2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

JET

Work along the beach was slow today. I knew it was because of the dark clouds hovering overhead. Weather like this made the few early tourists nervous to venture out into the water, and most locals just put off going to the beach for another day. Glancing out the window, I could tell part of the storm had already started in the distance, making me wonder how much longer until it reached over here.

My thoughts fell back to last night, trying to figure out how the cops could have known to check the exact strip of beach Corey had chosen to set up for the prom afterparty. He had a few spots he rotated between, and we’d never been bothered down there before. Maybe it’s time to rotate another one into the mix…

A series of thuds sounded against the oak floorboards across the store, and I looked up from the stack of invoices I was going over to spot Megan’s sister Katy scrambling to pick up an assortment of sunscreen she’d knocked to the floor .

“Sorry, Jet. I was straightening the shelves, and when I dropped one, they ricocheted.”

“All good. It happens.” I headed around the front counter to go lend her a hand. “Why don’t you go ahead and head out before the rain hits? We’re practically dead.” I grabbed a handful of bottles to set them back on the shelf, and she passed me the last two.

“Really? You don’t mind? Cuz I could stay and help.” She put her hands on her hips, and her elbow sent a few flip flops flying from a neighboring rack. “Crap.” She bent to pick them up.

I didn’t know whether to grimace or laugh. Megan had asked me to hook her sister up with a job here at Riptide. Which was fine. But the girl was clumsy. I’d been picking up more shifts here lately, too, in place of working at my dad’s shop, wanting to respect how Annie felt about me working with Ruby, the new girl my dad hired a couple of months back. It wasn’t a big deal working less at the shop since I’d finished training her, but now, I was right back into training another employee with Katy.

I helped her pick up the shoes and grimaced when she almost backed into the wall of surfboards. “It’s fine. There’s not much to help with today.”

“Yeah, it is kind of dead in here. Can I use the phone to call Megan for a ride? Mine died.”

“Sure, have at it.” I motioned to the phone by the register. “Or do you need to use mine for her number?”

“Nah, I know it.”

I followed her back to the front counter and had just picked up the invoices again when Katy set down the receiver. “Um. So, I might need your phone after all. I just blanked. ”

Smirking, I pulled it from my pocket and spotted a text I’d missed.

Mom: Can you check on your cousin today when you get off ? I’m worried.

I sighed, swiping through my password and pulling up Megan’s number before handing it over to Katy.

“Here.”

“Thanks.” She stepped off to the side to make the call, and I tapped my fingers absently on the counter, my thoughts now on that text and how I was going to deal with Nic. Something had definitely been up his ass this morning.

Archer and Colton had talked us out into the backyard pretty early, our asses dead and dragging after the late party last night, and we were in the middle of teaching Nic American football when he’d walked over to the fence to take a call. My jaw set thinking about how things went down after that…

“Heads up!” Colton threw the ball to Nic when he hung up, and he practically snarled when he barely managed to snatch it from the air in time.

“Not now.” He pushed it into my stomach before storming inside. I’d bit back my own retort, watching the boys exchange confused looks at Nic’s sudden mood shift.

“I’m sure he just got a bad call,” I told them. “We’ll get him to play later. Go long, Archer.” I pulled my arm back.

It had worked to distract them, and when I went inside to get ready for work, I found Nic scowling as he poured over something on his laptop in the living room.

“Bad work call?” I leaned over the back of the couch to ask.

“Does it matter? ”

My brow raised at his tone. “You don’t have to be a dick. I can deal, but Archer and Colton sure didn’t deserve it.” I motioned to where they were still playing outside.

“Yeah, well, I live to disappoint, right?”

My brow furrowed, thrown by that one. “I don’t know. Do you?”

Nic shut his computer with an irritated grunt and gave me a look. “Apparently. But I guess we can’t make everyone happy, right? Life’s a bitch and all that. I’ll try not to be a dick all the time.”

“I didn’t say it was all the time. What the hell’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” he grated just as Mom came into the room. She held out my phone.

“Jet, Emma called. You left this in the kitchen.”

“Thanks.” I took it, dropping it into my pocket as Mom turned to Nic.

