Scandalous Series Starter Set: Books 1-3

by R. Linda

  “Oh, good. Get ready, everybody.” Mrs. K clapped her hands then threw them in the air. “Nate, quick, I forgot the banner.” She darted around the other side of the counter and pulled a tube out of a bag and handed it to Nate. “Hang this right there.” She pointed to the exposed timber beam that divided the kitchen from the living room. “So Indie can see it as soon as she walks in.”

  Nate unrolled the banner, his eyebrows pinched together and his jaw set in a firm line. “No. I’m not hanging that.”

  “You will do as you’re told,” his mum scolded, holding out the tape.

  “I’m not hanging a banner that says ‘Welcome to The Love Shack!’ Why couldn’t he just get one that says ‘Welcome Home’ like a normal person would?” He shook his head slowly and rolled the banner back up.

  “Well, I think it’s lovely,” his mother argued and waved her hand at the beam again.

  “Only because it’s Linc.” He held the banner out for her to take. “Still not hanging it.”

  “Fine,” Mrs. K huffed and snatched it from him. “Ryder, be a dear and hang this for me.”

  “Sure.” Ryder grinned and elbowed Nate as he walked past him. “Just here?”

  Nate growled and stomped away, muttering something about stupid shacks and his sister.

  Ryder hung the banner with an amused expression on his face and stood back, biting his bottom lip. “Looks great. What do you think, Nate?”

  Nate took a deep breath. “I think—”

  Headlights shone through the kitchen window, silencing Nate and alerting everyone to Indie and Linc’s return.

  We all stood and gathered under the garishly bright and tacky love shack banner while Nate hung in the background. I glanced over my shoulder—I shouldn’t have, but I just couldn’t help it—and he was looking right at me. His blue eyes, unblinking, sent shivers down my spine as I took him in. He had this whole James Dean thing going for him now—blue jeans, white t-shirt with the sleeves folded up, short hair slicked back. I liked it. Too much.

  “Can’t I just wait in the car? It’s been a long day. I don’t want to—” Indie’s voice was muffled from the other side of the back door.

  “Two minutes, Ace,” Linc said.

  The door creaked as he opened it. I turned back around, removing my gaze from Nate’s before I did something stupid like kiss him.

  “You can’t just walk into someone’s house, Linc! Oh, my god. I’m waiting outside. This is so embarrassing. I don’t know these people, and what if—”

  Linc dragged her through the door, cutting off any further argument.

  “Surprise!” everyone cheered. Someone whistled. Kenzie, I thought. Someone else threw streamers, and Mrs. K lunged for a stunned Indie.

  “Welcome home, precious.” She hugged her tight before stepping back and hugging Linc as well.

  “I don’t understand,” Indie said with a wide yet confused smile on her face.

  “It’s your welcome home party, sweetheart,” Indie’s dad said, stepping forward to wrap her in his arms then turning to Linc and holding out a hand to shake.

  “But?” She looked at each of us in turn before setting her sight on the banner above our heads. “The Love Shack?” She snorted. I pressed my lips together to stop from laughing at her reaction. “Who would name their house The Love Shack?”

  “We would, Ace.” Linc wrapped an arm around her waist.

  “We would?” She turned in his arms and tilted her head back to look at him, her nose scrunched in confusion. “What?”

  “Welcome home, princess.”

  “Welcome home?”

  “Are you going to repeat everything I say?”

  “Repeat everything you say? Umm…” She looked back at us then up at the banner, a dazed expression on her face.

  Linc chuckled and repeated, “Welcome home.”

  “Home. Our home?” she asked slowly.

  Linc leaned in. “Surprise.”

  Indie looked back at the sign. Her mouth spread into a wide grin. “Oh, my fu—” Mr. K cleared his throat, cutting off Indie’s curse. “Fudging god. We have a house!” She jumped on Linc, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, and kissed him. Hard.

  It was uncomfortable to see. I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt to avoid watching their open display of affection. Nate stepped in behind me, and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled with awareness.

