by Tess Oliver
I looked at him. Somehow, I caught Seth in my side vision. He was watching our table. “Mr. Rice, I would never, ever work for you. And not just because I don’t like you, because, trust me, I don’t, but because your shop is going to be a big, ugly designer brand eyesore. The real surfers, the locals around here who wake at dawn every morning just to make sure they don’t miss the perfect wave, will never shop in your store.”
“Come with me to the ladies’ room, Elle,” Grace suggested, and motioned with her head for added ‘let’s get the hell out of here’ emphasis. With that, she turned and walked toward the restrooms.
“Nice chat,” I told him, and moved to hop off the stool.
He grabbed my wrist unexpectedly. I tried to yank my hand away, but he had a firm grip.
I was more pissed than worried. He was drunk and, obviously, making a series of stupid decisions, this being his worst. “Please let my hand go, Mr. Rice.”
He stared down at his fingers wrapped around my wrist almost as if he was looking at someone else’s hand.
I pulled my hand hard, and he yanked it back, popping me off my seat. I grabbed the table to keep from falling against him.
“Let her go,” a voice said from behind me. Seth circled around with a stoney expression on his face. He sat on the other side of Rice.
Rice still held my wrist as he turned rather unsteadily around on the top of the stool. He squinted at Seth. “Aren’t you that damn welder? Go away and mind your own business while you still have a job. This woman doesn’t need anyone to come to her rescue.”
Seth glanced at me. I returned a small shrug to let him know I had no idea what the guy was up to.
He returned a cold glare to Rice. “I know she doesn’t need anyone to rescue her. From what I’ve seen, she knows how to take care of herself. But half your work crew is in here tonight. I’m here to stop you from making a complete ass of yourself, Boss.”
“And I’m telling you to fuck off and mind your own business.” Rice pretended that his threat worked and turned away from Seth and back to me. My fingers were tingling from the pressure on my wrist.
Seth seemed to sense my discomfort. The stool legs scraped the floor as he stood up.
Rice yanked me hard again, and this time I didn’t have time to grab the table. I fell forward just as Seth stepped between us. I smacked into his hard back. Rice still hadn’t released his death grip on me.
Our table had become the center of attention. I saw Rocko heading toward us, as well as Grace, who’d come back out of the bathroom to see why I hadn’t followed her escape plan. When she saw what was happening, she accidentally crashed right into Rocko.
I was still pressed up against Seth, and for some damn reason, I stayed there longer than necessary. I’d forgotten what it felt like to stand next to a strong, muscular back. It was something I missed terribly.
“I gave you a chance. Now, I don’t care if you make an ass of yourself. I just want you to let her go.”
I couldn’t see Rice with Seth’s broad back in front of me, but his grip hadn’t loosened.
“Or what?” Rice asked.
“Or I will hit that smug face of yours out the back of your head.”
Seth spoke with complete confidence and standing so close to him and seeing just how broad his shoulders were, I understood why he was so sure of himself. I had to hand it to Rice, most men would have backed down with someone like Seth standing in front of them. Obviously, Rice was extremely inebriated.
There was a tense moment of silence, where the only sounds were the sportscasters’ voices raining down on us from the televisions. Then Rice released my hand, and I brought it quickly to my body to rub some life back into it. Red fingerprints circled my wrist.
Rice got up. He was brave enough, or more likely drunk enough, to stand toe to toe with Seth, who, even without showing much anger, looked pretty damn intimidating.
“Don’t bother to show up to work on Monday,” Rice sneered and then stumbled away, looking a little less arrogant. If he hadn’t been the one building the big surf shop across the street, I almost would have felt sorry for him.
Seth turned around. “You all right?”
“I’m fine. Thanks. He’s just really drunk.”
“I noticed.” With that, Seth nodded politely and returned to the other table. I watched him, feeling more than a little hurt by his quick retreat. He went back to his little pack of groupies with hardly a glance my direction. I hated that it bothered me. What an irritating man. I was definitely right to give him the brush off earlier because I didn’t need his kind lingering around me. Of course, those few seconds pressed against Seth’s back was a moment in time that would be hard to erase from memory, but I would manage.
