His eyes fluttered open and he turned to look at me. He said nothing. I think he could tell that something was up.
“Remember when I told you there would come a time when I’d need your help and I’d need you not to ask questions. That time is right now and I need you to come with me. Georgina can stay here. We won’t be gone too long.”
His brown eyes squinted at me. “Why can’t she come?”
“Just trust me,” I whispered.
He sighed deeply but moved to sit up. Georgie stirred in her sleep. He bent over pressing a lingering kiss to pink lips. “I’ve got to go help Ellie with something,” he whispered to her. “She’s being cryptic and won’t tell me what though.”
“What?” she mumbled, her voice rough with sleep.
“I’ll be back in a little while. Keep sleeping. Well, don’t sleep too long because I still want to go to Disneyland today. Okay, pretty girl?”
She nodded, stretching her arms above her head. “Hurry back.”
Noah kissed her once more and then didn’t waste any time getting ready. He pulled his shoulder length hair back into what only can be described as a ‘man pony.’ Then he quickly used the bathroom, pocketed his phone and wallet, and led the way outside.
“You’re going to wear your pajamas?” I questioned, following him down the stairwell.
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “You said we’d be quick.”
I didn’t care what he wore as long as he was there with me. I was going to need my best friend—that was the only thing I knew I could count on today.
CHAPTER 6:
NATHANIAL
Dammit, it was six in the morning and I was wide awake. Like triple shot of espresso wide awake.
Rolling off the couch in my bedroom, which I’d been sleeping on because I no longer had a bed thanks to Kelly, I decided to get in a morning workout instead of attempting to sleep any longer. What was the point of trying to adjust to the time when I had to leave in less than a week anyway? Besides, the roles I tended to be cast for weren’t sappy romantic comedies. I was cast in movies or television shows with high body counts, lots of explosions, and plenty of opportunities for me to lose my shirt. Just the way it was. That meant maintaining my physique was of the upmost importance. So right now exercise trumped laying here pointlessly.
Driving a few miles across town, I went first to my gym. It had everything a man could ever want in a gym. Weights, benches, etc. Shit, I’d missed this luxury while being out of the country. So I did my usual routine, taking my time, and then followed up my workout with a long, relaxing shower.
After I finished and changed clothes, the exhaustion I hadn’t felt earlier hit me like a fucking sledge hammer. Dammit, I needed a bed. I also needed to decide if I still wanted to go to this dinner thing tonight at Mrs. Stone’s house or just skip it. Because I didn’t know what to make of my interest in Ellie and that bugged the hell out of me.
Last night, once I came to the conclusion that Ben’s estranged sister was in fact the same girl I’d met on the plane, I’d stuck around at Mrs. Stone’s house longer than I should have. I was trying to gather information. I wanted to learn something that would turn me off—an insight into Ellie’s character that could help me drop this borderline unhealthy infatuation I’d developed in less than twenty-four hours for the girl. Dammit, I didn’t even know her and she was under my skin.
I hated it. And I needed to undo it.
“You only have one sibling then?” I’d asked Ben, bending over and searching under a third bed for my damn cat. Where was she?
Ben stood in the doorway, arms crossed, not helping me. “Nah,” he said. “I have three sisters.”
“Oh. Wow,” I mumbled, standing. “I only have one brother—David—so I can’t even image what having three sisters would be like.”
“Pretty damn awesome sometimes and pretty damn annoying the rest of the time.”
He shrugged. I moved for the next guest bedroom and he followed. Mrs. Stone had a lot of space for just one person. Well, two people if you included Ben.
“Ellie’s the oldest,” Ben continued. “Then me. Then Georgina is next. She’s eleven months younger than me. I was always closest with her. Because of the age thing. And because our birthdays fell perfectly and we were in the same grade at school. Then there’s Rose. She’s nine and more mature than all of us.” He was almost wistful as he spoke…as if the rest of this family was no longer living. Or maybe it had just been a long time since he’d seen them. “Anyway. That’s my family. Oh and Noah. Can’t forget Noah.”
