Fakers

by Meg Collett

  “We better eat before we get rained on,” Stevie said as she carried out more wine. She had two bottles tucked under her arms.

  Kyra glanced back at Hale, but he was already taking a seat beside Cade. Stevie plopped down the wine and promptly started opening one. Cade tried to make friendly conversation with her as she finagled with the cork.

  It was a nice evening as they ate their meal. Even Stevie had to admit that vegetable stir fry was good, and no one commented when Kyra didn’t drink any wine. Stevie’s dry humor made everyone laugh at times and cringe at others. The wine was gone, and Stevie was the one responsible for drinking most of it. As the evening wore on and she drank more and more, she seemed to open up, to come alive. She blossomed when she was drunk, becoming funnier and more vivacious as the night wore on.

  When it was time for the guys to leave, Cade thanked Stevie and Kyra as Hale walked to their truck without a word. Raindrops splashed against the porch’s roof slowly and deliberately. Kyra’s eyes didn’t leave Hale until he was inside the truck.

  “Thanks for doing this. We enjoyed it,” Cade said.

  “Are you sure?” Kyra asked, her eyes flickering back to the road. “He didn’t seem to have a good time.”

  “He did. He just does not show it very well.”

  “Or at all,” Kyra muttered as Cade left. Stevie elbowed her in the ribs.

  “You’re so obvious.”

  “What?”

  “You like Hale Cooper.” Stevie’s wine sloshed against the glass’s rim as she swayed.

  “Yeah,” Kyra said, rolling her eyes. “And all of his personalities.”

  ten

  Kyra sat in front of her tripod and mirror. Her reflection showed a thick brown layer of gunk covering her face. A tight topknot sat high on top of her head, and she was talking to herself.

  “This moor mud mask is great to open up your pores and clean out all the gross particles that get lodged in there, like makeup and dirt. It also helps brighten your skin and reduces redness.” She tilted her face this way and that to show all the angles. “Let it sit for ten minutes. I know it looks gross, but trust me, you won’t care what is in it once you see these results!”

  Kyra checked the clock on her laptop. She had a few more minutes until she could wash off the mask before it dried completely. She’d been waiting for a quiet moment to record this video, because it was extremely time sensitive and moor mud was ridiculously expensive. She sighed and blew a loose tendril of hair out of her face before it got stuck to the mask.

  Suddenly, she heard the front door slam from downstairs. It was so loud it rattled the window in Kyra’s room. Looking out her door, she saw the top of Hale’s head pass by downstairs from between the banisters.

  “Hey!” she hollered. “Could you keep it down for a few more minutes? I’m trying to finish a video!”

  She waited for a response, but none came. Kyra glanced back at the clock; she really didn’t want to have to redo this video. As much as she said the mask was great, it really stunk. Her whole bedroom reeked. If she stopped now, her video would be ruined. But she only had a minute left before she could wipe it off. She looked at the blinking red light on her camera and held her breath.

  Today was not her lucky day, and it was apparent Hale really did hate her. From the back of the house came the blaring sounds of the stereo. Kyra gasped and covered her ears. It was louder than ever before. She felt the vibration of the music from the floor beneath her. People on the other side of town could likely hear this music.

  “Hale!” she screamed. “Turn it down!”

  Nothing happened. The clock said it was time to take the mask off, but if she didn’t get that music off, her video would be ruined. With a scream of frustration, she jumped to her feet and raced down the stairs.

  It wasn’t hard to find Hale. He was in the dining room, destroying a wall with a heavy sledge hammer. He swung again and plaster flew in bits from the gaping hole he’d made. Through her rage, Kyra sincerely hoped that was a wall they’d agreed to actually tear down and that Hale wasn’t just taking out his anger on her house.

  Kyra stomped into the room and unplugged the stereo. The silence was almost as loud as the music had been. Hale whirled around, his expression murderous. He flung the sledge hammer to the ground.

  “What the hell?” he shouted.

