Even though I have to force myself not to literally crawl back into bed immediately, I go to stand in front of my closet. I pull out a pair of denim short shorts and a purple top, which will take care of the daytime. But what about tonight? I’m thinking I could wear the dark blue denim skirt and match it with the blood-red tunic I bought a few weeks ago.
***
After I’ve showered, gotten dressed, and blow-dried my hair, I put on some makeup. I cover up the scar on my jaw and highlight my eyes. Instead of the lip gloss I like to put on for my evening outings, I use a simple lip balm, which still gives my lips a pretty sheen. Then I braid my hair and go back into the kitchen, where I pour myself a second cup of coffee.
“Hot stuff,” Nate says under his breath.
I throw him an amused glance. “Thank you.”
He lowers his eyes and studies the table. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly. “I didn’t think you could hear me.”
I sit down across from him. “I like to hear things like that. Insults and catcalls are another matter, but there’s nothing wrong with calling me ‘hot stuff.’”
Nate looks up again and offers me a shy smile. “But it’s chauvinistic.”
“Maybe I’m into chauvinists,” I say with a wink.
Nate chuckles. “I hope you’re not.”
“Why not?”
“You’re too good for them.”
I lift an eyebrow. “You’re telling me I’m too good for a chauvinist?”
He nods. “Exactly.”
“I agree,” I decide, amused by his conviction. I sip my coffee. “How long did you stay at Dizzles?”
“I think I finally fell into bed around four a.m.”
“Oh, so that was the crash I heard.” I giggle.
He clears his throat. “My Adonis-like body wanted to let you know that it was home,” he says with mock arrogance.
I laugh out loud and take another look at him. Nate is really handsome, but definitely not my type. I prefer blond men, while Nathaniel’s hair and eyes are dark brown, so dark they seem almost black. His skin is dark, because he’s mixed, and his hair is short. It’s not easy to spot his black heritage, but I know his dad, who’s an extremely cool person. Nathaniel scored a sports scholarship from the University of Miami, and he plays football with Ave. He was in his third semester when he moved in with us because he didn’t like living in the dorms.
“I’m just glad your Adonis-like body fell into your own bed then, and not into mine. Or Draven’s.” I giggle.
We both shake with laughter, until Draven interrupts us. “Guys, what’s the plan for today?”
“No plan,” Nate and I answer at the same time.
Draven snorts. “We could go to the beach.”
“Or we could go skating,” I suggest.
“Okay, but I’m going to take my board,” Nate decides.
Draven nods. “Okay. Nate and I will take our boards, and you can bring your skates. Sounds like a plan.”
“Great. I’ll go get them and we can leave right now.” Why not? I can study tomorrow or later today, right? I finish my coffee and put the empty cup in the sink.
“Let’s meet outside by your car in ten minutes, Thally,” Draven suggests.
“Perfect, Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you slowpokes,” I tease and disappear into my room. I take my ID and a few dollar bills from my purse, put them in my pocket, and then pick up my phone from the desk and switch it on. I have a voice message from … who else? Linden. With a sigh, I play his message.
“Hey, Thalia. I’m sorry I kissed you, and I hope you’re still speaking to me. The calls from Alexis’s number … that was also me. He came over here after you left. Uh, I hope you don’t think I’m totally crazy now, but I really want us to get past this. Please forgive me. Oh, in case you didn’t realize, this is Linden. And, uh, it would be awesome if you could call me back.”
I sit down on the bed for a moment. “Should I or shouldn’t I?” I whisper, but my fingers are already typing in his number. It’s strange that I’ve memorized it after dialing it only twice. Maybe it’s just because it’s an easy one to remember.
“Priest,” his voice comes through.
“Hi, Linden. It’s Thalia.”
I can hear him exhale with relief. “I am so sorry I kissed you. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay, I guess,” I say, a little sadly, because it is sad that we both regret screwing up.
