by R. Linda
The smell of grease permeated the air, so thick I nearly choked on it. I liked fried meat as much as the next guy, but this was almost unbearable. The woman scrubbing the counter smiled as I walked in. How this place had the best burgers in the state, I didn’t know, but Ryder raved about it, so there I was, waiting for my sister to arrive. She and her friends had finally finished university and were coming home. For how long, I wasn’t sure, but she’d been gone three years, and the last six months had been the most painful. Not because I missed her or anything like that, which I did, but because I had to deal with my lovesick best mate and his obsession with my sister.
It was weird.
As much as I was okay with their relationship—they were made for each other—it was still weird. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact the guy I had been friends with for twenty-three years was dating my younger sister.
Weird.
I located an empty booth in the back corner of the fifties-inspired diner at the roadhouse on the outskirts of town. Again, how Ryder even knew this place was here was beyond me. I had never stopped here for anything other than to put fuel in the car when it was running on fumes and had no clue there was even a place to eat. But there I sat, watching the killer storm brewing outside while I waited for everyone to arrive.
I was browsing the unappealing menu when the doors finally opened and in walked Indie and Linc, a whirl of air rushing around them. That storm was going to hit sooner rather than later. I was out of my seat and scooping my sister into my arms the moment the doors closed behind them.
Indie laughed. “Good to see you too, big bro.”
“Sorry, it’s just good to have you home. I won’t have to deal with listening to this one,” I gestured at Lincoln, “bitch and moan about when he could see you next any longer.” I released her and led them over to the booth I had claimed in the deserted diner.
“Aww, did you miss me, stupid ass?” Indie teased Linc, using a nickname I didn’t understand and wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“Ace,” he said through clenched teeth. Another nickname I didn’t want to know how it originated. The less I knew about my sister’s relationship with my best friend, the better.
Weird.
“How was the drive?” I asked, sliding into the booth opposite them.
Indie coughed and shot Linc a strange look while he lounged back against the seat with a smug look on his face. “Good, man. It was…real…good.”
Indie smiled and slapped him on the chest, and I groaned. I didn’t want any more details. She pulled out her phone and frowned.
“Where’s Bailey? She and Ryder passed us hours ago. She should have let me know by now they had made it home safely.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Linc reassured her.
“They passed you? How?” I knew they were back. In fact, I had seen them both an hour ago. But Indie didn’t know that, and she didn’t need to.
“Umm…” Indie hesitated and looked at Linc for an answer. She obviously didn’t get the one she was hoping for, because she continued with a note of hesitancy in her voice. “We stopped…for…umm, fuel…and food. Yes, food. Can’t have a road trip without an appropriate amount of snacks to keep your energy up.” Her smile was too bright. Her eyes too wide. She was lying. They didn’t stop for fuel and snacks. But I really didn’t want to know why they stopped.
“Well, maybe Bailey and Ryder stopped for snacks too somewhere along the way,” I suggested.
Indie giggled into her hand like a teenage boy hearing the word “boobs” and muttered, “Yeah, I bet they did. Bailey likes snacks…”
“She needs them. For energy.” Linc coughed into his shoulder.
“Stamina.” Indie bit her fist.
“And Ryder is always fully fuelled and ready to go.” Linc lost it. He threw his head back and laughed.
Indie bit her lip to stop herself from laughing but failed, and pretty soon they had tears streaming down their faces.
I was missing something. They were definitely talking about something other than snacks and fuel. I knew exactly what it sounded like, but I wasn’t quite ready to admit to myself what that might be, so I pushed the thought aside and tried to not think about it.
Thankfully, a moment later, the perfect distraction arrived. All thoughts of fuel, snacks, and stamina were forgotten the moment the kitchen doors opened and out walked Harper. She had her head down and wasn’t looking in our direction, but I knew it was her. I’d know her shoulder length black hair and the way it brushed the top of her neck anywhere. I’d spent a lot of time with my hands in her hair and lips on her neck. What was she doing here?
