Spencer sits back and watches me for a moment. “You know, I don’t think I can remember the reasons we hated each other so much.”
“Trust me, I remember them all. Do you need a refresher course?”
“No, I’m good,” he laughs holding his hands up. “I was a bit of a douche back then, huh?”
“A bit?” I scoff. “You were the king of all the douches. Though, to be fair, you started alright until you had to go and run your mouth and exaggerate what happened between us.”
“I know. Your boyfriend taught me that lesson the hard way.”
“He sure did," I say, grinning at the memory. “I’m glad you’re not such a dipshit anymore. I don’t think I could handle you hanging around if you were still like that.”
“Um…thanks,” he laughs. “Though, do you really think Tully would let me that close if I was still pulling that kind of shit?”
“Good point.”
“What’s going on?” Tully says, putting the biggest chocolate milkshake down in front of Spencer before dropping down into her seat and grabbing hers.
“Spencer was just trying to remember why we never got along for most of senior year and I was just about to remind him of all those great reasons.”
Spencer rolls his eyes as Tully howls with laughter. "Oh, God. You were such a douche.”
“That’s what I said.”
Just like that, Tully and I start rambling off every tiny little thing we can remember of Spencer’s senior year that points out exactly how much of a douche he was and it’s not long before he’s hanging his head and trying his best to tune us out.
Before we know it, Spencer turns the tables on us and reminds us of everything we regret doing over the past year, so we come to a truce, promising to never bring it up again.
My stomach hurts from laughing and it takes all of two seconds for my milkshake to disappear. We get up and Spencer takes our trash to the garbage before we start filing out of the café.
As we step out into the sunshine, I can’t help but breathe it in. We’re already halfway through our summer and I can’t believe how fast it’s going. Before I know it, I’ll be living in a creepy, old mansion with my criminal father, forgetting what it was like to have this kind of freedom.
I shake off the thought. I shouldn’t be thinking about that crap. Noah has spent the last two days at the police station, giving them every tiny little detail he recalls, Anton’s warehouses, his connections, all the way down to his suppliers and who he believes could be the dirty cops.
There’s so much to cover and something tells me he still has a few days worth of information to give. After all, he’s worked with the guy since he was eleven. He’s probably managed to piece together information that Anton doesn’t even realize he knows.
My gut is telling me that this is going to be good. I hate that it’s dangerous waters. If Noah treads carefully, this should go down smoothly, but one slip up could cost us dearly. All it would take is one murmured conversation from those cops in the hallway to be overheard and we’d be screwed.
We start heading down the street, both of us groaning about the decision we made to walk. My feet are aching and I’m silently hating on Spencer when he tells us that he walked here too. I mean, between the three of us, we have three cars yet here we are, stranded and forced to walk in this heat.
With plenty of daylight left, we start heading down to the beach to take advantage of the sun with the intention to sit on our asses, doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. Maybe I could convince Noah to come and get us after he’s finished at the police station, but I doubt he’s going to be in a great mood after having to recap all that Anton bullshit.
We zigzag through all the bodies coming up from the beach and pass by the ice creamery. I’m more than happy to walk on by as my milkshake sits happily in my stomach, but that doesn’t stop Tully looking through the window. “Hey look,” she says, grabbing my elbow and yanking me to a hard stop. “There’s Ari and your dad.”
At the mention of Ari’s name, my eyes automatically fly her way and travel over her body, starting at her head, going down to her toes before heading right back up. She has a big goofy grin on her face, her swimsuit, and a massive ice cream cone in her hands, one I know that within the next few minutes is going to end up melted and running down her arm, leaving a sticky trail behind.
Aria spots me instantly and screams out my name, making everyone around her stop what they're doing and look my way. Dad looks up immediately and searches me out. It’s been a few days since I’ve seen him and the regret pours through his eyes the second they lock on mine. He’s hurting.
“Shit,” Tully murmurs. “Do you want to get out of here?”
