Angel Beach (Summer Romance Collection) (4 page)

Chapter 7

Echo

I stared absently out the window of the shop as the butter melted on the stove. The loud, ugly truck raced down the street taking the dip at the end of the road at full speed with eardrum rattling music blaring through the open windows. The tires popped off the ground and slammed back down against the asphalt before screeching around the corner and down the road. I waited a moment but the jeep didn’t follow.

“I smell butter burning,” Mimi called from the mixing room where she and Zach were busy making dough for tomorrow’s rolls. I grabbed the pot off the flame.

Mimi came out and looked into the pot. “Should be all right, but watch what you’re doing.”

“Sorry, Mimi, it’s just that it’s been a lousy day and my mind is not on my work.”

“Trouble with the Freely boys again? That one this morning seemed very nice.”

“That’s what worries me. Haven’t you ever heard of a wolf in sheep’s clothing?”

She reached up and pinched my cheek with her flour covered fingers. “Coco, you must learn to trust people. Maybe you need to stay down on this section of beach for your swim.”

I dropped the wooden spoon into the pot. “Then they’ll have won, Mimi, don’t you see? That’s exactly what they want.”

“Of course, Sweetie, you’re right.” She pushed the jar of brown sugar toward me. “Now finish the filling.”

Work was sometimes the best way to clear my mind, but this morning’s events still weighed heavily on me. It was probably stupid of me to confront that beast of a guy directly, but I just couldn’t stop myself. My ankle was still sore from the way he’d grabbed it. If his brother had not jumped in to help me it was hard to know what might have happened. But Jamison was the one I trusted the least. At least with the brother I knew what to expect, but Jamison was too good to be true. I wondered if it was all an act or if it was possible that he was different than his brothers. One thing was for sure, I had to learn to put up my guard more around him. He was so good-looking it was easy to forget who he was.

The dough had been rolled and filled and popped onto shelves for proofing. Two hours of rolling out stubborn yeast dough had pushed the awful incident to the back of my mind. The bell over the back door rang, and I recognized Gertie’s hurried footsteps.

Gertie’s face was flushed and she pressed her hand to her chest to catch her breath as she stepped into the shop. Zach walked in behind her but she didn’t notice. He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead as if he was an actress swooning in a movie. And I had to force back a smile.

Gertie finally took in a much needed gulp of air. She was clutching a pink flyer in her hand. “Where’s your grandmother?”

Mimi stepped out of the office and flicked Zach on the back of the head, startling him out of his comedic mime act. “Zach, why don’t you get Gertie a glass of water.”

Zach, looking a bit contrite, dashed off to the kitchen for the water.

“What is it, Gert? What has happened?” Mimi asked.

Even though Gertie’s normal breathing had returned she place a bracing hand on the stainless steel counter I’d spent the last fifteen minutes cleaning. She held up the pink flyer with the other. “I was walking around handing out flyers for the town’s dance and barbecue this weekend, and I stopped in at Peggy’s Diner for a soda.” She fanned herself. “It’s terribly hot out today. And I can tell you I needed it. I was parched.”

“Yes, of course, Gertie,” Mimi sounded slightly annoyed at having left her paperwork to hear about Gertie’s dance flyers and dry throat. “You didn’t run all the way from the diner to tell us you were thirsty.”

Zach walked out with the glass of water, but Gertie shook her head at it. Zach shrugged, pulled up the work stool, and drank the water himself.

Gertie sighed. “No, no. One cherry cola and I was good as new. But while I was standing at the counter talking to Peggy about her new curtains, which she had Beverly hand sew with the cutest little rose pattern--”

“Gertie,” Mimi said sharply.

Gertie waved her hand as if she was waving away the last thought. “Anyhow, I was standing there sipping my cola and those boys walked in, or I should say they burst in like gunslingers taking over a saloon. Loud and rambunctious and with the worst manners I’ve ever seen. The big one all but demanded for Peggy to come and take his order.” Gertie stopped to take a breath. “And poor Peggy, they just about ran her ragged. Those awful girls that came in with the boys kept sending their food back.” Gertie wrinkled up her nose and raised her voice to a squeak which from the little I’d heard, sounded remarkably like the girl on the beach, “not cooked enough, cooked too much, too much salt.” Gertie leaned forward and lowered her voice as if the trays of yeast rolls had ears. “I think Frank, the cook, might have put a little something special in the last plate Peggy carried out. And then do you know what that awful boy did? He said the service and food were so bad, he refused to pay.”

