Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
RACHEL
I come out of my bedroom clad in my favorite black shorty pajama set, my wet hair twisted in a knot on top of my head.
I took an everything shower earlier, so I am shaved and moisturized to the best of my ability.
I don’t have access to my favorite aesthetician, so no more waxing for me.
Haven’t had a proper manicure or pedicure either since I got here, but it’s fine. I can live without those things.
Running down the stairs, I turn into the living room and collapse on the couch with a dramatic sigh. Paige is sprawled out on the overstuffed chair nearby, tapping away on her phone.
“I’m tired.” We both worked today, and our shifts were over more than two hours ago, but I can feel the weariness settle into my bones. I’m so exhausted. “I’m ready for bed. I could probably fall asleep right now.”
“Well, get excited because I just got a text from Wyatt.”
I sit up straighter so I can meet her gaze. “What? Why is he texting you?”
I hate to admit this, so I won’t, but a tug of jealousy pulls at my insides. Why is he reaching out to her and not me?
Duh, because he doesn’t have your phone number.
Oh yeah. Right.
“He said that him and Nate are going to the Snowline and wanted to know if we would join them.”
Yes, my mind shouts, as does my body. Yes, let’s go right now, right now.
“I don’t know.” I keep my voice even, my gaze pinned to Paige, wanting to see a reaction. “I think I’d rather go to bed.”
Paige’s lips twist into a naughty smirk. “With Wyatt?”
My entire body goes hot. “What? No.” I grab a throw pillow and toss it at her head, but she dodges it at the last second. “There is nothing going on between me and Wyatt.”
Only that one night. That’s it. That’s all we can allow because my living in the same town as he does was definitely not part of the plan.
“Please. I heard from Kelcey that you two might have a thing.”
My jaw drops. “You’re going to believe a seventeen-year-old girl spreading rumors over me confirming that no, we do not have a thing?”
Ugh, I’m such a liar. I hope she forgives me if she ever finds out the truth.
Paige shrugs. “I said what I said.”
“And you guys are gossiping about me and Wyatt?” I’m shocked, but then again . . . not really. There’s a lot of chatter going on in that place at all times.
“Gossip is king at Mitchell’s. Everyone is talking about everybody else. They’re watching you constantly, especially since you’re new and exciting.”
“I am not exciting.” Well, maybe I am to them. Only because I’m not from the area, and it could seem exotic to them that I’m from New York City. I don’t know. It’s definitely a whole different world here compared to home.
“Stop, you so are. I think that’s why Wyatt likes you.”
“He hates me,” is my automatic response, which I know isn’t true. You can’t hate someone and want to have sex with them, right? “Worse, he doesn’t respect me.”
“What do you mean?” Paige frowns.
“He thinks I’m silly and frivolous.” I realize both words mean the same thing. “And I suppose I am. Silly. I’ve never had a job or had to pay for a single thing on my own. He sees me as some dumb rich girl, and he’s not wrong. My parents have spoiled me my entire life.”
What’s wild is, since my father cut me off, I haven’t heard a word from him, and it’s been weeks.
Almost a month. I haven’t heard from my mother either.
At least he’s kept my phone on, which would’ve felt like the end of the world to me if he’d shut it off.
I have both of their locations on Find My Phone, and I go to check where they’re at: the house in the Hamptons.
They’re off having a grand old time while I’m here, working my ass off.
But I don’t mind the work. Just like Paige told me, it gets easier with every day that passes.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know everyone who works there too.
Kelcey and Tara no longer ignore me or roll their eyes at each other behind my back.
We work the most together, and now we joke and laugh with each other when we get a break, which isn’t often, and Tara warned me earlier today that it’s about to get ten times busier once the Fourth of July hits.
Ten times busier makes me shudder just thinking about it.
“Well, look at you now, working on your own and doing a damn good job of it too,” Paige praises.
I send her a grateful look. “I could’ve never done it without your support. Seriously. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Paige rolls her eyes, reminding me of Kelcey. They both do it so well. “Let’s not get sappy. We have to get ready in, like, fifteen minutes.”
Alarm races through me, and I jump off the couch, already headed for the stairs. “Fifteen minutes? What are you talking about?”
Paige is right behind me. “The guys are picking us up. We’re going out. Remember?”
“We shouldn’t.” I am protesting far too much because secretly? I’m excited. I def want to go out.
“Oh, we are.” Paige pushes past me when we get to the top of the stairs. “And we need to look our very best!”
* * *
Easy for Paige to say about looking our very best because the woman barely puts on any makeup and looks like a freaking celebrity.
A little mascara and some highlighter on her cheekbones, and boom, she’s a knockout.
She’s wearing the shortest denim skirt I’ve ever seen and a baby tee that says, Come and get it.
I kid you not. She’s also not wearing a bra, so I’m guessing Nate won’t have any brain cells by the end of the evening. They’ll all go straight to his dick.
“Are you looking for Nate to do exactly that?” I wave at her T-shirt. “Come and get it?”
She glances down at herself before looking at me, her expression one of pure innocence. “You think he would?”
“Probably not.” I know enough about their history to say that with confidence, though I also don’t want to disappoint her. I’m just trying to be a good friend.
“You’re right.” She tucks a stray strand of perfectly straight caramel-brown hair behind her ear. “Maybe someone else will instead.”
I raise my brows. “Wanting to make him jealous?”
Paige nods.
