from the shadows out the sunroom window long enough to ask, “So, you’re good with jumping into the Maree clan?”
I blink at him a few seconds, not sure what Oscar’s told him, what he knows. I finally settle on giving Landon a friendly smile and say, “Yeah, I’m good.”
“He’s a good guy,” Landon says, looking into the bottom of the chip bag. “I know you two are moving fast, but you seem like a good person, so I hope it works out for you. Just wanted you to know that.”
“Uh, thanks,” I say, shifting around on my chair. I’m so uncomfortable; I’m actually starting to wish that Oscar would come back. But Amy comes in first.
“That was sad,” Amy says, dropping her phone on the table. I don’t know if she’s talking to me or Landon. “Poor Soph. She wanted me to talk to her the whole way home.”
“Long ride,” Landon says, digging into the chip bag again.
“She’ll be fine,” Amy says, and this time, she shoots me a sympathetic glance. “Sorry to bum you out with all of this, hon. It’s such a weird thing to be comforting one best friend and listening to her complain that her ex is a dickhead, when I’ve got a new friend sitting here who’s in love with the same guy. Especially when I adore the guy, and he’s friends with my boyfriend. It’s just tough, you know?”
“It’s okay,” I mumble. I get it, but, when she said Oscar was a dickhead, the hair on my skin still bristled up.
Oscar walks back in a few minutes later.
“Everything okay?” Landon asks and Oscar nods.
“All good,” he says. “You guys done eating? I was thinking of taking Hale for a walk down the beach.”
“I want to go,” Amy says, but Oscar gives Landon a wry smile and Landon reaches for Amy’s hand.
“I think they want to be alone,” he says, and then, with an eyebrow wiggle to her, “so we can be alone too.”
“You are just the sexiest man I’ve ever met,” Amy says, reaching over to squeeze Landon’s cheeks. She does a hair flip to look at us, strands falling perfectly over one, seductively drooped eye. “Okay, you two, get out so I can be alone with my man.”
Oscar pulls my chair back and takes my hand. We walk through the kitchen, stopping to retrieve a battery-powered lantern from a cupboard.
“Just leave the light on out front, so we can find our way back when you’re—when you’re good with us coming back in,” Oscar says to Landon with a wink.
CHAPTER NINE
WHEN IT’S DARK OUTSIDE IN THE COUNTRY, it’s black. Walking away from the house, there are no streetlights and no other houses around to light our way. The sound of the water on one side and the glow of the lantern on the sand in front of us is disorienting, and I still feel like I’m going to fall on my face.
“To get to the bigger beach, we’ve got to go down this path,” Oscar says, taking my hand. I’m grateful for his touch and that he holds back the branches that would probably poke out my eyes otherwise, as we pick our way down the path. But a rustle in the tall grass along the side scares me even closer to him. I squeeze his hand, and his laugh rumbles.
“Nothing’s gonna get you out here, Hale,” he says. “Everything’s way more afraid of you than the other way around.”
But another rustle from the dark grass presses me to his side. I’m so close that his chuckle vibrates against me. The ground is uneven beneath my feet, and Oscar catches me a few times, hauling me up like a toddler, when I stumble. We go along for an agonizingly long time before we finally break through to the edge of long beach.
There is only a long strip of sand that rises up to a dark tree line on one side, or smoothes out to the black water on the other side. We plod along the beach until we’re a ways away from the path. Oscar switches off the lantern.
“Want to sit and talk?” he says. Even when the lantern was on, there wasn’t enough light to see further than five feet. I’d be lost in seconds. But with the lantern off, it’s so dark that I can’t even make out Oscar unless I’m staring off to one side of him.
“I guess.” I sit, the sand surprisingly cold beneath me. Oscar drops down next to me, digging in his heels and resting his elbows on his bent knees. When my eyes get used to the dark, I can see his profile, but can’t make out his features at all.
“Who called you?” I ask.
“That’s what you’ve been thinking?”
“Yes. And that this sand is colder than I thought it’d be.”
Oscar scoots a little closer and, I hate to admit it, but I’m grateful for the warmth of his body too. He leans back, propping an arm behind me and we’re suddenly even closer, even though he’s not really touching me at all.
“Are you going to tell me who called?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says. “My father called first. He said there haven’t been any new developments. He said the news stations aren’t re-broadcasting the story over and over—I guess Rick Tatum was just a regular guy, so it’s not big news. The hardest part is going to be living with it. Even though the whole thing was kind of self-defense, and the guy dying was an accident, we’ve all got to live knowing that we are the only ones who know what happened.”
He doesn’t have to explain it to me. The dark cloud has been there for me too, ever since I found out what happened. Even without the marriage deal that our fathers made, knowing that the four of us are the only ones who know about a man’s death leaves me with the dark feeling too. It’s like I can get my mind off it, but there’s still a smudge on every
moment, a smoke ring that hovers around the edges.
“My father mentioned that your dad is kicking some ass with the new business. He’s already got a few dozen clients, and he’s been working non-stop.”
“Good,” I say. I don’t want to think about my dad a whole lot. All I come back to is how he handed me over to Oscar that last night, kicking me out with my bags, and busting the bottles on the wall to make me leave. The bits of glass that cut me have become nothing more than tiny scars in my skin, another bit of smoke that I hope will eventually disappear. “Who else called?”
“Sophia,” he sighs. “Amy probably got my number off Land’s phone, and now Sophia’s got it.”
I don’t want to talk around the edges of what’s going on anymore. I cut right to it.
“Do you still love her, Oscar?”
He ducks his head down for a moment, between his elbows, and then he says, “Yeah, but not like you think.”
“What do I think?”
“I’m guessing you mean do I love her, like love her. I don’t. Not like that,” he says. “But she was someone I cared about before, so I don’t like to see her upset now. At the same time, I can’t change the way I feel about you, just to suit her.”
His phone rings in his pocket. He fishes it out and holds it up. It’s Sophia. He flicks on the phone and says hello. Just like Sher, Sophia’s a loud cell phone talker and I can hear every word.
“Oscar? What you’re doing sucks. It really, really sucks. You go missing, and I have to track you down just to find out that you’ve been cheating on me? You should’ve respected me a little more and just handled this like an adult. I don’t know where you get off giving me that bullshit story about me being the one who was cheating on you! And how long have you even been with that girl? You can’t be in love with her! You can’t!”
“Sophia,” Oscar says calmly. “I’m sorry it happened like this with us. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but...”
“Damn it!” she explodes. “Don’t you dare tell me again how it’s you and not me! It is me, or you’d be with me right now!”
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