Cherry Bomb (Brighton #1)

by Carmel Rhodes

  I make it home in record time to clean up the assortment of Diet Dr. Pepper cans and half-drank water bottles from the coffee table. I also light Arden’s good candle, the one that costs thirty bucks and smells like the same one I got from the Dollar Tree, even though she insists it was worth it.

  There’s a knock at the door, and I smile brightly. Of course, he’s early. He’s probably more nervous than we are. At least, this way, we have some time to ourselves before Arden gets back. I swing the door open and stare at the last person I’d ever expected to see.

  “Sunnie? What are you doing here?”

  My sister, with her platinum blonde hair and fake boobs, stands there, looking like a Kardashian extra.

  “I’ve been texting you for a week. I figured this”—she twirls her finger in the air—“would be the only way I could get you to talk.”

  “Did you ever stop to think there was a reason for me ignoring you?”

  “Yes, which I would have totally understood, but Dad’s sick.”

  “Like you care about anything other than yourself.” I look her up and down, before adding, “And Botox, maybe.”

  “It’s filler, and it will settle in a day or two,” she says as if I give a flying fuck.

  “Well, why are you and your filled face here?”

  “He asked me to make things right, and despite how you may feel about me, you’re my sister and the only person who knows what I’m feeling.” Tears well in her big round eyes and for a split second I feel sorry for her. Then I remember that she’s an awful human and come to my senses.

  “Save the song and dance,” I say, pushing off the door and making my way inside. I can’t deal with her right now. I make a beeline for the kitchen and pull down a leftover bottle of tequila. I know I promised Dad and Cash I’d slow down on the partying, but Sunnie showing up unannounced calls for a fucking drink.

  Sunnie turns into the kitchen behind me, leaning against the counter, watching as I pour each of us a shot. I hand her one, and she knocks it back without flinching. We are our father’s children. “Why are you really here?” I ask, pouring the second round. Only two. Two and then I’ll put the bottle back.

  She purses her overdrawn lips. Her eyes slide down my body, no doubt judging my fishnet stockings and denim cut-offs. “You look good,” she says in a tone that sounds oddly complimentary. “I mean, this isn’t my personal aesthetic, but totally hot. Very fuckable.”

  Three shots. Just three. I pour the last round and put the bottle away. “I don’t know how to respond to that.”

  “I’m trying to be nice.” She sighs.

  “If that’s you trying to be nice to me, we can just end this there. Tell Daddy you got through to me and we’re best friends or whatever it was you promised him, then you can go back to LA and continue pursuing a career in reality TV, or Instagram, or whatever it is that you want to do.”

  Her eyes flash with the first actual emotion I’ve seen since she’s darkened my doorstep. Pointing a manicured finger in my face, she growls. “You see, that right there, is why we don’t get along.”

  “We don’t get along because you fucked my boyfriend,” I yell pushing her hand away. “I don’t know what revisionist memories you have, but you did this, not me.”

  “Yes, I fucked him, okay?” she screams right back. “But because you always thought you were better than me. You never even bothered trying to get to know me.”

  “We are different, Sunnie. You are the pretty one with all the friends. I was the loner chick who spent way too much time on her computer. Travis was the only thing I had.”

  “Cherry, you’re gorgeous, in a way that’s so effortless, it really pisses me off thinking about it. You can roll out of bed, add another layer of eyeliner, and guys obsess over you. You’re smart, and funny, and you don’t even have to try. Dad acts like you hung the fucking moon. Mom even…” Her mouth snaps shut, and her eyes widen at her blunder.

  “What do you mean Mom?” It’s the only thing we’ve ever agreed on—our mother is dead to us. “We haven’t seen or spoken to her since she left.”

  “Don’t freak out.” The bomb in my chest ticktickticks in rapid succession. “She reached out last year. Heard I was in LA. We used to have lunch on Tuesdays.”

  “The mother that abandoned us and sent our father spiraling down a dark path? That woman?”

  “I know.” She looks up at the ceiling, like she can’t believe she did it either.

