“You? A lawyer?” I asked. Then I thought about it for a second. “Actually, that make sense. You’re fast, smooth, a complete asshole, and you’ll do anything to get your way.”
Dex pointed at me. “Exactly. So it’ll all work out, Nova. Just like I always said and knew it would. Trust fund is all mine now. So I’m filthy rich too. On my own. But I’m going to keep my word to my parents and go through the motions of college and law school and see what happens.”
“If you’re so much on your own, why did you come back?” I asked.
“To see you.”
“Stop it, Dex.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m a total dick. Your heart’s a fucking mess and I keep making comments. Damn.”
“Look at you. Growing up a little.”
“Hardly,” Dex said. He kicked his way closer to me. “Chicks with broken hearts fuck so much better than happy chicks.”
I swung my hand at him but he still too far out of reach.
“What an asshole,” I said as though I were with someone else.
“Who? Me?” Dex asked.
“Never mind what I said then. You’re never going to change.”
“Never,” he said. “And I came back here for some interviews. Promised my father I would talk to his contacts. Make my own contacts. All that bullshit. Plus, a little family time never hurt.”
“How sweet,” I said. “You love your mommy and daddy.”
“You don’t?”
“Yours?” I asked with a grin.
“Yours, Nova.”
I stared at Dex.
This was the end of the line for our journey together. If I dared to cross that line and open myself to him even a little…
I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter.”
I leaned forward a little so I could paddle to shore and Dex made a daring move, jumping off his surfboard.
He hit mine and I rocked back and forth.
“What the fuck…”
Dex then made another, throwing himself up on my surfboard.
Straddling it.
Facing me.
Our legs touching and twisting together.
His surfboard just floating in the ocean, but still tethered to his ankle.
He was too close to me.
Way too close to me.
And the way he stared at me…
My right hand balled up into a fist. I knew right where to punch him so that his eyes would fill with tears and his only choice would be to fall off the surfboard.
But I didn’t swing
There was only one other person to ever sit on my surfboard like this.
And that was on the day Elijah first told me he loved me.
* * *
“Just let it all out,” Dex said to me. “It’s that simple. Tell the truth. How fucking crazy it is, Nova. I’m the one you need right now. Whether you like it or not. I’m everything you need. I can make you forget. I can make you cry. And the best is I’m going to be gone. I already know enough of everything. So just tell me something. From your pretty lips to my ears.”
We both rocked on my board because of the waves.
What I felt right then was nothing more than anger, revenge, and a sense of self need.
I reached and touched Dex’s face.
He kept his hands to himself, which sort of surprised me. But maybe not. He wanted to mess with me. Make me make a move. So that way anything that happened would be on my back, not his. Not that he would have cared either way.
Everyone in my life and every second that passed felt like it was laced with secrets and manipulative intentions. And maybe for once instead of chasing that away I could just embrace it. Look at HCH. I had the power there. I could walk the halls with Aira and we were the top bitches. We were catty or rotten or rumor filled. If you got in our way you got hit. Or you got your windows busted. That was true power.
My fingers gently dug at Dex’s face.
I licked my bottom lip.
“I’m waiting,” he whispered.
“So am I,” I said. “I’m waiting for everyone and everything to stop hurting me. Even if they don’t mean to hurt me, it still happens. I feel like a forgotten beach chair in a storm, Dex. The storm might not want to beat up the chair, but it does because it has to. So I’m just getting tossed along the shore, waiting to break into two pieces or just be swept away.”
“Until a really fuckable rock comes along and puts itself on the chair and keeps it steady while the storm passes,” Dex said. “Hint… I’m the rock.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I picked up on that.”
“Maybe stop using cheap analogies. Just speak, Nova.”
“Look at you using big words.”
“Have to learn them,” Dex said. “Lawyers have to speak the right way.”
I slowly shook my head. I slid my hands from his face. “Nothing else to say. You know everything.”
“Hey,” he said. “What a fucking mess. The guy you love has a kid with someone else. How do you get through that?”
“I don’t know, Dex,” I said.
“Which is why we need to get to shore right now,” he said. He started to kick his legs and splash his hands into the water. “We need to get to shore, find a little spot to stay hidden… and then I’ll make you forget it all for a little while.”
“Just a little while?” I asked.
“You know my version of a little while,” Dex said with a wink.
He splashed at the water harder.
As he leaned forward, I saw the look in his eyes and where his eyes were starting to look on me. He could be sweet for a second but he was still an asshole the rest of the time.
I leaned forward to meet him.
Shaking my head.
A big wave bumped into my board and bounced us enough so that our heads smacked together. Before I could say ouch I felt Dex closing in on me even more. Our lips so fucking close…
That’s when I made my decision.
I threw my hands forward and shoved him off my board.
Dex laughed out loud as he purposely fell back and off the board.
