Page 70 of When We Were Reckless
When I checked my text messages this morning, I saw what had prompted him to come over last night.
I’d sent him long paragraphs, reminiscing about my childhood summers. Talk about embarrassing.
Like the time I was eight, and I’d been messing around on a penny board on the pool deck. Trying to show off for Jesse, of course, who had just turned up to hang out with my brothers and their friends.
I’d fallen and scraped my palms and knees. Jesse had been the one to clean my bruises and bandage them up because Mason, Holden, and their friends had been drinking beer. My parents were at work and had left my brothers in charge. Big mistake.
Afterward, Jesse had taken me for ice cream and sweet-talked the girl behind the counter into letting me choose just about every flavor they had.
“If it was that easy, I would have done it years ago,” I told Evie. “And maybe…” I rolled my head on the back of the seat to look at her. “What if I don’t want to forget about him?”
What if I can’t forget about him?
Evie frowned. “As much as I hate to side with Fuck-a-duck Declan….”
I snort-laughed. “Fuck-a-duck Declan?” I offered her the bowl of grapes in my hand. She plucked out a few grapes and tossed them into her mouth.
“Declan has a point, babe.”
I knew that, but I hated to admit it.
A small cry drew our attention to Wren, asleep on the lounge chair under the shade of the umbrella. Instinctively, Evie’s arm shot out just as Wren flipped from the spread-eagle position on her back to her stomach.
Wren tucked her legs underneath her tiny body and shoved her thumb in her mouth, sucking on it like she needed another fix. Her eyes rolled back in her head before they drifted shut again. She was so pretty, so much like her big sister with her dark ringlets and long lashes, her cheeks rosy from the heat. So worn out from our morning swimming session.
After Evie made sure Wren was okay, she grabbed the tube of sunscreen off the round table next to Wren and returned to her seat. Squeezing some into her palm, she applied it to her face and shoulders, bronzed from the sun. Evie looked like a Greek goddess in her black bikini. Even with her dark hair in a messy bun on top of her head and the kohl eyeliner smudged under her cat-green eyes, she was stunning. Sexy in a way I’d never be. If she weren’t my best friend, I might be jealous.
“Okay,” she said, slipping on a pair of oversized black sunglasses to ward off the glare of the sun. “Let’s go with option number three. If you stick to the plan, I know you can pull this off.”
“This I’d love to hear.” After checking the time on my phone, I settled back in my seat and closed my eyes, soaking up the afternoon rays. I still had an hour before I needed to get ready for work.
Plenty of time to come up with a new plan of action.
“Fuck him out of your system.”
I turned my head and cracked one eye open. “Fuck him out of my system? What does that even mean?”
“Just tell yourself it’s for this summer and this summer only. If you’re going to obsess over him, you might as well get something out of it. Then, when the time comes to go to California, I wantyouto be the one to walk away from him. Leave him wanting more. And I can guarantee that by the time you’re gone, he’s going to realize what he’s lost, and he’s going to regret it.Bigtime.”
I kind of liked the sound of this plan.
“You’re special, Quinn. And if he can’t see that he’s a bigger idiot than I thought. I won’t stand by and watch him hurt you. But I will help you come up with a way to avoid that.”
This was one of the many reasons I loved Evie. She acted tough, okay, so maybe it wasn’t an act… She was tough and strong. But she was loyal to a fault and had the biggest heart.
“So… there’s more to this plan?”
“This is the most important part,” she cautioned. “If he comes for you and tries to win you back, slap him down. Don’t take him back until he earns it. We’re talking about somemajorgroveling here. And even then, unless he’s ready to declare his undying love and fall on the sword for you, he doesn’t deserve you.”
I popped another grape into my mouth, mulling over her cunning plan.
Hope stirred inside of me. This could actually work. It was all about adopting a different mindset. I’d just have to think of it as a summer fling. I’d get what I wanted from Jesse, and then I’d head to California to live out my dreams.
I’d be daring and brave and adventurous, and I’d call all the shots. “You’re like an evil mastermind, you know that?”
She shrugged one slender shoulder. “Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen.”
My brows lifted. “Is that what you’re doing with Ridge?”
