Hearing him joke and laugh about Nick’s hot bod, I realized we really could stay friends. It would be an adjustment, but it was one we could handle.
CHAPTER 14
NICK
One week. Less than, even.
Edie had been gone five days – during which time she hadn’t answered a single phone call or text message – and already, I was going crazy.
I’d moped around, eaten too much pizza and snapped at so many people at work that everyone but Sean was giving me a 10-foot radius of clearance. My reaction was sickening, and I couldn’t decide if I was more upset with Edie for ignoring me or more upset with myself for being so damn pathetic.
I needed a major distraction, which is why I let Sean drag me to this lake party, but seeing hordes of underage and barely-of-age kids, I was reminded only of how Edie and I met, and how it had set the tone for our entire … whatever it was: acquaintanceship, friendship, relationship. Me, in the starring role of jerk, and Edie, the innocent victim.
I’d played that role to perfection, hadn’t I?
Lily walked by, her blonde hair swishing over her shoulder blades and her white bikini top setting off her perfect tan, even in the dark.
Sean and I had completely different reactions to her.
I immediately wondered if Edie might be at the party. She could ignore my texts, but I was willing to bet she wouldn’t be that rude in person. In fact, my charm might still have hope.
Sean murmured his appreciation in a manner that normally didn’t bother me but struck a nerve because he was saying it about Lily, my usual enemy but Edie’s best friend. I wasn’t all that pleased to finally grasp the meaning of the frenemy, but there I was.
“Dude, shut up,” I muttered, scanning the crowd for Edie.
“What? She’s hot.”
“She’s Edie’s best friend,” I corrected. Then looking for more justification added, “Besides, what about Cat?”
They’d been pretty hot and heavy the last time I’d been out with them.
Sean shot me a look. “Dude, you hate Cat.”
“Yeah, still …”
He scoffed and held out his hand. “Okay, just hand over your man card. Edie has ruined you.”
I punched his shoulder a little too hard to be entirely friendly. “Asshole.”
“Yup.” He grinned and shrugged. “You’ll notice Cat’s not with me. She was way too bitter. I’m here to have a good time, unlike you.” He glanced again in Lily’s direction. “Catch you later, maybe.”
I opened my mouth to warn him against messing with Lily, but he was already striding across the sand, making a beeline in the direction she had disappeared. Just when I started to worry about the ramifications of a Lily-Sean hook-up, he got sidetracked by a redhead.
He’d never catch up with Lily, judging by the flirting taking place with the new girl, so I went back to scanning the crowd for Edie.
“Hey brother, looking for some new jailbait?”
Tony stood, casually holding a bottle of beer.
I reached over and snagged it, taking a long drink of the pale ale. “Ugh, no. Besides, Edie was legal.”
He smirked. “Barely.”
My family still believed Edie had been a real date. I’d told them things didn’t work out, and Mama was pretty disappointed. She’d really liked Edie, which she told me over and over when she called earlier this week. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.
I spotted Edie in the crowd at last. Standing right beside Jaime.
“Damn it,” I muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
Tony squinted into the crowd, trying to see what had me riled. It was too dark and too crowded for him to easily spot Edie.
“Jaime, that’s what’s wrong.”
Why was Edie still dating this guy? I tried to tell her he preferred a different gender, but she didn’t want to believe it.
With Jaime being my cousin’s best friend, we’d run into each other on occasion. I always thought he looked at me with a little too much interest for a straight guy. But I hadn’t been convinced he was gay until the day he came by the apartment to wait for Edie and I caught him staring at my ass.
“Jaime?”
Instead of explaining, I started to hand the beer back to Tony, then thought better of it. Tipping it back, I guzzled down the rest.
Tony didn’t need to get trashed. All these underage kids did it, but I wasn’t going to enable my own brother.
I handed back the empty bottle. “Here you go.”
“Thanks a lot,” he said with a sour expression. “Do you know how long I had to wait around to get this beer? They need a keg.”
“Yeah, amateurs,” I agreed without really listening. “I’ll be right back.”
I took a couple of steps, then noticed that Tony was sticking to my side. Where were all his friends anyway? Why wasn’t he off hitting on girls?
“Dude—”
“What’s your deal with Jaime?” Tony asked. “He seems cool to me.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not dating your girlfriend.”
“Ex-girlfriend.”
“Details.”
Tony laughed at me. “You’re delusional, just give it— Oh! Sorry, man.”
He turned to wave away offense at a guy he’d plowed into. I paused, watching to make sure my little brother didn’t get sucker punched for being clumsy. He caught up with me, and I resumed the trek.
“Nick!”
What now?
Lil ran up to me, breasts jiggling in her skimpy bikini. I grimaced at the sight, wanting to cover her up. Jesus, maybe I did need to hand in my man card. When did I start thinking like an overprotective father?
I braced myself for a public dressing down. I still remembered Lily threatening to skewer me if I wronged Edie.
“Please don’t start. I’m not here to make trouble with— oomph.”
I grunted under the force of Lil’s weight. She’d thrown herself at me.
My arms automatically came up around her back as she pressed into my chest. Over her shoulder, Tony smirked at me.
