Chapter 24
chapter twenty-four
Summer
present day
Silvie is coming over to get ready with me for a wedding this weekend. She said she would help me style my hair into an updo.
The wedding day is for our friend Luke’s brother, Rex.
I’m thankful that I have somewhere fun to go where I’ll get to see more of my old friends, have a few drinks, and potentially meet up with a man who doesn’t enjoy tormenting me for sport.
Luke and Dayton were friends in high school.
Rex was always kind of a dick, but he ended up at our house sometimes when Luke and Dayton would hang out.
A knock on the studio door startles me. I twist it open.
“Hey, bitch. Glad you could finally—” My words stop short when a much bigger, manlier person is standing there, a bouquet of yellow roses and white baby’s breath in his hand. He also has a small gift wrapped in white wrapping paper, probably a wedding gift.
My heart skips a beat. Dayton’s hair is styled in dark, messy waves, pushed back from his handsome face.
He’s clean-shaven, wearing a navy-blue pinstripe linen sport coat and brown linen pants.
His white shirt underneath is unbuttoned partially, revealing a sliver of his sculpted chest. I attempt to appear unaffected by his raw sex appeal.
Part of me wants to slam the door in his face so I can put my makeup on before speaking to him.
He shifts on his feet, almost like he’s nervous. “Can I come in?”
“Silvie is coming over soon to get ready with me.”
He nods, looking around. “These are for you.” He looks down at the flowers. “Can I put them in water?”
I blink at the beautiful, bright bunch of flowers in utter confusion. “Umm, sure.” I step back to allow him to enter. My skin feels like it’s stretched too tight as soon as he walks inside and the door shuts behind him.
He goes over to the little kitchenette and pulls a clear vase out of the cabinet. I stand there, twisting my hair around my finger, watching him fill it up and place the flowers inside.
Aside from Mom’s funeral, I don’t remember the last time someone bought me flowers.
He finishes up and leans back against the countertop, crossing his legs at his ankles.
His eyes travel over me before moving to look at the dress hanging on the door to my closet.
I spent way too much on it, but it hugs all my curves just right, and the slit up the thigh is just sexy enough without being too revealing.
The pastel-blue fabric has different shades of pink florals on it, and the ruching on the hip enhances my hourglass shape.
Dayton swallows before looking back at me.
What is with him?
“Are you going to save me a dance later?”
I blink at him, truly speechless. After a few beats of painful silence, I manage to respond, “I don’t—”
“As friends,” he interrupts. “Or maybe just two people who don’t completely hate each other all the time.”
He’s still holding the gift, fidgeting with it.
I chew the inside of my lip, wondering if this is Dayton’s twisted version of an apology for eating me out or possibly the last thirteen years of being a dick. Still, I find myself nodding.
“Okay,” he says.
A loud knocking on the door interrupts the tense staring game we’re engaged in. I suck in a gulp of oxygen, silently thanking Silvie for the interruption. I move to open the door, but Dayton beats me to it.
“Here.” He thrusts the gift toward me. “Maybe it will go with your dress.”
I take the box from him, wondering why he would get me a gift.
“It was for your birthday, I just … it took me a while to find it.”
I open my mouth to say thank you, but he turns and opens the door.
“Hey, girl. Are you—oh my, you’re not Summer.”
I poke my head around his big frame. “Hi.”
Her eyes widen at me. “Hey, is this a bad time?” Her arms are loaded down with bags, hair curling rods sticking out of one and champagne bottles out of the other.
“No!” I nearly shout. “Not at all a bad time. Perfect time. Ideal, excellent time.”
Dayton reaches for Silvie’s bags, grabbing them both out of her hands. She lets him, still staring at me like, Who’s the hunk?
“Dayton was just leaving,” I say, grabbing her hand to pull her inside.
We’re both petite, but her hair is blonder than mine, and my skin has been in the bright Florida sun for longer so it’s tanner.
Dayton sets the bags down on my bed before turning back around.
He reaches out a hand toward Silvie. “Dayton Copeland,” he says, shaking her hand.
“Silverlyn Montclair, but everyone calls me Silvie.”