  The front door opens in the distance, and Cash’s and Arden’s familiar voices drift down the hallway.

  “You need to leave,” I say, knocking back the third shot, just as they round the corner. I toss the plastic shot glass in the trash and school my features.

  “Oh, Cherry. I didn’t know you were having company.” Arden extends her hand, just as realization dawns on her face. Arden and Sunnie have never met, but Arden has seen pictures of my sister.

  “I kind of ambushed her. I’m Sunnie, the sister.” Sunnie takes Arden’s hand, then her eyes flit to Cash’s, and she shoots her man-eating grin at him.

  “We don’t like the sister,” Arden pulls her hand back. “Cherry, why is the sister we hate in our kitchen?”

  “Because the dad we love wants us to bond,” I grit.

  Arden narrows her eyes at Sunnie. She always has my back, no matter what, and I love her endlessly for it. “You should go.”

  Cash clears his throat and the three of us turn in his direction. Arden and I scowl, while Sunnie runs a finger along her collarbone suggestively. “I’m sensing a bit of tension here and maybe under normal circumstances, I’d get it, but Randy needs both of you.” He’s using his dad voice again. Normally, I find it sexy, but this time I kinda just want to kick him in the nuts. “Temporary truce. Have a meal, send a picture to your dad. I bet it would make him feel a whole lot better.”

  I think back to my phone call with Dad earlier. He’d never admit, but I got the feeling his chemo sessions take more out of him than he lets on, which is the only reason the next word comes out of my mouth. “Fine.”

  “I’d love to.” Sunnie looks back to Cash with her come fuck me eyes, and I wish like hell I had another drink.

  Watching my sister shamelessly flirt with Cash is torture, but knowing there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it, is an entirely new circle of hell. Oddly enough, Sunnie isn’t the root cause of the jealousy winding itself down my spine like ivy.

  It’s Arden.

  It’s the way Cash is with her.

  Sunnie’s advances have given them common ground. They spend most of the night, huddled in the kitchen, whispering under their breath. Arden rolls her eyes and Cash nudges her shoulder, like they are in on a joke that Sunnie and I couldn’t understand. They’re getting close, and while I am happy for my friend—she deserves to know how great of a man Cash is—I’m sad for my heart, because at the end of the day, it’s Arden or me. That’s the choice he’ll have to make. And well, daughter trumps girlfriend.

  The thought has me on my feet and in the kitchen, reaching for the tequila.

  “I thought you weren’t drinking?” Arden asks as she chops up a tomato for the salad.

  “Well, Sunnie’s in town,” I say, nodding in her general direction. “And finals are looming, so I think I deserve one.”

  Arden shakes her head disapprovingly and returns her attention to the tomato.

  “So, Daddy Cash,” I say, settling in on the stool next to my sister.

  Cash’s jaw ticks, and I know I’m going to pay for this later, but right now, I really don’t give a fuck. “How was your day?”

  “It was uneventful,” he says slowly, deliberately. It’s a warning, one I know he won’t act on, considering his daughter is standing between us, so I pour myself another drink.

  “I wish I could say the same,” I tell him, lifting the overflowing shot glass to my lips. Cash clicks his tongue disapprovingly.

  He stares at me for a beat too long, and Sunnie gasps beside me. “Ar
e you and he?” she whispers, her eyes widening as if she is suddenly seeing things clearly for the first time.

  Luckily, Arden is preoccupied with putting the garlic bread in the oven. “Stop being gross,” I lie under my breath. “And don’t start trouble between me and my best friend.”

  A few minutes of awkward silence passes before Arden claps. “Oh, Cherry, in the mad dash to get dinner started, I forgot to tell you about Parker.” She grins, and a knot in my stomach grows.

  “Who’s Parker?” Sunnie smiles, forgetting about her accusation, just like that.

  “He’s the star of Brighton University Men’s Basketball Team, and he’s totally obsessed with Cherry.”

  Cash yanks the bottle of tequila from the counter and pours himself a drink, before stowing the bottle back into the cupboard.

  “He’s obsessed with basketball,” I clarify.

