“Nope,” I said. “I don’t even know if she realizes I left.”
“Probably not.”
“I’m that forgettable?”
“Oh, love, you’re completely unforgettable,” Barr said.
He gently ran the pointer finger of his left hand down my cheek.
“I have things to do,” I said.
“No, you don’t,” he said. “It’s a perfect day. Nothing wrong with a little beach time. It won’t be just us.”
“So it’s a party,” I said.
Barr winked. “See you there, love.”
Barr strutted away oh so cool, leaving me with the smell of smoke.
I waited to see if Pres or Kip were going to make an appearance but they didn’t.
I got into my SUV and drove away to meet Gi and Iris for something to eat.
Gi gave me the address for some small, fancy, healthy place right next to the beach. I wasn’t exactly keen on eating salads to get filled up but this one did the trick.
“You could have called me,” Gi said.
“Why would she?” Iris asked as she chomped on a cucumber. “You snore too much.”
“I don’t snore,” Gi said.
“Gi, I love you, but you snore,” I said.
“Whatever. You could have still called.”
“Kip was the easiest choice at that moment,” I said. “I was sort of wound up.”
Iris pointed her fork at me. “Did he… unwind you?”
“No,” I said. “Nothing happened. Look, if I went to see you two I would have ended up crying or something. It was a disaster.”
“Claire really did that to you?” Gi asked.
“Yeah. In her mind she thinks she’s helping. And then she says she is. You know, with money.”
“But everything else she sucks at,” Iris said.
“She must suck pretty damn good if she’s got men lined up,” Gi said.
“Ew, that’s gross,” I said. I balled up a napkin and threw it at Gi. “Don’t ever say that again.”
My mind thought about Pres’s mother.
Home. Maybe in bed. Slowly dying. Or maybe she was quickly dying. Which wasn’t a word or a thing, but whatever. The point was, while that was happening, Claire was sleeping with the woman’s husband.
“So your big plan now,” Iris said, “is to stay in BFH and sleep in Kip’s guesthouse.”
“For the moment, yes,” I said.
“And how long until you two are playing house in that guesthouse?” Iris asked.
“Or just playing one night stand?” Gi threw in.
“You two need to calm down. That’s never going to happen. That door opened and closed.”
“You realize doors can be opened again, right?” Iris asked with a wink.
I fake laughed. “Not this one. Plus, with their little bet going on… it’s actually better.”
“Better?” Gi asked.
“Yeah. They actually want me. And there’s nothing they get out of it. I mean, other than sleeping with me. But I’m in control. I’m finally and actually in control.”
“If you say so,” Iris said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She stood up. “Look. You do what you want. We’ve got your back. You tried to leave and they said no. You stayed. They told you to sleep at Barr’s, you listened. The second you want to get away from Claire, you go to Kip’s. And now you’re going down to their beach party.”
“Along with a lot of other people,” I said.
“Just remember what we talked about, Ti,” Iris said.
She walked away.
“What did you two talk about?” Gi asked.
“The night you passed out? Iris told me about Bray. The whole story.”
“The whole story?” Gi asked. “And you still talk to Beth?”
“Beth?” I asked. “What does Beth have anything to do with it?”
Gi’s face turned white.
She looked over at Iris.
I looked at Iris.
“What now?” Iris called out as she walked back to the table.
“What does Beth have to do with your story from the other night?” I asked.
Iris’s eyes flared. “Nothing. I don’t ever want to hear her name again. The rotten bitch stays away like I told her to. That’s that.”
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Gi said.
My phone lit up on the table with a text from Pres.
A sweet, romantic message.
Get your pretty ass here now sugar
My dream man.
Or my one of three dream men.
* * *
My ass made it to the beach.
Along with Gi and Iris, we walked down toward the gathering.
It was the same as it always was.
Coolers, drinks, guys and girls, guitars, and a fire burning.
Even though it was still daylight out, there was a fire.
That was just part of the fun.
Down in the water, a handful of people were swimming and a few less were surfing.
The entire scene had this cliché beach town look and feel to it.
I caught myself leaning into it, wishing this really was home. But without the filthy rich games and schemes and all the strange backstabbing feelings that tickled up the back of my neck.
“Ready to get out there with me?”
I turned my head and saw Kip with a surfboard over his head.
Holding it up, shirtless, muscles and lines looking impossibly good.
“The ocean is yours,” I said to him.
“If you say so, girl,” he said.
Gi elbowed me. “You slept next to that and nothing happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure you like guys?” she asked.
I curled my eyebrows. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said.
“So you can’t resist temptation then?” I asked her.
“Why even try?” Iris asked.
She had a point.
But I had reasons.
Kip charged down the water and did his thing. Paddling out into the deeper water.
Those out there saw him and got out of the way. Without a word being spoken.
Again, the power of the Rulz.
I motioned for the fire, which was where the coolers were.
