We stood trapped in this unspoken standoff for a full couple of minutes before his head jerked to the side and I saw his lips move and his head nod. My mother must have gone looking for her young lover which meant introductions were close at hand.
I decided to go on the offensive and left my window to face the music. I was a lot of things; a whore, a drinker, a drug partaker, you name it. But I wasn’t a coward.
I’ll never be a fucking coward.
Leaving the confines of my bedroom, I danced down the stairs leading to the backyard and made my way through the back enclosed patio until I was strolling across the deck towards the pool. The entire time Mom’s boy-toy’s gaze never wavered, and he waited silently with his legs braced apart and his hands in his pockets. I stopped when I was standing directly in front of him, and I was immediately hit was disgust so palpable, I was sure he could see it all over my face.
My mom’s current flavor was stunning. He was absolutely gorgeous, and not in the has-a-nice-face kind of gorgeous. He was gorgeous in a way that made him hotter than hell. He had to be hands-down the best-looking boy I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something.
Sands Cove was populated by the One-Percent who felt comfortable leaving their children unattended to be raised by the household staff. We all went to Windsor Academy where we were all being groomed like little robots to follow in our parents’ footsteps. And because we were the kids of the rich, there wasn’t a shortage of perfect-looking teenagers around town. Whether by a gift from God or a surgeon’s scalpel, perfection was everywhere. I didn’t know who this guy was, but he could give Ramsey Reed a run for his money, and Ramsey Reed was beyond perfection in Sands Cove.
This guy stood over six-foot, and this close up, I saw that his hair was a dark brown. He had matching brown brows that sat above a pair of eyes so golden I wanted them to be contacts so that it would take away from his appeal. He had a straight nose, sharp cheekbones and a pair of lips that looked soft and inviting. He had a strong jawline, and I was right about his physique. He was strong, toned, and muscular everywhere. His clothes did nothing to hide his hard, chiseled body.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my yard?” I asked, injecting as much sting in my voice as I could.
He lifted a brow and did that stupid shit all good-looking guys do when they smirked, and it looked sexy instead of arrogant. “Who are you?” he returned.
“None of your goddamn business, since this is my house and not yours,” I said scathingly. “Now, who in the fuck are you?”
His grin was slow and lethal. “A guest,” he replied vaguely.
I shook my head in disgust. He couldn’t even bring himself to admit he was Elise’s boyfriend, and I knew he had to be at least that. Elise didn’t bring home one-night-stands. She only brought home men to meet me who were going to be around for a respectable amount of time. However, it never mattered who did the breaking up, none of her relationships were designed to last. Elise was constantly having a midlife crisis, and she was always looking to upgrade. It didn’t matter how rich or good-looking the man; she was always ready to trade in her used models for something better.
I hated that this guy was in the ‘something better’ category.
“There are hotels in town, Guest, if you’re looking for a place to stay,” I informed him, contempt dripping from every word.
“Nah,” he said casually. “I like it here. The…scenery isn’t what I’m used to.”
“I’m only going to ask one more time before I call the fucking police,” I threatened. “Who in the fuck are you and what are you doing in my yard?” Even though I was already pretty certain who he was, I wanted him to say it. I wanted something to fuel the constant anger I felt towards my mother.
The sonofabitch kept that smirk in place, but his voice had taken on a different vibe. “You need to be careful who you talk to like that, Kit,” he rumbled. “I get that you might be used to ordering around these privileged little fuckers around you, but you might want to know who you’re dealing with before you get all brave on someone.”
I laughed; scoffed actually. He had a seriously misconstrued opinion on the people of Sands Cove. Sure, there were a lot of people in this town who were spoil and soft, but they didn’t outnumber the entitled population that ran this town and school. You give kids unlimited money with no parents around to teach them responsibility and basic human morality, and you got a generation of kids who didn’t give a fuck and could buy their way out of those fucks not given.
