Kill Devil Hills: A Complete Beach Romance Series (4-Book Box Set)

by Sarah Darlington

  “Sure.” I guess I was as ready as I’d ever be. With my ticket clutched tightly in my hand, I followed the others to the gate. Somehow I ended up behind Rhett and Luce, the last one in our group to board. I watched the two of them as they presented their tickets and then as we all walked down the jet bridge. Technically, other than sitting on his lap on the car ride here, she hadn’t touched him again all morning. Why I cared about this…who freaking knew? Actually, I didn’t care. It was none of my damn business. I needed to stop obsessing.

  With about two feet left to walk before we reached the door onto the plane, Rhett suddenly stopped walking. I bumped into his chest as he turned around. “Hey,” he said to me and pulled me aside.

  Luce glanced back at us briefly before disappearing onto the plane.

  “Hey, yourself!” I snapped, narrowing my eyes up at him. “What are you doing?” Just looking at his face pissed me off. He stood so close to me that I could smell his familiar scent—which shouldn’t have brought back memories—intimate memories—from the past, but it did.

  “How much did you drink in the car?” he whispered.

  I gasped, shocked that he even knew I’d been drinking and shocked that he had the balls to ask about it. “That’s not really any of your business. Now would you please get out of my way so I can board? My bag’s breaking my arm.”

  He took my bag out of my hand, and easily slung it over his shoulder. Which was actually nice of him, since it was too freaking heavy to carry, but I glared at him just the same.

  “You’re so mad,” he stated, still not moving out of my way. “Is it because I brought Luce? We’re just friends. You know that, right?”

  “It’s fine that you brought her. I don’t care. She could be more than your friend and I still wouldn’t care.”

  He sighed. “Okay. Here’s the real thing then—I’m actually nervous about flying.”

  I chuckled because he had to be bullshitting me.

  “No, it’s true,” he argued. “This is only the second time I’ve ever been on a plane. The first flight didn’t go so well, and I was about nine. So, can we please call a truce or whatever for the next five hours? And will you please sit beside me?”

  “Um…” That was a totally unexpected request.

  He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, taking a deep breath. “See, the thing is, if the plane is going to crash into a mountain or catch on fire or happen to fall out of the sky…then God forbid you are not beside me when we go down.”

  Wow. Somehow, that was almost sweet. In some weird, twisted way.

  “Okay,” I answered. “Fine. I’ll sit by you.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded and just like that we were semi-okay again. He carried my bag to the seat and then stowed it in the overhead for me. Luce was already sitting beside Ellie, so she must have known he’d wanted to sit beside me instead. Which almost made me feel better about Luce being along on this trip. Maybe they were only friends after all. Sitting down, I got comfortable in the seat by the window, and then Rhett plopped down in the seat to my right.

  All through taxi/takeoff, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t act dramatic or try to hold my hand or seem nervous about the flight in the least, he simply sat there beside me. Then once we were comfortably in the air and on our way to LA, he pulled his phone from his pocket, plugged some headphones into it, and started a movie. That was when I finally relaxed. I rested my head against the window and dozed off.

  * * *

  I slept like a baby for most of the flight. It was amazing. So peaceful and so needed. But when I woke up, Rhett wasn’t there beside me. Wondering where he’d gone, I popped my head up over the seat. Georgie and Noah were adjacent to my row, both asleep and using each other as pillows. Behind me Ellie sat alone, but she seemed more interested in the clouds outside her window than me peeking at her. What the hell? I thought as I slipped back into my seat. That meant wherever Rhett was, he was likely with Luce.

  Ten minutes ticked by. Then fifteen.

  Meanwhile I had no idea what to believe with Rhett anymore. He was so confusing and annoying, that my head was spinning. The bottom line was, why bring Luce on this trip at all? Here were my theories: one, he was purposely trying to make me jealous, two, he’d brought her along as backup in case I didn’t want anything to do with him, three, I was the backup, or, four, he was so clueless that he didn’t even get what he was doing.

  I left my seat to go find them. I needed a definitive answer on this one.