  “Yeah, and the season’s over. He’s missing his fu—his cuddle buddy.” Arden’s eyes flit to Cash’s and I know she cleaned it up for his benefit. “I told him I think you have a boyfriend, but that you’d also be at the party.”

  “What party?” both Cash and Sunnie ask at the same time.

  “My birthday party.” Arden beams, unaware of how badly she’s screwing me over right now.

  “A party that is sure to be a shit show. Her ex-boyfriend planned it and is holding it over her head in a last-ditch effort to win her back.”

  “How so?” Cash asks.

  “Well, he rented the beach house, and finding another one at the end of the year is nearly impossible.”

  “So, you just need a house?” Cash asks looking between us. I nod, mentally screaming at him to make the offer.

  “Yeah, but like I said, I’ve checked everywhere, and there’s nothing else available, unless we want to be twenty miles away from the beach.”

  “I live on the beach,” Cash says as if it’s simple. “And, honestly, I’d feel much better if you girls were at my house where I can keep an eye on things.”

  “I can’t have a chaperone at my twentieth birthday party.”

  “Trust me, watching twentysomethings get drunk off their ass is the last thing I want to do, but I’d feel better knowing that if you needed me, I would be right upstairs and not an hour and a half away.” That last part is a dig at me, but I ignore it since I’m still making amends for the Fairmont fuckup.

  Arden chews on her bottom lip, weighing the pros and cons in her mind. “It could work,” she says more to herself than to us. “Okay, let me work through the logistics.” In the next second, her phone is out and she’s typing furiously. I slide off the stool and use the distraction as a way to make my exit. I’m not even hungry anyway.

  Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. I feel myself self-destructing. I make my way into my bedroom and fall back onto the bed. Far away from the bullshit happy-family façade going on in the kitchen.

  I don’t know how long I lie there or when the tears start, but before I know it, black teardrops slide down my chin and onto my shirt. “What’s wrong, Cherry Girl?” Cash says.

  I look up to see him leaning in the doorway.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.” He straightens, pulling the door shut behind him. “Arden and Sunnie are bonding over some TV show that comes on Bravo, so I told them that I’d come and tell you dinner was ready. So here I am, dinner is ready. Also, in case you were unsure, I’m not happy about you drinking.”

  “I guess that means you’re on a sex strike, which doesn’t matter anyway since we’re probably breaking up soon.” I sniffle, wiping at the water sliding down my cheeks with the back of my hand.

  “Breaking up?” The lock clicks on the door and he moves toward me. The bed dips, and he swipes away an errant tear with his thumb. “When did we decide this?”

  “We can’t keep hiding it from her, and I don’t know that I want to anymore,” I confess. “It’s driving me crazy.” He arches his brow. “Okay, crazier. I just…sometimes I’m jealous of her, and I know that’s dumb. She’s your daughter, but I feel like you’d trade the time you spend with me for a day with her in a heartbeat. And sometimes I think that I’m an awful person for wishing she doesn’t ever want to see you, because if the two of you get closer, then it’s surely the end of you and me. And what kind of best friend does that make me?”

  Cash blinks then scrubs a hand down his jaw. I wish the bed would open and swallow me whole. Why did I say that out loud? It was stupid and selfish, just like me.

  “It makes you human, Cherry Girl.”

  “Well, humans are shit.”

  “I love my daughter more than anything in this world,” he begins. “It’s odd because I didn’t know she existed for more than half of her life. I haven’t spoken to her but a handful of times, but she’s mine and I feel the loss of not having her in my life every fucking day. Now I’m here, in your home, having a family dinner, and it feels incredible and—”

  “—you don’t need to fill that void with me anymore?” I finish for him.

  The bastard smirks at me. His hands caress my cheeks, his touch feels like satin against my skin. I lean into it, soaking up as much of his attentiveness as I can because I know it won’t be long before we have to go back downstairs, back to the reality where I’m Arden’s friend and he’s her dad. “Cherry. I care about you, too. It’s just different. She’s my daughter, and you are my girl. That doesn’t make you less than. I need you both.”