Digesting his words, my thoughts raced right towards Ramsey Reed, Deke Marlow, Liam McCellan, Emerson Andrews-or, I guess, Emerson Reed now, Roselyn Bell, and my best friend, Delaney Martin. Except for Delaney, the other five were as cutthroat and ruthless as a person could get. Ramsey was at the top of the food chain with Deke and Liam right there next to him. Delaney was Deke’s girlfriend and Roselyn was Liam’s girlfriend. Emerson used to be Ramsey’s girlfriend until he married her the week after we had graduated. We were only two weeks into summer vacation before we all headed to our respective colleges, but the rumor had been that Ramsey wasn’t going to wait any longer to make Emerson his wife. He married her and made her the top of the food chain. It was no secret that Ramsey would slit someone’s throat for daring to even look Emerson’s way. He was a psychopath that way. So, this fool, standing here insinuating that we were privileged brats, was in for a rude awakening.
I planted my hands on my hips and let him know exactly what I thought about his assessment. “I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing here, but what I do know is that you’re seriously delusional if you think this town is full of nothing but weak, spoiled kids.”
He took a step towards me and I had to really tilt my head back to hold his gaze. My neck could kink up and be stuck like this for days before I’d break eye contact with this asshole. What this guy didn’t know was that it wasn’t possible to intimidate me. Now, while I didn’t go looking for trouble, I didn’t shy away from it either. I wasn’t afraid to stand my ground.
“But this town is exactly that, isn’t it?” he challenged. “You guys are a bunch of runaway teenagers with too much money and no consequences.”
I straightened to my full 5’4”. “You don’t know shit about any of us,” I spewed. “You have no clue who we are, what we’ve done, or what we’re capable of doing.”
He leaned his beautiful face down towards mine. “And you have no idea who I am, what I’ve done, or what I’m capable of doing, Kit.”
I hated how weak my curiosity was. I wanted to ask him why he was calling me Kit, but I didn’t. I fucking refused to ask. Oh, I knew there was a distinct reason he was calling me that, but I’ll be damned if I asked. Asking would imply that I cared, and the last thing I wanted to do was care about anything this jackass said or did. He looked exactly to be around my age, and he was fucking my mother.
In the real word, if we were poor, people would give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it was love. However, with my mother being as wealthy as she was, he looked exactly as what people would assume him to be; a boy-toy with a sugar momma.
I narrowed my eyes and did my best to let him see just how serious I was. “Look, frankly, I don’t give a shit what you think of me or the people of Sands Cove. I just care what you’re doing in my goddamn backyard when I sure as hell didn’t invite you.”
His amber eyes searched my face before resting on my eyes. “You might not have invited me,” he rasped out. “But that’s okay, because your mother sure did.”
Even though I already knew he was sharing my mother’s bed, hearing him admit it was like a kick to my stomach. I hated that his statement was able to get a physical reaction out of me. I hated that I cared. But a lot of that was due to the fact that I hated my mother and anything that had to do with her.
I was about to tell him to go eat a dick when the sound of the deck’s sliding glass door opened. I turned around to see my mother and Greg walking across the desk and yar
d towards me and the stranger.
Anger simmering on the surface, I was surprised to see Greg, and I knew I was about to be blindsided by something. But knowing my mother, it was also quite possible she was making these guys share her. It wouldn’t be the first time.
When they reached us, my mom’s face was all plastic smiles. “Oh, great,” she gushed. “You guys have met already.” She turned towards me and her next words were like bombs exploding all over my carefully constructed prison. “Ava, I’d like you to meet Greg’s son, Ace. He’ll be staying here through the summer.”
Chapter 2
Ace~
I might have been the only one paying attention, but I didn’t miss how Ava’s entire body tensed at her mother’s announcement. I had heard all about Ava Hill from my father when he was trying to convince me that spending my final summer before college in Sands Cove wasn’t akin to living in the Seventh Circle of Hell. But he had failed to tell me she was hotter than any girl had the right to be. But, then again, him describing her as hot would have come off as pervy, so there’s that.
