Page 71 of Resting Beach Face
My sister didn’t need to ask what I meant by that. She grabbed her phone and her purse and followed me out of the house.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Cookout at Sawyer’s.”
She pulled a face. “Haven’t I been punished enough for one night?”
“Very funny. Don’t worry, his boyfriend does the grilling now.”
Her eyes lit up. “The food boat guy? Benny and I stopped there last week, and he made the best tacos.”
I smirked. “You should tell Ash that when we get there.”
Ash hated that people seemed to appreciate his tacos more than some of his more creative inventions, and I was a shit-stirrer, so I couldn’t wait to see his reaction. They were damn good tacos, though.
“He’s really cute too,” Kat said.
I chuckled. “And you should tellSawyerthat.”
There was nothing I enjoyed more than getting under Sawyer’s skin. We’d always been like that. We were oil and water, usually on opposing sides of most arguments, but somehow our friendship worked. For a while, Fisher was convinced I wanted to date Sawyer, but that stupid kiss had put that question to bed. We hadzerochemistry.
Besides, he only wanted Ash, and I only wanted…a man I couldn’t have. Yeah, I was screwed. I knew Declan wouldn’t necessarily invite me to jerk off for him every day just because he had once. But I’d hoped for, I don’t know, maybe more kisses? An acknowledgment that we could turn this connection between us into something more before it was too late.
But maybe it was already too late. The man was leaving town. It didn’t get much more hopeless than that.
Sawyer’s place wasn’t a long walk. We cut through the Swallow Cove Park and came in behind the oddball collection of campers and RVs at the LandShark Retreat. If I were to move out of our house, I’d most likely end up in a place like this.
Swallow Cove had mansions in the hills, moderate houses and rentals farther inland—in short supply and all occupied by long-term residents—and campers aplenty. A lot of tourists bought them, thinking they wanted the lake life, only to decide they’d made a mistake and sell them to locals for a steal.
A steal was still beyond me when I was helping my mom maintain a mortgage, cover utilities, groceries, and other needs. Not to mention, Kat needed me at home as a buffer.
“What’s going on with Benny, anyway?” I asked Katelyn as we wound between trailers. “Why was Dad giving you grief?”
She huffed. “Why does he ever? He’s mean when he’s drunk, which is like all the time.”
I slung an arm over her shoulder and tugged her close. “So nothing happened with your guy?”
She leaned into me. “He’s texting with some girl he says is just a friend. I shouldn’t have told Dad. It was stupid.”
“Need me to kick Benny’s ass?”
She giggled. “As if you could. He’s a linebacker.”
“Yeah, yeah, but I was a pitcher for the baseball team.”
“Which means what?”
“I can bean him in the head with a baseball.”
She laughed some more, which was the goal, and by the time we entered the clearing in front of Sawyer’s teardrop camper, we were both more relaxed. It wasn’t easy living in a toxic environment, and Katelyn got to escape it a lot less than me.
“Hey, it’s both the Hicks sibs!” Fisher called.
“Hey, everyone,” Katelyn said, waving. “Sorry to crash the party.”
“No, this is great,” Poppy said, smiling from her spot at the picnic table. “I’m always outnumbered by the guys.”
Katelyn and I joined Poppy at the table, across from Fisher, Brooks, and Skylar. Ash was working the grill, sending a delicious barbecue scent drifting across the yard.
