Heart Waves Page 4
Far worse than him finding some random date for the evening was the thought he’d taken my advice and reconnected with his ex. For the briefest of moments, I hoped the girl was a relative, a cousin or a sister maybe. But the manner in which she nibbled at his neck wasn’t very sibling like.
I couldn’t help but gawk. What a sight I must have been, standing there open-mouthed and drooling. I took in every detail of this girl, from her flat chest and boyish figure in skin-tight shorts, and a way too-low-cut-because-she-had-no-cleavage-shirt, to the short straight hair, framing her tiny face. The girl was stunning, and I hated her.
Passionately.
I wanted to pick a ketchup bottle off a nearby concession stand and squirt it all over her.
Self-loathing, an emotion I wasn’t at all accustomed to, surged through my veins. It felt like someone reached a fist through my chest and pulled my heart out from it. I tried to focus my negative feelings, especially the hate and jealousy blinding me, on Grace. If not for her romantic rendezvous with Mike, I’d be able to sleep peacefully tonight, hoping to have sweet dreams of Reece. Now they were sure to be tainted.
“Hey, Jenna.”
I couldn’t believe with Red glued to his side and only a foot in front of me, he had the nerve to flash me a dazzling smile. I wondered if my eyes betrayed the jealous fit I struggled to keep from having, at least in front of him.
“Hi,” I forced a smile.
“I’d like you to meet my friend Lisa,” he introduced us.
I couldn’t help notice how he stressed the word “friend.” Was that for my benefit? Did he think I was blind to how friendly she was?
“What are you doing here all alone?” he asked.
“I’m not alone,” I answered defensively, uncertain of why I felt compelled to lie.
“Sorry. It looked like Grace left you to fend for yourself.”
I’d forgotten I told him I had plans with Grace tonight. I bit my lip trying to find a coherent retort. “Well, that’s because I am technically alone out here.” I dragged the words out until I could come up with a plausible story. “And it has nothing to do with Grace. I’m waiting for my date, he’s busy,” I motioned toward the bath house not too far away.
I wanted to hit my head with a heavy mallet. What was I doing? Trying to make him jealous? How ridiculous. Once he spoke to Mike, Reece would know for certain I lied. And clearly he moved on. The living, breathing, sample of flesh clinging to him was proof of that.
Ridiculous or not, I hoped it worked.
Reece raised an eyebrow, almost as if he didn’t believe me. “It’s getting late, why don’t we wait with you,” he suggested, a smile playing on the corners of his lips and the twinkling of his eyes. “Maybe we can go grab a bite together, or have a few drinks.”
Great I thought wondering how to get out of the uncomfortable predicament I so effortlessly put myself into. I smiled, stalling, and noticed a slight roll of Lisa’s eyes. Little witch.
“Nah, I think your ‘friend’ has other plans for you tonight.” On cue, Lisa moved in closer to Reece, moving her hand under his shirt and across his back territorially. I had to control the urge to rip her hair out! “Go on, I’m fine,” I tried to convince him.
Reece looked around, then down at Lisa, and nodded his head. “Alright then,” together they slinked off, just as cozily as they came.
As I watched them walk away I forced a smile on my face, in case Reece looked back. Again regret flooded my mind. I regretted every decision I made about him since the moment we met.
In a flash, resentment replaced regret. How dare he act so concerned! I resented his kindness. He had no right. Not when he could parade another girl right in front of me.
I chided myself for letting him get to me, as my eyes clouded over with tears. No one else ever made my blood boil quite the way he could. And he couldn’t’ possibly have any sort of real feelings for me if he could turn his attention to someone else so easily.
Once I lost sight of them I made my way over to a bench and sent Grace a quick text message.
I’m leaving. I walk in 5
I figured I had time to play a quick game of Angry Birds while I waited. This was the last time I let Grace drive. She’d never been this flighty or irresponsible. Leave it to Mike to find one more way to make me miserable.
“Hey Baby.”
A strange voice startled me. I looked up. A boulder formed in my stomach as a guy I’d never seen towered over me. He smiled. An overconfident, inviting smile, sending forth a blast of his alcohol masked breath.
I shot to my feet.
“Want to party?” he asked raising his eyebrows in a perverse manner, as his eyes fell from my face to my chest.
I stepped to the side, away from him, before responding, “Why don’t you go to where ever it is you go at night, and leave me alone.”
“I’ll go, as long as you’re coming with me,” he laughed foolishly as his arms swung around my waist pulling me to him.
Still holding my phone, I planted my hands between us to act as a barrier and pushed him back as hard as I could. He didn’t budge but somehow managed to pull me closer.
“Get the hell off me!” I said as firmly as I could.
“Or what? You’ll spank me?” he guffawed.
“No, I will,” Reece’s voice rang out.
My head snapped around in disbelief. There he was, my hero, standing tall behind me. Just in time to rescue me. Shocked, I looked at him in awe.
“Go find your own girl,” the drunk growled.
“She is my girl.” Reece’s eyes were sharp and piercing, his voice menacing. My heart thrummed wildly hearing his words. I only wished they were true.