“I would still like to see you again, if you want that, too,” he admits sheepishly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Linden. Look, you’re in a relationship, and we kissed. I don’t want that to happen again, and I don’t want you to get in trouble with your girlfriend.”
“Trish,” he murmurs. “But we can still be friends, right?” he asks, sounding far too hopeful.
I sigh heavily. “We can try, but I just don’t want to see you at the moment.”
“But why?” he probes.
“Because of the kiss,” I say softly. “I don’t want it to happen again. You’d only be risking your relationship.”
“Babe, are you coming?” I can hear a female voice in the background. That must be Trish.
“I gotta go, Thally. Please say you’ll think about it,” he whispers.
“Okay.” I hang up and put the phone in my pocket as I rise. I bet the ten minutes are up, so I grab my skates and leave my room. I also grab my keys from the bowl on the hallway cabinet and rush outside.
Draven and Nate are already waiting next to my car. “Who’s waiting now?” Draven teases.
“Being late is the prerogative of the female sex,” I say with a wink, unlocking the car with the key fob. I get in after them, start the engine, and let down the top. These two never complain about my choice of music, which is good, because I don’t change it for anyone. Not even for my best friends. If you don’t share my taste in music, you still have to accept that in my car, I play the songs I like, and not what my passengers like. That’s why Draven and Nate are ideal passengers.
“Linden just called me,” I tell them as we leave the campus.
“What did he want?” Nate asks from the passenger seat.
“He wants to see me again.”
“What did you say?” Draven chimes in.
“I said no, but he asked me to think about it,” I answer.
“Uh-oh,” Nate says.
“But my answer will still be no. I heard his fiancée in the background, and I just know … ” I sigh and puff up my cheeks. “It’s so very real now, the fact that he’s taken. I just don’t want us to be tempted, and I know that we would be, because he makes my stomach do somersaults … ”
“Craptastic, as you would say,” Draven comments.
“You don’t intend to drive a wedge into their relationship, do you?” Nate probes.
I shake my head. “No! Men that aren’t single are off limits. I may seem like someone who likes to take risks and all, but I would never squeeze myself into the middle of a relationship.”
“That’s something at least.” Nate nods.
“Guys, come on. You know me,” I defend myself, “and you know that over the last few months, I’ve only brought home one man, if I brought home anyone. I’ve really gotten … quieter.”
“I didn’t mean that I think you’re trying to screw up what they have,” Nate explains. “But a lot of women wouldn’t be this considerate.”
“You mean women like Pearl?” I growl.
“I thought you and Colton weren’t in a relationship?” Draven asks, sounding genuinely surprised.
“But what we had was damn close to one. Remember how often we hung out, and how often he was at our place?”
“Yeah, that’s true,” he sighs.
“In any case, Linden is off limits for me, and that’s not going to change until he’s single. I just hope he won’t be crossing my path by accident all the time now, tempting me. You know?” I add with a smirk.
“You’re s
uch a good girl.” They both laugh.
“I know.” I step on the gas so we get there faster. The weather is wonderful, and I don’t want to waste my time driving like a snail. It’s been an eternity since I went skating, because both Hailey and Camille have been so engrossed in their respective relationships that our trips to the promenade were canceled time and again—until I stopped asking.
When we get there, I pull my left wrist protector tight and look over at Draven and Nathaniel, who are already standing on their boards. I approach them with a few long strokes.
I grab Nathaniel’s hip to help me brake. “Are you guys ready to rumble on the half-pipe?”
“I am, but Nate will keep you company,” Draven says.
I smile up at Nate. “Great.”
“Ready?” he asks.
“I’m always ready,” I grin, taking the hand he holds out for me to grab.
We roll and glide along the promenade. It’s a little difficult to hold on to Nate’s hand, because he keeps having to use his feet to gather momentum and his whole body moves with the motion.
