Troublemaker (Troublemaker, Book 1) (6 page)

As he talks I get distracted by a streak of blue light that passes across Cage’s face. My eyes follow the light across the sand, over the dunes, and up to… my house.

Shit.

I look over Cage’s shoulder and see two police cars pulled up in front of my house.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What the…” I make a mad dash across the sand and towards my house.

“McKenzie, wait!” I hear Cage call out from behind but I don’t stop to look back. If my father finds out about this, correction…
when
my father finds out about this…

I can’t even think about that right now.

Breathe McKenzie. One step at a time.

When I get up to my house, there are people still scattering everywhere. I see two guys running through our hedges. The
re’s a bunch of people scrambling down my street. And there are probably about three or four police officers, each with underage drinkers in their captivity.

I look around my street and cringe. Most of the neighbors have c
ome out onto their front lawns to check out the scene.

This is
officially one of the worst moments in my life.

“Who’s the owner of this property?” A deep, husky-voiced police officer looks around.

I freeze, thinking maybe if I just stay silent long enough this whole nightmare will just disappear. Then I realize this probably isn’t the best course of action at this point.

And the last thing I want to do is make things any worse.

If that’s even possible.

“Me sir, I am.”
I can barely get the words out.

The office
r releases a teenager from his grasp and comes towards me. “What’s your name, ma’am?” he asks.

I’
m beyond nervous. This could literally be the end…

Of my life.

“McKenzie,” I say with a shaky voice.

“McKenzie
what
?” he asks, his voice growing frustrated. “What’s your last name?”

I lower my head down, hiding in
complete and utter shame. “McKenzie Miller,” I say.

The police officer rubs the bottom of his chin. “As in Colonel Miller’s daughter?” he asks.

Still unable to look up, I nod my head in agreement. “Yes,” I pause, “Jim Miller’s my dad.”

The police officer
pulls out his radio device and starts to talk into it. “Yeah, this is Officer Fisher. We’re all clear at the Ocean Road property.”

He looks at one of the other cops and gives him a nod. “Alright everyone, you got about twenty seconds to get the hell off this property before we start making arres
ts.” Officer Fisher steps towards two boys standing on my side deck. “Let’s go, move it the hell out boys! You think I’m playing games here?” He looks like he’s literally about to break someone in half. And with that, the rest of the strangers at my house start running for their lives.

The police officer looks back at me. “Look, we’re gonna cut you a break. I don’t think your dad would be too happy to hear about this
. But he’d be even less happy to find out that his daughter was arrested.”

I feel a huge wave of relief, but still feel like throwing up knowing that my father’s
almost definitely still going to hear about this. “Thank you officer, I really…”

“Don’t thank me kid,” he pauses to take one last look around, “thank your dad for this one.”

Great, once again anything good that’s ever happened to me somehow gets traced back to my father.

What a mess.

“Let’s move it out,” Officer Fisher says to the other cops. He shoots a final glance over at me. “You lucked out tonight, Miller.”

Is that what this is called, luck?

My head is about to explode. How am I ever going to live this down?

What. An. Idiot.
I can’t believe I got myself into this mess.

“Close call, Kenz,”
Cage says with a smile as he comes from behind the house. “Man you got some serious connections in this town.” And for the first time his adorable face doesn’t look so adorable to me right about now. To say the least.

“Connections?” I ask him. I’m absolutely fuming.
“Is this just some big fucking joke to you?”

“Whoa! Take it easy Kenz, everything worked out. It’s fine,” he says.

“Everything worked out for who?” Now I’ve gone from scared to death to furious in less than a minute. “Maybe everything worked out for you, Cage. Maybe you and your ukulele will sleep great tonight. But nothing about tonight worked out for me.”

“Jesus, relax will you? Everything worked out fine, the cops cut you some major slack because of your dad,” he says. His smile has vanished, not that I even care at this point.

“He’s right, Kenz, it could’ve been a lot worse,” Jess chimes in.

I completely ignore her and continue looking at
Cage as I shake my head. “Why should I ever, ever, EVER have trusted you?” I shout out. “I mean seriously, I should’ve known way better than to trust someone who doesn’t seem to care about anything but himself.”

Cage
comes in closer to me. “Okay, take it easy there lady. I know you’re upset, but you don’t have to…”

“Get away from me, you’ve done enough damage tonight,” I say.

He drops back into silence for a moment and shakes his head in frustration. “Okay, whatever. I’ll leave you and your issues alone,” he says, looking around. “Hey Ryker, let’s roll brother.”

Ryker
steps down from the deck and gives Jess a small piece of paper before he heads off on foot with Cage. Jess smiles and puts the piece of paper into her front jeans pocket.

I look down my street and see
Cage and his friend drift off in the distance, their shadowy figures getting smaller and smaller with each step.

I suddenly feel ill. Like throwing up ill.

And that’s just what I do. Because why not, right?

Nice work McKenzie, a brand new personal low point.
I know things are bad when I’d rather get swept away by a tsunami then deal with my life anymore.

“Kenz, you want me to stay the night with you?” Jess asks.

“No Jess, but thank you.” I pick myself up from the ground and start to make my way back inside. I take one last look down my street, and I honestly don’t even know why. He’s out of sight, which is definitely for the better.