“Now she’s my girl.” The drunk narrowed his eyes and glared at Reece. “So get lost!”
I continued to struggle against the possessive jerk, knowing what was going to come next. I had to take action before either of these testosterone-filled-jocks did. Now that Reece had so much of his attention I saw my chance to break away.
I boldly brought my right hand back and thrust it forward quickly, giving him a palm strike to the nose, rendering my new found friend harmless.
“AHHH!” he let go and brought his hands up to his nose. “You little . . .”
Immediately I realized what I’d done, and recognized that I probably only exacerbated the situation, and perhaps put both Reece and myself right in harm’s way. After all, prior to my impetuous act, the stranger, although inebriated, had no reason to harm either of us.
As he shouted profanities at me I grabbed Reece’s hand, and ran toward the rides, thinking we might be able to lose ourselves in the crowd since more people still lingered there. We ran about fifty feet when Reece glanced back to find no one behind us.
“Real mature Jenna,” he teased, “hitting your date like that.”
I smiled, coyly, “What do you want? I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”
“Remind me never to get you angry.” He said shrieking away in a playful manner, pretending to be afraid.
“What are you doing here anyway?” I challenged, the thrill of adrenaline rushing through me. “I thought you left.”
“I came back to make sure your date didn’t ditch you.”
Ouch! Talk about a kick in the teeth. “Ditch me? You think I’m ditchable?” I couldn’t believe how his words sliced at my heart.
Reece squeezed my hand. He tilted his head down slightly and looked up fluttering his long, dark eye lashes as he spoke, “Not if I were you’re date. Nothing could keep me away from you.” He paused and smiled, hoping that would get him off the hook, but he could quickly see it wasn’t. “I knew you were alone and I wanted to make sure you got home safely.”
I yanked my hand away from him, my feelings still hurt, “Because I’m so horrible to hang around, a guy would have to ditch me, leaving me stranded?”
“Sorry, it was a bad joke.”
“Darn right.”
“But it was a good
thing I came back.”
“I had it under control,” I lied, not wanting to give him an iota of satisfaction.
“Yeah, it looked like it,” he teased. “Call Grace, let her know I’m taking you home.”
“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“Uh huh.”
“I am.” I insisted. “And, in case you hadn’t noticed, it was me that sent that creep running.”
He chuckled, “No, Jenna. Actually, it was us you sent running.”
No matter how hard I tried not to, I couldn’t help but smile.
His face changed, “Aren’t you even a little glad I came back?” he asked much more serious than before.
I didn’t want to answer. I didn’t want to admit how crushed I felt to see him with another girl, how the thought of him leaving with Lisa caused me bodily pain with every breath. And I certainly didn’t want to admit how terrified I felt believing I was all alone against that degenerate, until I heard him stake a claim on me.
“Why did you come back?” I asked hoping to get a direct answer.
He looked away, and then met my eyes, “To be with you.”
“What about Lisa?” I asked.
“What about her?”
“Seemed like you wanted to be with her.”
“Nah,” he looked uninterested, “we were just hanging out.”
“She looked like she was interested in a lot more than hanging out.” I bit my lip and hoped I didn’t sound as jealous as I felt.
“Exactly. But I wanted to be with you. So I ditched her. Because unlike you, she is ditchable.”
“Totally ditchable!” I said with more confidence than I had.
“C’mon. Let me take you home.” He gave a crooked smile.
Since I had no better options and had no idea where Grace was or when she would be back, I accepted. Thinking about driving home with him alone in his car made my teeth chatter.
“I’m in the lot across the street.” Reece slipped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side. “Let me warm you up.”
He did. I felt warmer almost immediately. Whether it came from him or from the sudden self-consciousness I felt being so intimately close to him, I couldn’t tell. We continued walking, without speaking, until we reached his black Prius. Reece held the door open for me until I got settled, and then he slid into the seat next to me.
The sudden ringing of my phone broke the stiffening silence. I ignored it, letting it go straight to voicemail.
“Bet it’s Grace,” Reece looked over curiously, “Aren’t you going to let her know you’re okay?”
I shook my head. “Let her sweat it out! A little worry won’t kill her. But it might teach her a lesson.”
He smiled, “I never want to get on your bad side.”
Chapter 6
The eight minute drive from the boardwalk to my house passed in fast forward. I hoped the drawbridge would be up to buy me extra time in the car with him, especially since the conversation went in a most uncomfortable direction.
No such luck.
“We could’ve doubled you know,” Reece broke the silence. He took his eyes off the road for the briefest of moments to glance in my direction.
“Huh?” He lost me, was he talking about Lisa and the drunk?
“With Grace and Mike.” He explained as if he knew what I was thinking.
That made much more sense. “I didn’t know Grace planned to meet Mike until it was too late.”
“But when she told you he was there, did you even consider asking about me?”
“No.” I looked out the window, away from him. I didn’t want to explain my desperation in keeping any interest I had in Reece far from Mike’s knowledge. Bad enough Reece asked him about me.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Just think of all the fun you would have missed with Lisa,” I said, jealousy heavy in my voice.