I lifted my hand to wave but then thought better of it and ran my hand through my hair instead. Great cover. She was supposed to be with Kenzie.
“It’s just us, then?” Indie asked, stealing my attention from Harper.
“Yep,” Linc answered.
Indie frowned.
“You were expecting a welcome home party, In?” I teased. The front doors opened, the wind howled, and the doors slammed shut again. I looked up, and Harper was gone.
“What? No, I just thought our friends and family would at least like to be here when we got back.” She picked at a napkin on the table.
“What am I? A neighbour?”
“No, I mean…I’m glad you’re here, but I thought Mum and Dad or Kenzie would want to see us too.”
“I’m sure you’ll see more than enough of everybody soon, Ace.” Linc kissed the side of her head before changing the subject. “I’m starving.”
He looked over his shoulder and signalled to the woman behind the counter that we’d like to order. Not that I really wanted to order anything on the menu, but we needed to stall a while longer until I got the text from Ryder saying everything was ready.
The woman, whose name tag read Julie, came and took our orders.
Indie yawned. “Man, I’m exhausted. Let’s just eat, and then you can take me to my parents’ house.”
“Two minutes ago, you were complaining no one was throwing you a welcome back party, and now you want to go to bed?” I fished my phone out of my pocket when I heard the message tone.
“Shut up. I’m tired. I can change my mind. You can throw me a party tomorrow instead.”
I read the message.
Ryder: Ready when you are.
I looked at Linc and waved my phone so he knew it was time.
“What was that about?” Indie’s eyes flickered between Linc and me.
“What?” I brushed her question aside and typed a response to Ryder.
Nate: 30 minutes.
“You shook your phone at Linc,” she said to me then turned to him. “And you nodded in agreement. You guys just had a secret conversation. Something you don’t want me to know about.”
“Ace, you’re tired. I think you’re imagining things. I was just nodding to the music on the jukebox. Elvis rocks,” Linc countered with such a definitive edge to his voice that Indie believed him immediately. Had I said that to her, she would have seen right through the lie.
“Maybe you’re right.”
Julie, the waitress, returned a few minutes later with burgers and Cokes for all of us.
“Oh, I’m starving.” Indie thanked her, clapping her hands in excitement.
“Work up a big appetite, Ace?” Linc nudged her with his elbow, but she was already devouring the burger.
“Uh-hmmm…” Her eyes widened, and she chewed, but clearly not fast enough. “This burger is freaking amazing,” she mumbled with a mouthful of food, pieces of lettuce falling out of her mouth, and ketchup on her chin.
Linc smiled at her while I screwed up my face in disgust. “Been eating long?”
She didn’t even bother with a response, instead choosing to stick her finger up at me while still shoving the burger in her mouth. It must have been good.
I reached for mine, and my eyes just about rolled into the back of my head. Indie and Ryder were right. Best. Burger. Ever.<
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We ate in silence, savouring every mouthful, and when we finished, I paid the bill. Indie was tired and wanted to leave, but Linc had a surprise for her.
“Ready to go?” I asked, shoving my wallet back into the pocket of my jeans.
“Yes. Are you ready to tell me what’s going on?” Indie stood from the booth and stretched.
I risked a glance at Linc, but he had his eyes screwed, deep in thought. He was trying get around this without telling her the truth and ruining everything. Indie had no clue that for the last three months, he’d been spending every day and night fixing up a run-down old shack on the beach, turning it into a cottage they could call home once Indie graduated.
“Nothing is going on, Ace. Your brother’s weird. You know that,” Linc answered smoothly, grabbing her hand and leading her to the door. “Let’s just go. I need to stop somewhere quickly on the way home, but it’ll only take a minute.”
“Where?” she asked, wrapping one arm around her waist to protect from the chill of the night air when we opened the door and a gust of wind whipped around us.
“Ahh, just a mate’s from work. Two seconds, that’s all it will take.”
