Chapter 10
ten
. . .
Colin
Isat on one of the lounges. The day had cleared to a blue sky.
No waves again. A flock of gulls were bobbing on the flat tide waiting for fish to swim past. Ace had gone back to bed in a grumpy mood, and his sister had disappeared into her room.
I was left on my own again, and frankly, I was enjoying it.
My phone rang. It was Ronan. "Where are you at?" he asked.
"I left you a note. I'm at Ace's beach house."
"Is that what your scribble said? So, I've got the place to myself? Rachel and I haven't had any alone time for a few weeks, and I'm planning to—"
"Yeah, I get the picture. Have at it. I'll be here for maybe a week. About all I can take of Ace." As I said it the sliding door opened. I sat up worried that Ace had heard me, but it was Sadie. "Fuuck," I muttered.
"Fuck what?" Ronan asked. "Wait, that sounded like a hot babe alert reaction. Guess you guys are already filling that place with women."
"Nope, just the one, and I'm going to go. Have fun." I hung up. Sadie was wearing a white bikini. Her golden-brown skin was smooth as silk. Everything about her stole my breath. "Uh, this lounge is free," I said lamely.
"You mean there's not an invisible person sitting on it?"
"I guess that was what they call stating the obvious. I was hoping the popular girl in class would sit next to me."
She laughed lightly as she put her towel on the lounge. "I was never popular. I was a rebel. Teachers hated me, and I think most of my classmates did, too. Couldn't stand them. I was the oddball sister of the three Rivers brothers—all popular, all jocks and all beloved by staff and students alike."
She put on dark sunglasses, stretched her legs out on the lounge and then, without warning, lifted her arms for a real stretch.
I held my breath until she lowered her arms. There were a few more tattoos, all in just the right places, places I wanted to put my mouth.
I wiped that dirty vision from my head. This was Ace's sister.
It would figure the first woman to really catch my attention in a year was the sister of my best friend.
"I'm kind of missing the sweatshirt," I said.
Her smile was always guarded and slightly crooked. I liked it. She turned toward me and lifted the glasses. Those blue eyes could knock any man senseless. "Is that some kind of commentary on the way I look in a bathing suit?"
I was so tossed off balance by her presence it took me a second to comprehend her meaning. "What? Hell no. Glad you left the jacket behind." I was jabbering like an idiot.
She lifted her glasses again. It was almost as if she knew her blue gaze was making my head spin. "I don't see it."
"See what?"
"Ace told me you were one of those guys who just had to sneeze, and the women came running with their handkerchiefs and pots of chicken soup. Said you were smooth as slick ice with the ladies."
"Yeah, well, Ace is full of shit." I leaned back and closed my eyes before I made a bigger ass of myself.
"You don't have to tell me that."
A small shadow fell over me, then a splash followed. I opened my eyes. Sadie swam to the deep end and reached up to hang off the diving board. "Water's great," she said.
Was that an invite? Was she flirting with me? Why the hell couldn't I tell if she was flirting with me? I'd never had a problem with my flirt radar before. This was one complicated woman. Come on, dude, you're fucking Colin Wilde.
I got up, walked to the pool and dove in.
I surfaced. She was still hanging on the diving board.
She released it and sank down to the drain, then pushed off and headed my way.
She popped up right in front of me. Soaking wet, she was even more incredible.
Water beaded on her long lashes and on her bottom lip.
She caught me staring at that lip and lathed her tongue across it. "Salty," she said.
"So I've noticed. Ace told me you traveled all over the world. Pretty cool. Where was your favorite place?"
She laughed.
"I know, original question that I'm sure you hear all the time."
"Yep." She took off and swam to the other end. "Iceland. It's like you're on another planet, and we traveled around on horseback."
"Ah, on those famous gaited ponies. Are they fun to ride?"
"Like riding on a couch. Way better than a quarter horse or thoroughbred. Far less ass thumping." She swam back to me. "You ride?"
"My dad has horses, so yeah, I ride. No formal training but I could hold my own in the cowboy world."
Her laugh was slightly gritty and definitely sexy. "Got yourself a black hat, I'll bet."
"Of course. You should come ride sometime." The words just popped out.
"Colin Wilde, are you asking me out on a date?"
"Uh, I believe I asked you to come out and ride. Not sure if that counts as a date."
"Hmm too bad. I probably would have said yes to a date.
Still, I'd love to get back on a horse. But as you well know, I've got a few things happening in my life right now that make everything a little complicated.
" She put her arm around my neck and jumped playfully into my arms like we always did as kids in a pool where gravity wasn't a thing.