“More jailbait, right on schedule.”
“Hide me, Nick. Carlos is totally drunk, and he won’t stop harassing me!”
Apparently that train wreck of a relationship was over. Thank God. I’d feel like even more of a loser if my immature cousin made a better boyfriend than I did.
I looked down at her.
“Seriously? You want to hide from Carlos so you came to his cousin? You might want to rethink that plan.”
“Shit. Okay. Well then, just kiss me so he sees I’ve moved on,” she said, and grabbed my face.
Her long nails dug into my skin, and I jerked back.
“No way! Kiss him.”
I shoved her at Tony.
His smirk disappeared as she stumbled against him and looked up consideringly.
“Sorry, I don’t take hand-me-downs from my cuz,” he said.
Poor word choice.
As Lil laid into him, I made my escape. Edie and her lame boyfriend had moved closer.
I ran the few steps that parted us.
“Edie!” I called, a little breathless. “I didn’t think I’d see you here!”
EDIE
One minute Jaime and I were having a good time people watching and doing our best to avoid a number of girls who wanted to stop and flirt with him, even if he was “taken.” The next, Nick Espinoza was in front of me with a huge but strained smile plastered on his face.
His sudden appearance startled me enough I stumbled back a step into Jaime, whose hand tightened on mine.
“Nick. Hi.”
“Hey.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked from his heel to his toe and back again. Like he was nervous.
Despite his sudden Jack in the Box impersonation, and the Jack the Ripper smile that was creeping me out, he seemed fairly sober. He looked good, as always, with his hair perfectly styled even as the wind ruffled it. It was too dark to see
the blue of his eyes, and I felt disappointed I couldn’t see him in a better light.
But that was ridiculous. I shouldn’t be seeing him in any light.
Against my best intentions, the memory surfaced of Nick’s hands cradling my face as he leaned in to kiss me, his blue eyes fixed on mine.
“Think we could talk?” he asked.
His gaze moved over my shoulder to Jaime. “You don’t mind, right?”
“Actually, I do,” Jaime answered.
Wow. Nothing like feeling like the rope in a game of tug-of-war between two guys. At least I knew Jaime wasn’t being possessive, just protective. Still, I was a big girl.
“Guys—”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage?” Jaime interrupted.
A flush crept up my neck. I didn’t want Nick to know about the crying jag I’d gone on after moving out. It wasn’t entirely about him. I still felt terrible about the situation about my parents – and still just as lost about how to resolve it – and even with the job at Wilde’s, I was nowhere close to saving enough money.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Nick said, his jaw tightening.
I opened my mouth to tell them to ease up, and somehow found myself shunted to side while Nick and Jaime stood chest-to-chest.
I watched, trying to decide how best to interrupt the male pride contest when an arm came around my shoulders.
“Who’s winning?” Lil asked in a stage whisper.
Nick’s brother stepped up to my other side, watching Nick and Jaime with concern.
“What’s going on?”
“Your brother is being an idiot,” I told Tony, before taking a step forward. “You guys—”
I’d lost track of what they’d been saying while Lil and Tony distracted me, and it must have been intense, because right then Nick said the absolute worst thing possible.
“You’re gay anyway!”
I sucked in a sharp breath, and by the sounds of it, Tony and Lil were gasping for oxygen as well.
All color drained from Jaime’s face, making him look absolutely ghostly in the darkness. Before I even thought about it, I was by Jaime’s side and shoving Nick in the chest.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Nick? You don’t just say something like that!”
I squeezed Jaime’s hand, but he didn’t respond. He was breathing, but his chest was heaving so hard I was afraid he might be on the verge of a panic attack.
“What the fuck?” someone near us said. “Jaime’s a fag?”
“Oh shit,” Nick said faintly. He looked nearly as sick as Jaime as the ramifications hit home.
“I’m sorry—” he started, turning toward Jaime.
“Fuck off!” Jaime said hoarsely.
The broken sound of his voice tore at my heart, and tears flooded my eyes. He barely held it together, his body trembling next to mine.
“I have to get out of here.”
He turned and shoved his way into the crowd.
“Jaime, wait!” I cried, trying to hold on to his hand.
He slipped free and broke into a jog. I was torn between chasing after him and letting Nick have it.
“I should go after him—” Nick started, but his brother put a hand on his arm.
“Let me go,” he said. “You have a firing squad to face.”
Then he patted my shoulder and pushed his way through the loose circle that had formed around us when we turned the party into a train wreck no one could resist ogling.
“Edie,” Nick said, turning a pleading look to me.
“You just don’t ever learn, do you?” I said. “Did you not think even once about Jaime’s feelings? I guess he should just be glad you didn’t out him in the newspaper, huh?”
“There’s always tomorrow,” Lil chimed in.
I turned away, and Nick grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Wait, just wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to be a damned announcement. I was just—”
“What?”
“Jealous! Okay? I wanted to talk to you, and Jaime was blocking my path. Not to mention dating you under false pretenses.”
Nick gripped both my arms and pulled me close enough to kiss.