“Jerks,” Zach muttered. We turned around and found him licking the giant glazing spoon. He lifted it in the air. “Please, continue, Gertie.”

“You stuck around the entire time they were in there?” I asked. “That must have been a giant cherry cola.”

“Well, I was worried for Peggy. She looked so shaken by the time they’d left, I had to step behind the counter and wait on the few guests that hadn’t been scared off.”

“So they left without paying?” I asked.

“Well, they would have, but then Frank stepped into the dining room. He’s not as big as the blond brother, but he can look pretty menacing with those thick forearms and that scar across his cheek. The rude pig finally threw a hundred dollar bill on the table and they all left. The table looked like a tornado had swept across it.”

“I’m sure Peggy has to put up with her share of rude customers, and at least they paid for it all.” Mimi returned to her office.

Gerite waved the flyer in the air. “Those boys are pure trouble.”

“Did you finish passing out the flyers?” I asked. Angel Beach always had a big dance and barbecue to welcome in the summer season.

“You bet. I found the easiest thing to do was to put them on car windows. That way everyone can feel invited.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Everyone?”

“Man, if those guys show I won’t get a dance all night,” Zach said.

Gertie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my, you don’t think those awful boys will come?”

“I doubt one of our town get-togethers would hold much appeal for them.”

Gertie actually looked insulted. “And why not? We put on a pretty good shindig.”

I smiled. “I don’t think they are the type of guys to attend a shindig. I think we’ll be safe for that evening at least.”

Gertie folded up the flyer and slid it into the pocket of her dress. “Well, I should get home. Some of the girls are coming over to make centerpieces for the party.” She turned to leave.

“Gertie,” I called to her.

She stopped in the doorway and looked back.

“The boys in the diner-- was the tall one with black spiky hair and earrings with them?”

“I think so.”

Her answer disappointed me far more than I’d expected it to. I was right then, Jamison was no different than his brother.

Gertie turned to leave then spun back around. “Except he wasn’t all that tall and he wasn’t wearing earrings. Handsome boy, though. They kept calling him Matt.” She waved her hand in dismissal. “I could be wrong. My memory gets worse each day.” She walked out the back door.

Zach hopped up off the stool. He smiled up at me. “Interesting.”

“Oh, shut up, Zach.”

I grabbed an apple from the kitchen table, walked out onto the back steps, and sat down. Riley came and sat next to me. The dog rested his head on my thigh, and I stroked his fur. It was hard to know for sure but it seemed that Jamison had not been a part of the diner bunch. I was absurdly glad about it. Of course, it really didn’t mean a thing. He might have been off doing his own horrid deeds.

Mimi leaned her head out of the screen door. “It’s still a nice day. Why don’t you take a bike ride? If you ride out to the farm stand you could get some strawberries for tomorrow’s breakfast. Zach could go with you.”

Zach walked out just then. “I’ve got to get home and help my mom with some stuff.” He pressed his hand against his stomach. “Besides, I think I had one spoonful too many of the icing.” He hopped down the steps, grabbed his bike, and rode off down the path.

“A bike ride sounds like a good idea, Mimi. And strawberries sound good too.”

Chapter 8

Jamison

So far I wasn’t impressed with the waves at Angel Beach. I knew Reeve and the others would be home from terrorizing the local diner soon, so I decided to take a ride along the coastal highway to see what some of the less traveled beaches looked like.

Reeve’s truck was parked outside the local bowling alley. Apparently his reign of terror was not going to end with just the diner today. I was glad to be away from him and his idiot friends. The highway was nearly deserted as I drove along it. Most of it ended on the ocean side with sheer cliffs that dropped down to rocky coves, which would make swimming and surfing impossible. There was plenty of wildlife enjoying the rocks and the lack of human intrusion.

The farther I drove, the closer the highway dropped to sea level, and the wider the beach grew. I turned the jeep onto a large section of flat, grassy land that looked out over a nice stretch of beach. There was a group of gulls clustered together in the grass, and they took off as I walked toward them. My foot struck a block of cement that had rusty pieces of rebar sticking out of it. There were more concrete blocks spread out over the entire space. It had obviously been the site of a large building at one time.

I walked toward the edge of the lot and looked down. A very rickety, very steep stairway wound its way down the hillside to the beach below. A rusty chain hung across the entrance to the stairs. I climbed over it onto the first step. It was worn by sea and wind, but it seemed to be strong enough to hold me. The hand railing was another thing altogether. The minute I grabbed onto it, it fell over. I was going to have to climb down the steep steps without it.