We all got a drink and from the corner of my eye I watched Kip surf.
I scanned the beach and finally found Barr and Pres.
Standing a little bit off in the distance, talking.
That was never a good thing.
“Stop trying to figure it all out,” Iris said to me.
“What would you do if you were me then?” I asked.
“Get really drunk and have one of these delicious guys take me home,” Iris said. “Get it out of your system and move on.”
“So someone else besides the Rulz?” I asked. “That’s dangerous.”
“Exactly,” Iris said. “Dangerous se… oh, fuck no.”
Iris’s eyes were no longer looking at me.
I turned my head and saw Beth. Walking with Denny.
“Don’t bother,” Gi said. “He’s going to break her heart again.”
“I hope so,” Iris said. “I hope he fucking crushes her.”
“What’s the deal?” I asked. “You give me half the story?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Iris said. “I want to go punch her.”
“Then do it,” I said. “I mean, if it’s something that big to you, right? Just go hit her. Are you afraid of her?”
“Ti,” Gi said.
Iris lunged at me.
Our chests collided.
Everyone around us made an ooohhh sound.
“What?” I whispered to her. “What is it?”
Iris blinked fast. “You just can’t ever leave things go, can you? You have to keep digging. You’re just like Claire.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “Take your shots at me, Iris. I just thought friends would tell e
ach other things. Everything. Or maybe all or nothing. You know everything about me.”
Iris blinked fast. She nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. Okay. That bitch down there? The one you talk to all the time? The one you call a friend? Or something like a friend? She fooled around with Bray. She’s the one he cheated with. To make sure I would forget about him forever.”
“Oh, shit,” I whispered.
Iris stepped away from me and traded her water for something else.
I looked down at the water at Beth.
She looked away from her conversation with Denny to smile and wave at me.
I didn’t wave back.
Was there anyone in BFH that I could actually trust?
eleven
eleven
Iris went hard.
I blamed myself.
I pushed at her, on purpose. I wanted to know everything.
Why?
I really didn’t know.
Maybe it was BFH sinking its golden teeth deeper into me.
I sat down next to Iris and watched her drink another cup.
She looked at me, her eyes glazed.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“You wanted to know.”
“Of course I did. I just didn’t realize…”
“Yeah, now you do. Simple. Boom.”
“Iris, what can I do?” I asked. “Want me to punch her for you?”
“Got your screwdriver?” she asked.
“I could find one,” I said.
Iris shook her head. “I hated Gi for a month. Refused to talked to her. That’s why she’s distant right now.”
I did notice that.
Gi stayed near the water talking to other people.
“What happened?” I asked.
“When he said he had to go… I was hurt. So hurt, Ti. And Gi told me to write it down. Write everything I was feeling down. So it was on paper.” Iris laughed. “I guess I have a bitchy streak about me. I sometimes say things I don’t mean. Or just do the first thing that comes to mind.”
“That’s part of your charm,” I said.
“Whatever. So I wrote all this stuff down. Everything that happened between us. And I couldn’t imagine losing him. So I wrote this long letter about the bad and the good and how much I loved him and needed him… and that bitch got a hold of it.”
“Gi?”
“No. Beth.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah,” Iris said. “We were all friends. Okay? The three of us. We were good. We were tight. But then Beth… she got that letter. And she gave it to Bray.”
I covered my mouth. I shut my eyes.
“She used that letter to get to him,” Iris said. “He read the letter and she played into it. He’s a piece of shit for doing what he did. He did that on purpose for the reason I told you. But she was the easy target. She wanted to do it. To get back at me for whatever.”
“Why though?”
“She’s a bitch,” Iris said. “She thought because I was richer than her, Gi was going to want me as her only friend.”
“What?”
“Beth’s mother…” Iris looked around. “She was a nurse for Pres’s mother. Pres’s mother is sick. Not many people know that. Nobody is supposed to know that.”
I reached for Iris’s hand. “I know. Pres told me. ALS.”
“Oh, shit, he must love you or something to tell you that,” Iris said. “Wow.”
“Go back, Iris. Why does Beth’s mother matter in this?”
“She was well off from family but not on her own,” Iris said. “And being a nurse doesn’t pay like the other people make in this town. You’re not buying a mansion as a nurse, you know? That bothered Beth so much. She was always… like that…”
Iris grabbed her cup and took another drink.
I let out a long sigh.
What a fucking mess.
It made sense now why Iris got so pissed when I talked to Beth or mentioned Beth. Rightfully so. Of course there were two sides to every story but if I had to choose, I would always choose Gi and Iris over Beth.
Once again, it just proved that I was more and more stuck in BFH.
“Let me go get Gi,” I said.
I hugged Iris but she didn’t hug me back.
I hurried down to Gi and cut into her conversation.
“Iris needs you,” I whispered to her. “Bad.”