“Nic, honey, would you mind going to pick up your…” Mom paused, her eyes closing as she touched her fingers to her temple. My brow furrowed, about to check on her when she shook her head. “Sorry. Just got a little dizzy for a moment. I feel like I’m running on fumes after waiting for y’all to get home last night.” She gave me a stern look, and I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Anyway.” She looked back at Nic. “Will you pick up Harper from her friend’s house? I hate driving your uncle’s car, and he’s in the middle of changing the oil on mine right now.”

Nic shot up, tossing his laptop to the couch, and grabbed the keys off the hook. “Sure. Anything Aunt Helen wants, Aunt Helen gets, right? Forget anyone else’s plans. Text me the damn address. And you’re going to be late for work, Jet. Get moving,” he snapped, slamming the door behind him .

Mom and I had exchanged confused looks, and I filled her in on what I could before taking off for a shower.

It had to be something with that phone call. It was the stuff at the end about my mom that didn’t make sense.

Katy came over, pulling me from my thoughts. “Thanks.” She held out my phone, and I set it down on the counter. “Who’s Ruby? She tried to call while I was on the phone.”

“Oh, just someone I work with at my dad’s shop.”

“Ah, cool.” Katy grabbed her purse off the shelf behind the register and dug around to pull out some gum. She held out the pack, offering me a piece, but I waved it off.

“Remember to clock out,” I told her as she popped a piece in her mouth.

“Oh, right.” Her eyes widened as she darted to the back alcove by the office, and I flipped my phone over as it buzzed with a text.

Ruby: What’s up? Haven’t seen you at work lately.

Me: Working down at Riptide today. Bored as hell. It’s dead. You?

Ruby: Heading down to the beach with Shelby and Gio in a minute.

Me: With the weather?

Ruby: Gio’s convinced it’s supposed to clear up after lunch.

Me: I doubt it.

Ruby: I know, but maybe. We’ll probably get food first, give it some time. Maybe we’ll swing around your end.

Me: Smart. Breaker Ridge beaches beat that shit y’all have in Outer Ridge any day.

Ruby: Is that supposed to be a burn? Cuz it can’t hurt if it’s true. Ours suck compared to yours .

Me: Still think it’s gonna rain.

Ruby: Tell it to my cousin. We’re heading out. Talk later. Have fun at work.

Me: Later.

I looked up as Katy came back out. “Took you a while.”

“Yeah, the computer and I had words. Turns out I kept typing in my number wrong. Thought I was going crazy. Oh, and fair warning, Megan’s probably gonna be in a bad mood when she gets here. If she comes in.” She hopped onto the stool behind the other end of the counter, slipped off, and hopped up again, almost knocking a picture down.

I turned to face her. “Why will Megan be in a bad mood?”

“Cuz her boyfriend’s in the slammer.”

I nearly dropped my phone. “What? Why?”

She popped a shoulder. “He got busted with drugs at the party last night.”

“What?” My brow jumped up.

“Yep.” Katy smacked her gum. “She’s planning on dumping him, too, which, I mean, finally . I know y’all are friends, but I never liked him. David was hot , though…”

Her prattling became white noise as I took that in, trying to think back to everything that went down in the chaos last night. Most of our crew had taken off right away when Tucker spotted the lights in the distance, but there’d been plenty of cars still trying to get out. I tried to picture where we’d parked and whose cars might have been blocked in…

“Jet? Jet.”

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I’m just shocked. ”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know. I mean, you’re friends with most of the people who were there, and Megan was on the phone with Emma this morning. Guess they made up. Her dad’s such a dick. But yeah, Emma’s pretty upset. From what I could overhear, neither of them even knew their guys did drugs. Now, with Mateo, I can see it. He’s been so dedicated to that scholarship stuff this year, but David? Please. Could my sister be any more dense? He’s the one dealing them.”

“Whoa, what?”

“What, what? The David part?”

“No. That I figured, but did you just say Mateo?”

“Yeah. He got taken in, too.”

There was a honk outside, and Katy hopped up when she glanced out the window. “That’s my ride. See ya, Jet.”