Indie groaned in defeat before turning to me and wrapping her arms around me.
“Good to have you home, In. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Bye.”
I rushed over to my car, hoping Linc was smart enough to stall so I could get to “The Love Shack,” as he named it—even had the plaque on the wall beside the front door—before them. I didn’t want to miss Indie’s face when she realised it was her home now.
Chapter Two
Harper
I should have gone over and said hello to Nate and welcomed Indie home, but I was too stunned to see them there. In our diner, of all places. Instead, I ducked my head and pretended not to notice them. It would have been too awkward. I had been avoiding Nate Kellerman for three months. He walked into a room, I walked out. But tonight I was going to be crammed into a small cottage with no escape.
I pulled my car to the side of the road just around the corner from “The Love Shack.” I laughed at the name, thinking it was genius. But I couldn’t have imagined Nate would be too impressed about his sister moving into a house that sounded like a place where sex parties happened. I got out of the car, slammed the door, and jogged up the dirt track—because it wasn’t really a road, it was gravel, and not much of it—toward the shack. Indie wouldn’t have recognised my car, but I thought it was best to hide it with everyone else’s so it didn’t ruin Linc’s surprise.
I opened the gate of the little picket fence the guys spent last weekend building and let myself in the back door. The only access to the house was through the back. The front had a wraparound porch that led straight onto the beach—perfect for Linc, since he was basically a fish.
“Surprise!” everyone called as I walked into the kitchen, followed by a chorus of groans.
“Sorry. Sorry.” I held my hands up in apology as I approached Nate and Indie’s mother. “Need help with anything?”
She had been helping Kenzie and Nate set up all day while I worked, and the woman looked flustered and tired. Her husband was in the living room with Ryder and Brody, having a beer.
“I’m okay, dear. You just go in there and relax.” She smiled at me.
I glanced into the small living room and was relieved to see Bailey and Kenzie on the sofa, while Ryder was standing over by the huge window that overlooked the beach with Nate and Indie’s dad, and Brody.
“Grab a glass and sit down.” Kenzie waved the bottle of wine she and Bailey were sharing in my direction.
Brody looked up at the sound of Kenzie’s voice and smiled and gave me a small wave. He must have excused himself from whatever conversation he was having because he was suddenly walking in my direction.
“Harper! Hey, how’s it going?” The grin on his face was too keen. Too eager. He still held a flame that I didn’t. We’d dated a few years ago when I was just starting out in university, but it didn’t stick. We just weren’t right. As awesome as he was, we didn’t mesh well together. Besides, I had too much going on with my family to make any relationship work. I had the feeling, though, that he still held on to some residual feelings that weren’t going to go away until he moved on. Kind of ironic, since he was the one who left me because I couldn’t commit.
But whatever.
“Hey. Good. You?” Small talk was so damn awkward, I didn’t know where to begin.
“Can’t complain. Though I wish I lived somewhere else sometimes.” He chuckled into his fist.
“Oh, really? Why?” This had me interested. Brody was the most easy-going, carefree roommate a person could want. And living with Nate should have been a breeze. The fact he couldn’t handle me or my issues was a huge testament to his self-control. I knew he tried to make it work as much as I did, but it simply didn’t. I couldn’t deal with relationship issues on top of my family issues.
“Nate.” He shrugged.
“Nate?” My voice was coarse, hesitant. I didn’t know how to react. Calm. Cool. Collected. Or pissed off. Why the hell was Nate making things difficult?
Why was Nate, of all people, making my ex-boyfriend wish he lived somewhere else?
“Yeah…Nate. The girls, the late nights. You know how it goes,” he said. “The life of a single man.” He laughed.
“Girls?” was all I managed to choke out, my breath getting caught in my throat.
Girls. Single. Available. As in…every other girl but me.
I was single. Available. Ready to mingle, with and without the one person I wanted to mingle with. It was wrong. I knew it. Nate knew it. But there was nothing I could do about it.