“Noah?” Ellie had also mentioned the name Noah, a few times actually, and I wanted to know more.
“Yeah, Ellie kind of adopted him into our family.”
“How does that happen?”
Ben smiled. It was the first time I’d seen him smile since I came over to Mrs. Stone’s house. He walked past me into the next bedroom and went straight for something. Bending behind a white ornate dresser, he scooped up my cat into his arms. She easily let him hold her and even purred into his chest like they were best friends. I guess he’d known all along where to find her.
“Ellie’s like that,” he said as he scratched Holly’s head. “She wears not only her heart on her sleeve, constantly, but also her hopes, her dreams, and everything else right there for the rest of the world to see. She’s easy to love because of it. She’s honest and open. So it’s hard not to be honest and open right back around her. Noah’s the exact opposite though. A robot would show more emotion than I’ve ever seen him show. And when Ellie was in the ninth grade she brought him home for dinner one night—like a lost puppy. Noah never left and I guess I sort of gained a brother that day too.”
Ben handed Holly to me then walked past me like that was all he wanted to say. I trailed him back into the living room where Mrs. Stone now sat watching TV. He plopped on the couch, staring at the screen. He’d accused this Noah person of being a robot, but whatever he’d revealed to me had upset him somehow. I watched as he completely shut down. As an actor subtle clues were easy for me to notice, and in unspoken words Ben told me just how much he missed his family. Even Noah.
“I’m going to head home,” I told them. “I’ll see you all at dinner tomorrow.”
“Bye, honey,” Mrs. Stone said, smiling widely.
Ben said nothing more. So I turned and walked home with Holly clutched tightly in my arms.
Yesterday’s conversation made me question Ben’s relationship with Mrs. Stone. Was he hired help or family or something else entirely? Something wasn’t quite right. I figured I’d get more answers at dinner and I’d also get to see if Ellie was a ‘maybe’ worth chasing. So it was decided now. I would be attending this dinner.
Once I’d made the decision to see her again, nervous-excitement set it. Not something I usually had issues with, but it happened. I pushed the feeling aside, knowing I still had a full day to figure out what to make of things, and drove on autopilot toward home.
But as I turned down my side street off the PCH, approaching my house, I had to catch my breath. Because parked in Mrs. Stone’s driveway was a car I’d never seen before. And getting out of that car was a girl I recognized. Ellie.
Adrenaline prickled under my skin at the sight of her. She was just as beautiful as I remembered. Maybe even more so. Her clothes were baggy and unflattering, but her face…her face made me forget all reason. The lesbian thing and the estranged sister issue—those things screamed complicated. And after Kelly I wasn’t looking for another mistake, but seeing Ellie again…even from a distance…made me realized that I didn’t give two fucks if she was complicated or not. So I parked on the street, telling myself to keep calm, and hopped out of my car.
She wasn’t alone. A man in his mid-twenties exited the car from the driver’s side. He wore pajama pants, a white t-shirt, and had his sun-bleached blond hair tied back in a low ponytail. “You’re scaring the shit out of me,” he groaned as Ellie walked around the car from the passenger side. �
��Seriously. Could you please tell me who we are going to see before we get to the fucking front door? Ellie, are you telling me you dragged everyone out to California for this?”
This man was Noah. He had to be. Something inside me knew it instantly. And judging by the frantic tone to his voice—I’d say he was the opposite of a robot. Hurrying, because I wasn’t sure I liked his tone, I jogged down the narrow driveway. Neither Ellie nor Noah noticed me approaching. They were too engrossed in their heated conversation to hear me.
“Who, Ellie?” Noah demanded, staring impatiently at her. Then he seemed almost frightened as he said, “I have an idea in my head, but I won’t say it out loud until you do.”
“Your idea is probably right,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“Tell me,” he pleaded.
“Ben. It’s Ben. He’s alive.”
Ben? Alive? What did that mean? Of course he was alive. I saw him yesterday.
