by L A Cotton
I didn’t though and he covered the beat of awkwardness with, “It was nice seeing you again, Kiera.”
Nice seeing me?
I hadn’t seen him since Maverick’s going away party at The Shack which had been weeks ago. I caught Kyle frowning after him and braced myself for another dad-talk. But thankfully, it never came. Besides, my brother had nothing to worry about. Trey was a freshman in college. And I was... me. A junior in high school that didn’t fit in at Wicked Bay High and probably never would. Whatever I felt toward him was a simple case of a schoolgirl crush. He was older, hot, and screamed bad boy. Someone like Trey Berrick would chew me up and spit me out when he was done, and I had no interest in being his plaything.
“Kiera?” Lo said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Hmm, yeah?” I blinked at her.
She gave me a knowing smile but said nothing about what had just transpired. Instead, she looped her arm through mine and whispered, “We should dance.”
Dance?
I didn’t dance. But maybe dancing would shake off this strange sensation and help me forget all about Trey Berrick and his eyes, the same color as the ocean.
Trey
THE PARTY WAS A BUST. Without Maverick and our old teammates, it wasn’t the same, and part of me didn’t even know why I’d bothered coming. Liar. It was her. Kiera. I’d known Kyle would show—it was a football team party after all, and he was their star running back. I figured, hoped, he would bring his sister with him. Although if she were mine, I wouldn’t have let her anywhere near the team and one of their parties.
“Hey, Trey.” Manicured fingers slid over my arm and I looked up to find Shelbie Tanner staring down at me.
“What’s up?” I tipped my head before settling my gaze back toward the pool. Kiera couldn’t see me, but I could see her dancing with Lo and Laurie.
Shelbie didn’t take the hint, draping herself over the arm of the chair—and me—like a cheap throw. “How’s UCLA?” She continued to run her fingers up and down my arm, following the patterns of my most recent tat. I’d had a couple back in high school but since moving to college, I’d gotten some more ink done.
“It’s good,” I clipped out.
“What brings you back to Wicked Bay?”
Unscrewing the bottle of water I’d taken from Lonnie’s refrigerator, I took a long drink, and then reluctantly looked at Shelbie. “Family stuff.”
“And yet here you are.”
“Here I am.”
“Do you want to go somewhere a little quieter?” She batted her come-fuck-me-eyes, sliding her hand to my chest. I’d fucked Shelbie last year in senior year. It was a drunken one-night thing and I wasn’t looking for a repeat. Not while I had a front row seat watching Kiera. Way to go creeper.
All night, as I’d sought her out, I had justified it by telling myself I was looking out for her. As one of her brother’s friends, it was my duty to keep an eye on her. But who the fuck was I kidding? I wasn’t the white knight in this story; I was the wicked king.
“Trey?” Shelbie’s voice was like an ice-cold bucket of water.
“Yeah?”
“I said do you want to go some—”
“I don’t think so, Shelbie, not tonight.”
Her smile slipped, her shoulders stiffening. “I see.”
Offering her a dismissive shrug, I pulled my arm free of her touch and stood up. “Enjoy the party.”
Sticking to the shadows, I watched Kiera and Lo. Laurie had disappeared inside, to find Kyle no doubt. But Kiera and Lo remained, dancing and laughing. I don’t know what it was about her that pulled me in, but I’d felt it the first time I'd met her over the summer. She was feisty, the shit coming out of her mouth giving both me and Kyle a run for our money. But it wasn’t just her words, it was her. Most girls at Wicked Bay were superficial, controlled by money and school hall gossip. Not Kiera. She stood out against the sea of plastic and fake smiles. But she also hid behind her black armor. And strangely, I’d found myself wanting to find out what caused the pain in her eyes.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew it was probably something to do with Kyle and his family. After all, none of us had known about Kiera until a few months ago. She was the girl from Rotunda Heights, suddenly thrust into a world of money and privilege. She'd walked straight into it with her head held high, her hair blacker than a raven, wearing black denim cut-off shorts, a black racerback tank top and dirty fucking Doc Martens. My dick had gotten instantly hard... and then my balls had shriveled up and crawled up inside my body when Kyle introduced her as his sister—his fifteen-year-old sister.
