12. Joshua
Chapter 12
Joshua
“ I feel like we just broke up and we weren’t even dating,” I say to Keelan. He flips another burger and gives me a side long glance. “What?”
“That is called drawing a line in the sand, my friend. How does it feel to have someone set boundaries with you?”
“Like shit,” I admit.
“Welcome to adulthood.” He flips some more burgers.
I lean into him, “Is that what you and Rina are doing? Drawing a line in the sand?”
His jaw ticks and I know I’ve struck a nerve. “We don’t have to draw a line… we aren’t anything.”
“Not right now…”
“Not ever… and we never will be.”
“But you want to?”
He looks at me straight on. “No.”
I throw my hands up, “Oh, come on, Lando. Come clean already. What is this tension between the two of you?”
“Are we talking about Rina?” Fergie says, snatching a potato chip from the open bag at the table.
Keelan whirls on us. “Would you two shut up. There’s nothing going on with Rina.”
“Better not be, her fiancé wouldn’t be too happy about that,” Zane says bending down to grab a beer from the cooler next to the grill.
He straightens up to see all of us staring blankly at him.
“What?”
“What fiancé?” Keelan asks.
“Soccer douche?” Fergie asks. “Soccer douche and Rina?”
We all turn to see her laughing with the rest of the girls.
“What a betrayal,” I say. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“Technically, it would be a conflict of interest if she dated one of the Heatwave,” Ryker says, taking a seat next to us. “I’m assuming we’re discussing Rina and…”
“Soccer douche,” a few of us confirm at the same time.
Keelan turns his attention back to the grill and stares at the burgers. The fully cooked burgers. The fully cooked burgers currently catching on fire… “Lando!”
He snaps out of it and moves the burgers away from the flames. "Shit!”
“You want me to take over?” I ask.
“No,” he snaps. “I got this.”
I give Ryker a look and he just shrugs. I think we all know what’s suddenly got our team captain absolutely distracted.
A few minutes later, he pulls all the meat off the grill, piles them up on a platter and announces the food is done before stalking away.
“Anybody gonna follow him?” I ask nobody in particular.
“Give him some space,” Ryker says, standing to wave the girls and kids over.
We all grab food and sit around the fire the guys built. All except Izzy who munches on raw carrots off to the side. The smell of anything with meat sends her into a hurling frenzy these days.
She and Rina are whispering to each other.
I turn to my half-siblings. “So… did you guys have fun today?”
Maddie nods enthusiastically through a bite of her hot dog. Parker plays with his hot dog like it’s some kind of light saber and eats only the bread. Cole, as always, ignores me. Eating nothing.
Surprisingly, so does Cassidy. She’s quietly thumbing through her kindle.
“What are you reading?” I ask her.
She jumps and shuts it off. “Uh… nothing.”
I cock my head. “Nothing? Nothing sure made you nervous just now.”
She gives me a blank stare.
“Nothing I want to tell you, Gaston!”
I laugh, totally getting the reference.
“Show me,” I urge her. “I like to read.”
Her face pales and she shakes her head. “Absolutely not.”
I make a mental note to sneak a peek later when she’s not looking.
“Who wants s’mores?” Fergie announces.
Libby opens a bag with all the ingredients and the kids jump up ready to claim a stick for their marshmallows.
We eat s’more’s as the sun drops below the horizon behind us leaving the ocean dark and the fire roars even brighter. But Keelan is still nowhere in sight.
“I think Parker’s about to pass out,” Cassidy says, rocking the little boy. “Should we head to the beach house?”
I nod. “Yeah, let’s pack up.”
Izzy and Ryker are holding hands on the beach and talking. I call out to them,“Hey! You guys know where Lando went?”
“He’s at the bar down the street,” Ryker says. “I think he needs some time to himself.”
“Time to himself? This is supposed to be a team thing. No way. We’re going.”
Ryker looks at Izzy and she nods. “You guys should go find him. I don’t want him to be alone. I’ll keep Cassidy and the kids company.”
Four hockey players walk into a beach bar.
That should be the start of a joke. But it’s not. We’re getting worried for our team captain. He’s not answering any texts and silencing our calls.
“There he is!” Fergie says, pointing to the dark-haired man in the corner, downing a shot.
We all stroll up to him. Ignoring the looks from the rest of the bar’s patrons.
“Hey, man,” Ryker drops into the stool next to him.
Keelan turns to look at him.
“Well if it isn’t my favorite people,” Keelan smiles and hiccups.
“You… okay?” Zane says, cozying up on the empty stool next to him.
“Nope,” Keelan says with a smile. “I feel like absolute shit.”
The alcohol must be working on him. Because this is the first time he admits to feeling anything tonight.
“Well, you shouldn’t be feeling like shit all alone,” I say. “Four shots of whatever he’s having,” I say to the bartender. “And a shot of water for our non-drinker.” I motion to Ryker.
He nods and lines up the glasses, pouring out some Johnny Walker.
“Whiskey–the drink of sadness,” I say, looking at Keelan. He just shrugs.
The bartender slides the glasses over and I hand him my card. “Put everything he’s ordered on my tab.”
The bartender looks at me. “You sure?”
I nod.
“And make that seven shots,” Rina’s voice says behind me.
I turn to find her with Kesley and… Cassidy.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“Libby and Izzy stayed with the kids since they’re both tired and can’t drink,” Kesley says.
“And Cassidy… is drinking with us,” Rina squeezes her shoulder.
I look at Cassidy. She can’t drink technically. But so far the bartender hasn’t asked for any IDs. And he’s already pouring the three extra shots.
