Page 82 of Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge 1)

Bethany

Pierce hadn’t come back to Brianna and Gavin’s house yesterday. He’d ignored my messages and calls. When Brianna had asked me if Chase and I had had an argument, I’d broken out into a sweat and told her every detail about meeting Hunter. I’d become less anxious, but I’d been contrite. I was contrite. The long call Brianna and I had had with Mariska and Jake had concluded with a consensus: Chase had known that I’d spoken with Hunter.

Approaching the section of the beach where Chase often occupied, I peered at his beach chair and bag. My slacks were rolled up to my knees. I knew that this was not going to be a frolic in the sand, splashing water type of evening. I’d had no appetite and it was a miracle that the system accepted my entries at work today.

Chase propelled himself underneath the water aggressively. The waves were huge and collided against his solid body. He kept his head low and his speed enabled him to move in the direction he intended.

“Why can’t Hunter keep his hands off of you, Beth?” Chase shouted against the cool, loud air when he came out of the water like a modern-day Adonis. The contemptuous expression in his hazel eyes startled me. He looked like a completely different man. He reminded me of Hunter and the similarity made me feel nauseous.

“It’s not what you think,” I shouted back, a good ten feet from him. “It’s nothing.”

He barked out a cynical chuckle. “Nothing? And what should I think when I read a message that says ‘I’ll keep my hands to myself’?” His voice broke. The coldness slipped away momentarily, but then resurfaced.

“I spoke with him so I could understand why you shut me out.” I fought against the moisture welling up in my eyes.

He snarled. “You put yourself in danger and possibly others because I wouldn’t talk to you within your fucking timetable?”

I clenched my fists at my sides. “Oh, and had it slipped your fucking mind to tell me that Hunter is your twin brother?” I yelled back at him. My face was already wet and my heart constricted in my chest. My ears roared. “Looks like you were gonna tell me that fact, um, like fucking never!” I stalked over to him and pulled Hunter’s business card from inside my blouse pocket. “I fucked up. Big time. Okay? I should’ve told you that I saw him at the dealership in my town. I didn’t. I don’t know why Hunter cut your face. He won’t tell me. But I think he’s torn up about it. And let me take a wild guess…you won’t tell me why he did it either.” I pushed the card to his chest. “Take the card.” He carried it between his fingers. “I won’t be with you if you have one foot in and one foot out of our relationship.”

***

Voices filled the house when I entered. For a moment, I brought my head against the door and prepared myself to be polite and sociable. I had to be cordial with Cassidy. This was her house also.

My satchel hit the floor when I went into the kitchen. Cindy was sitting by the island with her pretty face swollen and filled with tears. She must have lost ten or fifteen pounds since I’d last seen her. First Brianna had cried on Saturday. I’d shed tears like a baby less than an hour ago, and now Cindy looked like she was in complete distress. My first instinct was to comfort her and listen to what had happened, but I fought against it. This wasn’t like the old times.

“I’ll be upstairs,” Aunt Deborah said, and gave me a hug. Nancy acknowledged me with a sympathetic lift of her mouth before she left the kitchen as well. Uncle Anton must have been waiting for Aunt Deborah upstairs. I took in Cindy’s loose ponytail, her sports shirt, and sweats, and I almost gasped. She looked like most of the moms I’d seen in school when I was little. She wasn’t dolled up.

“I knew Anton would take good care of you,” she said through tears.

“Mom,” I said, and Cindy didn’t correct me or look irritated by the word like I thought she would be, “how are you?” Frankly, I didn’t care if she didn’t like the word.

Her dark blue eyes peered into mine. “I’ve had better days.”

“Same here,” I said. “And where’s Mr. Baxter?”

Choking up, Cindy stretched her arms out to me, but as hard as it was for me to see her hurting I stood my ground. She wasn’t the only one hurting, and she hadn’t come back for me, or missed me. Like always, she had someone to release her from her responsibility. It wasn’t Mrs. Muldoon, or Mrs. Landry, or Mrs. Cox now. It’d been Uncle Anton and Aunt Deborah who had been there for me more than she had in a while. I didn’t think Cindy considered how she affected other people. I was happy to be in the same room as her, and in the back of my peanut-sized brain, I hoped that she’d feel compelled to rebuild our relationship. A mother-daughter one. And in this moment I wanted nothing else but to go to Chase. But could I still rely on him when he wouldn’t let me shoulder some of what he’d gone through? Was still going through?

“He’s in Franklin Parks,” she responded faintly.

“With his wife and kids?”

Her forceful blink was all the answer I needed. I picked up my satchel and left Cindy with her broken heart.

***

Pierce came to my cubicle when I was about to start lunch the next day. Strands of his light and dark blond hair fell in his face. I followed him out of the office and into the lobby.

“Noodles.” He swung his arm around me and I linked my arm around his waist. “Bri brought me up to speed this morning on everything. I had no fucking clue that Chase had a twin brother.”

We separated from each other and looked out into the distance at the beautiful clear blue waters. “And that doesn’t get to you? You’re his best friend.”

“Nah, it doesn’t. But I get that you should have known that he had a twin brother.” He sighed and took my hands, swinging them back and forth like when we were kids. “When we became friends, I realized real quick that he wasn’t gonna tell me his life story. And because of that, when Chase said that he wanted to date you, I was afraid that he’d hold out.”

I nodded. “We texted each other good morning. I know we both lashed out yesterday.”

“And you texted Hunter? That’ll lead to another argument between you and Chase. After Hunter manhandled you?”

“I’ve forgiven him for getting a little aggressive. Hunter wasn’t gonna hurt me. He needs to see Chase.”

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