It wasn’t my best moment.
I might have fucked around a lot, but I had a code of ethics. No friend’s sisters. No friend’s mothers. No friend’s girlfriends. And definitely no friend’s estranged fifteen-year-old sisters. No matter how much they got under my skin. And since I’d only met her once before—twice counting tonight—and I was watching her like a stalker from the shadows, I’d say Kiera Lessinger was embedded pretty deep under my epidermis.
It was a good job I was at college. It meant I couldn’t make a habit of this. And I definitely couldn’t do something really fucking stupid like slip my hands around her waist and pull her against me letting her move her body up and down me.
I was losing my goddamn mind.
I needed to get out of here. But when I made my way around the front of the house, I saw Kyle and Lo in a heated discussion. “Lo, I—”
“Not now.” Lo ground out, pain glittering in her eyes. “I need to go. Are you coming or staying?”
Kyle’s shoulders dropped as he said, “As if you even need to ask. Let me find Laurie and ask her if she can make sure Kiera gets home.”
“I’ll take them,” I said stepping out from the shadows. I hadn’t meant to say the words, they just spilled out.
Shit. What the fuck was I thinking?
“Trey, man.” Kyle let out a strangled laugh. “What are you doing back here?”
“I saw you take the call. Had a feeling it would be Maverick. Is he okay?” I’d never gotten to know Lo all that well, but I knew she loved Rick something fierce. I hadn’t even had to put two and two together when I fell on their conversation because the one thing that tied Kyle and Lo together more than being cousins was their love and loyalty toward Maverick.
Kyle raked a hand through his hair and released a shaky breath, his concerned gaze sliding to mine. “It’s not good but he’ll live.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” He turned his attention back on me. “You sure you're okay to take them home?”
“Consider it done.” Because you’re a fucking glutton for punishment Berrick!
“Thanks, man.”
“We need to go, now,” Lo said, digging around in her purse. They had both already forgotten about me as they climbed into Kyle’s Jeep.
I’d had every intention of leaving the party and getting as far away from Kiera as possible. But now, I was going to have to give her a ride home.
It was official.
I was a fucking idiot.
Kiera
I KNEW THINGS WERE too good to be true. After the awkward reunion with Trey, I’d followed Kyle, Laurie, and Lo around, standing on the periphery of their conversations, half-smiling and pretending I had a clue what they were talking about. But somewhere along the line, it didn’t feel like a chore anymore, and by my third beer, I was actually having fun. Lo and Laurie made me dance, our hands thrown high as we rolled and popped our hips to the sultry beat. I’d never really danced before. At least, not like that.
But then Kyle got a phone call and his and Lo’s world came crashing down around them. I didn’t know exactly what had happened; only that it involved Maverick. The two of them had left immediately to go to his college.
“Maybe we should just call a cab?” I said to Laurie as we huddled together out front of Lonnie Breaker’s house. But before she could answer, headlights illuminated the shadows and Trey climbed
out of his Dodge Ram truck. “Ready?”
Laurie didn’t waste any time climbing inside, but I lingered, unsure of whether this was a good idea or not. “I don’t bite,” Trey said, breaking the unbearable tension that had fallen over us. His lip was tugged into a faint smirk.
He didn’t look like the kind of guy who didn’t bite.
He looked like the kind of guy who would eat me alive.
“Come on, goth girl.” His smirk grew as he held the door open, waiting. Swallowing down my reservations, I climbed inside.
The ride to Laurie’s house was fine. She filled any awkward silences, going over all her conspiracy theories about what had happened to Maverick. Trey listened, nodding and agreeing occasionally, but every time his eyes caught mine in the mirror, I couldn’t help but think his mind was elsewhere.