She kicked her legs gently up and down, and I carried her around.
"Exactly what is it that's going on in your very interesting life where you need to do things like steal sweatshirts and hide from literal beasts?"
She dropped her head back and let her short white hair soak up the pool water before popping her head back up. "I'm not sure if Gregor's literally a beast, but I guess he's about as close as a human could come to it. But I can't talk about it."
"Aha, very secretive. Well then, I'm going to theorize." She lowered her legs, and we sat on the seat in the deep end.
"This, by the way, is the mermaid rock," she said. "I used to keep my legs pinned together and swim through the water like a mermaid. Then I'd come to rest right here, so consider yourself very privileged."
"Feeling like a big shot. Now, about my theory—"
Sadie ran her hand over the surface of the water. "Go ahead, you'll never guess."
"I think you and that camera of yours got into something—something you weren't supposed to see or witness. You took a picture, and now Gregor and, I guess, Buck are after you to get that photo before you make it public."
Sadie stared at me. "So, you're not just pretty and empty-headed. You've actually got a brain. Nice combo, if you can get it."
"You aren't going to confirm, are you? I'll take it as a win since you have decided I'm not just pretty to look at."
"You're definitely that."
The screen door slid open briskly. "Hey, Sadie, Dad's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."
"That fucking little bastard," Sadie hissed. "I don't need to talk to him," she snapped.
Ace said something into the phone. "He said if you want to stay at the beach house, you need to talk to him. He wants to know what's going on."
I was starting to think even a week with Ace would be too long. Ever since he won that contest, the one where I crashed, he'd become quite the asshole.
Sadie pushed off the step and swam across the pool.
Ace held the phone, waiting for her to dry off, which she took her time doing.
Then she dropped her towel over her shoulder and walked toward him.
He held out the phone, but she sashayed right past him holding up her middle finger. She disappeared inside.
Ace said something to his dad and then hung up. I climbed out of the pool and was drying off when I felt Ace behind me.
"Hey, that was uncool," I said to him. "I don't know anything about your family dynamics but—"
"That's right, you don't. You don't know what it's like to be in a real family because you grew up in chaos."
I stared at him. "Well fuck, that's nice. Guess I'm outta here." I grabbed my towel. Ace moved to block my path.
"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you, Ace?"
"That's my sister. No Wilde is ever going to have my sister. Got it?"
"What are you? Her keeper or something? We were just swimming. But I guess I know how you really feel about me. Now get out of my way because I'm not going to fight you."
"Are you scared?" he asked.
I stepped closer. We were close in size, but he wasn't a match for me.
Like he'd said a million times, I was a Wilde.
I grew up in chaos, and chaos was real good at teaching you how to fight.
"I'm not going to hit you because I will lose my spot on the team and your leather-loafered dad probably has his asshole lawyer on speed dial.
See, that's what growing up a Wilde teaches you.
That some pricks just aren't worth swollen knuckles.
" I stepped past him but not before clashing shoulders with the asshole.
I reached the glass door just as Sadie was heading out, her backpack on her shoulder and my sweatshirt tied around her waist.
"Need a ride? I'm going, too," I said.
"Good decision. Nah, I've got a car. Take care, Wilde. You're all right." She walked out.
I hadn't brought much, so it was easy to pack up.
I grabbed my surfboard from the side of the house and carried it down to the end of the driveway where I'd parked my truck.
I tossed everything in the bed and climbed in.
Something told me I was going to be on the shit end of this with the team.
After all, Ace was the reigning champ, and I was the guy who tore the crap out of his knee just moments before winning the title.
Not sure my luck could have gone any worse last season, except now it was probably going to go further south.
"Shit, Ronan and Rachel—" I called my brother.
"What?" Ronan answered grumpily.
"How could you be mad already? I haven't even told you the bad news. I'm on my way home, so your romantic alone time just got wiped out. But I'll find some way to make myself scarce."
"Too late. Z is here. He and Nev had a fight, so he's cooling off over here. And Jameson is coming up to borrow your bike. His has a flat, and he's taking Rio out on a bike ride."
"Full house then. Guess your plans are history."
Ronan sighed. "Story of my life. Why you coming home already?"
"I'll tell you when I get there. Later."
I pulled out of the driveway and spotted a head of white hair walking down the sidewalk. I rolled past a small car that had quite obviously had all its tires slashed. I slowed and lowered my window.
"Sure you don't need a ride?"
Sadie huffed loudly, dropped her pack down to her arm and climbed into the passenger seat where she collapsed into a heap of sobs.