Rice stumbled over to a booth and sat down next to a couple of girls who seemed only slightly put off by him.
Grace walked up next to me and lifted my hand to inspect it. “I thought you were right behind me. So I’m standing there checking out my lip gloss in the mirror and talking to you about what an ass the guy is. Turns out I was talking to myself. I had no idea. Sorry I deserted you like that.”
“You tried to save me. I just wasn’t quick enough. I had no idea he’d grab me like that.”
“It’s lucky Seth came over to help out.” Loud peals of feminine laughter came from Seth’s table again. “Butthead that he is.”
“They certainly do find him entertaining,” I quipped.
Grace looked his direction, and her shoulders slumped in disappointment. “That they do. Guys like him should come with a warning label. Caution— do not throw this guy in the wash with your heart. It will be ruined.” She looked back at me. “But he certainly came to your rescue quickly. I thought he was going to tear Rice to bits. For a second there, I thought maybe he liked you, but he took up again with those other girls so fast, I guess I was wrong. It doesn’t matter how cheap the drinks are when the night turns out to be one giant toilet bowl of crap. I’m going to see if Terry is ready to leave. “
I had no intention of letting Grace know about Seth’s earlier declaration. She didn’t need to know. In fact, there was nothing to know. He was moving on to new friends, and that was that. I was feeling blue. The whole evening had been shitty, and not just because I’d turned Seth down. And why, exactly, had I done that? It had all come out so easily, so confidently, as if somewhere deep inside I’d convinced myself that no one in the world could ever interest me again. I took hold of the dog tags and pulled the chain out from under my shirt. I pressed it to my lips, then I tucked it back inside. I glanced quickly in the direction of Seth’s table. The girls sitting with him were talking animatedly with most of their attention on him, but he was watching me.
Grace returned. “She said she’d be ready in about twenty minutes. Derek, the bartender, has a break right now, and she wants to stay for it. Rocko is buying me another beer. Do you want one?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I can’t stay in this place another minute. Lend me your keys, and I’ll go wait in the car.”
She huffed in disgust and fished into her clutch for her keys.
“Don’t be pissed. You’re the one who insisted on dragging along your wet blanket.” She handed me the keys, and I reached over and hugged her. “Sorry this night was such a bust.”
The fog had thickened, and a cold chill permeated my bones as I hurried to the car. I slid into the driver’s seat and locked the doors. Fog at night always made me shiver, more because of the eerie atmosphere it created than the clammy cold it brought. I reached behind the seat for the sweatshirt that Grace always had tucked there. As I leaned forward to pull it on, a heavy finger tapped the window. I screamed but cut it short when Seth’s face appeared through the haze.
I pressed my hand against my chest to slow my heart and reached down to unlock the door. He climbed into the passenger seat. His head nearly grazed the ceiling in Grace’s small car.
He looked over at me.
“That thumping sound you h
ear is my heart, by the way,” I said.
“Yep, I’ve always had that kind of effect on girls.”
“You mean scaring them to death?”
He laughed. “Sometimes, unfortunately.” He faced me. The close proximity and fact that we were very much alone in Grace’s fog shrouded car, once again played with my emotions. I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to him but then so were a lot of other women. They were welcome to him. This guy might as well have the word heartbreaker tattooed across his forehead.
“I’m so sorry about the job,” I said, breaking a warm and congenial silence. “Do you think Rice will forget what he said once he sobers up?”
He scrubbed his fingers through his short hair. It stood up in dark gold tufts on his head. “I don’t know if he’ll forget. I gave the guy an out before having to embarrass him. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would take well to public humiliation.”
“As opposed to— let’s see— everyone else in the universe? But you did give him a chance, and I thank you for coming to my rescue.” I smiled. “Even if I’m the type of girl who can take care of herself.”
