Page 17 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
“In that case, not interested.” He backed away, spun on his heel, and strode toward the front door where freedom beckoned.
“Coward,” I called after him.
He lifted his middle finger in the air and waved it like a flag as he marched out the front door.
Laughing, I sagged against the lockers.
“What was all that about?” Quinn asked, her eyes ping-ponging from the front door to me.
“Nothing.” I took a few steadying breaths and tried to calm my racing pulse. “It’s just a little game we play.”
She arched her brows. and then she smiled. “Interesting.”
I shrugged. “Not really.” But it made the school days more interesting. So I’d give him that. “Don’t worry. You’re still my number one. Can I interest you in a burger and shake?”
She grinned. “As long as I get the best waitress at the diner.”
“You mean Amber, right?”
Quinn laughed. We linked arms and walked out the door into the bright sunshine.
Some days life didn’t completely suck.
CHAPTERSIX
Ridge
I passedEnglish and all my other subjects.Just barely. Didn’t matter how close I came to failing. What mattered was that I passed the eleventh grade, and I did it all on my own.WithoutEvie’s help.
Next year I would return for my senior year to dominate the football field. It was the only thing that really mattered to me. Football.
In the meantime, it was summer vacation. While I was busy partying and working for my uncle Patrick at his construction company, Brody was falling in love with the rock star who had rented out the guesthouse on his ranch.
Not just any rock star. Shiloh Leroux. As in, the former lead singer of Acadian Storm. Shiloh was cool, though. Genuine and more down to earth than you’d expect from one of the hottest rock stars on the planet.
It was the first Saturday in June, and the McCallisters were celebrating my aunt Kate’s 60that a BBQ joint. If there was any doubt that we were in Texas, the Lone Star maps and pennants on the wood-paneled walls served as a reminder.
All twelve of us were seated at one long table, packed like sardines. The McCallisters loved family gatherings. Everyone, that is, except for Gideon and me. Me, because I’d spent the first sixteen years of my life thinking I was an only child with no other family, and I still wasn’t sure where I fit in, if at all.
And Gideon because he was Gideon. A slick New Yorker dressed in designer black with a watch on his wrist that probably cost more than Brody’s truck. Gideon looked like he belonged in this roadside BBQ shack as much as Brody belonged with a rock star. But here we were. One big happy dysfunctional family.
I didn’t have a Texan drawl or any shared memories.
I was tied to this family by blood, but I was an outsider.
So the conversation was going on around me and I was wondering how long I’d have to endure this family dinner when two things happened simultaneously.
Number one. Two girls squealed when they spotted Shiloh and barged into our family dinner, wielding their phones like weapons.
Number two. Evie walked into the BBQ joint with some guy who looked like Kurt Cobain’s younger, undead twin. He also looked like he needed a shower, twenty Big Macs, and a punch in the face. The punch in the face was for the way his arm was draped around her shoulders, and his lips were locked on hers.
I repeat, his lips were on hers.
Why was she kissing that douchebag? I didn’t even know him but I took an instant dislike and was gripped by an insane urge to stride across the restaurant and rip her away from him.
She saw me. Of course, she did. I was hard to miss, since I was standing next to Brody, facing the two fangirls, and blocking their view of Shiloh.
“Hey, Ridge,” the brunette in front of me said. “You never mentioned that you knew Shiloh Leroux.”