I bit my bottom lip hard and watched him pop up from the water and reach for his board.
Rejection only turned him on more.
And rejection made him more desirable.
Which seemed way off but it was the truth.
We paddled side by side, my head turned, trying to sort through even more now.
Dex kept laughing.
“What’s so funny over there?” I asked him.
Dex being Dex, never afraid of anything in the world, looked at me.
“Your boyfriend is here watching us.”
* * *
I wanted to tell Dex to run. To turn and just swim his ass out into the ocean and never come back. Because Elijah was going to kill him. There was no other way to say it. Elijah was going beat Dex into the sand and not stop.
Elijah stood in the sand, hands in his pockets, a cigarette in his mouth. He smoked without using his hands.
He looked…
Dex had no fear.
He paddled right to shore and carried his board to his clothes and picked everything up like nothing was happening.
I wasn’t sure whether I needed to scream or throw up.
Or just pick which one to do first.
I stood next to the blanket, holding my board, my eyes switching between Elijah and Dex.
One thing that never hit me though was guilt.
There was no guilt. No reason to feel guilt. No need to feel guilt.
It’s not like I have a secret baby with Dex, right?
“I’ll leave you to it, Nova,” Dex said. “Thanks for the surf. I haven’t been in the water since I got back here.”
“You’re just walking away?” I asked Dex.
“What do you want me to do here?” Dex asked. “Go shake his hand? Make friends? That’s not me. You know that. But everything I said is still true. If this mess gets too heavy on your bac
k, I can take it off your back for a little while.”
Dex looked in Elijah’s direction and just shook his head.
I opened my mouth…
“Always the guy from summer,” Dex said. “There’s no competing there, huh?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer.
Dex laughed to himself and strutted away, his body dripping with ocean water, carrying his board and his dry clothes.
I didn’t take a step though.
I held my ground and stared at Elijah.
We both were in unmovable silence as he smoked his cigarette.
He finally dropped the cigarette to the sand and stepped forward, burying it.
He didn’t move his eyes from me for a second.
Which shocked me.
Elijah just let Dex slip away with nothing happening. And I had no idea how long he’d been watching us in the water. What he thought he saw or heard. Or what he let run through his mind as only Elijah could do.
And actually, him standing there quiet and calm was worse than him going after Dex. Because he was holding it all in. He was keeping it to himself.
Without guilt, I kept silent too. I stood there and had nothing to hide and nothing to care about. My phone buzzed on the blanket and I saw I had about two millions messages to go through. Which meant it was more than obvious that I had ditched HCH to come surf with Dex. The halls and streets were buzzing about Nova again.
OMG… did you hear?
Elijah came back to town!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova’s father beats her mother!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova is living with Cherry!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova is an emotional wreck right now!
OMG… did you hear?
Elijah had a secret baby with some other girl!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova got arrested for smashing windows!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova threatened Carly!
OMG… did you hear?
Nova is now cheating on Elijah with Dex!
Yet I just stood there, still and strong.
Because if Elijah was going to be sharing his bed with the mother of his daughter, then I was going to share the waves with someone who could make me forget about him for a second or two.
When Elijah finally made a move, he walked toward me.
He actually walked right up to me.
He slipped his hands along my cheeks and I quickly grabbed his wrists.
We both froze in place.
Elijah nodded.
His fingers gently moved and dug into the back of my hair. He pulled me forward and planted a kiss to my forehead. The smell of cigarette smoke and his clothes overtook my senses and left me even more uncertain.
“You’re fucking beautiful, babe,” Elijah whispered. “I could watch you surf all day for the rest of my life and die happy.” He lifted my head a little and kissed the tip of my nose. “We can lose each other, but we can’t forget about each other.”
And that was it.
Elijah let me go, shook my hands off his wrists, and he walked away.
My jaw dropped.
I wasn’t sure if Elijah was acting mature or he had something insane planned.
Or maybe he was just letting me go.
Wanting me to have fun with Dex or anyone else because he had his family now.
Except… that’s not what I wanted at all.
Chapter 13
Elijah
I picked Cecily up out of her crib. She was so alert and happy. I never thought a tiny human could matter so much to me. She had changed the game and all the rules I thought I knew were mostly out the window.
Mostly.
I changed her into a fresh diaper and then sat down on the bedroom floor, gently placing her on her back. She was quick though. Already rolling over. Kicking her legs and using her arms, wanting to know how to crawl and walk.
We played together for a little bit while Rory took a shower.
My eyes kept looking to the bathroom door. I knew damn well the door wasn’t locked. I knew damn well Rory wanted nothing more than for me to walk into the bathroom and have my way with her. And after seeing Nova with someone in the water, it left me wondering what my next move was.
Honestly, it could have been simple.
That’s where we were.
