good or not?”
“I don’t. But judging you right now, I’d say it’s a good thing if I stay away from you.”
“Yet we’re standing close.”
I stepped back. “There. Not so close now.”
Xavier stepped toward me.
I stepped back.
He stepped toward me.
I stepped back.
He stepped again.
I stopped moving.
I shivered.
“Cold?” Xavier whispered.
“The breeze is chilly.”
“Yeah, it is,” he said.
Then without another word, Xavier pulled his arms from the sleeves of the hoodie and he lifted it over his head.
His undershirt lifted up and I feasted my eyes on his V-cut muscles.
My heart went mmmm as my mind gave a gentle reminder that Xavier wanted me dead.
He took the hoodie off and tossed it toward me.
I caught it.
He was in a sleeveless shirt, showing off more muscles than I knew he had.
I slowly put the hoodie over my head.
I was engulfed by the smell of his skin.
“Thanks for the hoodie,” I said.
“Xavier,” he said.
“Xavier? Is that the name of your hoodie?”
“That’s my name, Winter.”
“Oh,” I said. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Xavier said. “You can’t remember a thing, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
Xavier turned to walk away.
That’s it?
“Where are you going?” I called out.
“Why? Want to join me?”
“No.”
“Then don’t worry about it.”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
Xavier started to walk again.
“Hey, what about your hoodie?” I called out.
“I’ll get it from you sometime,” he yelled back without looking back.
When Xavier was gone, I hugged myself with the extra-long sleeves and looked down to the ocean.
I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
But I couldn’t let them get away with what they had done.
Chapter 7
someone new
Boredom hit two days later.
And hard.
The calm. The quiet. The peace. The insert-cliché-word-here.
I could only walk on the beach so much. And eat so much. And wander the house so much. I could only think so much. I could only remember so much…
Yet every time I did something in, out, or around the house, I expected Noah, Easton, or Xavier to show up.
Their little game of popping up to surprise me had worked.
They had made the first move.
Or I guess maybe the second move.
The first move was trying to kill me.
Now the second move was trying to get me scared.
Which had worked.
But I was good at lying.
And hiding.
My life consisted of reading, listening to music, and even taking naps.
It sounded really awesome - and it was - but my mind refused to quit.
This wasn’t a vacation. This wasn’t about me finding myself. I knew who I was. I knew what I wanted –no, needed - to do.
On top of that, I hadn’t heard from either Evie or Darcy.
Not once.
My phone number hadn’t changed either.
So, for being my best friends, they were pretty crappy at it.
Which I already knew.
I walked down the back staircase from my bedroom to the kitchen.
“She’s fucking fine, Jack,” I heard my mother’s voice say.
I swallowed hard and shut my eyes.
“She will handle it all on her own. She’s tough. This is the problem. You try to coddle her too much. You refuse to let her live through pain for one second. And…” There was silence for a few seconds. “Oh, that’s right. It’s all my fault. Sure. You’re the one who traveled all the time. Letting her be raised by the help you hired. Trust me, Jack, I know what I’m doing here. And in case you missed it, she’s an adult. Goodbye.”
The call ended and I shuffled into the kitchen.
My mother looked at me. “How much did you hear?”
“He means well,” I said.
“You’re defending him. Of course you are. Would you defend me?”
“No.”
“That’s because your head is all twisted up.”
“Right.”
My mother slapped the counter. “Hey! You don’t know the half of it. And I’m not going to stand here and bash him.”
“So, don’t then,” I said.
“What’s your plan, Winter?” my mother asked.
I stared at her and curled my lip.
In a way she was enjoying this way too much.
This went beyond anything that resembled a mother pretending to care for her daughter.
When I didn’t respond, she pushed away from the counter.
“You’re not staying here for free then,” she said. “Figure something out.”
She turned and walked away.
“You said to start with the cars, right?” I called out.
My mother turned her head and grinned. “That’s right.”
“I was thinking of going subtle,” I said. “Torture them for a while.”
“Just be careful, Winter. If everyone starts throwing fire, everyone will get burned.”
“What if I don’t give a fuck?” I asked.
“Then you just might really be my daughter.”
She left the kitchen.
I lifted my middle finger and rolled my eyes.
Tank Two was as big as the original. The first