Break Away (9 page)

“Oh, I’m not complaining…” I said, letting my eyes wander from her head to her toes. “Trust me.”

“Dex!” She smacked me playfully on the shoulder. “If we’re going to be friends, then you can’t look at me like that.”

“What!” I feigned innocence. “I’m just a
friend
admiring my
friend’s
well-toned physique… nothing wrong with that.”

“Okay,
friend
… just keep your eyes to yourself from now on,” she laughed, turning to walk away.

“I will if you will. You know, I’m not a piece of meat, Olivia!” I called after her loudly, causing her to shoot me an adorably sassy look over her shoulder.

“More seashells!” Sadie demanded. “And a moat!”

Sadie and I were building sandcastles a little way down the beach from where Amy and Olivia were lounging on their towels. Nate had tried to help, but his skills hadn’t been up to Sadie’s standards, so she’d kicked him off the project. Now he was sitting next to us drinking a beer.

“Okay, boss,” I told Sadie. “Why don’t you go find some seashells, and I’ll work on the moat?”

“Mmmkay!”

While I worked on digging a moat around the sandcastles, I saw a couple of girls walking in our direction. They looked like typical college girls, with their teeny-bikinis, fake tans and oversize sunglasses. It was normal for college students to flock down to the beach on the weekend, and it was easy to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd.

“Cute sandcastle,” one of the girls said, stopping next to us.

“Thanks,” I deadpanned, not bothering to look up at them.

“Looks like you’re really good with your hands,” she continued, smirking at her friend as if she was so proud of herself for coming up with such a clever line. “Maybe we could… help you out somehow?”

Considering the way she was shamelessly eye-fucking me, this girl was ready to drop her panties for me right there in front of the whole beach, my niece included. Unfortunately for her, I didn’t go for this shit. At least, not around Sadie.

“We’re all set.” I dismissed them coldly and focused my attention on Sadie, who had returned with a bucket full of shells.

“Whatever,” the girl said, flipping her hair and stomping off with her friend.

Nate laughed. “Wow, Dex, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you turn down a willing female.”

“Way too easy,” I said. “This place is flooded with easy college chicks looking for a good time. They’ll give it up to anyone with a six-pack.” It was true. Normally I was willing to provide them with a good time, but I wasn’t feeling it.

“It’s not just the girls…” Nate said with a frown, gesturing to Amy and Olivia. They’d been joined by a couple of meathead frat boys who were standing over their beach chairs, looking down at them with cheesy smiles plastered on their faces, clearly trying to flirt with them. “Who are those assholes?” He looked over at Sadie and corrected himself. “Uh… I mean those guys.”

“I don’t know. Who cares?” I shrugged casually, while simultaneously fighting the urge to run over there and show those idiots that they were barking up the wrong damn tree. Of course it bothered me, but I didn’t know why Nate was worried about it. Did he have a thing for Olivia? The idea of that bothered me even more than Douchebag #1 and Douchebag#2 over there chatting them up.

“Sure you don’t care. That’s why you keep glancing that way with a murderous look in your eye like you want to kick someone’s ass.” He glanced at Sadie. “Uh, I mean butt.”

I shook my head at him. At this rate, Sadie was going to be using curse words by age five.

“Why don’t you ask Olivia out?” Nate said.

“Because, we’re just friends,” I explained. “Amy’s the one I’m worried about. She has a tendency to attract assholes.” That part was true. Amy had always managed to end up with idiots, the biggest one of all being the guy who got her pregnant and then ran off before Sadie was even born. Naturally, I found him and beat the shit out of him, but it didn’t come close to making up for what he did.

Nate was watching Amy, his eyebrows furrowed and his expression conflicted. “I’m going to grab another beer. Want one?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I watched as Nate walked over to where they were gathered, immediately scaring off the two goons who were flirting with them. As soon as they were gone, I relaxed and got back to digging a moat for Sadie’s castle.

***

I couldn’t help but laugh at the macho-man expression on Nate’s face when he stalked over to scare off the two guys who were trying to flirt with Amy and me. It worked, though, and I was grateful to him for getting rid of them for us. They were totally harmless but didn’t seem to sense our disinterest. They kept chatting about sports and college exams while Amy and I looked back and forth at each other like,
how do we make them leave?!

There was something. . .tender. . .about the way that Nate looked at Amy, and I wondered if there were anything going on between them. He had his eyes glued to her the whole time the guys were talking to us, and I noticed that Amy kept glancing in his direction. It certainly seemed like there was history there.

“No, there’s nothing going on with Nate and me,” Amy said when I asked her about it. “He’s just protective because I’m Dex’s sister. I used to think that there might be something more between us, but then he was dating someone else, and nothing ever happened.”

“Was?” I asked. “So, they’re not together anymore?”

“No, Dex mentioned that they broke up a couple weeks ago.”

“Well, maybe now something will happen with you two.”

“I don’t think so,” she sighed. “Nate is really sweet and funny—and cute—but we’ll never be more than friends. He and Dex are so close that he probably just thinks of me as a sister.”