She was going to have to struggle with the notion that I would be attached to Rory for the rest of my life. Through Cecily, we had a relationship that could never end. Unless I wanted to be like my father which I would never do. And if Nova made the decision that she didn’t want that life, then I would have to step back and watch her live without me. And just like in the past, without Nova, Rory would be an easy replacement. Being the total opposite made it easier to let Nova go. And having Cecily made it almost a promise that we would find a way to make things work.
But that was only if I walked through that bathroom door.
Which I didn’t do.
And I wouldn’t do.
And I couldn’t do now because I was playing with my daughter.
When the bathroom door opened, Rory stepped out wearing nothing but a red towel. A red towel that covered everything that needed to be covered, but still.
“Oh, she’s up,” Rory said almost with a hint of disappointment.
She had another towel that she used to dry her hair.
The way she leaned forward and threw her hip out, tilting her head, messing with her hair…
I kept my eyes on my daughter.
“She’s playing,” I said. “She never really napped. Just kind of rolled around and got mad.”
“So you just picked her up and started to play?” Rory asked.
“As opposed to what?”
“You rock her. Soothe her. Care for her. Get her to nap. This will throw off her entire schedule now.”
I gritted my teeth and looked at Rory. “Sorry.”
Rory shook her head. “This is why we can’t leave here. How am I supposed to figure out what’s next when you can’t handle this?”
“I’m handling it,” I said. “It’s fine, Rory. She’s happy and playing. If she gets cranky later, then she’ll go to sleep earlier.”
“And get up earlier.”
“I’ll get up with her then.”
“So you’re going to be here all day and all night?”
I curled my lip. “I’m not answering that.”
“That’s what I thought.” Rory sat down on her bed. “We have to figure this out, Elijah.”
“We do,” I said. “And that includes not living here.”
“Where are we living then?” Rory asked.
We…
Cecily grabbed for my knee. I gently rocked my leg side to side, shaking her. She smiled and let out a small giggle. Listening to her giggle was a good distraction from whatever kind of serious talk Rory wanted to have.
Rory finally took the hint and stood and went back into the bathroom.
I picked Cecily up and bent my legs.
I sat her on me and smiled. “What are we going to do here, little girl?”
Cecily looked around and playfully smacked my arms.
“I promise it’ll all work out,” I said to her.
My phone beeped and I placed Cecily back on the floor.
It was a text from Nero. An asap text, which wasn’t like him.
He needed me.
My daughter needed me.
Rory needed me.
She came out of the bathroom again, oversized pajama bottoms, a tight, red tank top, and no bra. Her wet, black hair dangling down the left side of her body.
“I have to go,” I said to her. “Personal stuff.”
“Oh yeah? More personal than your family?”
“It’s my turn to go do something here,” I said. “We’ve been splitting time as needed.”
“What about all the time when you weren’t around?”
That was
Rory’s easiest and cheapest shot at me.
I shook my head and leaned forward to kiss Cecily goodbye.
I had nothing else to say to Rory at the moment. For every second I thought there was a chance things could become civil, she had to find a way to mess it up.
I slammed the door behind me and heard Cecily burst into tears.
That made me feel like shit even more than I already did.
Of course that was when my mind decided to remind me of Nova surfing with someone else. It was her version of the opposite of me. The guy she killed time with while waiting for summer. Just like what I had done with Rory.
And I deserved to see her with him. To see her sharing a surfboard with him.
And the only reason I didn’t go after the guy was because of what I would have done. And that left me really pissed off. I never turned down a fight. I never backed away from the chance to smack someone in the mouth.
When I got outside the house, I called Nero.
“What do you need?” I asked him.
“Your fists,” he said.
I looked back at the house.
Rory. Cecily. Family.
I thought about Nova.
The ocean. The surfboard. Her with some guy.
“Elijah?” Nero yelled into the phone.
“I’m there, man…”
* * *
I grabbed Joey’s shirt and pulled him as I threw another punch. He let out a groan as his head snapped back again. When I let him go, he stumbled back and hurried to lift his fists and cover his face.
All around me, it was violence.
Nero, Lars, Paxton, Turner, and me… taking on Jace, his cousin, and a couple of that cousin’s friends. It was some kind of fight that started last year and got kicked up again. I didn’t even ask. I just showed up and started swinging.
Joey was a good fighter but I had rage in my heart. Rage in my soul.
I kept my hands at my sides and nodded to him. “Do it. Hit me. Free shot. One chance to knock me out.”
Joey was out of breath. Nero and the rest of us had toppled Jace and his crew easily. Jace was the only one who could put up a real fight. There were a few times when I thought maybe he was going to get the best of Lars. They were the biggest of us all but Lars had such long damn arms, it was only a matter of time before Jace couldn’t keep up with punches coming from a mile away.
HIDDEN CREEK CRY: a hidden creek high noval Page 15