He smiled. “Once I got over there, I wondered if you were going to be more pissed at me for helping than at the jerk for grabbing you.”
“I will admit, then, to being a complete hypocrite when it comes to stuff like that. While I pride myself on being independent,” I said, pausing for a second, “out of necessity from finding myself completely alone, I can tell you it makes me smile when a guy opens a door for me or offers some muscle.” I looked pointedly at his arms. “When I’m not strong enough physically. Although it’s usually pickle jars and stuff like that. Rice had a tight grip on me though, and I wasn’t completely sure how to free myself short of kicking him where it counts. And, believe me, I was tossing that idea around just before you arrived. I like it both ways, I guess. I want to be my own woman, and at the same time, I want to be treated special because I am a woman. God, that sounds so shallow, doesn’t it?”
“Not at all.” He reached up and casually brushed a strand of hair off my face. That one simple gesture sent my pulse racing again. But in a less terrified way. Although, there might have been a slight twinge of fear, fear that this guy would somehow manage to break through the highly effective wall I’d built up around my heart.
Seth looked pointedly down at the dog tags. “What was his name?”
I picked them up and ran my finger over the engraved letters. “Hayden. We were high school sweethearts. In fact, I think by tenth grade, we both knew we’d been put on the planet for each other. Not saying that it was always hot, endless passion. We had a few break-ups and times when we dated other people.” With the exception of Greg, I rarely spoke to anyone about Hayden, but there was something inside me that just wanted to spill some of it out. Seth seemed like a good listener. “Hayden was extremely popular.” I couldn’t hold back a smile, and at the same time my eyes ached. “Everyone loved him, and he had a ton of close friends. They were all surfers, but, Hayden in particular, had the potential for a big career. Only it wasn’t enough to hold his interest. Apparently, I wasn’t enough to hold his interest either. One crazy night, they all put their heads together and decided to enlist.”
“That had nothing to do with what was holding him at home. You said it yourself, you both knew you were meant for each other. I’m sure it tore him up inside to leave you behind. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to leave behind someone like you.”
His words made my eyes gloss over with tears.
“It’s that pressure,” he continued, “after you graduate from high school. All of a sudden, you’re like a baby bird tossed out of the nest. No more school. Even college doesn’t provide you with that secure, place to belong that school gave you. So you’re standing out there in the middle of life with no place to turn back to. Everyone is watching, waiting to see what you’ll do next. A lot of people head to the service because even though it’s a lot tougher than high school, it’s a secure place to belong.”
“Well said.”
He laughed. “Oh, I see you thought I was just another pretty face with nothing but marshmallow fluff for brains.”
“No, I can tell that you aren’t just a dumb blond. But you’re definitely pretty. Of course, you already knew that.”
He actually looked slightly embarrassed. He grew quiet and stared through the condensation blurred windows for a moment before turning back to me. “Noelle,” he said. “I’m sorry he didn’t come back to you.”
I hadn’t expected it. My throat tightened, making it impossible for me to respond. There was genuine sadness in his face, and I wondered if I’d judged him too quickly. Maybe there were more layers to Seth than just the gorgeous packaging. Maybe that was why I’d turned him down so quickly. Just maybe it was because I sensed there was more to him.
I looked away. “Yeah, me too.”
Chapter 7
Seth
Rocko kicked the side of the couch, one of the pitfalls of sleeping in the center of the main room. “Hey, I’m going outside. There’s a sandwich for you on the counter. I suppose now that you’re jobless, I’ll have to feed you.”
I covered my eyes with my forearm as he yanked open the curtains on the glass door. “What time is it?”
“Eleven. You were snoring like a fucking bear in winter when I left to get the sandwiches.”
“Too many beers, I guess. That ladies’ night is a killer.” I sat up and rubbed my face.
“For you, maybe. I, on the other hand, ended up spending even more than I usually do on beer because I wasn’t getting free mugs shoved into my hands all night.” He sounded obviously pissed off, but it wasn’t the beers.