He nods before turning to me. “Do you need a ride to the wedding?”
I shake my head. It’s just down the beach.
He studies me with an unreadable expression before turning and walking out the door.
After it shuts behind him, Silvie grabs my arm. “Who was that?”
I reach down and pull the champagne bottle out of her bag. “That was my stepbrother.”
Her eyes somehow grow even bigger. I make a hmmph sound before moving over toward the kitchenette. I grab two champagne glasses from the open shelf.
“It gets so much worse.”
“Tell me.” She starts unpacking the hair tools and products.
I pour us each a generous glass before settling into the chair that she pushed in front of my floor-length mirror. She takes a brush and starts on my hair. I sip on my glass, the bubbles bursting on my tongue.
“He brought me those flowers.”
She nods, glancing at the bouquet. “They’re so pretty.”
“Yeah, they are. I’m not sure what game he’s playing. He got me this too.” I look down at the box.
“Game? What do you mean?”
“Like, he’s not usually nice to me, and something terrible happened … last time he was here.”
“Before you tell me about that—which I’m dying to hear about—open the gift!”
I blow out a slow exhale before tearing into the white paper. It’s a plain brown box. When I lift up the lid, I gasp. The row of pink and white pearls aren’t all the same sizes, each one having a slightly different gleam and shape.
There’s a folded white piece of paper underneath the necklace. I open it up to read it.
Russell had started this collection for Clara years ago.
Atlantic Pearl Oysters are rare, but I’ve been taking my boat out to search for them just like he did.
I’ve gone every weekend I’ve been back in Coconut Beach, and I was able to find five more to complete his collection.
I had a jeweler in New York make it into a necklace. Happy birthday, Cupcake.
I gulp, emotion swirling up inside my throat.
“Oh my.”
Silvie reads the note over my shoulder before running a finger gently over the pearls.
“Now you really have to tell me what happened.”
I exhale, setting the box of pearls down before taking another sip of my drink and continuing, “We kind of hooked up.”
Her jaw drops. “Shit.”
“Yeah. It was the only time I’ve ever finished, like, from … oral.”
She grabs her glass, taking a long swig. “Go on.”
“I just totally freaked out afterward because he’d always been a bully to me, ever since we’d met in high school.
I’ve done a lot of healing since my divorce, but I just went through a breakup.
My first husband and I had a great sex life until he slept with his secretary.
It made me feel like I wasn’t enough for him.
Axel, my ex who I broke up with recently, seemed completely disinterested in sex with me.
It was almost a chore to him. The combination of the two just makes me …
feel like I have to be the problem, you know?
The common denominator. I haven’t confessed this to anyone, but the way Dayton makes me feel is just …
it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
And I feel like shit for having a crush on not only my high-school bully, but also my freaking stepbrother.
But now he’s giving a gift like this and … ”
Silvie shakes her head. “First off, I just have to say, if you met him in high school and you didn’t grow all the way up together, I think that’s allowed.
Stepbrother or not, he’s not actually related to you.
It’ll make the holidays so much easier this way!
” She’s wrapping my hair around the curling iron.
“Silvie, our parents are all dead.”
“Shit, yeah. Okay, well, you guys can spend Christmas with me! The Montclairs go all out. Plus, I need a new sister. Mine is such a ho-bag.”
“I’ve always wanted a sister. I’m sorry yours is a ho-bag. That sucks.”
She shrugs. “At least I didn’t hook up with my evil stepbrother.”
I shove her playfully, and she throws her head back in a laugh.
“So, what I’m getting here is that he turns you on more than anyone you’ve ever met, but you’re conflicted because your parents got married and you don’t want to disappoint them, especially now that they’re gone?” She looks at the necklace.
I nod. “I can’t dishonor them that way. They wanted us to get along, but after he moved away for college, I refused to come home at the same time as him. I didn’t even see him again until we were planning the funeral. It had been devastating for my mom that we couldn’t just be a family.”
“I think it’s good that you’re talking through these feelings. But you need to let go of the guilt. You didn’t do anything wrong. If he brought the flowers as an apology, maybe he wants to make amends and start fresh. Has he done anything that’s truly unforgivable? How bad was this bullying?”