Keelan stares at Rina. His eyes bouncing to the giant ring on her finger. She tucks her loose hair behind her ear with that same hand and then reaches for the three shots, handing them to the women.
“So, to what do we owe the pleasure of drinking?” Rina asks.
Fergie slaps me on the back. “To Hicks. And his last summer as a Heatwave player.”
“We don’t have to–”
“To Hicks!” Rina says, shoving her glass into the air. Everyone grabs one and we clink our glasses, small amounts of the liquor sloshing out of the tiny cups.
Everyone throws back the shots. I put mine to my lips but watch Cassidy. “You want a chaser there, Princess.”
Her eyebrows press together and she shakes her head, meeting my eyes as she throws it back.
I do the same and she watches me.
She does a great job of holding back her disgust. “Another round?”
The boys all cheer and Kesley walks up to the jukebox in the corner. “They have Earth, Wind & Fire!”
I shoot her glance. “What are you fifty? Let me pick something.”
She steps aside, rolling her eyes at me, and I pick something a little more recent with similar vibes.
Little Boo Thing by Paul Russell blasts from the speakers and everyone hoots and shuffles over to the dance floor. The other bar patrons join us too.
I watch as Rina and Kesley pull Cassidy reluctantly onto the dance floor with them.
“I’m gonna need more than one shot to do this,” Cassidy says
“Oh come on. How often do you get to go dancing at a beach bar?” Kesley says.
“I don’t go dancing at any bar,” she admits. But finally gives in and joins them swaying her hips and mimicking their moves.
She’s so fucking cute. It hurts.
The little shorts she’s wearing with her off-the-shoulder top and hair loose—she looks like a totally different girl.
And she’s not yours.
Shut up, conscience. I take another shot and join the group on the dance floor. One girl, who was eyeing me steps up and starts dancing on me.
“Hi,” she says, batting her lashes.
“Hi,” I say back with a smile.
“You look familiar,” she coos.
“And you look like trouble.”
She laughs and throws her hair back over her shoulder. And continues to dance on me.
Cassidy is dancing with Rina and Kesley and I watch as a tall guy with a baseball cap approaches her. He’s older. Probably in his thirties. And everything in me, stands at attention. I can’t focus on anything else.
He holds his hand out to her and she accepts it without a second thought.
Beach bunny over here puts her hands on her knees and tries to grind on me. I put my hands on her hips and hold her away. Because right now, all I see is a man dancing with Cassidy.
My Cassidy.
“Excuse me,” I say to the girl.
And she straightens up and throws her hands up,”Hey! What the fuck, man?”
I have tunnel vision. Nothing else around me exists except this asshole’s hands on my girl.
She’s not your girl.
He spins her and when she’s facing away from him, I grab her by the hips and pin her to me.
She looks at me flustered, “What are you doing?”
“Lesson number two,” I say, like I have some kind of plan. I glance back to the man whose now watching me. “Make him know what he’s missing.”
Her eyes widen and I spin her around so she’s facing away from me. The song changes to something a little more sensual and I welcome it.
I pull her closer to me and she leans into me. My hands trail up her body until one hands lands at her throat. I tug her to look up at me.
And when she does, I almost lose my shit. Her lips are parted. Cheeks red. Skin glistening. Chest heaving.
I want to kiss her so fucking bad. I lean in and trail my lips over the side of her neck and she lets out the softest of moans.
“Your boy’s watching. Should we give him a show?”
She swallows hard. I feel it against my hand still holding her throat.
I lick my lips and she turns to face me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“How about I give you a show instead?”
My eyes shoot up to meet hers. And a smirk pulls at the corner of those rosy lips.
“What?”
She drops her hands and pushes me away, turning and walking back up to the guy that was dancing with her.
He smiles as she walks up to him, stands on her tip toes, and pulls him by the neck, his lips touching hers.
He wraps his arms around her waist and leans into the kiss.
Her first kiss.
That fucker has no idea what he just did.
She breaks the kiss and turns to face me. Dancing on him like the girl was dancing on me earlier.
I’ll punch him. I’ll fucking sock him the first chance I get.
He didn’t even do anything.
He stole my kiss.
It wasn’t your kiss. It’s hers. Her choice.
My jaw locks and I turn to join Keelan at the bar.
“Welcome to heartbreak hotel,” he says, lifting up a beer.
“Is there any vacancy?” I hold up a finger and motion to the beer Keelan’s drinking.
“Always room for my friends,” Keelan says.
“Well, that’s just fucking sad.
He shrugs and looks over his shoulder to our friends enjoying their night. Kesley and Zane are dancing. Fergie and Rina are laughing at something. Cassidy is still dancing with Mr. Fuckboy.
He turns to me. “Are you okay?”
I grab the beer the bartender passes me and down half of it before answering, “Yep.”
Keelan smiles. “Bullshit. You’re so pissed.”
“She can kiss whoever she wants.”
“But you wish it was you,” Keelan swirls his finger in my face.
“Shut up.” I knock it away. “You’re the one who said I had to set boundaries. Well, here we are. Boundaries set. Feels amazing.”
I down the other half of my beer.
“If you really like her man, just fucking tell her.”
I look at my team captain. “What? That’s a very different tune than what you were singing earlier.”
He shrugs and looks up at the TV over our heads. “Life’s short.”
I look over at Cassidy and she’s moved on from cap guy and is now leaning on the jukebox looking for songs.
I breathe in deeply. Because I know deep down that if I do something. There’s no going back. I’m locking myself in.
“Fuck it,” I say, getting up from the bar stool and walking over to her.