“Look, what should I have done, let that goon handle her like that?”
“No, you were right, except that the goon was your boss for the next few months. I’m just glad he didn’t fire me too, otherwise we’d be packing up our things right now.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got enough savings to get me through summer. I’ll be hurting after that but then I’ll be back in the water. It will be fine, and, no, you won’t have to feed me.”
“What the hell are you going to do while I’m at work?”
“Uh, let’s see. I’ll sleep till fucking noon and then I’ll get up and scratch my ass and then I’ll go plant myself out there to watch the bikini parade. Oh, and I’ll be sure to think of you toiling away in your welder’s mask while I do it.”
Rocko’s shoulders sank. “Fuck. Now I wish I’d saved more money this year. I won’t even have you on the job to make things less shitty. And I bought you a sandwich and everything.” He went to open the door. “Wait a minute.” He turned back to me. “Did you plan this whole thing so you wouldn’t have to work beyond enemy lines? Did you do this to look more appealing to Noelle?”
“How the hell would I have known that that jerk would have grabbed her like that? You’ve got one stupid ass imagination.”
He pointed his finger at me.
“Really?” I asked. “You look like a teacher about to give me a lecture. Dude, I didn’t plan this.”
“But you’re having a hard time accepting that she didn’t drop to her knees in worship like the other girls. You were given a big confident no, and you’ve just received a kick to your ego. How does it feel, buddy? Welcome to the world of mortals.”
I threw my pillow at him and then regretted it because it bounced off him and rolled over the semi-sticky carpet. Rocko nodded to himself with a satisfied grin plastered across his face.
“Shit, why don’t you pat yourself on the back while you’re at it, genius. And close the fucking door to my bedroom. I’m still sleeping.”
Rocko walked out chuckling to himself.
I pulled the sheet over my head to block out the sun that was still pouring into the room. Rocko had been only partially right, but I wasn’t reeling in disbelief that I’d been turned down. I was reeling with the idea that I’d found a girl
I wanted to know better and she’d made it clear she didn’t want to know me. It was disappointment, not a slam to my ego. Although, that might have had a tiny part to play in the way I was feeling.
My phone rang and I reached up and grabbed my jeans from the back of the couch. I pulled it out. It was Luke.
“Hey, bro, what’s up in Reno?”
“Not a whole hell of a lot, Seth. I wanted to see if you’d gotten your land legs back? I got your message that you landed a gig at a construction site down on the beach. Nice. Only you would manage to get paid for working on the beach. Just don’t get distracted by the girls in bikinis and weld your tongue to a pole.”
“You’re a fucking comedian, and I’m not going to be working that job after all. But I’m staying at the beach for the summer. Figure, what the hell.”
“Nice. Wish I could get some time off. Angel wants to go to Yosemite or something. She just finished with finals, and she’s antsy to get away.”
“Tell her hello for me. Hey, speaking of Angel. Guess what?” I started, and then thought better of it.
He paused. “What?”
“Never mind.”
“Fuck you— never mind. Tell me.”
I got up and pulled the sheet around my waist. “I think I found my forever girl.”
No response and then laughter.
“See, I wasn’t going to tell you. Then you prodded me into it.”
“Sorry. So, who is this girl? Wait. Have you been reading Playboy again? It doesn’t matter if you love Miss June. It’s really only your hand doing the magic. She’s just a picture in a magazine.”
“You know I’m going to fucking hang up on you. And that obsession with the Playboy centerfold happened when I was fourteen. I was sure that if I wrote a letter to her she’d let me take her out or at least touch her tits or something. You can still dream when you’re fourteen.”
Luke covered the phone and said something and then came back laughing again. “Shit are you telling Angel too? Damn you. I should have fucking done that thing some twins do when they reabsorb the other twin in the womb. I could have come out alone, happy and smiling, and Mom and Dad would have been none the wiser.”