I consider it a moment but when it comes down to it, this is my dad. He’s the one constant in my life that I’ve had since I was a baby. He’s the one who stood by me all those years and the one who never once tried to give me up or leave. I owe it to him to talk.
Dad walks out of the ice creamery with Aria in tow and she bolts for me, wrapping her arms around me as dad comes to a stop before us. He gives Spencer and Tully a small smile before looking to me. “How are you, Squish?” he questions. “Haven’t seen you in a few days.”
I nod my head. “Fine,” I say. “Has Ari been ok?”
“Yeah, she’s been doing alright,” he tells me, glancing down. "Listen, Henley. Can we talk?”
I look across at Tully who gives me a small nod before glancing down at Ari. “Hey, Squirt. How would you feel about going down to the beach with Tully and Spencer for a little bit?”
“Really?” she beams, releasing me and rushing to Tully’s side. “We were just at the beach and daddy said that I had to get out because I splashed him too much.”
“Well, I guess now you can splash Spencer instead.”
Aria pumps her little fist as Spencer groans to himself. “Yes!”
Without even looking back, she takes Tully’s hand and starts dragging her back towards the beach and before I know it, I’m left standing awkwardly in the middle of the walkway, staring at my father and not knowing where the hell to start.
We walk towards the beach, staying a short distance behind Tully, Spencer, and Aria when dad hands me the ice cream cone he’d only just bought for himself. “Here,” he says. “I have a feeling you’d enjoy this more than I would.”
I automatically take it from him. Despite how hurt I’ve been by him, the man knows me well. “Thanks,” I grumble, wondering how two seconds ago, I was happy to walk right by this place, but now that I’ve got one in my hand, I can’t possibly resist it.
“I’m sorry, Squish,” dad says. “I don’t know what I was thinking to say shit like that to you. Surely you must know that you and your sister are the best things that have ever happened to me and whether we share the same blood or not, it makes no difference to me. You’re my daughter and I love you with everything that I have.”
Dad shakes his head, but I keep quiet, sensing that he’s not quite done yet. “I would give anything to take back what I said to you. I was drunk and letting my own hurt cloud my head when I should have been thinking about everything that you’ve been going through. This past year hasn’t been easy for you and I failed you when I should have been there supporting you.”
“It’s ok, dad. I get it. Finding out that I’m not your daughter would have been rough. Especially finding out right in the middle of losing Aria.”
“No, Squish. It’s not ok. A father should never speak to his child in that way and I should never have made you feel small like that. For a very long time, it was just you and me. You were all I had in this world until Ari came along and turned it all upside down. We’ve had a lot of changes but you should know that no matter what, nothing will ever change between you and me. You’re my little girl and it will always be that way. So, what do you say? Will you come back home? You’ve been giving your old man a hard time.”
I can’t help but smile. “It’s not li
ke you didn’t know where I was staying.”
“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s a boy who also lives there who has an eye for my little girl.”
“You know, one day, you’re going to have to get used to the idea of me and Noah being together. I have a feeling he’s going to be sticking around for a while.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” he says, proving to me that he means everything he’s just said. He has absolutely no intention of things changing between us.
I shake my head as the grin rips across my face. “I love you, daddy.”
"Does that mean you’ll forgive me and come home?”
“I guess it depends if you’ll be on dinner duty for the next week or not.”
Dad groans before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine. I’ll even throw in the dishes too.”
I hold out my hand before giving dad’s a firm shake. “Then you have yourself a deal.”
Chapter 13
“Man, this is the life,” Tully says, propping herself up on her elbows as she looks out at Broken Hill lake. We lay side by side on our towels on the hottest day of the summer, soaking up warm rays while sipping on cocktails as everyone parties around us.
Aiden pops up on my other side before reaching for the suntan oil and slathering it over his body as though he’s about to make an appearance in a cheap porno. “You got that right,” he says, keeping his eye on Jesse Ryder as he wakeboards behind his boat, driven by his best friend, Tyson. “I live in the wrong town.”