“Let go,” I said, jerking back.
Nick reluctantly released me, and I took another step back to create more space. Even this angry, being so close to Nick’s body did crazy things to me. His declaration of jealousy set my heart to pounding. And it was wrong, because he’d wronged Jaime.
“I knew about Jaime.”
“And you’re still dating him?” he said incredulously.
“You knew?” Lil exclaimed. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Nick and I both ignored her.
“I was just giving him some time until he was ready to tell his family and friends. We decided to keep up the appearance of dating for a while—”
“So it’s okay to pretend with him, but not with me?” Nick shoved a hand through his hair. “Why is everything I do so wrong to you? How come you never give me a break?”
“It wasn’t the same,” I protested weakly.
In a way, he was right. I’d held him to a different standard. I was helping Jaime lie to his friends and family about himself, just as Nick had wanted me to lie for him.
On the other hand, Jaime planned to tell the truth. He would eventually come out. I was just giving him time to figure things out.
Nick might have made the lie true by actually dating me, but his feelings wouldn’t have been true.
“I think you just pretend for Jaime because it’s safe. Giving me a chance scared you, so you sabotaged it. Even if I hadn’t pushed you too far, even if I hadn’t asked you for too much, you never would have given me a fair shot. You don’t trust me enough.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sorry about Jaime. And everything else.”
He turned and walked away from me. I stared after him, wanting to stop him from giving up on me, but my feet felt like concrete.
A few feet away, he stopped and looked back at me and Lil.
“Here’s some breaking news for you: You’re not perfect, either. You guys stole from me. Did you really think I wouldn’t find the credit card bill eventually? You charged more than $500 — half of it on makeup and clothes. If you wanted to be smart about it, you wouldn’t buy stuff I’d never actually charge myself.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Clothes and makeup? I turned to look at Lil, who was busy looking the other direction, purposely avoiding my gaze.
“You promised only gas for the car!”
“Sorry, I—”
She stopped short, and I turned back toward Nick, trying to come up with a response. Because he was right, I had screwed up, and even though Lil had promised me not to charge anything but gas, even that was wrong.
But he was gone.
I could just make out his figure as it moved down the beach, yards away now. My chest tightened, as I wondered if I should chase after him. But for what? He knew I didn’t trust him, and after the credit card fiasco, he couldn’t possibly trust me. There wasn’t much to salvage.
“Are you just going to let him leave?” Lily asked in disbelief.
I shot her an irritated look. “What do you care? You never liked him anyway.”
She waved a hand. “That was before I knew he liked you. He looked shattered when you laid into him.”
I glanced in the direction Nick stalked off, but there was no sign of him. The time limit for going after him had elapsed.
“Let’s find Jaime and go home,” I said quietly. “I’m not in the mood for a party anymore.”
***
We found Jaime sitting on the ground, close to shore, next to Tony. The two had their heads bent close together and were speaking in hushed tones.
“Look at it this way. You’ll know who your real friends are now, and you won’t have to make some awkward announcement—”
Jaime sn
orted. “Yeah, because Nick doing it for me wasn’t embarrassing or anything.”
“True,” Tony acknowledged. “But now you’ve got the whole pity thing going. Poor Jaime. I can’t believe that asshole outed him like that.”
Jaime laughed lightly, and I felt a rush of affection for Tony. I’d never seen this softer, more sensitive side to him.
“Yeah, right,” Jaime scoffed. “They’re all rushing over to comfort me.”
That was my cue.
“I am,” I said, and both their heads swiveled in my direction.
“Me too,” Lily added.
“Sorry, I got held up telling off some asshole for outing you.”
Jaime smiled weakly at my lame joke, and Tony stood up and gestured to his seat.
“Are you leaving?” Jaime asked.
He glanced up at Tony shyly, and it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. I wondered, just then, how I’d never guessed Jaime’s attraction for men. He’d never looked at me that way.
“Not if you don’t want me to,” Tony said easily, as I moved over to sit next to Jaime. “I’ll just get to know Lily a little better while you two talk.”
Jaime nodded, and Tony drew Lil down the beach a ways.
There was more to Nick’s brother than I’d realized. He’d seemed angry and resentful when I met him with Nick, but he treated Jaime gently and with so much more sensitivity than I would have predicted.
“I’m sorry Jaime,” I said once they’d moved out of earshot. “I feel like this is my fault. If Nick hadn’t felt threatened by you, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s not your fault.” He dropped his head into his hands. “I am so fucked, though.”
He tugged at the strands of his hair in frustration. “Shit! Everyone knows.”
“Hey, easy,” I said, folding my hand over his. Carefully, I untangled the fingers of his right hand and brought it down to his lap. “I know this is sudden, and it was a terrible way to come out. But you were going to come out soon, right?”
He bit his lip and looked away.
“Jaime?”
His shoulders fell. “I’d planned to wait until college started at least, or I had a reason to come out, like a boyfriend.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t blame you. Nick shot off his mouth, but he might not have outed me if I hadn’t blocked his way tonight. I just didn’t want him to hurt you again.”
Earning Edie (Espinoza Boys #1) Page 20