“Shit,” Noah breathed.
“Yeah. The mother of all shit,” Ellie answered.
At that moment, Ellie glanced in my direction and noticed me. About damn time too. I was practically standing on top of her by this point. She squealed, clearly not expecting to find me right there next to her, and tripped over her own feet. She landed on her ass on the pavement below me.
Her wide blue eyes stared up into my eyes.
“Where did you come from?” she gasped.
I couldn’t help but smile. Clearly this wasn’t her day. Clearly she had some serious family drama to deal with right now. Clearly my timing couldn’t be worse. But I loved how she stared up at me. I loved the surprise and the interest in her eyes.
“I live two houses over. I was driving, saw you, and now I’m here.”
She took several deep breaths. “Oh.” Still sitting on the ground, her eyes drifted between me and her friend. “Noah, this is Nathanial. We met on the plane.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said to Noah, offering my hand for him to shake.
Radio silence and a cold hard stare. That was all he gave me. He didn’t return my hand shake, say, or do anything. Instead he reached down to offer Ellie his hand, which she took without hesitation. He pulled her to her feet, making me look like a fool for not beating him to it.
Placing his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants, Noah took a step backward. In a blink of an eye, he turned into that robot Ben accused him of being. Now…Ben had shut down on me yesterday and I could still decipher some of the thoughts floating through his head. Not this guy. This guy took stoic and turned it into an art form. Ellie, however, seemed to know exactly what he was thinking because she whispered to him, “I know you’re mad.”
His jaw tightened. “Mad doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
I’m pretty sure they weren’t talking about me. They were talking about Ben and the fact that Noah hadn’t known he was alive until a few seconds ago. I let the handshake thing slide because it seemed like there were bigger issues going on. Did this explain Ben’s weird presence at Mrs. Stone’s house? If I found out someone who’d I’d thought was dead suddenly wasn’t…I suppose I’d be angry too. Or thankful as fuck. It would depend on the person.
Ellie glanced at me briefly, her eyes seeking something from mine. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I’d just walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to be here for. But I wasn’t going anywhere because that wasn’t the look she gave at all. Her eyes were begging for help. So I did the only thing I could, and stayed firmly in place.
Then the front door to Mrs. Stone’s house opened. We must have been making enough noise for them to hear inside and Ben stepped outside onto the front porch. “You’re early,” he yelled across the lawn, smiling at his sister. “Like always.”
Ellie gasped when she saw him, her hands flying up to her mouth. “You son of a bitch,” she muttered under her breath. Then she rushed across the front lawn and up to her brother. She flung her arms around his shoulders. He stood very still for a moment, as if her embrace had shocked him, but then he quickly gave in and returned her hug. It was a love I was familiar with. My brother and I were very close. Or at least we had been as kids. These days he had a partner, kids of his own, and lived too many miles away. But as I watched Ellie happily hug the shit out of her brother, it made me almost desperate to call my own. And to hear his voice. It had been too long since we’d last spoken.
After a minute or two, Ellie let Ben go. Then she slugged him in the shoulder fairly hard. “Dumbass!” she wailed at him, playfully. “You’re such a dumbass. What would all of you do without me? I swear to God. The only one of us with any sense is Rosie.”
Ben smiled. “How is Rose?”
“She wants to become a paparazzi. That’s become her life goal. Last week she even made me go on a practice ‘stake-out.’ We stalked Rhett for an entire day, taking pictures of him from my car. Don’t tell him. He’d give me crap about it.”
“Like I even talk to anyone from back home.” Ben shook his head and laughed. A real genuine laugh. In the blink of an eye he’d become a different person with his sister—happy and easy going. “Why follow Rhett? Because he’s in a band?”
“Yeah. His band still sucks balls though.”