“Heartbreak, he reckons. Personally, I just think he likes getting laid.”
I couldn’t argue there. Not after Fiji and Nate’s parents’ wedding. One night was all it took to hook me. To have me thinking, dreaming, imagining his smooth, lean, tanned body moving against mine. One night made me so crazy with desire that I couldn’t stop myself. I knew it was wrong. Nate was Brody’s cousin. Brody, my ex-boyfriend. Our fling broke all the rules, and for the first three months, it was unstoppable, until Linc told me to walk away. It wasn’t worth hurting Brody over, and he was right. Brody still didn’t know, and for that, I was grateful, because I doubted he’d be standing here talking to me otherwise.
But it still stung to hear Nate had been having the time of his life while I was stagnant. Going through the motions but not really living. I’d lost my spark and zest for life years ago. A poor excuse for a family had that effect on a person. Brody brought me back to life for a little while, but I was too lost, and I knew I’d only drag Brody down with me, so I distanced myself from him, and when it got too much, when family detonated around me, I ran. Brody broke up with me, and we never saw or spoke to each other again until the Kellermans renewed their vows six months ago.
Not knowing what else to say, I smiled and said, “Well, it’s good to see you.” We hadn’t really seen a lot of each other since he moved back to town, with both of us always working and me trying to finish my nursing degree.
Brody’s face lit up. “You too.”
“Harper!” Kenzie called again, saving me from any more awkwardness with Brody. If we had to make much more small talk, I was sure I’d blurt out that I had been sleeping with his cousin.
“I better go over there.” I nodded in the direction of the still waving wine bottle.
“Ah, sure. Right.” Brody turned and walked back to Ryder, leaving me standing there stupidly for a moment before Bailey shuffled over and made room for me on the sofa.
“Is it weird?” Bailey asked.
“Is what weird?” I watched Kenzie pour a generous amount of wine into a glass that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“Having Brody back in town. He’s going to always be around now.”
I looked over at Brody, who had just answered a phone call. Yes
, it was weird, but not for the reasons she expected, obviously.
“No, not all. We can be friends. We dated. We broke up. It was a long time ago.” I reached for the glass in Kenzie’s hand and gulped half of it down. She quirked one eyebrow at me and smirked, while Bailey scrutinised my face, assessing my reaction. I didn’t have a poker face; I gave away everything with one look.
“You’re hiding something.” Kenzie pointed with the hand holding her wineglass.
“Nope.” I looked away, searching for anything that could be a distraction, a way to change the subject and to avoid Kenzie’s third degree. It wasn’t that I was hiding things from her. I was hiding things from Brody, and I couldn’t risk him finding out. They were all so close, and I was still very much the outsider. Someone was bound to open their mouth and tell him.
“Guys, sorry, I gotta go. They’re short at work, and I need to cover the shift,” Brody said, pocketing his phone and grabbing his jacket. “I’ll see Indie tomorrow, I guess.” He said goodbye and walked out the door.
I breathed a sigh of relief. With Brody not here, Kenzie would ease up on the inquisition. She was too intuitive for her own good sometimes, always watching and analysing. She saw things most people failed to see, just like her brother, Ryder. There was no hiding anything from them.
“Definitely hiding something. You have shifty eyes.”
“You have had too much wine.” I pushed her hand away from my face before she stabbed me in the eye with a violet polished fingernail.
“Nathaniel! Really? Sneaking in here quietly like that. I thought it was Indiana.” Mrs. K’s voice provided the distraction I both needed and didn’t want. All our attention turned to the kitchen where Nate was apologising to his mother for sneaking up on her while trying to reach around her to swipe some of the frosting from the “Welcome Home, Indie” cake on the counter.
“They’ll be here in two minutes. We left the diner at the same time,” Nate announced, giving me a pointed look. He had seen me rush past without stopping. I swallowed more wine, a lump suddenly forming in my throat.