“Well, I guess this is me.” Laurie announced when Trey pulled up outside a beautiful Craftsman house. “I’ll see you soon, okay?” She glanced back at me, smiling before slipping out of the door.
“Thanks for the ride, Trey.” She waved before walking up to her house. We waited until she was inside and then he said, “You’ll have to give me directions, I don’t know Rotunda.”
My eyes shuttered as I winced. Everyone knew where I lived, where I came from, but hearing him say it felt worse somehow. And now he was going to see where I lived.
“Hey,” his voice washed over me like a warm blanket. “You okay back there?”
I was aware the truck still hadn’t moved. Trey was watching me, his eyes asking so many questions I felt overwhelmed. “I’m fine,” I said quietly, and his eyes narrowed slightly but he nodded, not pushing it. He turned up the radio and we made the twenty-minute ride out of town to my neighborhood mostly in silence.
“It’s the last one on the left,” I said when we finally turned into my street. I couldn’t help but see it through his eyes. The beat-up cars sitting in driveways, the graffitied walls, and overflowing trash cans. It might as well have been the Bronx compared to the house party we’d just come from.
Trey rolled to a stop outside my house and killed the engine. “It looks like someone’s up.”
What?
I’d been too busy watching him out of the corner of my eye to notice the light coming from inside the house. Shadows moved across the window. My first thought was Mom had fallen back into her old ways, and I hated myself for even thinking it. She was clean and sober; had been for a while. She rarely had guests these days, especially so late on a Friday night. Not unless...
The air in the truck grew dense and I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Kiera?” Trey sounded concerned as I slid to the opposite window and craned my head to the neighbor’s front yard.
“Shit,” I murmured under my breath, my hands balled into fists.
“Is there a problem?” Trey had twisted around, his eyes right on me.
“I...” My gaze slid back to the house and then I saw him at the window. Remy Barton. My old neighbor.
Someone I never wanted to see again.
“Are you hungry?”
“Hungry?” My head whipped around to Trey, but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at the guy standing at my window.
“Yeah.” He finally settled his gaze back on me and gave me a half-smile. “We passed an all-night diner. I could eat. If you want to?” he quickly added.
He knew. Trey knew I didn’t want to go inside. And he knew it probably had something to do with the guy still standing at my window.
I’d never felt more relieved as I whispered, “Yeah, I could eat.”
AFTER GETTING BURGERS, fries, and milkshakes, Trey drove us to an empty parking lot near the beach. There was something about being near the ocean, the waves lapping at the shore, moon high in the sky bathing the vast body of water in silvery light, that settled me.
It also probably had something to do with the guy sitting beside me, practically inhaling his food.
“So, want to talk about what happened back there?” His eyes slid to mine. I’d moved to the front seat and kicked off my shoes, folding my legs up beneath me.
“I...” The words lodged in my throat. Remy was complicated. A part of my life I’d rather not revisit, but Trey had done me a solid bringing me here. He deserved an explanation, something.
Stuffing my trash into the brown paper bag, I brushed my hands off and took a deep breath. “Remy used to be my neighbor. We were friends. He was a couple years older than me, but his mom helped me and my mom out a lot when I was younger.” Pain cinched my chest. “But you know how teenage boys are.” I forced a smile, but Trey didn’t return it. I immediately dropped my eyes to the floor, assaulted with memories I’d fought so hard to forget.
“No,” Trey said and then his fingers grazed my face, cupping my cheek, bringing me back to him. “What are teenage boys like?”
My shoulders lifted in a small shrug. I couldn’t tell him the truth; he’d probably never look at me the same. And I liked how he looked at me. I liked feeling his intense blue gaze on my skin. My body.
“One minute they’re your friend, the next they’re not.”
Trey’s eyes darkened as his fingers stroked my skin where his hand still cupped my face. “Did he hurt you, Kiera?” His voice was raw, a dark edge to his words that caused a shiver to roll up my spine.
Pressing my lips together, I swallowed down the truth. I couldn’t tell him. I didn’t want to say the words. Yet, part of me wanted to tell him everything. To bare myself to him in a way I’d never done to another.