There wasn’t any particular reason I had been hanging out by the pool, but after a few aimless wanderings, I had felt my skin prickle and I felt the sensation of someone watching me. I hadn’t had a tour of the house yet, so I’m not sure how I knew where to look up, but the second I did, my body was on full-alert.
When I glanced up towards the upstairs windows, I hadn’t been shocked to see someone looking down at me. I immediately knew who she was and, while I hadn’t been able to make out detailed features, I could see she was a blonde with a body of a Hustler centerfold; the light behind her illuminated every fucking curve. While I couldn’t make out her exact clothing, I knew all she had been wearing was a simple t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was what she looked like up close.
When she came striding out of the house and across the deck and lawn to stand in front of me, I knew immediately she was Ava Hill. She looked exactly like Elise, except a hotter, younger, and more vibrant version.
Ava’s long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but I could tell it was a true blonde shade. It wasn’t that awful bottled yellow color, or that pale white blonde. It was a perfect shade in between, and it was hung down her back straight as an arrow. She had big, cornflower blue eyes with lashes thick and made up. Her blonde brows were plucked to arched perfection, and I noticed that one sat a little higher than the other. She had a pert nose, with high rosy cheekbones, and while it was an all-around beautiful face, the thing that stood out the most was her lips. They were thick, full, and slathered in lipstick so shiny, her lips looked like fresh blood.
My first thought had been how fun it would be to mess up that red lipstick.
My second thought was who wore lipstick when they were at home, and that shade, no less?
And then she lit into me, and I almost laughed. Good ol’ Greg nor Elise had bothered to tell her we were here so they could drop me off before they headed out to wherever it was they fucking lived their lives.
“What do you mean he’ll be staying here throughout the summer?” Ava asked. “Are you trying to tell me you guys are…are going to reside here all summer long?”
Interesting.
Elise plastered on her fake smile and tittered, “Oh, no Ava.” She glanced up at my dad before facing Ava again. “We’re only here for a couple of weeks. You know I don’t like Sands Cove in the summer. We just needed to drop Ace off and get him comfortable.”
Drop Ace off. As if I were some troublesome baggage, which I supposed I was.
“What do you mean, drop him off?” she asked, anger and resentment dripping from every syllable. Ava made no attempts to hide the contempt she had for her mother. “What’s he doing here?”
My father stepped in, no doubt trying to calm the hellcat in front of him. That had been my first thought after she opened her mouth to me. She was a hellcat for sure, and since I thought calling her a pussycat would make her murderous, I opted for Kit, like kitty cat. “Ace’s…uh, mother and I thought Sands Cove would be a good influence on him before he heads off to college,” my dad explained. “And your mother thought it’d be a good thing for you to have some company in the house for a change.”
I watched Ava plant her hands on those curvy hips of hers and spew, “If she’s so concerned with me living in this house all alone, then maybe she should live here with me, instead of gallivanting all over the world, ya think? Maybe, oh, I don’t know…be an actual mother.”
“Ava!” Elise snapped. “That is enough. What will Ace think of your bratty behavior?”
Ava laughed, and it wasn’t a pretty, lyrical laugh either. “You think I give a shit what a complete stranger thinks of me? I don’t even care what you think of me, so what makes you think I care about whatever impression Greg’s son has of me?”
Greg’s son?
Even though she wasn’t looking at me, I smirked at her refusal to say my name. But I’d be willing to bet my left nut that my name falling off her lips sounded like fucking Heaven. She might hate my presence here, but there was no denying the girl made my dick hard.
Elise’s pretty face was turning red, and I was excited to see how this was going to play out. “That’s enough, Ava!” she hissed. “Ace is going to spend the summer here, and that’s that. Greg and I will do our best to get him settled in these next two weeks, but I expect you to make him feel comfortable and welcomed this summer while we’re gone.”
