Second String (In Too Deep #3) (6 page)

"Shut up Josh.
I know plenty of guys named Ethan."

"Name one."

"Ethan Allen."

Josh laughed.

Meredith looked at me and asked, "Why do you want to talk to Ethan?"

"I don't," I said.

Josh looked at me with surprise, almost injured for his friend.

"I know where he is," Meredith said.
"He's on Marissa's yacht with Leona Marsh and a bunch of other rich kids. Jemma Nelson instagrammed a bunch of photos. Ethan was in several of them."

"How's she on
instagram if there's no service?" Josh asked.

"Oh, they have service. I've been texting
Jemma and another girl too. They both said Marissa's freaking crazy, but I've never partied with her. Why'd you think they don't get service? Oh, Ethan? Did you try to reach him? I doubt he's answering texts. I think everyone's pretty wasted. You should see the photos she posted on instagram."

I knew that asking Meredith to see the photos was risky business. It was a safe bet that I'd see something I didn't want to see.
I decided not to ask.

"I can't believe he wouldn't respond," Josh said.

"He's probably too faced to care about his phone," Meredith said.

"Speaking of
being faced," I said, "I'm going to get a glass of champagne."

"I thought you weren't drinking," Meredith said, her head whipping around to look at me. I'd said
I wasn't having anything several times already, so she had the right to be a little surprised.

"I just dec
ided to have one," I said. "Why? Will your parents care?"

"No they won't care. They won't
even notice. Plus, you look old enough," Meredith said. "Let's go out by the pool," she added, pulling on my arm. "You can get a drink out there, and the music's louder."

We'd been talking to a group of people by the pool
for a few minutes, and I'd nearly finished my drink when I heard someone say, "Erickson!" I turned toward the person who said it, and followed his gaze to the far side of the pool. Ethan had just come out of the house, and was scanning the patio. I saw his gaze move across faces in the crowd, smiling when he saw someone he recognized, but continuing pass over the different groups of people.

I got nervous when I realized he'd
soon be coming to the group I was standing with. I was by about five other people including Meredith, who'd apparently also heard the guy call Ethan's name. She looked up and caught sight of Ethan just like I did. The others in our group were totally unaware of all this. Meredith elbowed me and said, "Hey, Ethan's here," as if I hadn't been acutely aware of that fact.

Ethan's gaze
continued to scan the pool area at a painfully slow pace. Meredith and I were both looking at him when his eyes passed over our group. His eyes met mine, and he instantly froze. His shoulders relaxed, and he gave me a relieved smile before beginning to walk in my direction. "Oh snap," Meredith said, elbowing me again. I think she said something like "He's coming this way," but I really couldn't hear her anymore with the sound of my pounding heart so loud in my ears.

The sight of him in casual boat clothes next to all these people who were
all dressed up made my heart skip a beat. Confidence oozed out of him. He had on khaki cargo pants, and a white button up shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, and it was unbuttoned far enough to see the wife beater underneath. His light brown hair was perfectly messy. He might as well have been walking in slow motion, what with the music, the outfit, and the way he didn't take his eyes off me the whole time.

Chapter 8

Ethan

I'd been on Marissa's dad's boat for three hours when I got a text from Josh saying Emily was at Collin's New Year's party.
Most everyone on board had already taken his or her drug of choice, so it was a bit of an ordeal to explain why I needed to get back to the marina. It was just after eleven when I pulled up at Collin's. I couldn't believe the number of cars on the street. I had no idea they were planning a party this big.

I walked in through the side door of the house, bypassing the main living area. I figured I'd start my search by the pool since I knew Emily loved
being outside. I only had to pass through the kitchen before making my way outside again. I scanned the clusters of people near the pool, not able to believe I hadn't seen Josh or Collin or anyone else who could confirm Emily was here.

Then I saw her. She had on tight
black leather pants and an equally tight shirt (black with tan stripes). All sorts of jangly bracelets were stacked on her wrist. As if that wasn't enough torture, she had spike heels on her feet and a fucking fedora on her head. I had never seen any girl look as hot as Emily did right then. I couldn't believe it. What was she doing there? I was mad as hell she hadn't planned on telling me she was coming, but I still couldn't stop a smile from spreading across my face as I made my way to the other side of the patio to where she was standing. We didn't take our eyes off of each other the whole time I was walking toward her.

Collin's little
sister spoke as I approached. I hadn't even noticed her standing next to Emily before she said something. "Josh texted you," she said.

"I know," I said. "Why do you think I'm here?" By this point, I was looking at Emily again. She was smiling at me
. "God, girl, what are you doing here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Rachel talked me into coming."