I was officially losing my mind, and all because I was drowning in the two ocean-blue eyes searching my face for answers I didn’t have.
“Kiera?” Trey leaned in. Before I could stop myself, I did the same, until our faces were close. He smoothed his thumb over my cheek again and I leaned into his touch.
I hardly knew this boy—this man. Yet, I felt safer with him than I did with most people. It made no sense.
None at all.
“Did he hurt you Kiera?” he asked again, but I was too busy relishing the feel of his breath on my face, my skin.
I looked at him through lowered lashes and nodded. I didn’t want to tell him the truth, but I couldn’t help myself. He had me entranced.
“What did he do to you? His voice was cold, but I felt nothing but warmth. Drowning in the intensity of his gaze.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I finally replied, my voice shaky.
“What do you want then?” His eyes widened as if he was surprised he’d asked such a question.
“To forget,” I breathed, closing the remaining sliver of space between us until my lips hovered over Trey’s. My hands rested on his chest and I could feel the steady rhythm of his heart beneath his polo shirt.
“This is a bad idea.” He brushed his lips over mine, so gently I shouldn’t have felt it. But I did feel it. It felt incredible, like a thousand tiny lightning rods zipping through me.
I fought a moan... and lost, the sound filling the truck. I’d imagined kissing Trey Berrick from the first time I’d laid eyes on him. It didn’t make sense, the way we gravitated to one another. The pull between us. But I felt it burn brighter than ever as we sat there, lips barely touching, electricity crackling around us.
“It’s taking everything I have not to kiss you right now. To really kiss you.” His fingers buried themselves in my hair as he touched his head to mine. “Do you feel it?” His voice was so quiet. “Tell me you feel it too, Kiera.”
“I feel it.”
Trey groaned deep in his throat and then he kissed me. His lips were hesitant, slow and teasing as he stroked his tongue against mine. He handled me like I was glass, as if I might shatter at any moment. But I didn’t care. The second his lips touched mine I knew I was already addicted.
When he finally broke away, our chests were heaving between us, our skin flushed. I felt dizzy, high on his touch and I knew I was smiling. But something had changed. I saw it in his eyes as the
y studied me.
“Trey?” I whispered, my eyes fluttering closed as he removed his hand from my hair.
“We shouldn’t... fuck, that was a mistake.”
A mistake.
He said it was a mistake.
Kissing me was a mistake.
I wanted to laugh. It bubbled up in my chest, but I forced it down. Because although I’d only ever kissed one boy before, I knew without a doubt what had just happened between me and Trey wasn’t a mistake. It was perfect. It was everything a first kiss should be and more.
And he was ruining it.
Damn him.
Trey stared out at the ocean, his jaw clenched, eyes set into thin lines. And I hated him. In that spilt second, I hated that he’d taken something so amazing and turned it into something dirty and wrong.
“It’s late, I should get you home.” He fired up the truck and it rumbled to life, splitting the heavy silence. I nodded, not that he saw me. Trey wouldn’t even glance in my direction.
But it didn’t matter now. He could run from this—from us. He could pretend it never happened and file it away as a mistake. But Trey knew as well as I did what just happened between us wasn’t nothing.
It was something.
It was everything.
Whether he realized it or not, Trey had stolen a piece of me tonight, in his truck, as we watched the ocean crash onto the shore.
Even more alarming, I knew that no matter what happened from here on out, I didn’t want it back.
Chapter 8
Present
Trey
“YOU CAME,” RICK SAID looking up from his position at the grill as I entered the Stone-Princes' yard. It wasn’t an all-out party, inner circle only, but he’d always rolled that way whenever they had parties at their house.
Lifting my shoulders in a small shrug, I replied, “I had no better offers.”
“Oh,” he smirked. “It’s like that, huh?”
“You know how it is.”
We laughed, falling back into our easy friendship. “Fuck, it feels like old times,” I said rubbing my jaw.