I shrug, reaching for the bottle of champagne to refill our glasses.
“I mean, no, it wasn’t horribly unforgivable stuff.
He started a fight with my prom date and ruined the entire night.
He had generally been rude to me from the start.
He blacklisted me somehow, so none of the guys would ask me out anymore after that, and I only had a few friends until graduation.
One of them was Mia. He would also play the Are You Nervous?
game with me, and I feel like he’s started that up again.
I just feel like in general, he had no reason for disliking me, and yet he’s never wanted to be my friend.
Now, suddenly, he brings me flowers and asks me to dance with him tonight? It’s suspicious.”
Silvie is side-eyeing me in the mirror.
“What?”
“I mean … do you think there’s a teeny-tiny chance maybe he just likes you and he always has and he feels guilty about it too? That would explain everything.”
I scoff, shaking my head. “No, I don’t think that. That’s ridiculous. Even if that’s true, we’re adults now. Why would he still be playing those games and telling me my boyfriend can’t live here?”
She glances over at the flowers. “I don’t know, Sum. Either way, you don’t have to marry the guy, do you? If you’re that attracted to him, then why not have a little harmless fun?”
I stare at her in the mirror, processing her words.
Having another person acknowledge that even though he’s my stepbrother, who I’m trapped with in this weird situation regarding our parents’ will, a physical relationship wouldn’t be some twisted, Sweet Home Alabama-type shit makes my entire body relax.
Somehow, it feels like permission.
“Silvie, I am so ridiculously attracted to him. But I swear, he hates me, and he always has.”
She looks at me through the mirror and shakes her head. “Methinks the lady is in denial. Plus, I’ve heard hate sex is fun. Here, let me put the necklace on you.”
Oh, fuck me.
Silvie outdid herself with my updo. My long honey hair is piled on top of my head with wavy wisps around my face and neck.
The dress I ordered online fits me like a glove.
I have gold bangles on both wrists and a gold chain with a seashell on it around my neck.
I smell like coconuts and summertime. I’m feeling confident.
I wore low heels because I’m planning to kick them off and shake my booty a little bit.
I’m sipping on my first glass of champagne when I spot Josie. She’s chatting with a group of girls I recognize from high school, some I haven’t seen in years. She waves me over.
“Summer! Your dress is so cute.” She squeezes me into a hug before grabbing a glass of champagne from a table nearby and handing it to me. “Are you ready for this shit show?”
“I’ve been looking forward to seeing everyone—well, almost everyone.”
“I saw Dayton earlier,” she says, smirking.
I nod. “He’s looming about, I’m sure.”
“Are things between you two …”
“Cordial,” I blurt out.
“Ah, I see. Well, your dynamic with him was always a little … complicated?” She sips her champagne, studying me.
“I guess you could say that. He’s never been my biggest fan.”
She barks out a laugh. “If you say so.”
I raise a brow, not knowing what she means, but not wanting to ask.
Silvie walks up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “I need to dance. Will there be dancing?”
“I’ll dance with you.” I grab her hand, and we start swaying back and forth.
“I’m sure we can find you ladies some gentlemen to dance with!” Josie calls out.
I shake my head. “No thanks.”
In the corner of my eye, I see Dayton talking to Cal. I guess maybe they never lost contact even after he moved away. The realization that I truly don’t know much about Dayton’s life at all settles over me like a weight on my shoulders. His eyes glide over my frame before landing on my face.
Silvie follows my gaze over to where they are. “Are you going to dance with him?”
“If he asks,” I say, turning away.
“You know, if you really want to get a man’s attention … and I’m not saying you do, but if you did … the best way to go about it would be to flirt with another man.”
I shake my head. “I don’t. And you’re terrible.”
She wiggles her eyebrows before suddenly dipping me back.
“Ah!” I throw my head back, and she nearly drops me.
“Oh my gosh, sorry!” She’s laughing as she says it, finally pulling me back up.
“Okay, maybe I do wanna dance with a man instead.”
One in particular, unfortunately.