“You should have brought your skates, too,” I laugh, after we’ve let go of each other’s hand for the third time. I’m now going faster than he is, and I glance over my shoulder with a grin.
“The big bad wolf is coming to get you!” he laughs.
“You can try!” I yell, twirling around with a daring hop so that I’m skating backwards now. I trust that other people will step aside when they see me coming.
“Here I come!” Nate picks up speed as he chases me on his board, but I do another twirl and head forward again, speeding up as well.
It feels good to be racing down the promenade, and I can forget my troubles for the moment. I just push them back so they can’t ruin my day.
“Watch out!” Nathaniel yells.
When I raise my eyes, I’m already crashing into someone. “Oh, fuck. I’m sorry,” I say frantically as someone steadies me. I look up at the victim of my accidental attack. “Linden!” I gasp.
He chuckles. “What is it about falling into my arms over and over again that you can’t resist?”
“I wasn’t paying attention,” I say lamely and pull away.
“You guys know each other?” There’s a woman with him. I can’t see much of her, because she’s wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and some monstrously large shades.
“Yes. This is Thalia, the woman that drove me to the hospital,” Linden says. “Thalia, this is Trish.”
“Hello,” I say nervously.
“Nice to finally meet you, Thalia.” Trish smiles.
“Watch out, hot black guy coming in!” Nathaniel yells in warning before grabbing my hip to brace himself, much like I did with him earlier.
I giggle as I look up at him. “I’d say you lost this race.”
“Let’s try again.” He grins, gives me a peck on the cheek, and grabs my hand.
“Hello, Nathaniel,” Linden says, sounding a bit irritated.
“Hi, Linden.” Nate looks at Trish. “And hi, stranger,” he adds, laughing.
“We gotta go.” I chuckle and let Nathaniel pull me along with him. “Bye, Linden.”
“She’s nice,” I hear Trish’s voice at my back.
“Yeah, she is,” Linden replies, but then I can’t hear them anymore.
“Oh, did you hear that? You’re nice? Does he know a different Thalia maybe?” Nathaniel teases me.
I laugh. “I wouldn’t think so, but don’t ask me which of you is wrong.”
“We’re probably both wrong,” he concludes.
“Or maybe I’m wrong,” I counter.
“That’s it. Of course. Definitely.” He grins.
“Idiot.” I laugh out loud.
“I know.” Nate falls back, holds on to my hips, and pushes me ahead of him, while he picks up speed with his foot.
“That’s not very reassuring. I thought the saying went something like: A fault confessed is half redressed.”
“Bitch.”
“Sometimes.” I laugh.
He gives me one more push, and I continue to roll along the promenade, while he stops and takes his board in his hand. My phone beeps with a text, and I move in a curve so I can slow down. I eventually stop and dig it out of my pocket.
I thought you were single but that didn’t look like it. I won’t bother you anymore. Linden.
My eyebrows shoot up. With a frustrated sigh, I shove my phone back into my pocket and look for Nate.
He’s walking toward me. “Oh, you look annoyed. What happened?”
“Linden just texted me. He thinks you and I are a couple.”
Nate breaks into laughter. “Shall I catch up to him and tell him he’s wrong?”
“You want to tell him the truth?” I say teasingly. “That you’re head over heels in love with me, but I’m unapproachable?”
“Ha,” he says. “At least your confidence hasn’t suffered.”
“Nope. I’ll just leave it at that and hope he doesn’t ask me out again,” I say, feigning relief.
Nate steps closer and pushes me toward the nearby bench, where we sit down. “Do you want to hear my opinion?”
“I don’t think so,” I say warily.
“The guy is crazy about you. Okay, so he’s taken, and that is screwed up, but maybe he’ll leave her once you guys get to know each other better. If I were you, I’d go for it. I mean, what have you got to lose?”
“Nothing.”
“Exactly. And what does a winner do?”
“He gets up from where the loser lies defeated?”
“And who is a winner?”
“I’m a winner, is that what you’re saying?”