At least that’s what
I tell myself to take the edge off my pain.

* * *

It’s been over two days since the party nightmare. I haven’s seen Cage around our place at all. I haven’t even heard any footsteps along the outdoor staircase that runs along the side of our house. I have so many bizarre feelings ripping through my body right now. I’m not sure if I miss him to death, which makes no sense whatsoever, or if I’m happy that he’s not around anymore.

I feel like I’m twelve years old right now, obsessing over some boy that hardly even knows I exist. What a waste of precious time.

The only good thing to come over the last two days is that I haven’t heard from my father yet.

Yet.
My brain is one big jumbled mess.

My phone vibrates, it’s a text from Jess.

You still alive?
she texts.

Barely,
I reply.

Want some company
?
she asks.

I text her back.
Thanks Jess, but I wouldn’t want you exposed to me right no
w

I turn my phone off. I honestly can’t even deal with my life right now.

* * *

I pace around in my empty house for two and a half hours. Literally pacing. I keep shaking my head, trying to remember what happened on the beach with Cage. Trying to forget what happened when the cops showed up at my house. And trying to figure out how I’m ever going to step out into the world again.

After cleaning my entire house up and down and organizing pretty much everything that can scientific
ally be organized, I take a hot shower and throw on a fresh pair of jeans and a soft, white top. I collapse on my bed to catch my breath, which feels good… for about ten seconds. Then come the thoughts again.

I can’t fathom what happened with
Cage during the party. And I can’t stand the fact that I care so deeply, so much so that I feel… depressed. No, depressed would be putting it mildly. I feel like running naked down my street and screaming my lungs out, anything to cover up the pain and confusion.

So dramatic McKenzie. Take it down a notch.

Breathe.

Relax.

Let it go…

SCREW THIS! I can’t take it anymore. I get up from my
bed and tip toe downstairs and out my side door.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

I somehow come up with the genius idea to sneak into Cage’s apartment. It’s the only thing I can think of that will somehow soothe the insanity that’s brewing inside  of me.

His
Cadillac’s nowhere to be seen. I take one last look out at the street to make sure the coast is clear before I go inside.

All clear. I put our spare key into the lock and just as I’m about to turn the knob, I pause.

Really, McKenzie? Are you sure about this?

Then I remember the anguish that got me here in the first place, so I turn the knob and go into
Cage’s unit.

I’m kind of taken by surprise at first glance. Things are noticeably neat, especially for a guy. And even more so for this type of guy. His b
ed is made, the kitchen area looks spotless, and the floor looks like nobody’s been on it since I cleaned it after our last tenant left. Kind of impressive actually.

I get hit by
a wave of normalcy for a fleeting moment. What the hell am I doing here? I mean, I’ve heard of desperate but come on McKenzie, this is way beyond pathetic.

I shake the momentary sanity out of my head and continue on doing whatever it is I think I’m doing.

What am I doing again?

Still. No. Clue.

Panic sets in. What if his place is so damn clean because he took off, for good?

I sprint to his bureau and open one of the drawers.

Thank god, there’s a bunch of his shirts folded neatly. The fact that I’m this happy to see some guy’s t-shirts really doesn’t bode well for me.

Holy shit
! I hear some rattling outside the unit.

Cage
!
My heart feels like it’s going to explode, it’s beating faster than I ever thought possible. I rush over to the window and peak through the blinds. I thought my life pretty much couldn’t get any worse these days but…

I breathe a hu
ge sigh of relief once I see our mailman heading down

our walkway and back towards his truck.
I head back towards the bureau to close the drawer, but somehow can’t seem to pull the trigger before… I grab one of Cage’s shirts and bring it close to my nose. I breathe in his scent, chills ripple down my back.

Some landlord you make McKenzie.

I put the shirt back in his drawer and tip toe over to his bed. I can’t help but

fantasize about him lying on his bed, on his back
, in his boxer briefs, his arms crossed behind his head. I imagine myself clawing at his chest.

No.

I shake the fantasy out of my head.

I walk over towards his bathroom and notice a picture on the nightstand. My stomach sinks and I feel like throwing up, again. It’s a picture of a gorgeous blonde, and I’m talking supermodel gorgeous…She’s got her arm around
Cage, both of them in their bathing suits while he’s holding his surfboard.

Now this makes more sense, this is the kind of girl that belongs to him.

Not me.

I notice a name inscribed on the bottom of the frame. The name is beyond familiar.
Julia.

Tattoo girl.

I seriously might throw up in my tenant’s apartment. I’m sure that would be a great move.

I try to remember what happened on
the beach between us.  I felt so much… something. So much something? I’m losing my mind, seriously. Maybe I felt absolutely nothing. Maybe I just wanted to believe in something, anything. Maybe I just wanted to believe in him, just for a few moments. Something’s so refreshing about Cage that makes me feel free… and totally crazy.

Because he’s not my type.

And I’m clearly not his type either. Tattoo girl Julia is definitely his type- they look like they’re on the cover of some stupid fashion magazine.

I really
feel like punching her in the face. Or at least smashing this picture on the floor.

Ugh. I hold my head down in disgust, and I’m not even sure who I’m more disgusted with…
her
,
him, or me.