My mind instantly takes me to Noah, thinking about his deep, green eyes, his strong, defined body, his tattoos, and that piercing, and for the first time since meeting Aiden, I find myself unable to agree with him. Don’t get me wrong, there’s certainly some nice looking man meat in Broken Hill, but Haven Falls is where I need to be. I couldn’t possibly imagine myself anywhere but there.
The more time that passes, the more clearly I can picture our future. A nice house with my degree framed on the wall, maybe a couple of kids, a dog as big as a horse, and a spare bedroom for Tully to come and visit. You know, assuming Noah doesn’t get locked up in prison right beside Anton. Though, if he did, it’d be like a two for one deal. I could visit both in one trip, but I have a slight inkling that I’m not going to be making a habit of visiting Anton behind bars.
I grin across at Aiden. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Trust you to say that,” he grumbles. “You’re practically blinded by Noah. I’d bet every last thing I have that you haven’t even noticed all the hot muscle around here. Literally, every guy is strutting around shirtless with one of those cocky attitudes that you love so much and they’re invisible to you.”
“Believe me, they’re certainly not invisible to me,” Tully says, sitting up a little higher with a predatory smirk on her face as she watches the guys in the lake. “Especially those deep ‘V’s’ that are practically an arrow pointing towards the goods.”
“Fuck, yeah,” Aiden grins before high-fiving Tully over the top of me.
I shake my head and take another sip of my cocktail before laying back down on my towel. “You’re both idiots. I don’t know why I hang out with you.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” a deep voice questions from above me with a disappointed scoff that instantly puts me on high alert, ready to kick some major ass. You know, just as soon as I figure out which one of us the comment was aimed at.
I find a dirty blonde guy standing before us, staring down at Aiden with a cocked brow and the body to go with it. He looks big like a football player or some kind of athlete. His body is ripped with blonde floppy hair and a pair of thighs to die for. He’s exactly the kind of guy that would land himself on Aiden’s ‘to do’ list.
I look to Aiden and see him cringing as he watches the guy standing above us. "Oh, hey…umm.”
“Barker,” he says, clearly irritated.
“Barker. That’s right,” Aiden says, getting up.
“So, I’m guessing you were lying about visiting your sick grandmother today,” Barker accuses. “In fact, I’d dare say you don’t even have a sick grandmother.”
Aiden quickly glances down at Tully and I, clearly embarrassed as we gape at him in shock. He turns back to Barker with an apologetic look. “Guilty,” he confesses. “Nana’s doing fine. But look, I’m not the ‘boyfriend’ type. I’m the ‘have a little fun while things are still interesting’ type. I only said I was visiting my grandmother to let you down easy.”
“Let me down easy? Dude, I’m not interested in being your boyfriend. I only asked what you were doing today so I could invite you here in the hopes of fooling around a bit more. Don’t get me wrong, but I assumed you were down for that.”
Tully and I shoot to our feet, both of us stepping in front of Aiden to take over his little game. “Hi,” I beam, holding out my hand. “I’m Henley.”
Tully barges my hand out of the way and holds out her own. “I’m Tully.”
Barker grins a delicious grin as he takes both our hands and plants a kiss on each. “Barker, but trust me, no introductions are needed. I know all about you two ladies. You’re practically famous on my side of the tracks.”
Tully grins at me. That’s like music to her ears. She turns back to Barker, already smitten by the guy. “Tell me, Barker, could you fill us in on the details?” she asks, eyeing Aiden. “As something tells me I won’t be getting them anywhere else.”
Aiden groans behind us but we settle in for storytime and it seems Barker is all too pleased to share his adventures. “Well, your good friend Aiden was more than happy to show me the best time of my life in a broom closet at Tyson’s party last night and then took off like ‘Cinderella’ when I asked about meeting up today.”
