Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (26 page)

Rayne looked down at the sand. “To be honest, I don’t even know half the time.”

“When Sadie talks about you guys, she makes it sound like
you’re
the one holding the relationship back, but that’s not really the vibe I’ve been getting. And, I know her. She makes up excuses in her head to make herself feel better about pushing people away, until she actually believes they’re true. So, what’s your side of the story, Rayne? Is Sadie just making things up, or are you really planning to back out of this thing in the long run?”

Rayne’s voice faltered. “It’s not really her fault this time. I’ve given Sadie a lot of reasons to doubt me. More than she deserves. But I realize now that I’ve been a complete idiot. I don’t want to lose her.”

Heather smiled knowingly. “You really do love her, don’t you.”

Rayne couldn’t deny it even if he wanted to. The truth of his feelings for Sadie poured out through the expression on his face.

“I thought so,” she said, pleased.

Heather suddenly became Rayne’s biggest supporter. “Okay,” she said. “So, if you’re going to win Sadie back, there’s something you need to understand about her. I don’t know how much she’s told you about her father, but she’s kind of been living her whole life with this hidden belief that all men are jerks and deserters… because her father ditched her and her mom before Sadie was even born. She would never admit it, but when it comes to relationships, Sadie’s more scared than a four-year-old in a haunted house. I mean, really freaked. So, if you want her back, you’re gonna have to do whatever you can to convince her you’re different, that she can trust you. You have to make her believe you would
never
abandon her, no matter what. Like, we’re talking, even if you won some super, billion-dollar lottery and they said the only way you would get the money was if you broke up with her, or a band of psycho terrorists threatened to kill you unless you left her, you would still never go through with any of it because you’d rather be dirt poor or even dead than ever break her heart. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Rayne had to chuckle at Heather’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, I think I get it.”

But it wasn’t really funny. Everything Heather said was the truth, and Rayne knew that convincing Sadie to trust him wouldn’t be an easy task. He probably had his work cut out for him, but there was no sense in putting it off, because when it came to Sadie, Rayne also knew that he would never quit trying.

When they returned to the party, Heather went back to greeting friends and organizing food, but Rayne passed everyone up to head back to the parking lot. Sadie had to be getting back by now. Not only did he need to protect her, he wanted the opportunity to tell her how much he cared for her, that he would never abandon her.

As Rayne scanned through the cars in the lot, his eyes widened with realization. He had forgotten about Nicole. He hurried across the parking lot in his flip flops, hoping she hadn’t disappeared from his car. When he saw Nicole’s form in his car from a distance, he was relieved to see she was still there, but it looked like her slumped head and dangling arm were hanging limply over the edge of the open car window. Not sure if he should be alarmed, Rayne ran the last stretch of the asphalt, calling her name just before he reached the door. She didn’t respond.

“Nicole,” he said again, lifting her head between his hands to examine her face.

Her lids opened slowly, eyes glazed over. “Oh, good,
finally
you’re here. I swear, that was the longest five minutes of my life.”

Rayne pulled gently on the door, not wanting Nicole’s body to accidentally roll down to the pavement. “Are you ready to go to the beach now?” he said.

“That’s where the party is, right?” Nicole asked, confused.

“Yep, that’s where the party is.”

Nicole nodded and pushed one leg hastily out the door, fumbling to plant her foot on the ground. “Then, yeah,” she said. “I’ve been ready for like, seven hours.”

With Rayne’s body for support, Nicole’s feet dragged across the lot surprisingly well. But when they reached the sand, her drunken legs couldn’t handle the uneven terrain. She stumbled repeatedly then gave up and let her knees droop to the ground until she landed on her side.

“It’s too hard,” she complained. “I’ll just stay here.”

Rayne knelt next to her and began to help her off the ground. “It’s just a little further. See all your friends over there? They’re excited to see you.”

Nicole flung her arms around Rayne’s neck and giggled. “Maybe you should carry me.” He continued his effort to pull her up, when her grip yanked back down on him. “No, wait,” she said, laughing again, her voice overly silly. “Oh my gosh, you know what I just remembered? Sadie broke up with you. You’re not her boyfriend anymore. That means you can stay here with me now.”

