flickered downward to my breasts and then quickly away. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he refused to look at me. “Yeah, well, she’s smaller. That bikini doesn’t fit you, and it’s obscene. Go change.”
Was he calling me fat?
My cheeks burned, but I stood my ground. “You’re being ridiculous.”
Jamie’s head whipped around. That brooding gaze slightly intimidated me, but I kept my chin up. “I’m what?” His tone was edgy. I knew it well. It was his soft, dangerous tone before he exploded.
I shivered a little. “You’re being ridiculous,” I repeated patiently. “Jamie, you’re not my brother. You can’t tell me what to wear or where to wear it. And to be honest, you shouldn’t be telling any woman, sister or not, what she should or shouldn’t wear. It pushes women’s lib back a few decades, and I didn’t think you were that kind of guy.”
With a shrug of disappointment, I brushed past him and made my way into the house. I was proud of myself. Usually, Jamie flustered me beyond reason. Apparently, the key was for him to irritate me enough for me to become my normal, articulate self around him.
He refused to speak to me at dinner that night, and I’d questioned my feelings for him. Shouldn’t I think about dating someone who liked me in return? Who didn’t give me emotional whiplash?
Thus began my crush hunt.
I’d decided on Christopher Cruz. He straddled the social circles at school nicely. He was a surfer. Chilled out, nice to everyone, and California cute with sun-bleached hair and a crooked, sexy smile.
After making my selection, I did what all best friends do—I told Lorna. During the subsequent four weeks, she’d plotted happily to get Chris to notice me. The party at his parents’ Malibu beach house was supposed to be the culmination of all the hours I’d spent at school getting to know him better.
Yet there was my supposed best friend, making out with my supposed crush by his parents’ pool.
The twisted thing was, I didn’t think Lorna was doing it because she didn’t want me to have a cute boyfriend. Lorna was doing it because she didn’t want me to have anyone but her.
My best friend was always complaining that Jamie loved Skye more than he loved her. That their mom had loved Jamie and Skye more than she’d loved Lorna. That her dad hated her, but he adored Jamie and even put up with Skye. And that I loved Skye more than I loved my best friend.
In Lorna’s messed-up heart, everyone always loved someone better than they’d ever love her.
I was hers.
No one else’s.
That was her point.
Her point reeked. I resented her and her jealous possessiveness.
Turning away from the pool where she was thrusting her tongue into Chris’s mouth, I pushed through the crowd of high schoolers and made my way to the front door.
Malibu was over an hour from Glendale, and Lorna was my ride. She’d gotten her license six weeks ago. So had I. I just couldn’t afford a car.
Cursing her under my breath as I stepped outside, I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my shorts and glared at my phone screen. If I called Willa to come pick me up, she’d have a shit fit. There was no way I was supposed to be at a party in Malibu where underage drinking was going on.
There was only one person I could call, and Lorna would be so mad at me.
I decided I didn’t care.
Skye picked up after five rings. “Hey, sweetie, can I call you—” She broke off into laughter and shushed someone. “Sorry, Jane, I’m kind of busy. Can I call you back?”
“Skye, I’m stuck in Malibu. Lorna is my ride but I want to leave and … she doesn’t.”
“Give me a second.” There was a moment of silence from her and I could hear the thud of music in the background. After a few seconds, the music dulled. “Okay,” she said, “I’m back. What the hell are you doing at a party in Malibu?”
“A guy from school threw it. His parents have a beach house. Anyway, I want to go home but Lorna is my ride and …”
“I’m going to kill her,” Skye huffed. “Okay, text me the address. I’ll be there as soon as possible.” She hung up before I could respond.
Hands trembling, because I hated making Skye mad, I texted her the address. Five minutes later, she texted me back and my heart fell.