  In the back of the plane, both lavatories were locked. I immediately thought the worst. The word ‘mile high’ and some other choice nasty words about Rhett popped into my head. Then I noticed some people in the galley sitting on the floor. Rhett was one of these people; beside him sat Luce, a man that looked like another passenger, and a flight attendant hovered close by, holding out a cup of water.

  Something had happened. My stomach dropped to my toes as I hurried to them. “Is everything okay?” I asked, worried instantly. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine, princess,” Luce barked. “Why don’t you go back to your seat?”

  That sealed the deal—I hated her. I wanted to wring her skinny little neck. How did she know that Rhett sometimes called me princess? It meant he’d told her intimate details about us and that made me even more livid. How could he? Plus, the way she spoke to me…it was belittling. I’d never put too much stock into my age difference with Rhett before this moment, but I suddenly felt it.

  Still, she couldn’t scare me off.

  I knelt down beside Rhett’s feet. He had sweat covering his forehead, his arms clutched across his stomach, and the worst, glazed-over look on his face. I couldn’t be mad at him for anything right then.

  “Please, sir,” the flight attendant urged, still shoving the cup in his face. “Drink some water. It will help. I promise. I also have motion-sickness medication. That might help too. You have to trust me. I see this sort of thing all the time.”

  “Do you need to throw up?” Luce asked him, cutting the lady off, while rubbing his shoulder. “If you do, you should probably go ahead and go do that. It will make you feel better.”

  Rhett responded to neither of them.

  Shit, now I wanted to vomit. My heart raced, and I felt about as horrible as he looked. But, my own issues aside, I remembered how he’d mentioned earlier that flying bothered him. I hadn’t fully believed him at the time. But seeing him on the ground in this state, I believed him now. Then again, maybe it was food poisoning, like Luce seemed to suspect, or maybe it was motion-sickness like the flight attendant thought. Actually, the cause didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was hurting. And I suddenly went into ‘Rhett protective mode.’

  “Random person,” I said to the guy I didn’t know. “Are you a doctor?”

  “No,” he responded, confused. “I just found him in the bathroom.”

  “Well, thanks for your help, I’m pre-med, so you can go back to your seat now.” Was I actually pre-med? Hell no. I was a freshman Art student.

  “Okay,” the guy said. “Feel better, man,” he told Rhett and left us.

  One down. Two to go.

  “You’re not seriously pre-med?” Luce asked.

  “I am,” I said assertively, looking her directly in the eyes. “And both my parents are doctors.” My parents weren’t anything—just another lie to get my way. “So I know that all he needs right now is some space.” I took the glass of water from the flight attendant. “If you guys could give us that space—that would be helpful.”

  “Sure,” the flight attendant said. She took a few steps away, moving to the opposite end of the galley. “I’ll be right here if you need me.” I guess she was as far as she was going to go.

  Luce shot me the nastiest look. “I don’t like you,” she told me flat-out. Okay then? But she stood up and left us alone.

  I let out a breath. Now that I had him to myself, I scooted closer to his body. The ground had to be the n
astiest, dirtiest floor I’d ever had to sit on. But whatever, that didn’t matter. Rhett grunted as I leaned against him. “I think you’re having a panic attack,” I told him gently. “Has this ever happened before?”

  “Once,” he muttered.

  “Should I make an announcement for an actual doctor?” the flight attendant asked.

  “Give us a few minutes,” I told her, gesturing that it would be okay.

  Taking Rhett’s very warm hand in mine, I laced our fingers, careful not to spill the cup of water in my other hand.

  “You’re going to be okay,” I assured him, squeezing his hand tight. “This is going to pass soon and you’re going to be fine.”

  “You sound so sure,” he replied, his voice hoarse and strained, but there was a hint of amusement to it.

