Firecracker (Forever McAbee #1)
1. Shep
1
Shep
I stumble down the rows, weaving in and out of workers picking peaches off the trees. I’ve known most of them my whole life, but I can’t stop and talk right now. Nodding as I pass, I keep my head down and continue walking. I’m trying to find my little brother and he doesn’t seem to be anywhere today. It’s not like Beau to shirk off work, but he isn’t in the offices, at Mom and Dad’s, or the store.
I look down at my phone. Still no cell service, so I can’t text him and ask where he is. Damn. Just one more thing I hate about being home. Shaking my head, I wonder what to do next. I’m not about to walk this entire grove looking for him, but I don’t want to wait around in town tonight until dinner.
I wanted to surprise him, surprise my whole family really, but Beau is always my first stop. I’d never admit it to him, but I miss my brother more than anyone else when I’m gone. He’s funny in a way that most people aren’t and he has my back, even from thousands of miles away. Coming home to visit doesn’t feel like I’m really home until I’ve seen him, but where the fuck could he be?
Keeping my eyes on the ground so I don’t break an ankle, I catch a flash of faded pink to my left. Pelahatchie Peach Grove. The old metal sign hangs on a rusted-out gate, a worker’s forgotten shirt baking in the sun beside it. Despite being an eyesore, it helps me orient myself. If I were Beau, I’d know every inch of these fields like the back of my hand, but the place seems to grow every year, sprawling over more and more acreage. There are too many fields for me to keep track of when I don’t care, anyway. But now that I know the general vicinity, I’ll check one more spot before heading back.
This entrance is rarely used, down a side road that used to be for delivery trucks, but it’s deserted now. Dad moved the store’s location closer to town and created a new entrance that’s easier for tourists to get to. Whatever floats his boat. There’s not much I like about this place, but I have a kind of soft spot for this path because it leads straight to the pond.
I have a love/hate relationship with our family business. I appreciate that it afforded me everything I could have wanted growing up, but my list of pros ends there. The heat in South Georgia is one thing. You don’t grow up on a working farm this close to the Florida line without a healthy respect for the sun. Add that to the ruts and holes in the ground that are always trying to trip me up, the mind-numbing hours doing nothing but picking, climbing up and down a ladder all day long, and you’ve stepped into my literal nightmare. But it’s the sickly, sweet smell of the fruit that’s the worst. I don’t even like peaches for God’s sake. The scent is ten times worse in the summer and it takes over the entire town from June to September. Thank God I’m states away by then.
I’m doing all but holding my nose as I walk, sweating and cursing Beau, when the pond comes into view. Finally. It’s too far away yet to see clearly, but I can tell the water is moving. That little fucker is out here swimming. Even as I think it sourly, a smile spreads over my face. I should have known he’d be here. He loves this stupid swimming hole.
Moving closer, I decide to scare him. He’s gonna freak when I sneak up and tackle him like I used to when we were kids. Nothing beats a good, old-fashioned water fight. But as I edge closer, it’s not Beau’s bright blonde hair that takes shape. It’s long and dark, running down a woman’s back. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that’s…
Shit. It’s Tessa Jennings alright, but not like I’ve ever seen her. I was a fool to mistake her for Beau, especially since she’s naked. What’s she doing out here, of all places? She has to know anyone could walk by. Maybe she knows and doesn’t care? It would be like her to do something reckless like this. I shake my head as I crouch down beside one of the trees. I don’t mean to be a creep, but since the opportunity presented itself, I’d be crazy not to at least take a little peek.
God, she looks good. She didn’t look like this when she went away to college, I swear, because I would have remembered this body. Tessa’s always been pretty, naturally beautiful with tanned skin and big, green eyes, but… Wow. Her dark hair is slicked back, looking like molten chocolate as it flows down her back in the mid-day sunshine. I know there are freckles across the bridge of her nose, but I’m not close enough to see them. I am close enough, however, to make out the soft curves of her waist. She doesn’t come all the way out of the water, but when she flips to swim another lap, I get the most delicious view of her ass. Yeah, I definitely would have remembered that.
Tessa and I have known each other our whole lives. Hell, I remember when she was born. At five, I was old enough to hold her when they brought her home from the hospital. I’ve never seen her as anything more than a little sister because she’s my little sister’s best friend, but the thoughts in my head right now are anything but familial.
I shrug my shoulders and try to clear away every last dirty thought about her from my mind. If I hadn’t happened upon her naked, I’m sure I wouldn’t be thinking this way. Tessa’s gorgeous, it’s true, but we’ve always treated each other like siblings. Our moms are best friends and we were all stuck together as kids. We had a little gang going until I went off to college; me, the twins–Beau and Peyton, and her.
I move to get up, feeling a little guilty for watching her as long as I have, when I hear it. A low catcall. I spin around, knowing exactly who made that sound because I taught him how to do it. I crane my neck, but don’t see him anywhere.
Beau walks to the edge of the water from a spot much closer than where I sit. He must have been off to my left somewhere and I wonder how long he’s been here and what all he saw. When he stops to talk to Tessa, I see that he has dirt on the seat of his pants, a telltale sign he was watching her just like I was.
We’re both creeps for doing it, but I feel even more wrong now that I know he was spying too. Tessa has always been Beau’s. Ever since puberty when he drew a line in the sand for her, I haven’t looked at her with anything more than friendship. I can’t remember exactly, but when he was twelve, maybe thirteen, he said he was going to marry her someday. He didn’t explain and it didn’t occur to me to ask why my little brother had a crush on our friend, but he never grew out of it.
It’s silly to feel that he has any claim on her when in fact, Tessa can’t stand him or the promise he made. She tolerates him at best, but he’s obsessed and he always has been. So sitting here under the trees makes me feel like I was ogling his girl . Like I’m encroaching into his territory.
I should leave them to it. I should get up and walk away right now and pretend I never saw any of this. But when Tessa rises out of the water and shouts at him, bare breasts and all, I can’t make my legs move. When Beau starts undressing too, I’m locked in and I know I won’t be leaving. Looks like I’ll be getting two good shows today because these two can have some pretty epic sparring matches. No one puts Beau in his place quite like Tessa and no one irritates her quite like Beau. He loves the fight, and secretly, we all love to watch.
Leaning back against the trunk of the nearest tree, I settle in for a good, long shouting match. I have to see how this plays out.