"And you weren't planning on telling me?" I asked.

She shrugged again. "I knew y
ou already had plans."

I looked at her as if she should know better. "I'm trying to hang out with you here, and you're making it a little difficult."

"What makes you think
I
want to hang out?" Emily asked. That drew a laugh from Meredith. I shot her a contemptuous look, and she turned to face the other direction, giving us a little privacy. "You know I'm just kidding," Emily said. "The only reason I didn't say anything about coming was because I didn't want to interfere with your plans. And from the looks of it, I was right." She gave me a disappointed smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Emily extended a pointer finger and pressed it to my cheek, close to my jaw. "You have a perfect kiss mark right
here
on your cheek… made with hooker-red lipstick."

Meredith, who had never really tuned out of the conversation, looked at me and started cracking up. "You totally do, Ethan.
It's right there," she poked at it again. "I was gonna tell you when you walked up."

I rolled my eyes and wiped my jaw with
the back of my hand. "Who cares? It was just a bunch of party girls. It doesn't mean anything. It's not like I would have been there in the
first place
if you would've told me you were coming." I reached out and took Emily by the waist, pulling her toward me. "Come here."

Meredith was watching to see how Emily would react.
She tensed, acting for a second like she wanted to resist me, but then loosened up and fell into my embrace. I wrapped my arms around her, loving the feel of her next to me. "You're almost as tall as I am with those shoes on," I said.

"I'm not even close
," she said, looking up at me from under the brim of her hat. "You still have a good three inches on me."

"Yeah, but those heels put you right up here where I barely have to bend to do this." I lowered my head and put a kiss on her mouth.
I had the gratification of feeling her body contract and then relax the moment my mouth made contact with hers. I noticed the taste of alcohol on her breath, which was out of character for her, but I didn't say anything.

"
Sooooo
I guess I don't need to make introductions since you two apparently know each other," Meredith said. I completely ignored her, but Emily gave her a shy smile. She took the hint, smiling as she walked off in the direction of the house.

"I'm sorry you had to leave your party," Emily said. "I didn't want Josh to text you, but he did it anyway."

"How do you ever expect me to get enough visits to earn a private dance if you come to town without letting me know?" I asked.

"I thought we're only counting the visits you make to L.A.," she said,
narrowing her eyes.

"No, I don't think so. I think we clearly stated that after three visits,
I get a private dance. We definitely didn't specify a city. I would have remembered that."

"Three visits, huh?"
she said, pulling back far enough to cross her arms.

"Yeah," I said, "and
I think this is number two since I just went all the way up to Ventura for Christmas. So, it's pretty much happening next time I see you… unless you want to just go ahead and get it done now. Tonight's good too."

"I think you've had enough for one evening," she said, turning my face
to inspect the lipstick smudge on my cheek. She rubbed at it. "And the deal was five visits to Los Angeles… although I'm willing to bend a little on the location."

"Most girls
are
willing to bend for me," I said, flashing her a wry smile. I reached down and cupped my hand around her fine, leather-clad ass, giving it a little squeeze. "And, by the way, those tights you had on the other day were
not
the reason you were looking so hot."

"
These pants are miracle workers too… that's why I wore them." She turned so I could inspect the pants in question. "They do make me feel like a rock star, though. You better be careful, I saw some other guys checking me out earlier." She was smiling and playing around with me, but I could tell by the way her gaze kept shifting that she was uncomfortable with the lipstick smudge on my face.

"Don't move," I said. "I'm
gonna go take care of this real quick, I'll be right back."

"Take care of what?" she asked.

"I'm going to get rid of whatever's on my face."

"Don't act li
ke you don't know what's there," she said. "And while we're at it, what makes you think you can come in here trying to cozy up with me when you literally have someone else's lipstick stains all over you."

Again, I used the back of my hand to rub my cheek.
I sighed. "It means nothing, Emily. I'm going to get cleaned up. Stay here." I let go of the grasp I had on her, thinking I'd head inside to wipe it off. "If you would've just told me you were going to be here, none of this would have happened in the first place."

"Oh, so it's my fault now?"

"What do you mean,
now
? It's always been your fault. You should've told me you were coming."

"
Oh, don't act so injured," she said. "Obviously it was easy enough for you to find something else to do."

"I didn't want something else to do. I wanted to hang out with you."

"Even though I'm not going to make it as easy for you as that girl would?" She pointed, yet again, to my cheek.

I laughed.
"One thing's for sure… you never, ever gave me the impression that you were going to make things easy for me."