Reece smiled, enjoying my reaction. “My friend Brandon is a great guy, but sometimes he drinks too much and gets rowdy. Tonight he started drinking before we left the house.”
I thought back to the night we met, when Reece’s friend came to get him. Brandon was drunk and out of control. Seemed like a pattern to me.
“So why do you hang out with him?”
“It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, he tends to get mean. He was especially nasty tonight when Lisa was trying to get my attention.”
An image of Lisa in slut mode flashed through my mind, “And by getting your attention you mean throwing herself at you?”
“Careful Jenna, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.” He grinned looking over at my reaction. Getting none he continued. “Brandon said something similar to her, only he was much nastier and added on a string of insults. She ran off with tears in her eyes.”
“So you had to make her feel better.” Of course. Isn’t that what superheroes do? I couldn’t believe how much it bothered me to hear him talk about it.
He nodded. “Unfortunately when I apologized for Brandon,” he paused, “she got the wrong idea.”
“Which you didn’t bother to correct.”
He continued as if I hadn’t said a word. “I offered to walk her to her car, I hoped to clear it up in private. That’s when I ran into you.” He paused, and then smiled, playfully, “Waiting for your date.” He emphasized the last word.
I wished he didn’t bring that back up. “Why are we rehashing this?”
“No reason to get upset. I’d just like to know the real reason you didn’t want to go out with me tonight.” He was looking at the road, his fingers wrapped tight around the steering wheel.
“The real reason?” I reiterated stalling for time. We were close to home, and I hoped to drag out my response so I wouldn’t have to answer him. “I told you, Grace and I had plans, I just didn’t realize she made Mike part of those plans.”
Reece turned onto my street and slowed the car to little more than a crawl. “Do you have to go home, or can you hang out and talk for a while?”
There went the fluttering butterflies in my belly, flying with fervor. “Let me poke my head in and tell my parents I’m home. Then we can sit out back, by the pool.”
He nodded.
Reece parked the car between Mike’s house and mine. “Don’t move,” he instructed. I stayed put, and watched him get out and come around to open the door for me.
“Should I wait here for you?”
I nodded. “I’ll put the light on out back so you know when I’m there.” I felt awkward just walking away from him. I wanted to do something more, give his hand a squeeze, give him a quick kiss on the cheek, but those actions held too much insinuation.
I walked straight into my house without looking back, knowing if I did, I’d be lost, hypnotized by his eyes.
“I’m home,” I yelled up to my parents.
My mother came out of her bedroom.
“I thought you were with Grace,” she said sounding concerned.
“I was.”
“She called three times in the last twenty minutes, to make sure you made it home safe. You had me worried sick.”
“I’m fine, Mom.” I tried to reassure her. “Grace and I sort of got separated. We were at the boardwalk and ran into Mike and some of his friends. She went on some rides with Mike and one of his friends offered to drive me home.”
“Jenna,” she had that motherish tone about her. “I don’t like you getting in cars with strange boys. We’ve discussed this.”
My mind flitted back to Reece and the fact he was waiting for me outside. I was taking much longer than I should have. I worried by the time I made it out Reece would be gone. “I know. I’m fine. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. I promise.”
She huffed. “Alright, go get ready for bed.”
I thought for a moment of going through the motions of putting on my pajamas to placate her and then sneaking out like I did last night. I knew if I did, Reece would give up on me for sure.
“It’s late Jenna.”
“I know.” I pleaded with my eyes, “But I’ll just be out back, and it’s not like I have anywhere to be tomorrow.”
“Will you be alone?”
“No.” I said in a very small voice. “But he’s really nice Mom, and we’ll be here, only out back. I mean you can watch us through a window if you like.”
After a long sigh. “I just might do that.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
Chapter 7
I sprang to the sliding door that lead out to the backyard, feeling giddy and bubbly. I turned the lights on and went to wait by the side of the pool.
Before settling myself on a lounge, I pulled another one right up next to it. This did two things. First, it kept him close without making me so nervous I couldn’t think clearly. Second, it gave a better appearance if Mom did spy on us through her window than if we were huddled together on one lounge.
No sign of him. I closed my eyes and began counting to one hundred, trying to convince myself it was for the best if he left.
He opened the gate at forty-three.
“I thought you changed your mind,” he said. For the first time, Reece didn’t seem one hundred percent self-assured and unflappable. That made my heart throb, fast and hard.
“Damage control. My mom wanted to know why I wasn’t with Grace.” I patted the lounge next to me for him to sit.
Reece settled himself on the side of the chair, his feet planted firmly on the ground facing me. “Don’t think I forgot,” he had a smug look on his face.
“Forgot what?” I asked innocently.
“That you haven’t answered me. What’s the real reason you didn’t want to go out with me tonight.”
“Okay fine,” I felt annoyed he wouldn’t just let it drop. “Your girlfriend. I mean ex-girlfriend.” I rolled my eyes. “I know you want her back. I felt it. And I don’t want to be a summer rebound you use to get over her.”