“Well, in that outfit, I don’t know how he’ll resist you.”
I go to the round mirror that hangs near the front door and check myself out, frowning.
Considering my hair was still wet, I went with what I had to work with and pulled it back into a sleek, low ponytail.
I chose to wear one of the many cute sundresses I brought with me, this one a baby blue with tied straps on the shoulders and a fitted bodice.
Unlike the other one I wore the last time we went to the Snowline, this dress is short, hitting me about mid-thigh.
Did I choose it on purpose, hoping Wyatt might notice my legs?
Why, yes. Yes, I did.
I’m slicking on a fresh coat of lip gloss when there’s a knock on the door, startling me so badly I smear the lip gloss on my chin. Paige rushes past me to open the door, and that’s how Wyatt first sees me. Standing there trying to hurriedly brush the sticky gloss off my face.
“Lady friends,” is how Nate greets us, earning a low chuckle from Wyatt that sends a warm sensation sweeping over my skin. God, even his laugh is sexy. It’s not fair how manly he is. “Looking gorgeous as usual.”
Paige sends me an annoyed look as she hooks her arm through mine and starts to drag me toward the still-open front door. “Let’s go.”
She lets go of my arm the moment we’re outside, jogging to catch up with Nate and leaving me alone with Wyatt. I am a jumble of nerves, and I can’t stop wiping at my face, worried I still have gloss on it, which is stupid.
I’m being weird. I can sense it, and Wyatt can too.
“You all right?” he asks as he falls into step beside me. Nate and Paige are far ahead of us, and I catch the way Nate is checking out Paige’s backside as she walks slightly in front of him. Yeah, I’d be looking too—like, you can’t tear your eyes off her. That skirt is almost criminally short.
“I got lip gloss on my chin.” May as well tell him the truth.
“Hold on.” He grabs hold of my wrist, stopping me, and my skin tingles where his fingers connect with my flesh.
I go completely still as I turn toward him, and he reaches out, wiping away the last bits of gloss on my chin with his thumb.
Damn, I must’ve stuck myself with a massive glob. “There. Got it.”
My entire body vibrates from that simple touch and the way he’s looking at me.
He lets go of my wrist and keeps walking, almost dismissively, and I struggle to keep up with him—his stride is so long.
He’s completely unbothered while I’m rattled to my core, and I need to learn how to act nonchalant because I can’t let him see how much he affects me.
Especially when he seems like he doesn’t give a damn.
Ugh, he brushed his thumb against my chin to wipe off some lip gloss, and I feel like he rocked my entire world. I seriously need to gain some composure and act like a normal human being tonight before I make a fool of myself.
Nate stops at a black SUV, opening the back door for Paige, and she climbs in, the bottom of her ass cheeks hanging out of her skirt as she does so. Nate, of course, looks his fill, and when he glances over his shoulder at us, I give him a hard glare, wanting him to know I saw.
“Jesus, Nate,” Wyatt mutters, indicating he saw it too.
Nate puts his back to the open door, his expression turning helpless. “What was I supposed to do? Look away?”
“Her ass is great, right?” I sail past him, nudging him out of the way so I can climb into the back seat and join my friend.
Nate slams the door, cutting Wyatt off mid-sentence, and they keep talking, though I can’t quite make out what they’re saying.
“Did you really tell Nate I have a great ass?” Paige sounds thrilled by this.
“Of course I did. He was ogling it when you got into the car, so I had to say something.”
Paige is grinning. “That was my evil plan. Glad to know it’s working.”
“Do you think he’ll actually do something about it?
” I hate asking the question, but I’ve grown close to Paige in a very short amount of time, and I don’t want Nate to leave her in the dust tonight.
From what she’s told me about their past interactions, he seems to do this often, and I hate that she just stands there and takes it.
Not that my new bestie is a doormat, oh no. But she is definitely pining away for a guy who acts like he might want something more but then retreats every time they’re alone together. I am frustrated on her behalf and not in the mood to take any shit tonight.
Meaning, I’m on one, as the girls at work say. You won’t catch me crashing out over a boy. That’s what Kelcey says all the time, and I’m with her on that one.
No crashing out. We’re going to have fun tonight, and the guys can join us in the revelry, or they can sit with their beers and have a mopey moment. I don’t care. My earlier exhaustion has evaporated, and it’s like I’ve caught a second wind.
“If he doesn’t do anything, that’s on him.
I’m tired of waiting.” She sounds like she means it, but I know what this is like.
I’ve been in her shoes plenty of times. You want to believe in yourself that you’re done dealing with a man’s bullshit, but then he flashes you a charming smile or calls you “darling” and you’re sucked back into his realm.
Wait a second. That’s me and how I would react toward Edmund.
I’ve come to realize that I glamorized our relationship way too much.
He most definitely love bombed me, but he also became distant out of nowhere and wasn’t always readily available, while I cleared my calendar for that jerk and centered my entire life around him.
During those distant times, was he thinking about Lady Cocksbury?
Could he have been talking to her? Probably.
The asshole.
“Good. Fuck men,” I say, just as Wyatt and Nate open their car doors and climb inside the SUV.
I clamp my lips shut, hoping they didn’t hear me, but they must have.
I go silent, feeling guilty, and when Wyatt catches my gaze in the rearview mirror before he starts to back the car out of the parking space, I make a funny little face at him. He smiles.
I smile back.
Oh shit, I’m in so much trouble.