Ellie and Ben continued to talk, forgetting Noah and I existed. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed watching their reunion. They didn’t seem ‘estranged’ in the least. And all of it made me want to get to know Ellie more. She seemed so at ease in her life. Completely in control and happy. Something I longed for. Noah on the other hand, he was a strange one. Instead of being happy to see Ben, I swear to God he now looked like he wanted to murder him. He kept swearing under his breath. Until he reached a breaking point and said, “We need to go, Ellie. Now.”
What the fuck was his problem? He couldn’t let her have one moment alone with her brother? I kind of wanted to tell him off for it too. But Ellie spoke before I could.
“We’ll be back for dinner, Ben.”
Giving Ben an extremely quick half-hug, she leapt off the front porch and hurried back to Noah. It was as if Noah had said jump and she’d asked how high. Noah didn’t even acknowledge Ben. Not even a simple hi. He turned and walked for the car. He pulled open the door and disappeared inside. The passenger side this time. Kind of like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
“He’s pissed,” Ben said, still standing by the door. I lingered there with him. “I didn’t know he was capable of so much emotion.”
“He has every right to be.” Gone was the fun, light vibe between the siblings. “We’ll talk more tonight. There’s a lot that’s happen since you’ve been gone and I kind of sprung all this on Noah today. Anyway, dinner still at seven?”
Ben nodded and then disappeared inside Mrs. Stone’s house. What was I? Chopped liver. I swear, did any of these people have any manners? Jesus Christ. Everyone kept interacting like I wasn’t even there. I was about to walk off when I felt a soft hand touch my forearm. I looked down and found Ellie standing there with me. Touching me. My skin tingled at the spot her fingers lightly brushed. Her eyes stared up at me with a small desperation behind them.
“I need a favor. I know things didn’t end all that smoothly between us yesterday,” she said, swallowing hard. Those eyes of hers were such a startling shade of blue that they nearly took my breath away. “Honestly, I’m still not even sure what happened—”
“You saw me naked and we almost fucked. That’s what happened.” My words came out much harsher than I intended them to. And I was thankful her friend in the car couldn’t hear us.
“Right,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Right. Never mind.” She started walking for the car.
“What’s the favor?” I called after her. “Because I’ll do it.”
“It’s too much.” Her voice shook as she spoke. This wasn’t the confident girl I’d met on the plane. This was a girl doing everything in her power to hold it together and all I wanted was to help her. “I was going to ask if you could drive us to our hot
el. I’m a crap driver on a good day and the traffic here makes me especially nervous. Noah’s going through some shit right now. But it’s too much to ask. I always overstep my boundaries with people and…just…never mind.”
“Sure.” I crossed the small distance to the car, stopping her hand before she could open the driver’s side door. “Sure. I’ll drive you anywhere you need to go.”
CHAPTER 7:
ELLIE
The second Nathanial started the car and pulled out onto the Pacific Coast Highway, I unbuckled my seatbelt, wove my arms around Noah’s seat, and gave him a giant hug from behind. Noah wasn’t a guy who made public displays of affection often or talked openly about his feelings. But I knew my friend. He worried more than most and I knew he needed a hug. It was the least I could do right this second and tears filled my eyes as I held onto him. Briefly, his hands gripped my forearms and he returned my gesture. Then we both let go—Noah said nothing and I sat back in my seat.
Several minutes passed in silence. My eyes stayed glued to my window. My heart slammed in my chest, harder and harder with each passing second. Partly over the stress of this day—but mostly over the fact that some way, somehow Nate West had ended up as my own personal chauffeur.
We were in the same freaking car, breathing the same freaking air. How did this happen? I thought when I’d left that airplane yesterday I’d never see him again. Now he was suddenly in my life again.
I didn’t dare glance forward. I didn’t want to chance catching his stare in the rearview mirror. He was consuming my every thought and making me question everything all over again. And I didn’t need to add to that by looking at him too. Without even trying, this man had some strange hold over me. I blamed it on the fact that he was a celebrity. Not on the fact that he was one damn fine male specimen.
Kill Devil Hills: A Complete Beach Romance Series (4-Book Box Set) Page 23