  “All right, get a room, you two,” he called before changing his mind. “Actually, no. Don’t. No rooms. At all.” Linc and Indie pulled apart. Linc had the decency to at least look as though he was sorry for practically mauling Indie in front of her family and friends, though I suspected he didn’t care.

  But Indie just grinned as she detangled herself from Linc, “We don’t need a room, we have a whole freaking house!”

  “Welcome home. All of you,” Mrs. K said with a watery smile before turning away to make herself busy in the kitchen, her husband following close behind.

  “Mum?”

  “I’m okay. I’m just…” Mrs. K sniffled. “So happy to have you back.”

  “You sure?” Indie frowned, moving toward her mum, only to be held back by Nate.

  “She’s okay, In,” he reassured her.

  “Okay.” Her voice was hesitant, and I thought I understood why. In the whole time I’d know the Kellermans, they’d never seemed overly emotional. They were posh and well spoken, perfectly presented at all times. They loved their children, that much was obvious, but they weren’t big on displaying it.

  Indie walked back to Linc. “Show me around?”

  “Come on.” He grabbed her hips and pushed her from the room, laughing as she twisted around and spoke in his ear.

  “Glad to be home?” I asked Bailey, trying to ignore the fact that Nate was standing just behind her, but I couldn’t. Not when I could feel his eyes on me. I ran a hand through my hair.

  Do not look at him.

  “Yes. I’ve missed this place so much.”

  I gulped down the last of my wine. “Really?” She missed Blackhill? The small seaside town with a population of barely two thousand people? There was nothing here.

  I handed Kenzie my empty wineglass.

  Do not look at him.

  “This is where our family is,” she replied, looking over her shoulder at Ryder. He caught her staring and winked before turning his attention back to his conversation with Nate.

  I looked. I caved. I was weak. But I already knew that.

  Indie’s squeal of delight echoed through the cottage, causing everyone to turn in the direction it came from. Everyone but Nate and me. We were locked in a staring contest.

  “Guess he showed her his hard—” Ryder grumbled as Nate, jaw clenched and still watching me, shot an elbow into his side in warning. “Work, finishing the studio.” Ryder hissed out a laugh, holding his side.

  He enjoyed tormenting Nate whenever they were together.

  “Cake,” Nate muttered. “Where’s the damn cake?”

  Cake? He looked away, and I sagged slightly, taking a deep breath.

  “Nathaniel!”

  “Sorry, Mum.”

  “Go and get your sister, and I’ll get the cake.”

  “Ahh.” Nate rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, his biceps flexing from the movement, drawing my eyes right back to the one person in the room I shouldn’t have been drawn to.

  Well, actually, that was a lie. There was no one in that house I should have been attracted to, enticed by. Why couldn’t I meet someone who was not related to or friends with my ex-boyfriend?

  “I don’t really want to do that.” Nate looked down the hall in disgust. “I wouldn’t want to…actually, no! I will go and get her. It’s her party. She should be out here with her guests.” He sounded like he was giving himself a pep talk, like he had to convince himself to walk down that hallway and bring his sister back out, regardless of what she was or wasn’t doing with Linc.

  “Come on, you big
baby.” Kenzie grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the hall in a show of moral support.

  My heart lurched. It was stupid. Kenzie touching him meant nothing, but still I couldn’t stop my heart from sputtering in my chest as they walked into the dark hall together.

  Stupid emotions.

  Chapter Three

  Nate

  “Brody! Oh, my god! You’re here too.” Indie climbed onto the seat, jumped over Linc, and rushed for our cousin. We were back in the diner, the same one from the night before. Brody wanted to surprise Indie, so there we were in the booth at the back of the empty diner once again. But I wasn’t complaining, because those burgers…

  “Of course. Where else would I be?” Brody hugged her.

  “Umm, at work or, you know, your home, maybe?” She climbed back over Linc and situated herself in the corner again.

  “Didn’t Nate tell you?” Brody pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Tell me what?” Indie glared at me.

  “That I moved back to Blackhill?” Brody looked at me, and I shrugged.