  “I am sure. You should probably know that I’m not pre-med, though. I’m an art student. I think I want to get into doing tattoos like my brother. Not that I even need to go to college for that, but sometimes it takes a while to figure out exactly what you want. Before I left for school, John used to let me help him with different pieces for his customers, and I didn’t even realize how much I loved doing that for him, or even how much I actually did do that, until leaving for school this year. I know I’m rambling and you probably don’t want to hear all this random stuff about me, but I’m trying to help take your mind off things. Is it working at all?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Your voice is soothing. And I love hearing anything about you, no matter how random, so please don’t stop.”

  I snuggled closer to him. My own heart raced so hard it practically had reached its own panic-attack level. In this moment, so worried about him, I realized how much I liked him, and how much I wanted to be with him. It was a terrifying thought. But the alternative, the thought of losing him the way I’d once thought I’d lost Ben, was even more frightening.

  “Sometimes I miss you,” I whispered to him. “I know I shouldn’t. I know it’s not fair for me to say that and that I made my choice. But I miss something that I can’t—” I cut myself off, taking a breath. I’d taken the conversation to a place I hadn’t intended to, nor was I ready for. “Sorry,” I apologized. “Now I’m getting carried away.”

  He moved his free hand, touched lightly under my chin, and tilted my face so that our eyes connected. “Maybe I should collapse on the ground more often. Seems like we can cut through the bullshit surrounding us a bit better this way.” He nudged my side gently, shooting me this cocky look. “I think I’m better now. Whatever that was that just happened to me…I think it has nearly passed and I’d rather be in our seats. Help me up, Sydney?”

  I nodded, standing and grabbing his hand to help pull him to his feet. He wobbled a little, but otherwise seemed fine. I thanked the flight attendant, handing her the cup of water. She had tears in her eyes. “That was sweet, you guys,” she muttered, unexpectedly.

  Was it?

  We returned to our seats. As I sat down and was buckling my seatbelt, Rhett muttered to me, “I’m not going to forget what you just said to me back there.”

  “Good,” I returned. “I’m not going to let you.”

  The look that crossed his face—a look of admiration, awe, and something unfamiliar but perfect—was something I was never going to forget, something that melted my heart and turned my chest all warm and squishy inside. He took my hand in his, no other parts of our bodies touching, and he held it for the remainder of the flight. I’d never felt so much from a single touch in my whole life.

  We didn’t speak, even after the plane touched down on solid ground again, but that didn’t mean something unspoken hadn’t passed between us.

  CHAPTER 12:

  RHETT

  Nate West. The famous actor—holy shit!—was on our flight. As we were de-boarding the plane, my mind was still flying from the moment Sydney and I had shared, and that was when I noticed him sitting—asleep—in first class, his head resting against the window. Ellie had to be freaking the hell out. He was her favorite actor. She had some weird crush on the man, which might have been completely normal coming from any other girl, but Ellie was a lesbian so it made this moment twice as unbelievable. What an awesome coincidence that he was on our flight.

  I turned around in the aisle to alert my roomie, just in case she hadn’t noticed him yet. “Yo, Ellie. Look who it is.” I dropped my bag on the ground, tugging my phone from my pocket. “It’s your favorite actor,” I whispered. “We should take a selfie with him in the background. He’ll never know.”

  “Just go,” she harshly whispered, glaring. “I don’t want a selfie with him.”

  What?! Of course she did. “C’mon,” I begged. “You’ll regret it if you don’t do this.”

  So she let me snap a quick photo of us with Nate West fast asleep in the background.

  “I’m posting it to Facebook right now,” I told her, working quickly to upload it. The picture was too perfect not to be posted immediately. “Don’t worry. I’ll tag you too.”

  Ellie narrowed her eyes at me like I’d just told her I was posting a naked picture of my dick on the internet. “What?” I asked, not understanding her lack of excitement.

  “Can you go already?” she whined, pushing me along.

  We were holding up traffic, so I grabbed my bag and kept going. I didn’t get it. She’d worshiped the guy from our living room every Sunday night for the past two seasons of his show, and now, given the chance to meet him, she’d barely even blinked in his direction.

  Sydney shot me a smile as we were leaving. At least someone out there seemed to understand the importance of that selfie. Or maybe…she was merely smiling at me because she liked the way I looked. Hell. I was so confused right now.