Sections of the stairway were more treacherous than others and a lot of the steps were covered with the weeds and vines coming up from the hillside, but I made it to the bottom without breaking my neck.

I walked along the beach for several minutes. It was a pretty stretch of coast surrounded by picturesque cliffs and it was totally useable. Sometimes I wondered if Dad went after places like Angel Beach just so he could feel the rush of causing a bunch of crap for other people. He saw a quiet, cozy town like Angel Beach and immediately set out to try and destroy it.

We’d struggled once and he could never understand how anyone could be happy with meager surroundings. He’d never been able to comprehend that for some people wealth and extravagance were not needed for happiness. It wasn’t even out of pure meanness that he planned to buy the town out from underneath its inhabitants. He actually believed they would be thrilled to be given a decent sum of money to pack up and leave their homes.

Hunger stirred me from my thoughts. I glanced back at the shabby stairs zigzagging up the steep hillside and wondered how I got down them in the first place. Ten minutes later, after a difficult climb back up, I’d made it to the clearing where the jeep was parked. And that’s when I saw her. My heart started beating faster than it had on my death-defying stair climb.

Her light brown hair blew in the breeze, and even from the distance I stood, I could see the tiny spray of freckles across her nose. She was pushing a bicycle with a flat back tire. It was definitely a long haul back to Angel Beach, especially with a broken bike.

My jeep caught her eye, and she stopped and glanced around until she spotted me. I waved. She hesitated before returning the wave. I jogged over to her. Her face was flushed pink from the walk making her hazel eyes stand out even more.

“It looks like you could use a ride back to town.”

She kept pushing the bike and shook her head. “No, it’s not that far. I can make it.”

“You’re kidding, right? It has got to be at least four more miles on this highway. Seriously, let me give you a ride. You can put your bike in the back.”

She stubbornly kept walking. “It’s only three point six miles from Emerald Beach back to Angel Beach.”

I walked along next to her. “Is that what this beach is called? Emerald Beach?”

She nodded and tried her hardest not to look annoyed at the fact that I was walking with her. “At dusk, the shadows from the surrounding cliffs cause the water to look to emerald green.”

“It looks like there used to be a building here. What happened to it?”

She pushed a little faster, but I kept pace with her. “It burned down about twenty years ago. My grandmother said no one wanted to rebuild it. They thought the site was jinxed, so it has remained a vacant lot.” She peeked sideways at me. “Aren’t you going to head back to your jeep?”

“Nope, I’m going to walk with you and annoy you until you let me give you a ride back.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t bite, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t throw your bike into my jeep so I can give you a ride home.” I glanced out at the horizon. The sun was already dropping quickly. “It’ll be dark soon, and this is a narrow highway. It will be dangerous for you to be walking along it. Anyhow, won’t your grandmother worry?”

She kept walking, so I grabbed hold of her handlebars. She scowled up at me and managed to look cute doing it. “I’d rather take my chances with the dark highway or anyone else who happens by as long as their name is not Freely.”

I released her bike, and she kept walking. I followed. “So if some guy with a patch on his eye and a hook on his hand and a wrapped up body in the back of his truck came along and offered you a ride, you’d get in as long as his last name wasn’t Freely?”

She lifted her chin in the air. Haughty, another look she pulled off with amazing appeal. “That’s right.”

“Well, I’m not leaving you out here alone, so I’ll walk back to town with you.”

“What about your jeep?”

I shrugged. “Reeve can give me a ride back to it later.”

She glanced at me then stopped and looked back at the jeep. It was a good distance away already.

I smiled. “Just think how much more time you’ll be spending with me if we’re walking instead of driving.”

She sighed and turned the bike around. “But if that one-eyed, one-armed driver comes by while we’re walking back to the jeep, I’m going to flag him down.”

“Understood.”

I lifted her bike into the jeep, and she slid her long legs across the seat and sat down. As I started the engine, she grabbed the seatbelt and fastened it. “Just in case you drive like your brother . . . the blond barbarian.”

I laughed. “That is actually a perfect name for Reeve. And for the record, I don’t do anything like my brother. We are polar opposites.”

She nodded weakly as if she was not really convinced. I guess I couldn’t blame her. Sometimes even I found it hard to believe that Reeve and I were related, let alone brothers.

“Your cinnamon roll was awesome, by the way. I’m thinking of lining up again tomorrow. That is, unless the waves are cranking.”

She stared out the window at the ocean. “I’m sorry about today,” she said quietly.

“That’s all right. I’m sure Reeve recovered quickly.”