  Truth be told, I didn’t tell Indie. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want her to know, but because I avoided all topics regarding Brody at all times. Hell, I avoided him as much as possible too. Not because I didn’t like the guy. I did. We grew up together, and he was as much my best mate as Linc was. I avoided him because the guilt was too much to bear. Every time I looked at him, I felt terrible. So I tried to steer clear of all things Brody related. He hadn’t noticed because he worked insane hours as a paramedic, or if he had, he’d not mentioned it to me yet.

  “What?” Indie kicked me under the table.

  “Ouch,” I hissed at her before looking at Linc. “Control your woman.”

  Stupid mistake.

  Linc laughed and shook his head like I should have known better.

  I should have.

  She kicked me again.

  Hard.

  “Dammit, Indie, that hurts.”

  “I am not his woman.” She pointed at me. “And I can’t be controlled.”

  “Clearly, you’re a savage,” I muttered and rubbed my shin where I was sure there would be blood streaming down if I chanced a look. “Linc didn’t tell you either.”

  I was tempted to flip him off but figured the wrath of Indie would be enough punishment for how smug he looked when she mutilated my leg with her scuffed Chucks.

  She spun to look at Linc with a raised eyebrow.

  Linc raised his hands in defence. “Ace, relax. I didn’t tell you because whenever I saw you, Brody was the last thing on my mind.”

  Indie smiled at him, satisfied with that answer. Linc slung his arm over her shoulder and flipped me off with the same hand.

  Prick.

  “But all those times you didn’t see her and only spoke on the phone, you never thought to mention that Brody had moved back home?” I could have let it go, but I enjoyed messing with him too much. It was what we did.

  “Seriously, In, I only moved back a couple weeks ago. Don’t worry about it.” Brody tried to diffuse the situation, but it was a futile attempt.

  Indie spun in her seat and shrugged out of Linc’s hold. “Why didn’t you tell me on the phone?”

  “Ahh, come on. Really?” Linc groaned and tilted his head back.

  “Really.”

  Linc glared at me then kicked me under the table as well.

  “Shit.” Match made in heaven, those two. I rubbed my shin.

  “Because when I spoke to you on the phone, Ace, Brody was the last thing I wanted to talk about,” he said quietly, pinching her chin between his fingers.

  That was my cue to close my eyes and not look at them.

  Still too weird.

  “Okay,” Indie said softly. I peeled one eye open, and then another, and noticed she was back to sitting under his arm. “So where are you living?”

  “At Nate’s place.” Brody reached for a menu from the table behind him.

  “Nate’s?”

  “Yep, ever since Linc moved out.”

  Linc had bought the old shack on the beach a couple of months ago and had been fixing it up for him and Indie to live in when she graduated. And Brody had moved back to town about a week before Linc settled the house and got the keys, so he slept on the lumpy sofa for a few weeks before taking over Linc’s old room, while Linc moved out and finished renovating the home he planned on sharing with my sister.

  Weird.

  “Okay, good.”

  “You worried about my living conditions, Indie?” Brody teased.

  “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t living in some dive or sharing with some weirdo.” She glanced at me. “Some other weirdo.”

  “Nope, all good. Nate needed a roommate to take Linc’s place since you have him wrapped around your finger and buying you a house.”

  “I still can’t believe you bought a house for us and kept it a secret from me,” she said to Linc.

  “It was bound to happen eventually. Sooner rather than later, don’t you think?”

  She dropped her voice to a whisper and put her lips against his ear so no one else could hear what she was saying.

  Linc grinned. “Not now.”

  I shuddered.

  Brody looked between us with an amused expression.

  I didn’t know what she said to him, and I didn’t want to.

  Too. Damn. Weird.

  Bailey and Ryder took that moment to walk in through the doors, bringing with them howling wind and the rain that had begun to fall. The storm seemed to be settling in for the next few days.

  “Julie.” Ryder’s face lit up as he dragged Bailey around behind the counter and gave the woman who served us last night a kiss on the cheek.

  “Ryder, darlin’, and Bailey, you sweet thing, good to see you back.” She hugged them both before ushering them away with the promise of a round of Cokes and burgers on the house to celebrate their return.