“It’s my fault,” Gi said.
“It’s not. She doesn’t blame you anymore. I had no idea Beth was capable of that.”
“You can’t imagine what Beth is capable of,” Gi said. “I didn’t want to say that to you and sound bitchy and cause problems. And the thing with Iris, it was never my story to tell. But now you know. It was really bad, Ti. The whole thing happened so fast too. I was focused on Iris being hurt that Bray was leaving and next thing I know Beth is crying her eyes out to me that she slept with Bray. She told me. I had to tell Iris. Beth thought I was going to stick up for her. Like I was going to get stuck in the middle…”
“So you’d have to choose,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yeah.”
“That’s cold.”
“That’s icy cold, Ti. There was never really a choice to make either. Iris means a lot to me. We’ve been through hell and back. And after that…”
Gi rolled her eyes back, fighting tears.
I put my arms around her and pulled her in close for a hug.
“It was bad,” Gi said. “Iris blamed me for a little while and I understood why.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“You don’t,” Gi said. She broke away from me. “Iris loved Bray. Like a love I never saw before. I’m not just saying that. They were so serious together. It was real. And when he said he was leaving, I’d never seen Iris like that. Just lost. Worried about the future. And stupid me, I had this vision of them staying together. I told her to write him a letter.”
“She told me.”
“I was the reason why Beth did what she did.”
“Gi, look at me right now,” I said. “And listen clearly. What Beth did… she would have found a reason. An excuse to satisfy herself. She jumped at the first one there.”
“Of course it was me.”
“Go talk to Iris,” I said. “She’s hurting. I’m sorry to both of you for bringing it up and pushing to know the story. I truthfully… I feel out of place. More than I ever have in my life.”
Gi grabbed my hand. “Not here. Not with us. Never.”
“We can talk about that later. Just go help Iris. She’s drinking way too much. We’re going to have to get her out of here.”
“Let me have a few minutes with her alone,” Gi said. “And don’t take that the wrong way. You’re part of this, Ti. We don’t want you to leave. Ever. I swear on that.”
I nodded.
I threw a smile at Gi to make her feel okay enough to walk away.
It took me a few steps to get my feet into the water.
The cool ocean. The end of a wave. The water climbing up the sand only to be pulled right back into the ocean for another wave.
How beautifully sad and fitting for my life.
* * *
I saw her standing in the water just like me.
She had beautiful blonde hair and I watched the way her fingertips moved. Playing with her nails. Either nervous about something or excited about the waves. Or maybe a little of both.
I had never seen her before.
Beyond her, way down the beach I saw the Rulz.
They were talking to some guy.
Tall and handsome with tan skin and tattoos on his right shoulder and arm.
“You’re not from here, are you?” I asked the girl as I approached her.
She looked at me.
Her eyes were blue and her cheeks were kissed with freckles that probably only came out in the sun and summer.
“I’m just enjoying the waves,” she said.
“Figured that,” I said. “Trust me, I get it. Nobo
dy to really talk to. Especially when the people you came with are busy talking to others.”
“Right,” she said. “You’re BFH?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You don’t know?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not from here,” I said. “I sort of fell into this place and I’m stuck.”
“Then I guess I could talk to you,” she said.
“Oh?”
“HCH,” she said.
“Enemy territory then.”
“Something like that.” She nodded to the Rulz.
“You’re with him?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I’m Novalee. Friends call me Nova.”
“Tinsley,” I said. “Friends call me Ti.”
“But we’re not friends.”
“Nope. Probably never will be, right?”
“Probably not,” she said.
“Your guy is talking to some dangerous guys,” I said.
“You’re not from around here yet you know how it all works?” she asked me.
I smiled. “I’m a fast learner. And right now it’s three on one over there. I’ve seen Pres, Barr, and Kip crush someone for doing next to nothing. Your guy looks heated.”
“That’s just how Elijah is,” Novalee said. “Especially when he’s looking for answers.”
“Answers to what?” I asked.
“Are you guarding the beach? Or guarding your guys?”
“Just making small talk. Hoping nothing bad happens.”
“I’ll give you a little hint, Tinsley,” Novalee said. “We’re okay…”
She nodded again.
I looked and let out a gasp.
Right where the beach ended was Weslee Jackson. Straddling a motorcycle. With a girl sitting behind him. Aira. There were two other motorcycles behind him. Two guys I didn’t know but they looked pissed off and ready for a fight.
“Suddenly seems even now, huh?” Novalee asked.
“I’m surprised you’re down here,” I said.
“I love the ocean,” she said.
“Surf?”
“Duh.”
“Hey, I don’t know who you are. Just asking.”
“You surf?”
“No,” I said. “I admire…”
“Shirtless boys catching waves, huh?” she asked.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Nope,” she said.
“What’s your guy so pissed about?”
UNTamed: a bay falls high novel Page 10