“Aw, fuck,” Aiden groans under his breath before letting out a sigh. “I didn’t take off like ‘Cinderella.’ I told you I had to go and got the fuck out of there before you wanted to snuggle.”
I struggle holding back my laugh as Tully narrows her eyes. "You wouldn’t be talking about the same Aiden who ditched me last night for a family dinner.”
Barker laughs. “Sounds about right.”
“Come on, Tully,” Aiden grins. “If I took you with me, you would have begged to sit in the corner on a mop bucket so you could watch.”
Tully grins, not ashamed at all as Barker laughs. "I’m down for that.”
I shake my head as Tully beams at Barker as though she just found her soulmate. “I’m going to keep you.”
Barker throws his arm over Tully’s shoulder and pulls her into his side. “You know what? I might just let you. Besides, your brother is that dude with all the tats, isn’t he?”
“Now listen here,” Aiden says, stepping closer. “If Noah Cage is ever going to let another man touch him, it’s going to be me. I’ve already laid all the groundwork, I just need to wait until he decides that Henley can’t satisfy him anymore.”
I scoff, rolling my eyes as pride surges through me. “Trust me, that’s never going to happen. I have Noah locked down, constantly begging for more. He’ll never get enough of me.”
“That better be me you’re talking about,” comes that deep, familiar voice that has my insides doing flips.
I spin around and find that same tatted up bad boy and throw my arms around him before jumping up into him and crushing my lips to his, while also making a point to the two boys that this tatted up bad boy belongs to me.
Noah looks down at me, studying me closely before grinning and shaking his head. “Are you drunk?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Halfway there.”
“Wow,” Barker mumbles behind me as Noah’s eyes narrow on the way his arm is thrown over his sister’s shoulder. “It’s Noah Cage in the flesh.”
“Right?” Aiden agrees as my man puts me down.
Noah nods towards Barker. “Who’s this guy?”
“It seems he’s Aiden’s competition,” I laugh, looking between the two boys. “So, what exactly a
re the rules? The first one to get a piece of my boyfriend’s ass wins?”
Both Aiden and Barker laugh as Noah’s face drops in horror. “Chill out,” Tully laughs, punching her brother in the arm. “This is Barker, Aiden’s raunchy boy toy from last night.”
“Last night?” Noah grumbles, turning to Aiden. “Weren’t you supposed to be at a family dinner?”
“Do we seriously have to keep discussing this?” Aiden groans.
“Yep,” Tully announces, threading her arm through Aiden’s. “We’ll be talking about this until I get exactly what I want out of it.”
With that, Tully pulls the two boys away and all I can do is laugh. “Tully’s going to keep him, isn’t she?” Noah grumbles.
“She’s probably already got their baby names picked out.”
Noah shakes his head as a worrying crease appears between his brows. “She’s too trusting. I swear she’s going to befriend the wrong person one day.”
“And you’ll be there to fix it if she does. Besides, her judgment couldn’t be that bad, she befriended me and Aiden, remember?”
“Yeah,” he scoffs as a teasing sparkle lights up his stormy eyes. “And look what that got me.”
“The best sex of your life,” I say with an overdramatic wink that has me choking back a laugh, recalling the way Ari seems to wink just like this.
Noah laughs as he hooks his arm around my waist and starts pulling me away. “Can’t argue with that.”
I hold back and scoop my cocktail off my forgotten towel before letting him pull me away. “What’s going on?” I question, taking a sip and looking up at him as we weave through all the bodies and start heading down to the lake where it’s nice and quiet. “I thought you were going to be with the cops again all day.”
“I was,” he says, looking at me in confusion. “I was there for most of the day and then stopped in at the fire station afterward.”
“What do you mean most of the day?” I question, feeling for my pockets for my jeans only to remember that I’m wearing a black bikini and my phone is…actually, I have no idea where my phone is. “What’s the time?”
Unbreakable: Haven Falls (Book 6) Page 12