Page 7 of Grudge Puck
The shop's bells jangled as two young men opened the door. I raised my eyebrow at the sight of the stylish men in sunglasses. Both were tall and well-built and fashionably-dressed.
These two didn't look like our normal clientele. I wondered if maybe their girlfriends had sent them? One of the boys in particular seemed to have a familiar air about him. I couldn't quite place it, but as the two walked up to the counter, the feeling that Iknewhim grew stronger and more undeniable.
Maybe I just wish I knew him,I thought, biting my lip at the sight of his bulging muscles.
His chino shorts were salmon-pink and ended a good two or three inches above his knee—treating the world to a sneak-peek of his deliciously round and muscular thighs.
Damn, he's built.
His billowy heather-gray shirt fluttered in the draft that followed him in. The sheer shirt was half-way see-through. And thank God for that, because when his shirt caught the sunlightjustright, the ridges of his hard, carved torso and mountainous pecs showed right through.
Uh. Yum.
They approached. But something about familiar-boy's cocky, perfect smile was deeply unsettling—because, strangely, that smile was the most familiar thing about him. I squinted into his opaque metallic shades, wondering about the eyes behind them.
Do I know you?
“Hi!” I said, forcing a cheer through my suspicion. I kept my eyes trained on him. “Welcome to Velvet Bakery.”
“Hey,” the other guy said first.
“Hey there,” familiar-boy said. “Wait a minute—aren't you—”
And then he pulled off his metallic shades and revealed those tenacious, slate-gray eyes.
And my guts twisted and knotted as my attraction turned to revulsion and horror.
Oh. My. God.
The theme of the day was high school flashbacks, apparently. First Iwantedit, with thePixies.Butnow Ididn'twant it, withBeau Bradford.
And I felt sick to my stomach that Ialmostthought he was hot a second ago.
“Rach?” Beau said with a shit-eating grin. “Rachel, is that really you?”
Piper sidled next to me. I could tell by the way she elegantly glided to the counter that she thought these two guys were hot as hell. If only she knew!
“I think you boys got the wrong girl,” Piper teased, adopting a Southern drawl for reasons that only Piper could know. She coquettishly flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I reckon there's no Rachel here.”
I gritted my teeth with embarrassment.
“No,” Beau said arrogantly, shaking his finger at me. “No, I'm pretty sure this is Rachel Kennedy. Apollo High School, St. Cloud Minnesota.”
“… And this is Beau Bradford,” I mumbled, staring daggers at my old arch-nemesis.
“Huh?” Piper dropped the accent and shot me an investigative look. “Wait, who's Rachel?”
“I am,” I admitted with a sigh. “Camille's my middle name. I always hated the name Rachel.”
Beau back-handed his buddy's chest and mumbled. “Oh, that's right, she goes by Camille now. I forgot.”
I knew this was all an act, that this run-in wasnota chance encounter.
I said to Piper, “I've been going by Camille ever since middle school,butsomepeople are apparently too meat-headed to remember simple facts.”
“Wow, so you've known this guy since middle school?” Piper mumbled as she ran her eyes up and down Beau's muscular body.
“Unfortunately,” I answered. And I didn't take my eyes off Beau either, but for different reasons entirely: you can't ever trust a snake.