  His pale green eyes were wild and sparking with rage. Every muscle on his body stood out in rigid salute. Even like this, Kyra had to admit he was hot with his tattoos and flaring nostrils, but he didn’t hold a candle to her anger.

  “I told you I was making a video!”

  Hale noticed her mask just then. At the same moment, Kyra remembered it too. She must look like an idiot, but the thought only pissed her off more.

  “Do you know how hard this was to make?” she screeched, pointing at her mask.

  “Looks like you rubbed your face in cow shit,” Hale said with a sneer. He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Well, it’s not. It’s very expensive mud, actually.” Kyra checked her watch. “And you’ve ruined my video!”

  Hale shrugged. “So make another.”

  Her mouth fell open in shock. She sputtered, “Make another? Do you listen to anything I say? This mud was expensive and I only had enough for one!”

  “It’s on your face. What’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal? Can’t you tell?” She gestured wildly to her face.

  “It’s not readily apparent.”

  “It’s dry!” Kyra shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. “I was supposed to take it off while it was still wet!”

  “You’re right. That makes complete sense.” He bent and picked up his sledge hammer. “Probably should have taken it off instead of coming down here and yelling at me.”

  He went to plug in his stereo again, but Kyra blocked his way. “Are you serious?” She shouted.

  Hale looked around like she was talking to someone else. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “Ugh! What is your problem?”

  “What’s your problem?”

  “I don’t have a problem!” She kicked his stereo to prove her point. “You have the problem. I thought we were being nice to each other now. What happened? Do you hate me that much?”

  A line formed between Hale’s eyebrows. He drew back slightly. “I don’t hate you.”

  “Then why do you act like it?”

  “Do I?” He seemed genuinely confused. “I’m just in a bad mood, okay? So back off.”

  “Oh, well, I’m so sorry you’re in a bad mood,” Kyra said sarcastically. “Trust me when I say I really hate that for you, but my videos are important to me.”

  “My music is important to me.”

  “So keep it turned down!”

  “I like it loud.”

  It was all too much. Hale Cooper was the most infuriating and stubborn man she’s ever met. Kyra howled in frustration.

  “It ruins my videos!”

  “I hate that for you,” he said, his expression looking way too cocky for Kyra’s taste. He was making fun of her; he thought she was a joke. Then he actually laughed at her, and Kyra saw red.

  She couldn’t hit him. She didn’t believe in violence. Besides, she doubted she could do much damage, but she wanted to bring him down a peg or two. She wanted to knock him on his ass for once.

  While he was still laughing, she launched herself up his tall frame. She was athletic and just tall enough to make it work. Her body hit his, and he staggered back into the wall he had been bent on destroying moments before, sending bits of plaster raining down on them. He struggled to catch her in his shock, but Kyra latched her legs around his hips. She raked her hands behind his head and jerked his face to her.

  Her lips crushed against his. She forced his mouth open and flicked her tongue inside. Immediately, all the heat in her body flooded between her legs. His mouth felt amazing against hers, and he tasted of coffee, which made the kiss literally delicious.


  He was too surprised to react at first. Then his hands tightened on her waist, and he kissed her back. Kyra sucked in a breath at his attack against her mouth. He took control of the kiss and deepened it. Kyra’s hand slapped up to the wall behind them as she struggled to hold on.

  He was a fantastic kisser, even if it was rough, which was just like she’d imagined. He bruised her lips between his and thrust his tongue deep in her mouth. Kyra had limited experience kissing, and it had never been like this. She couldn’t keep up, so she gave into him.

  When he’d claimed every part of her mouth, he pulled back. His eyes gleamed with the hard lust she felt pressing into her. He panted as his chest heaved against her.

  But Kyra couldn’t hold back the laugh. It bubbled out of her mouth until she threw back her head and howled with it. Hale’s grip tightened and when she looked back at him, his expression was thunderous.

  “You laughing at me?” he growled.