  I turn my head slightly, brushing my lips against his thumb. “You need me?”

  “Madly.” He grins, biting my nose. “We’ll tell her soon, just not tonight.”

  I reluctantly agree. “We should get back downstairs before they come looking for us.” Cash stands, pulling me to my feet. “I’m sorry for acting like a brat.”

  He grabs me by the waist and pushes against the door. “Trust me, you’ll pay for it later.”

  Cherry

  MY EYELIDS FLUTTER OPEN. SWEAT drips down the valley of breasts. My body is on fire. My heart ticktickticks in rapid succession.

  I suck in a breath and peek at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It’s 9 a.m. I’m off today and school’s out for the summer, yet I can’t sleep. Summer is in the air. A thick blanket of heat covers Southern California like a fog. I stretch my arms over my head and roll to grab my laptop from the floor to log in to my email. It’s become my new morning routine as I wait to hear back about my scholarships.

  I delete all the ads and spam then circle back. My eyes zero in on one from Brighton’s financial aid department. The subject line reads Women in STEM Scholarship. I scan the screen.

  Dear Ms. Valentine. It is our pleasure to inform you that the Women in STEM scholarship has been temporarily re-instated, thanks to a sizable donation from a benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous. The donation has allowed us to extend the scholarship to its current recipients for another year before being phased out completely.

  The email goes on to explain more details of the extension, but I’m too excited to focus on the words. Exhaling, I lean back against my headboard and breathe out a sigh of relief. Another year of tuition plus the few smaller scholarships I’ve already been granted will get me to graduation.

  I shut my computer and toss it aside, smiling down at the tiny purple bruises covering the inside of my thigh. My skin tingles recalling how they got there. Just a few short months ago, I felt like I was drowning, and while my dad is still sick, and Cash and I are still a secret, I can’t remember a time I was happier. I decide in that moment to celebrate the small wins. My next year of college is paid for. My dad’s chemo is almost over, and then there’s Cash. As temporary as we may be, he is mine…at least for now.

  Plucking my cell from the charger, I dial Cash’s number and grin. “Hello, love.” His gravelly voice seeps through the phone and settles into my blood. My clit throbs in response.

  “Top of the morning to ya,” I chirp trying to mask the lust in my tone.

&
nbsp; “You’re chipper this morning,” he says and I hear him shifting. I picture him sprawled out on his California king, the covers slung across his hips, one hand thrown behind his head while he holds the phone up with the other.

  “I am,” I say. “Despite this miserable heat, I mean.”

  “What’s got you so happy?”

  “My scholarship got reinstated, only for a year, but that means I won’t be waitressing at a Denny’s in Fairmont next year after all.”

  “That’s amazing, Cherry Girl. We should celebrate.” His voice drops, sleep is replaced by lust, and the sound makes my toes curl.

  “I wish.” I groan, scooting down until I’m lying flat on my back. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be Arden’s bitch from now until party time.” My fingers dance their way down my sweat-slicked chest, stopping at the band of my panties.

  “Watching you run around in a tiny bikini all night long is going to be torture.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about that too much. Some asshole covered my thighs with hickeys.”

  “You say asshole, I say genius.” He chuckles. “Plus, I don’t remember any complaints last night when I was giving you those special kisses.”

  “Temporary insanity,” I say, slipping my fingers under my panties. Sweat and want coat my fingers and I slip two inside my pussy with ease. Biting back a moan, I pant into the phone. “You know what those special kisses do to me. Just thinking about them—about you with your head between my legs, the bite of your teeth against my flesh, it makes me wet.”

  Cash shifts again, and this time I imagine him pushing the sheet back. “Is my naughty girl wet right now?”

  “My fingers are so slippery.” I nod even though he can’t see me.

  “Why are your fingers slippery?” he pants.

  “Because they’re inside my cunt.”

  “Fuck,” he groans. “How many?”

  “Two.”

  “Come on, Cherry Girl, you can do better than that.” I slip a third one in and my back arches off the mattress. “How many now?”