I nodded with an absent wave as she left, my mind now spinning. At least two of my friends were in jail, if they hadn’t been bailed out yet, and who knew who else might be, too. I could just imagine what Megan and Emma had to be feeling. Emma might have broken up with Mateo last night, but I doubted she wanted him to end up in trouble.

Shit. I never even called her back. I groaned, opening my phone again to send her a text.

NIC

Finally .

I settled into the private cubicle I’d secured at the library, hoping I could finally drown out all the chaos in my head now that I was properly alone, and I opened my laptop, my work greeting me like an old friend. That was something I could control. No matter how unbelievably frustrating everything in my life had become, I couldn’t stand the thought of not being productive.

The one thing in my life that hasn’t changed. The bitter thought slipped through. Not that I had any intentions of letting it change, either. My career was just about the only thing I still had any control over. There was room to move up in the company, and if all else fell through, I’d already put together one successful business. I could do it again if I had to. Even here.

Needing to relocate had been necessary for my own survival, and at least, here, there was family. I could have chosen a different part of Europe, but that wouldn’t have been a far enough escape. This drastic approach was my best bet.

After flying through several of my IT tasks, I pulled up Ridgeside University’s website along with a few others in order to research everything I’d need to do to be accepted.

So I can start my new life in Texas.

I stopped, the thought catching me off guard. I’d contemplated the move before this weekend. I’d given it loads of consideration over the past month even, but I’d never stopped to look at it like that before.

My new life.

The words sounded strange…hopeful even?

Maybe .

How odd that the place I’d been so resistant to visit might hold the key to my survival. Because here, I wasn’t constantly surrounded by the past and what I couldn’t escape.

I might actually have a shot.

London by accident, Texas by choice. My decision was final. I was taking control where I could, and this area of control was something I refused to relinquish to anyone now that I had a firm grasp on it. It might be lonely, but that was my own doing. My life had unraveled once. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Izzy had definitely taken me by surprise, though. She was like a kindred spirit, a person who understood things about me whether I wanted to be understood or not. And her pain…it was different from mine but no less potent. Probably even more so.

I wondered if that was part of the reason we could connect, and I knew that was why I didn’t divulge to her all the details of my own issues any of the times she’d asked. If I did, she would only hurt more, and then this new life I was attempting to start wouldn’t really be new. It would be riddled with the old.

Then there was Jet. When I wasn’t being a dick , as he had put it, I felt a certain pull towards my younger cousin. He was so full of life. Even before my life had gone to hell, I would have killed for a spirit as free as his. Jet was easy to be around. A solid bloke. But trust came hard now.

I’d be the first to admit that I was jealous of my cousin. The bugger was only about to be nineteen, and he had better friends than most people would know in a lifetime, a complete and loving family, and the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with .

Even if I found Annie exceedingly frustrating, I could plainly see her devotion to Jet and her friends. Jet deserved someone like her, in the way that she loved his every trait and flaw.

Not everyone is so lucky.

Coming to America was my escape, but so many people seemed to expect something of me here. Something I no longer had to give.

They’re going to be disappointed when they realize their expectations can’t be met. Like I said to Jet, apparently, I live to disappoint.

And a part of me hoped I’d disappoint Aunt Helen the most.

Ever since that first day in Greece, I hadn’t been able to forget that she was the deeply seeded root of most of my problems, of my entire family’s problems. I wasn’t sure how or why. The conversation around my grandmother’s deathbed and most of the others during our trip that I’d gleaned in on were too vague, but I’d at least been able to ascertain that my aunt was the reason my parents and Uncle Stefano had had to leave Greece in the first place.

No one there had known I’d been able to understand. Studying Greek had been something I’d been doing for myself, to find a connection, somewhere, when I’d lost my mum.

And what I understood now was that if my aunt hadn’t done what she had, I never would have been forced to grow up in London, and all this unbending torture I’d been put through these past excruciating months would be obsolete. It never would have happened. I could be living still instead of only attempting to survive .

Damn Izzy for having picked that up about me. I’d been getting better. At least, it felt that way, until a call from one of my University mates this morning brought it all back to light. Any and all progress I’d made started bubbling away like a slug in the salt just added to my never-healing wound.

And all I want to do is forget.