  Kyra could only nod. Tears were streaming down her face. Hale glared and sat her down roughly. She bent over double and pointed at him as she laughed.

  “What the hell?”

  “Your face!” Kyra gasped, clutching her side.

  Hale’s face was covered with her mud mask. He reached up and confirmed it. His fingers pulled away with a dark brown, cakey sludge. “This shit stinks!”

  “I know!” Kyra howled. “It really does!”

  “You don’t look much better,” Hale said as he tried to wipe off the mask. He looked so indignant that Kyra lost it again. Hale watched with a glower, but apparently it was too much for him too. The tiniest form of a smile spread across his lips and brightened his eyes.

  It was so unbelievable that Kyra’s laughter died off. She stared at him in awe as he smiled at her, his shoulders vibrating with his own slight laughter. He was the most amazing thing Kyra had ever seen. His smile, this smile, was so perfect. Everything she’d felt that night at the bar came flooding back.

  Hale finally noticed she wasn’t laughing anymore. His smile fell away and his eyes darkened once again. “What are you staring at?”

  “You,” Kyra breathed.

  Hale frowned, his brows drawing together. “Why?”

  Kyra shook her head at him. He let everyone assume the worst of him with their judgments, but if he would just try a little harder and let people see who he really was, they would see how amazing he could be. She felt like one of the privileged few to have broken through his rough exterior, and she bet he didn’t give away those smiles often.

  She grinned. “Because you’re a beautiful person, Hale Cooper. And for some ungodly reason, you let everyone in this town think you’re an asshole, but now I know different.”

  eleven

  Kyra thought she’d stunned Hale into silence, but she wasn’t that lucky.

  “What was that?” He stomped out to the front room, cutting Kyra’s grand exit short. She paused at the stairs.

  “I kissed you.”

  “Why?”

  Hale was so angry she’d kissed him that it was almost cute. “Because I needed to get your attention. Will you keep your music down now?”

  It took a moment for him to register her words. Then his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Even if she hadn’t enjoyed the kiss as much as she had, watching Hale Cooper struggle for words would’ve been reward enough.

  “You kissed me like that to make me turn down the music?”

  “Yep!” She beamed at him and started up the stairs.

  He jumped forward and grabbed her. “Oh, no. You’re not leaving. You’re going to explain yourself.”

  “I just did.”

  “No, you didn’t. That was a stupid reason. You don’t kiss a person like that and say it was for a stupid reason. That’s just…stupid.” Hale glared up at her when he’d finished.

  “That was really eloquent, Hale Cooper. What reason do you want me to say?”

  “The real one,” he growled.

  Kyra frowned at his vivid, livid expression. Kissing him had stirred something inside her, and she felt incredibly brave. Seeing him now, demanding the truth from her, stirred that something even harder, and the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Because I’ve wanted to for a while, and you’ve been so mean to me lately that you haven’t given me any other good opportunity. So I took one.”

  He didn’t seem to know what to say. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak right when a thumping knock came from the front door. She held up her other hand.

  “Hold that thought.”

  She pulled out of his grip and jogged over to the front door. She threw it open with a smile that quickly fell away.

  “Hello, Kyra.”

  “Florence,” Kyra managed.

  Her grandmother stood in all her nasty glory on Kyra’s sagging front porch. Her graying hair was in a perfect, prim bun. Even her shirt was buttoned to the topmost button, which suffocated Kyra just to look at.

  “What in Heaven’s name is on your face?” Florence asked, her lip curling up in disgust.

  “Oh.” Kyra wiped some of the mud from her face. “It’s a mud mask. Wait. Why are you here?”

  Florence sniffed and peered around Kyra into the house. She instantly saw Hale standing at the stairs. “I’ve come to offer you this money to leave.”

  Her grandmother stuck out an envelope stuffed with cash, waving it at Kyra when she didn’t take it immediately. It had to be a decent amount of money; the envelope was pretty thick. But Kyra crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Florence laughed, the sound fit to come from an evil sea-witch. “I’ve been very generous. It’s more than you deserve.”