"
Why are you still standing here? Go wash it off," she said. She was smiling a little, and I felt like she may just let me live it down. I smiled back before taking off for the nearest sink and mirror.

"Don’t move," I yelled from over my shoulder.

****

What the crap do they make lipstick out of these days? I was scared for a second that the red mess all over the side of my face was permanent. By the time I finished cleaning
my jaw, which took two rounds of soap and some elbow grease, Emily was no longer by the pool. Meredith informed me that Emily was too cold to stay outside. She said Emily mentioned grabbing a sweater and something about checking on her dog. I was a little ticked that she couldn't have just waited for me like I asked her to, but I probably deserved some pay back for the lipstick oversight.

Until that point, I hadn't even thought about Sal or what
arrangements Emily had made for him for the night. I figured she probably kept him in one of the upstairs bedrooms. My first instinct was to go searching for her, but I was too stubborn to do that since I'd told her not to move. I decided to play it cool. I'd probably act like I hadn't even noticed she'd been missing.

After twenty minutes of waiting for her to return, I gave up my plan
of nonchalance, and set out in search of her. I spotted her in the kitchen talking to Josh. I felt a little stab of jealousy at the sight of her talking to another guy even though I knew Josh would never try to cock block me. Emily was wrapped up in a knit sweater, and even though she was now inside, she clutched herself as if she were still chilled.

I was less than ten feet from the place where she and Josh were standing when a girl I barely recognized crossed the kitchen with her arms outstretched to me.

"Eeeethan!" she shrieked.

Before I could respond, or make a plan, or even t
hink, she'd crossed over to me and put her arms around my neck. Josh and Emily were both looking at me as if they were interested to find out how I'd react. I pried her hands off of me with as much grace as you can do something like that.

"
Heyyy… " I trailed off, unable to come up with the girl's name. She could tell I was uncomfortable. I was watching for Emily's reaction from the corner of my eye.

"I can't believe you don't remember me," she said. "I was only your partner for a whole year."

"Nikki? Seriously? Is that you?" I asked. I couldn't believe how she'd changed. She was my partner for a couple of seasons of ballroom dancing when we were like ten years old. If I remember correctly, I won more contests when I danced with Nikki than any other partner. We were actually really good together. My parents made me start taking ballroom dancing lessons when I was eight. I continued until I was twelve or so, entering and winning contests in all sorts of styles. My mom never paid for the lessons I wanted in break dancing, so I had to learn how to do that on my own. Nikki used to wear her hair slicked back in a knot with glitter everywhere and a big bow. She used to look like a gangly little girl. The Nikki standing in front of me was a far cry from gangly.

My
gut reaction was to be as diplomatic as possible with the girl-juggling while being slick enough to keep my options open. Any other time, and in any other situation, that’s exactly what I would've done. But I just couldn't bring myself to do that with Emily. Maybe I liked her too much. Maybe I thought she would see through it and wouldn't tolerate it. Either way, I couldn't let myself girl-juggle that night.

"Nikki, this is my friend Josh, and my girl Emily." I gestured to Josh and Emily who were both watching with great interest. Emily's expression was unreadable, but Josh's was clear enough. His eyebrows rose
in surprise, telling me he couldn't believe I'd just called someone
my girl
in the presence of another girl. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised myself. I was the king of stringing girls along without them even noticing, and had I really been trying, I could've had both Emily and Nikki feeling like they were the center of my universe. I shrugged at Josh, before crossing to stand next to Emily.

I asked Nikki if she was still dancing. She said she still did it for fun, but was in school to become a nurse. I told her Emily was a dancer, which opened up a whole new
line of conversation about Laker Girls and life in L.A. in general.

We were still standing in the kitchen when it was time
count down to the New Year. Collin's mom went through the house announcing that we had one minute to go until midnight. I'd been standing next to Emily the whole time we were talking to Nikki, but I wanted to make my intentions clear for when the clock struck midnight. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I hope you're expecting to be kissed," I said. I couldn't help but stare at her beautiful, full lips.

Obviously, Emily hadn't expected me to be so bold
, and when I said it, she looked at Josh and Nikki nervously. They weren't even paying attention. Neither of them seemed to have anyone to kiss, so they were in the middle of some awkward small talk. Emily laughed a little. "I guess this is the part where I should thank you for coming," she said. "My original plan was to disappear to Collin's room before the countdown. Checking on Sal would have been an excellent excuse."

"You can still disappear into Collin's room if you want," I said, "but if you do, I'm coming with you."

She narrowed her eyes. "No one can accuse you of not being persistent," she said.