Nicole released Rayne’s neck and dropped her weight back to the sand. “We should pretend that you’re my boyfriend,” she said excitedly. “Sadie’s gone, and you love me now. I would be a really fun girlfriend. Brandon told me that I was a really good kisser.”

Rayne glanced away awkwardly, feeling a bad turn in the situation.

“If you were my boyfriend, I would never break up with you,” she went on. “Sadie’s crazy. You’re like…perfect and wonderful.”

Without any notice, Nicole flung her body forward and wrapped herself around him, planting a fervent kiss smack on Rayne’s lips. After his brain recuperated from the shock, he pulled his face away.

Then he found a bigger problem. Sadie stood a few yards off, staring in their direction, a look of sheer agony on her face.

Sadie turned sharply, dropping a bag of plastic cups on the ground. Rayne fumbled to free himself from Nicole’s determined hold. “Sadie, wait,” he called out, desperately hoping she wouldn’t run away.

Sadie stopped and turned toward him. Icicles could have pierced through his body from her cold glare as she said, “I have nothing to say to you.”

Rayne tried to stand, struggling to pry Nicole’s arms off his waist. “Sadie, please. Come back. I was just trying to help her.”

Rayne finally pulled himself free from Nicole’s grasp, but as soon as he moved  to go after Sadie, a hand suddenly clenched Rayne’s arm, forcing him to turn.

“You heard the lady,” Derrick said snidely. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Rayne yanked away. “Get off me.” He spun back around, but Sadie was gone. Rayne sent Derrick a threatening look. “Thanks, a lot, man.” Then he shoved Derrick’s shoulder out of his way.

Derrick took a deliberate step forward, blocking Rayne’s path, and said, “I don’t think we’re done here.”

“No,” Rayne warned, “we are done. Now get out of my way.”

When Derrick cut Rayne off a second time, Rayne clenched his teeth to keep his fists from pounding the guy’s jaw. “What’s your problem?” Rayne said. “Why don’t you go make yourself useful?” Rayne pointed his head in Nicole’s direction, where she was hunched over the sand, heaving her guts out. “Your cousin’s ready to pass out.”

Derrick glanced at Nicole unsympathetically. “She’ll be fine. She just needs to puke it out of her system and sleep it off.”

Rayne shook his head, turning his back to Derrick without another word. The sooner Rayne could get this idiot off his back, the sooner he would be able to find someone to make sure Nicole was taken care of; then he would do whatever it took to find Sadie and prove to her, no matter what the sacrifices or consequences there might be, that she was his top priority.

22. INTERCEPTION

I was too stunned to react within reason. It was like a dagger had been jabbed through my heart and twisted repeatedly for good measure. The painful vision was so sudden and disturbing, I could do nothing but let my body’s instincts of self-preservation take over. I was too upset and in shock to even cry.

After I fled the scene of the
horror
, I sat in the driver’s seat of Heather’s car, trying to catch my breath. The image of Rayne’s lips on another girl’s mouth threatened to rake through my head for the rest of my life. It made me want to scream—or throw up, or cry, or just anything to get that stupid picture out of my system, erased from the fibers of my memory forever. What was he…how could he…ugh!

I was just trying to help her
, he had said. Help her what? Find the gum she had accidentally swallowed? Yeah, right. How could I be so stupid? Even the amazing Rayne had to find ways to hurt me from every angle. But, why him? Why couldn’t it just be somebody else? How could he sit there in the sand and let her smash her big, slobbery, disgusting lips all over his face?

I groaned and hit the back of my head against the seat in the car, over and over, as if the jolting could catapult the images from my brain. But my fit of immature, angry jealousy was interrupted by the sound of the door opening on the passenger side across from me. I grimaced when I opened my eyes. It was Derrick. What was
he
doing here? One mistake of an afternoon shoving my face full of garlicky chicken and cuddling against his shoulder, which I only did because I was completely sleep deprived and delirious, did not suddenly make him my new best friend. In fact, the only person I could think of that I might even remotely want to talk to right now was Heather.

I glanced up, annoyed. “Derrick, what are you doing?”

