Page 6 of Backroom Boy
I nodded and got off the bike. “Yes, it is. Good job.”
Pulling the key out of my pocket I walked to the pool house, ignoring her angry stance.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.You’rethe guy Daddy rented the pool house to?”
My back was to her, the key in the lock, but her comment hit me like a kick to the balls. The disdain in her voice made me feel like I’d snap in two, a firecracker ready to explode.
“Don’t worry. I won’t rob you, princess.” The words poured like venom from my mouth.
I may have been from a small town. I may have been dirt poor compared to her, but I wasn’t going to let her make me feel bad about who I was. I was a good guy, just looking for experience so I could make a difference in the world. If I’d wanted to harm her or rob her, I’d have pounced last night when we were all alone and she wasn’t exactly at her best.
With that I entered my new apartment and shut the door. I locked it too, just to drive home my point that maybe I should be more worried about her. She was, after all, the one who’d been walking around inebriated last night. Not me.
I threw my keys down and walked to the kitchen to grab some water. Anything to cool down the hot temper that flared when that girl looked down her pretty nose at me. When the water didn’t cut it and I still felt that lava flowing through my veins, I went into my room to change into shorts and a beat-up rock concert T-shirt that had seen better days. Dante and I had gone into San Jose our junior year of high school and saw our favorite band, Blue Is the Color. We’d had so much fun we were willing to part with almost fifty bucks apiece for official concert shirts.
Stepping back out of the pool house, I looked both ways but didn’t see any sign of Delta. I went around back and jumped down the short retaining wall to a clear patch of dirt beneath a huge cedar tree. I’d seen it out my bedroom window last night and wondered just how old it had to be to have grown that big. I put my portable speaker down and connected it to my phone.
When Nick Fletcher sang the first line, I started a round of burpees to get warmed up. Then push-ups, followed by lunges, pistol squats, and pull-ups from the lowest branch of the tree. I got lost in the music, lost in the lyrics and the way my muscles and lungs screamed at me. The smell of the cedar and grapes all around me was something new and exciting. I tossed my shirt off and let the sweat wash away the stress of the day. Everything felt possible again as the anger left my system. I was just finishing with some ab exercises in between sets of burpees when Delta showed up.
She ran down the same path I’d found her on last night, this time in the tiniest pair of shorts that hadn’t quite crossed the line to a bikini and a sports bra with a bazillion straps. She had headphones in, her ponytail swinging with each step. I knew the minute she saw me. Her steps faltered and kicked up a little puff of dust.
She smiled big and ran over, popping her headphones out. My blood cooled a bit, my guard going up the closer she got. She had a killer body, a huge distraction from the bullshit that came out of her mouth. It pissed me off that my own body responded to seeing hers. I’d been aware of her at all times today and it drove me nuts. I shouldn’t like her. She was nothing like me, and getting mixed up with the boss’s daughter was never advised.
“Hey, Lukas,” she said on an exhale.
Her eyes looked blue right then against her royal blue top. Even the shimmer of sweat on her forehead only served to make her look hotter.
“Hey,” I answered back lamely.
Her gaze swept down my chest and stayed there, making me acutely aware of how little I wore at the moment.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked, still looking at my chest.
My hand came up and swiped across my chest before I could stop it. She’d literally just insulted me an hour ago and now she was checking me out? This girl was hot and cold.
I hooked a thumb over my shoulder to the shirt and speaker lying on the ground. “Working out, same as you.”
She nodded and then looked up at my face, her cheeks redder than when she’d first approached. “I see that. Um, did you forget shoes?”
I looked down at my bare feet, now caked with dirt. “Nah. Who needs shoes when you have feet?”
She wrinkled her nose at that. Her face then cleared so quickly I almost missed the disdain. “I met Nick one time.”
“Huh?”
She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and stood straighter. “Nick Fletcher. The lead singer of the band you’re listening to. My daddy got us backstage passes for my sixteenth birthday party. Back before Nick got married.”
A warmth started up in my chest even as I tried to bat it away. She knew my favorite band. Not only knew who they were but liked them.
“Yeah, my best friend, Dante, and I went to see them in San Jose about four years ago. I’ve loved them ever since.”
She smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. Suddenly I wanted her to stay. The prospect of a long evening here by myself with nothing to do but study didn’t seem so appealing.
“So what are you doing out here?”
Her easy smile turned sarcastic as she broke our gaze and stared out over the vineyards. “I’m bored, Lukas, so I went for a run. I’m just a bored, rich girl looking for some excitement. If that’s not a cliché, I don’t know what is.”
I smirked, liking her even more for acknowledging how privileged she was. “You could pick up a hobby. Donate your time. Take a summer class. Read a good book.”