Her face turned to me. “No, I’m not sorry about kicking sand at him.” She stared down at her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t very gracious to you after you stopped me from lunging at him. Truthfully, I’m not sure what I would have done to him.” She laughed softly and it fit her perfectly-- sweet, sexy and amazing. “It’s kind of comical now that I think about it. I mean he’s built like Cyclops except with two eyes instead of one.”

“I like the Cyclops nickname even better than barbarian. Barbarian is actually too cool for him.”

“He really pisses me off.”

“Yeah, try living with the guy.”

She turned to look at me and seemed to be trying to assess whether or not I was being honest with her. Then she faced forward, rolled down the window, and stuck her face out.

She glanced back at me for a second, long strands of hair danced across her incredible mouth. “This is my favorite section of coast.” She turned back to the view and pointed down at the water. “The seals have come in for the night.” She sat back with a sigh. “Too bad you can’t see them from your side. They are so cool to see with their big blubbery bodies stretched out over the rocks.”

“So will you be a junior or a senior this year?” I asked.

“Neither. I graduated this year.”

“Really? I thought you were younger.”

“I am. I skipped a grade. I’m only sixteen.”

I turned back onto the road that led into the heart of town. “Ahh, one of those super brainiacs. Cool.”

She lifted her smooth, dark eyebrow at me. “Somehow, the word brainiac does not sound complimentary.”

“No, really, I meant it the nicest way. I’ll amend it to just plain super brain.”

“Better.”

We were halfway through town and a mile from her house when loud music and voices pulled up behind us at a red light. The grill of Reeve’s truck was in my rear view mirror.

“Speaking of Cyclops.”

Echo’s mouth tightened and she looked upset. “I’m going to walk from here.” She went to open the door but I stopped her.

“Let me just take you the rest of the way home.”

Right then something hit the jeep’s back fender, and we lurched forward a couple of feet. I hung my head out the window. “You better not have left a dent you asshat or you’ll have to pay for it.”

The driver’s side door opened and Reeve hopped out just as the light changed. Cars were honking at him as he walked right through the lane of traffic. He raised his hand up in the air and flipped them off.

“You really are psycho, do you know that?” I asked as he leaned his face down to the window.

He ignored my comments and glared at my passenger. Echo did not turn to look at him. “What the hell is that little witch doing in your jeep?”

Cars continued to drive around us with drivers honking and cussing us out as they sped past.

“Get out of the road, you idiot, before someone runs you down,” I said.

Reeve didn’t say a word. He continued to stare at Echo, who continued to ignore him. A police car was coming toward us.

I glanced at my brother. “Here comes your friend. See ya.”

Reeve had to jump out of the way of my tires as I took off leaving him standing in the middle of the road holding up traffic.

I pulled the jeep up in front of the shop just as Reeve sped past in his truck. He laid on the horn as he drove by and did not stop until he reached our place. I opened up the back and pulled the bike out.

Echo smiled up at me for only a millisecond but it made my day. “Thanks,” she said and disappeared down the pathway between the shops.

I headed home and dreaded seeing Reeve and his crew of jerks. As soon as I walked in, Matt ran up to me smelling heavily like beer. He was waving a pink flyer in my face, and I smacked it out of his hand.

“Dude,” he said looking insulted, “we’re going to a party. The town’s having a dance and we’re all invited.”

“I’m sure we’re not on their guest list,” I said and headed to my bedroom.

“Uh, your room is occupied at the moment.” Matt flopped on the couch. “Julie’s in there with Brandon.”

Reeve stepped out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand. “So the traitor has returned.”

I went over to my bedroom door and knocked loudly on it. “In order for me to be a traitor, I would have to have some kind of loyalty to you. But I don’t have a shred of it, you or Dad for that matter.”

The muscles in Reeve’s jaw twitched as he glared at me with enough anger to burn a hole through me. And at this point, I wasn’t too sure that he wouldn’t attempt a hole with his fist. There was no answer from the bedroom, so I kicked the door open. Julie screamed and covered herself. Brandon sat up ready to fly at the intruder until he saw it was me. He backed-off immediately.

“Get out, both of you. And take the sheets with you. I don’t want them anymore.”

Julie wrapped herself in the quilt and picked up her trail of clothing. She sneered at me as she walked past. “Jerk.”

I shrugged. “Guilty as charged.” With the room vacated, I slammed the door shut behind me and flopped down on the bare mattress. My mind drifted back to the few moments I’d had alone in the jeep with Echo. She had invaded my thoughts completely. She was like no girl I’d ever met, and I had no idea how I was ever going to convince her to trust me.