Derrick grinned as if he were immune to my irritation. “They say the best cure for a broken heart is a new shoulder to cry on.”

“Thanks, but I really just want to be alone right now.”

Derrick ignored me and sat in the passenger seat anyway. “You know,” he mused. “I’m beginning to think that people around here don’t like me. I’m not really sure what to make of it. Do I have a piece of spinach stuck in my teeth or something?”

He was trying to be funny, but I wasn’t in the mood. “Well…maybe when somebody tells you they want to be left alone. You should actually listen to them.”

Derrick leaned toward me. “If you gave me a chance, you might realize I’m not such a bad guy. From what I’m told, I can actually be quite entertaining. What do you say we get out of here and have a little fun? I promise to make you forget all about that pretty boy, Rayne. At least for one night…”

The weird thing was, I was actually considering Derrick’s offer. I just wanted to get away from this place, and I would do just about anything to push the disturbing thoughts out of my head. With Derrick, there would be no pressure, no commitment, just a warm body that wasn’t half-bad to look at and a chance to erase the repulsive kiss from my mind.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Do you think you can keep your hands to yourself for more than five minutes?”

 “That doesn’t sound like nearly as much fun,” he said with a wink. “But, I can promise at least an hour. Then, I’ll let you decide. By that time, you’ll probably be ready to change your mind.” I rolled my eyes and twisted the key in the ignition of Heather’s car. She was going to be mad at me for ditching her party, but that was the least of my worries.

Before I could even put the gear in drive, Derrick reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, which dangled from a black keychain with a silver horse on the front. “Actually,” he said. “I prefer to drive.”

We left Heather’s car and I followed Derrick a few stalls down, feeling on edge. Leaving the party with Derrick was a reckless thing to do. I hardly knew him. But anger ruled over my logic. I wanted to go because I knew it was the last place Rayne wanted me to be. And I felt the sudden desire to be with someone who wasn’t expecting anything permanent or meaningful from me. Derrick was sort of like… a vacation for my brain.

I paused when he unlocked the door to a bright yellow Mustang convertible. “Weren’t you driving a silver car the other day?” I asked.

“Yep,” he answered with a shrug. “I get bored easily. What do you think of this one? I was going for humble, but hard to miss.”

Humble wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind. “Well, it’s definitely hard to miss,” I said.

Derrick hopped into the driver’s seat and called over his shoulder. “So, are you coming?”

“Uh, yeah.” I hurried to the passenger side and pulled open the door, allowing myself only a brief moment to compare the fact that Rayne always came to my door to open it for me. But I kicked the thought quickly out the window. I wasn’t thinking about Rayne right now.

Derrick turned to me, gripping the steering wheel with one hand. “By the way, try not to scratch the paint. I’m trading this baby in for something faster tomorrow.”

I let out a hesitant laugh, not sure if he was serious. Then he peeled out of the stall like he wasn’t kidding. One thing became clear at a shocking speed. Derrick had no respect for traffic signs, or speed limits, or red lights for that matter. I clutched anything in the car I could find, my knuckles as white as Derrick’s ultra-glowing smile.

We finally hit a solid red light on Coast Highway and screeched to a stop. Wisps of hair stuck out from my ponytail in every direction, a serious case of convertible head.

Derrick lifted his eyebrows mischievously. “So, what should we do first?”

“I thought you were here to entertain me,” I said dryly.

“Of course I am. I just thought I’d check if you had any special requests before I blow your mind with more fun than you could ever imagine.” He grinned, almost sheepishly. “And…it’s possible that I have absolutely no idea where to go or what to do because I’m not from around here.”

For probably the first time since I met him, Derrick almost sounded like a normal guy. “Well,” I said, a little exasperated. “I guess we’ll have to figure it out together.”

The light turned green and we were cruising down the road again, hair fluttering around our heads from the open air.

“Maybe we could check out a club later,” he suggested. “Do you know of any good ones?

My brow pinched. “No, I’m only seventeen.”

“Oh, right. Well, maybe there’s a party we could stop by.”

“The only party I know of, is the one we just left,” I said.

Derrick’s face brightened. “I know…this girl I was talking to at the beach mentioned some old ship that gives tours near here.”