“Those looks definitely didn’t seem brotherly,” I pointed out. “But if not Nate, is there anyone else? I don’t suppose those two chumps from earlier are your type?”

“Definitely not!” she laughed. “My ‘relationships’—if you can even call them that—typically only last a couple of dates. As soon as the guy figures out that I have a kid, they tend to bolt.” She shrugged, brushing it off even though it was obviously hard for her.

“What about Sadie’s dad?” I asked tentatively. “Is he around at all?”

“Nope, he was out of the picture before she was born. I met him in college, and we’d only been dating for a few months when I found out I was pregnant. He totally freaked out, said he couldn’t handle it, and that was it. Haven’t heard from him since, which is fine by me. We’re better off without him.”

I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between my mom and Amy. They’d both been deserted by the father of their children and left to be a single mother. I knew how hard it was, and I respected Amy tremendously for it.

“What about you?” Amy said, steering the conversation towards me. “Is there anyone in your life?”

“Not anymore,” I said. “I moved down here after I caught my fiancé cheating on me.”

“Wow. Men are scum,” she said simply.

“Yes, they are! Which is exactly why I’ve sworn them off. They bring nothing but trouble.”

“So, I guess it’s pointless to try to get you together with my brother, then?”

I laughed. “Hate to break it to you, but Dex and I will only ever be friends.” I glanced briefly in his direction, resisting the urge to stare. “Besides, he doesn’t seem like someone who’s interested in any relationship that lasts longer than twelve hours… no offense.”

“None taken,” she replied. “Believe it or not, he wasn’t always like this. In high school, he was so focused on joining the Marines that he didn’t really have time for anything else. He enlisted right after he graduated, started boot camp, and went overseas to Iraq. He was… different… when he came back. Iraq changed him.”

“How so?” I’d seen Dex’s tattoos but never put it together that he had been in the military.

“He’s just… darker, in a way, and more withdrawn than he used to be. Dex was always the life of the party, you know? Sweet and funny, the kind of person who got along with everyone and who everyone loved to be around.” She glanced over at him, watching him and Sadie play together in the sand. “In a lot of ways he still is, but then there are times when he’s so tense and gets so angry that he distances himself from everyone.”

I’d see glimpses of that pain and darkness in him; brief flashes of anger behind his soft brown eyes and cocky smile. He hid it well, though, and I wondered if that was why he sometimes acted the way that he did.

“He devoted his life to being a Marine,” Amy continued. “It was all he ever wanted. Despite everything he went through in Iraq, I know that he would still be over there if he could.”

“Why can’t he?”

“He lost partial hearing in one ear when an IED exploded right near him. It left him with a pretty bad head injury, too, but Dex still managed to reach three men from his unit and pull them to safety.” A faint, proud smile touched her lips. “He saved their lives. Earned a Silver Star, one of the highest awards you can get. Unfortunately, he couldn’t continue to serve with the damage to his hearing, so he was honorably discharged.”

“Wow.” I was at a total loss for words. Learning about his past made me see him in a whole new light. What he’d done, and what he’d been through… it was incredible.

“He doesn’t talk about it, though. We only know what was written in the official report, which didn’t tell us much. We have no idea what else happened out there, or what he had to live through. We’ve tried—my parents and I—to get him to open up, but he plays it off like he’s fine. He’s not big on letting people in, and I worry that if he keeps it all inside, it will eventually destroy him.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes until Nate came back over and started chatting with Amy. Reaching into my beach bag, I pulled out my camera and began taking a few pictures. I found myself drifting towards Dex and Sadie, snapping photos of them laughing and digging in the sand at the edge of the water.

I couldn’t help but examine Dex through the viewfinder. I zoomed in on his muscular back, taking particular notice of the tattoo that spanned his shoulders. Etched proudly in black, bold lettering were the words “SEMPER FIDELIS.” The design traced on his forearm led to another prominent tattoo emblazoned on his bicep, with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor that symbolizes the Marine Corps. I’d seen his tattoos before, when I saw him running on the beach, but I hadn’t looked closely or given much thought to it. It made sense now, though. Dex was a proud Marine.

When Sadie ran back to Amy, Dex came over and dropped down in the sand next to me, sitting close but leaving enough space between us so we weren’t touching.

“What happened to the herd of floozies that were following you around?” I teased him with a smile.

“Hopefully long gone,” he muttered with annoyance. “I try to keep that shit away from Sadie. I don’t want her to ever think badly of me, and I definitely don’t want her to be around girls like that. No fucking way will I let her end up like one of them, with no self-respect and willing to spread her legs for anyone who gives her the slightest bit of attention.”

“Obviously, I don’t know you very well…” That was becoming increasingly evident. “… But one thing I do know is that Sadie thinks the world of you. It’s easy to see how much she loves you and admires you.” I shifted slightly, lessening the space between us. “I’m probably not the greatest influence, either, but I promise to be on my best behavior around her… and you definitely don’t have to worry about me whoring it up!”