  Not one to complain about free food, I shoved the still unappetising menu aside and greeted Bailey and Ryder when they made their way over to the table.

  “Kenzie coming?” Indie asked Bailey when she sat at the table next to us with Brody.

  The booths were big, meant to seat six people, but it was too close for comfort. Bailey answered with a nod.

  “And Harper too,” Ryder said, falling into a tattered red pleather chair beside her.

  Harper.

  “Harper’s coming?” Brody sat up and straightened his shirt. Ran his hands through his hair.

  Linc looked at me with a raised eyebrow. And I knew what he was thinking. After reconnecting with Harper at my parents’ wedding six months ago, Brody realised his feelings hadn’t quite gone away when they broke up. He was still trying to impress her and win her back.

  “Yeah, she’ll come join us as soon as she finishes work,” Bailey answered.

  After seeing her walk out of here last night, I wondered briefly if Harper worked here. And if she did, whether everyone else knew as well but decided it was not really any of my business. We weren’t friends, even though she had dated Brody a few years ago when they were both in uni. We had only met the week of my parents’ wedding when Kenzie asked if she could bring her friend along because she was scared of flying alone, and it just so happened Brody’s ex-girlfriend was Kenzie’s best friend.

  “Is Kenzie bringing Cole?” Indie asked Ryder. “I miss that kid.”

  “Nah, it’s too late for him.” Ryder glanced at his watch. It was only six p.m. There was no way the kid would be asleep now. He was five.

  Cole was Ryder’s twin sister Kenzie’s son, who also happened to be the son of Bailey’s ex-boyfriend.

  Yeah, their family was complicated.

  Kenzie and Chace dated until she fell pregnant at fifteen and he demanded she terminate the pregnancy. When she refused, his family ran her out of town, and he moved on to the naive and unassuming Bailey before breaking up with her for Bailey and Indie’s ex-best friend, Christina. T
he bloke was an asshole. And that was putting it nicely.

  “Bailey, pretty lady. I heard you and the kid were back in town. I’ve missed seeing your face around here.” I looked up to see a guy who I could only assume was the cook, judging by his greasy apron, hair net, and spatula in his hand, standing at our booth.

  “Johnny.” Bailey stood to kiss him on the cheek. “How are you?”

  “Good.” He smiled at her before glaring down at Ryder. “Don’t get up on my account, kid,” he said and slapped Ryder over the back of the head.

  “I won’t.” Ryder punched him in the side.

  “So, you guys know each other, then?” Brody asked.

  Obviously, they knew each other. That would be why Ryder suggested meeting here and not somewhere…nicer.

  “This little punk wandered in here about six years ago, looking like a lost and lovestruck little puppy. Caught the moron scratching his name into my tabletop with a sweet little love heart below it…” Johnny increased the pitch in his voice and wiggled his fingers in Ryder’s face until Ryder slapped them away. “Never did get to finish writing who it was he hearted, but I think we can all guess whose name it would have been etched into my lovely Formica.” Johnny winked at Bailey, and we all laughed, because Ryder had been in love with Bailey before she was even a blip on Chace’s radar—another reason the guy deserved the award for the world’s biggest asshole. “Forced the kid to pay for the damages, and turned out he could get his way around the kitchen almost—”

  “Better,” Ryder interrupted with a cough.

  “Almost as good as I could. So, I gave him a job until the day he packed up and moved to uni with pretty Bailey, here.”

  “And the jerk never fixed the table,” Ryder grumbled. “Made me work every day for three weeks with no pay and didn’t replace the table.”

  “Taught you a lesson, didn’t it?”

  “No.”

  “What happened to the table?” I asked curiously.

  “Nothing.” Johnny reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “’Bout time he finished it off and wrote that name, I reckon.” He handed Ryder the knife and nodded to the small table over by the front window.

  “Just so you know, I’m not working for damages this time.” Ryder snatched the knife from Johnny’s hand before standing and kicking his chair back, with Bailey close behind, and walked over to the table he had marked with his name all those years ago.