  After the confrontation yesterday with Florence, Kyra’s nerves felt fried. She didn’t know if she was going to start crying or screaming at her grandmother. “I’m not leaving. This is my home now.”

  “You don’t belong here,” Florence hissed, leaning in close to Kyra’s face. Her perfume was musty and too floral, and Kyra resisted the urge to sneeze into her face.

  “Excuse me,” Hale said from behind Kyra. She stepped aside as he walked to the door. “But it seems slightly rude to tell someone that she doesn’t belong in the house she just bought.”

  Florence looked Hale up and down, taking in his tattoos and piercings. Her judgment was perfectly clear on her face. Then she noticed the mud, and her dangerous gaze flicked back to Kyra. “I should’ve known you’d be just like your mother. She was a slut too.”

  Hale took a step forward, but Kyra put up her arm and braced it against the door frame to block him. “How could you say that about your own daughter?” she asked, completely shocked and repulsed by Florence.

  “It’s the truth,” Florence hissed. She wrinkled her nose at Kyra and Hale. “You’re both trash, and you will be leaving.” Florence jabbed a pointed, sharp-nailed finger into Kyra’s chest. Hale tensed behind her, her arm going to his chest to stop him, which made Florence laugh again. “What are you going to do? Hit an old woman?”

  “If she deserves it,” Hale growled.

  Florence’s smug look fell away. She stepped back, looking truly afraid of him now. She hurried down the steps, but called back to Kyra, “One way or another, you will be leaving this place!”

  With those words, Florence slid into her swanky Cadillac and roared away, leaving Kyra standing in her open doorway with her eyebrows raised. She didn’t know why she’d expected anything different from her grandmother. Never once had the woman shown any interest in Kyra. Not one birthday or Christmas card. Not even a toy doll.

  Kyra slammed the door a little harder than necessary before she turned to Hale. “You wouldn’t really have hit her would you?”

  Hale’s voice was flat. “No.”

  “Good, because if I’m ever moved to violence, I want to be the one to slap some sense into her.”

  Her words must have surprised Hale. He let out a snort of laughter, and she won another
rare, almost-there smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Thanks.”

  “That was your grandmother?” Hale asked.

  “Canaan is a very small town,” Kyra mumbled. “And you still didn’t realize that Florence Aberdeen was my grandmother?”

  “I make it a point not to get to know these people.”

  “Clearly.”

  Talking with Florence had drained Kyra. Her good mood had evaporated, and all she could think about was getting to the water. She imagined the cool, salty kiss of the ocean on her flushed skin. She needed it.

  “I’m going out,” she said to Hale over her shoulder. She was already racing up the steps to change. She ripped her shirt over her head before she even slammed the door shut in her bedroom. Her clothes fell like stones to the floor as she hurried to find a clean bathing suit. When she came back down the stairs a couple minutes later, Hale was still standing in the same spot she’d left him in. She could tell he wasn’t done with their conversation, but she didn’t pause long enough for him to bring it up again.

  “Surfing?”

  Kyra flashed a smile as she darted around him and jogged toward the back of the house. Hale ambled behind her. “Yep,” she called.

  She shoved the screen door open and let it slam behind her. Her favorite board was freshly waxed and waiting for her. Without another thought but getting to the water, she grabbed it and hurried down the back steps.

  “Have fun.”

  Kyra flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked back. Hale stood inside the screen door, which made his features darker as he brooded. “Always,” she said, smiling back at him.

  When she turned back to the water, her smile fell away. She walked through the garden and out the gate. Her mind eased at the quick flash of heat when she stepped onto the sand, and the pounding of the waves overpowered the ringing in her ears. Her heartbeat slowed as she took another deep breath. Something that had coiled tightly inside of her released. And that was even before her body slid into the water.