Before Ava could comment, Dad chimed in. “Ava, I would greatly appreciate it if you could help Ace out while he’s here. I-we understand how intrusive it might feel to suddenly be rooming with a complete stranger, but I’m hoping over time, you guys will manage to be able to get along for the duration of the summer.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed when she spared my dad no mercy. “If you care so much how your son is getting along before you ship him off to college, why don’t you stick around for the summer and spend time with him instead of pawning him off on me?”
My dad’s face took on an ugly pink hue as Elise stepped to Ava. “I said that’s enough! You do not make the rules in this house, young lady. Ace is staying here, and we are going to remain long enough for him to settle in, but we need to get back to our lives, Ava. You know? The life where we make your car, this house, and your money possible?”
My dad tuned to face me and the look on his face was enough to let me know he was placing the blame in all of this on me. If I hadn’t fucked up back home, this would never be happening. “And I expect you to behave yourself and not cause any problems for Ava, Ace. You need to be grateful for her help.”
I snorted.
Help? Ava Hill was more likely to poison me than help me solely based on the fact that I was Greg’s son and Greg was dating her mother. Her hatred for her mother was so palpable, Ava would hate anything or anyone associated with her mother, in any way.
“You children might only be teenagers, but you’re legally both grown adults,” Elise added. “We expect you to act accordingly and do your best to make this transition run smoothly.”
Since Ava wasn’t in the mood for fallacies, I decided to go with honesty too. “And what problems could I cause for dear, sweet Ava, Dad? Think I’m going to cut off the heads to her Barbies?”
His jaw clenched, and I knew he was trying to disguise his disgust of me. See, I looked like my mother, and that was something I knew Greggy-Boy hated. “I expect you to behave like a civilized human being, Ace.”
“Do you even know what one of those is?” I asked, and I could swear I heard a small chuckle next to me. “I mean, I know they don’t exist in your mirrors.”
The sophisticated, all-mighty, Greg McIntire’s composure slipped a bit as he stepped towards me. “You better watch how you talk to me, son. I’m not your mother!”
I rocked back on my heels. “You’re right,” I agreed. “My mother stuck around and tried to raise me best she could
on a broken heart.”
Dad scoffed. “If that were the case, you wouldn’t be here, now would you?”
“That’s enough,” Elise announced again. “You two will get along, and that’s the end of it.”
And then Ava went and did something that I both cursed and reveled in. Cursed, because I knew she was only doing it to piss off her mom; reveled, because Ava Hill was smokin’ hot.
She saddled up to me, and placing one hand on my chest, she rubbed her huge-natural, by the way-tits all over my left arm, as she looked at our parents. “Don’t worry, Mother, Greg,” she sing-songed. “I’ll do my best to make sure Ace is welcomed in our home.”
I reached down, grabbed a handful of her ass in my hand, and squeezed. Looking at our parents, I smirked, “Oh, yeah. We’re going to get along just fine, Dad.”
Elise stormed towards us, and grabbing Ava by her arm, snatched her out of our embrace. “That’s enough of that,” she screeched like a banshee. “We know what you both are doing, and it’s not going to work.”
“Are you going to send us to our rooms like 8-year-olds? Maybe take away our crayons?” I deadpanned.
My dad puffed out his chest, and I don’t know who he thought he was fooling with that little show of bravado, but it wasn’t us. “We’ll discuss this later when you two are capable of exercising some maturity.”
“Let’s go, Greg,” Elise announced, and Ava and I stood silent as we watched them both head into the house.
A few seconds later, Ava looked up at me, and said, in those pretty painted lips of hers, “You ever grab my ass again, and I will fucking kill you.”
Chapter 3
Ava~
Greg’s son.
He was Greg’s son who would be staying the summer in Sands Cove and no one had bothered to give me a heads up about it.
I was that inconsequential that no one felt it necessary to inform me that a guy-a complete stranger- would be living in the same house that I did. It’s not anything that I had needed to know. Never mind that he might be a creep, or worse, a rapist. But, then again, Elise didn’t concern herself with such things.
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