“You get up every time life screws you over—or someone screws you, if you know what I mean. Now you have to fight.” Nate’s clearly trying to give me a pep talk.
“But I don’t even want him,” I protest.
“Tell that to your grandma. I saw how you were looking at him, Thally. You’re crazy about him, too. Any fool can see that,” Nate says with conviction.
I let out a theatrical sigh. “I don’t want to destroy a working relationship.”
“I don’t think it’s working very well if the guy’s chasing another woman, right?”
“But—”
“No,” he says firmly. “He wouldn’t be so eager to see you again if he were happy with his relationship. Believe me.”
“I can’t believe you want me to throw all my principles overboard,” I whine. I want him to stop suggesting I should steal Linden from Trish. I’m not even in love with him or anything serious, so why would I?
“Go ahead.” He laughs, adding, “Let’s get back to the pipe before Draven calls 9-1-1 and reports us missing.” He rises and pulls me up after him.
We return to the skatepark hand in hand and make it there without any further close encounters of the difficult kind.
When we arrive, Draven is still on the half-pipe, and there’s another guy with him. I’d recognize that baseball cap anywhere—Delsin.
“I’m gonna hit the pipe, too, okay?” Nate says.
“Sure. Go ahead and break your neck,” I tease, pulling my hand from his grip. “I’ll make another round on my safe skates and then I’ll come back to see how you fared.” I turn and take out my phone, rolling slowly across the smooth concrete. I reread the text from Linden and ponder whether or not—and what—to reply.
Finally, I type: I’m not taken. Nate and I are friends. I don’t know why he kissed me, but I think you’re the last person who has a right to get upset about it.
Venting my frustration immediately makes me feel better. I hope my message doesn’t sound too bitchy, but even if it does, I really don’t care. I should stay away from him anyway. But it’s just so damn difficult. Can it really be a coincidence that I keep tumbling into his arms? It’s almost as if my body is magnetically drawn to his.
I roll down the promenade for a while, until I’ve reached the bench again. Just when
I sit down on it, my phone begins to ring. Without looking at the display, I take the call. “Hi—”
I can’t even finish the word. “I know I shouldn’t get upset about it, but … it’s like I’m under your spell, and the thought of another man possessing you makes me mad!” Linden’s voice is heated.
I blink and stammer, “Uh … but—”
“I don’t want to hear that I’m taken!”
What has made him so angry? “Well I don’t want to drive a wedge into what you have. Just yesterday, when we were driving home from Dizzles, you told me your relationship with Trish is working fine.”
“Things are not going great between me and Trish,” he protests, but it sounds like a desperate attempt to maintain the connection between us.
“I don’t believe you,” I whisper.
“All I want is that you give me a chance to establish a friendship.”
My head is spinning. Does he really want friendship, or does he want more? “Linden, we can be friends, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw away your relationship. Fight for Trish!”
Did I really just say that? I wonder. Holy crap, I think I did.
“When can I see you?” Linden asks.
“I’m busy today and tomorrow. Maybe Monday?”
“What are your plans for tonight?” he asks.
“I’m spending the rest of the day at the beach with Draven and Nate, and then later my friends are throwing a ‘surprise’ party for me.”
“Where?”
“At The Heat. That’s a club in—”
“I know where The Heat is. We played a gig there once.”
I sigh in despair. “Don’t come tonight, please.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s a late birthday party for me, and I want to spend the evening without having to avoid you.”
“Then don’t avoid me, goddammit, Thally!” he barks.
I take the phone away from my ear and look at it, dumbfounded. That doesn’t sound like Linden. “Is it possible you’re completely wasted?” I ask.
“Yes, it is … and I am. I just had a major fight with Trish. She told me to go fuck myself and kiss her ass. Basically, she broke up with me.”
Linden: Rocking Pleasure: New Adult College Romance (Coral Gables Series Book 3) Page 11