  If all it would have taken was me collapsing on the floor to get Sydney’s attention, then I would have keeled over long ago. But, in actuality, my mini panic attack hadn’t been that bad. Luce pretty much had it covered. I would have survived with or without Sydney’s help. But Sydney had turned all protective on me, unexpectedly, and it was hot. Damn hot. But I didn’t want to read too much into that moment, or too much into her ‘I miss you’ comment, or even too much into our hand holding. Because what was going to happen once Ben was back in the picture? She’d probably kick me to the curb the moment she saw him again. So it was better to not let myself feel anything.

  Still, one look in my direction from those green eyes, and it was hard not to feel something.

  Ugh. I sighed to myself as we walked.

  See…so freaking confusing.

  Our little group of six headed through the airport, to the exit, and toward the rental car place. We had a nice SUV lined up, courtesy of Susan and Wade Turner—Ellie’s parents. They’d been so supportive of this trip, especially Susan. With Ben’s ‘death’ and Georgie’s suicide attempt, Ellie’s family had been through some serious shit over the last year. Susan only wanted her children to start living again—go out, have fun, and try new things. So when I saw her last, she’d been very excited about our little California adventure. But hell, what would she think if she knew what this vacation was really about?

  “Thank you, Mom,” Ellie said when she spotted our rental. Not hesitating in the least, she hopped in the passenger seat. Noah drove. The girls and I sat in the back—Luce and I together, Sydney and Georgie in the last row. Sydney and I hadn’t spoken since the plane. But I wasn’t taking that as a bad sign. Actually, I think it was good. There was this rekindled spark between us. Like we were both suddenly hyperaware of one another. Every time our eyes connected, I had the impression that she felt exactly the same. It was powerful and it had my body feeling like it was free-falling off a cliff all afternoon.

  Our hotel in West Hollywood was fancy as hell. It had to be, for the price we were paying. Luce and I were sharing a room, while everyone else was in another. We all checked in and then headed upstairs to our separate rooms to unpack, change, and get ready to go out. I was happy I’d brought Luce along on th
is trip. Really, I was. She was good company, my best friend from work, and we always got along easily. But we had shared something of a relationship in the past, which in a way kind of made her my ex, and I didn’t want whatever that was to come between whatever I had with Sydney. Sydney was my priority. Always.

  “She’s so in love with you,” Luce told me matter-of-factly as she started emptying her suitcase onto the ground. She began sorting her stuff into piles. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  “Yeah. Right,” I retorted, pacing around the room, checking out the mini-bar and whatnot.

  “I’m serious. The way she looked at me when she found us on the ground together on the plane. As unpleasant as that was…it told me everything. She cares for you.”

  Needing something to distract me from this conversation, as I wasn’t in the mood for it, I heaved my own bag onto my bed, unzipped it, and pulled out a fresh change of clothes. My stomach had gone straight to mush talking about this. “I’m not reading into anything or acting on anything until she sees Ben again. There’s no fucking way I can compete with that kid.” I sighed, wishing now that there hadn’t been any sort of moment between Sydney and me earlier. It was only going to make everything harder later. And I could only take so much rejection from her. “He’s like Grey Goose. And I’m like the shitty well-drinks we serve on happy hour. He’s Patron Platinum, and I’m Jose Cuervo. Sure, you can get drunk off me just as easily as the good stuff. But you’re going to feel like shit the next morning and regret it.”

  “Oh. My. God,” Luce huffed, moving to grab a pillow off the bed and chuck it in my direction. I wasn’t ready for it and it bounced off my head.

  “Hey,” I groaned.

  “You’re not Jose Cuervo, you ass,” she whined. “You’ve got to stop selling yourself short. The only reason you aren’t with this girl already…is because of your own insecurities. You keep acting like she’s some princess in some unreachable castle. She’s just a girl. And this whole Ben thing…you should be glad he’s alive. Competing with a memory is much harder than competing with the real thing.”