Veer (Clayton Falls) (5 page)

“You really are a loser
.
” Katie
wiped down the bar.

“Shut up.”

“Come on, a girl like that smiles at you in invitation
,
and you shut her down
?
Cold.”

“I’m just saving us both time. Besides, it looks like Mathews is doing a good job keeping her company. And if not, Ronny’s next in line.”
I leaned forward on my elbows to get a better view.

“She smiled at you.”
She tossed her rag at me knowing I’d duck out of the way.

“Mind you own business.”
I picked up the towel and threw it down on the bar.

“Fine. But
don’t come complaining to me when you regret it.”

“Trust me
.
E
ven if I did regret
it, which I won’t,
you’d be the last one I’d talk to.”

“Good.” She smiled, before walking away to help someone else.

“Hey! You must be Becca! It’s so nice to meet you.” A voice that loud only belong
ed
to one girl. Kelly
:
best friend to Molly and wife of my partner, Tom.

I watch
ed
Kelly pull
Becca
into an intense
hug. I waited to see her
face
.
I figured that kind of hug would throw her off. Instead
,
she grinn
ed
. Go figure. The group pushed a few tables together and sat down. I frowned, missing my view of Becca’s legs more than I wanted
to admit
.

“Hey, m
an.” Tom snuck up on me.

“
Hey.”

“So
,
you didn’t mention that your damsel in distress looks like a freaking super model.”

“It didn’t seem relevant.” I focused on my beer.

“Bull
shit.” He fake
d a
cough.

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you aren’t suddenly batting for the other team. What’s up?”

“
Something is up
because I don’t try to lay every girl who comes into this town
?”
I ignored the insinuation in his comment. I knew Tom wasn’t actually homophobic.

“Are you going to sit here drinking alone
,
or are you going to join us?” I didn’t need to look over to know he gestur
ed
to the table.

“Would that make you happy?”

He shrugged. “Not really, but it would be humorous to see you over there with both Mathews.”

“Fuck you.”

Tom laughed. “So
,
are you coming?”

“Why not
?
” I grabbed my half-finished beer
,
followed him over
, and
pulled a chair over to the end of
the
table.

“Hey, Gavin,” Kelly and Molly said at the same time which they
apparently
thought was h
ilarious
and started laughing.

“Hello.”

Becca turned away from Jake to look at me. Her glance was tentative,
as if
she was afraid I’d rebuff her again. I guess she had every right to expect it. I didn’t disappoint.
She looked down at the table for a second before turning back to Jake.
I don’t know why I was being such a jerk to he
r
,
other than the fact that
her a
ccent reminded me of Dawn
’s
.
I
also
knew she probably thought we were a bunch of hicks
.

“So you decided to grace us with your presence?” Ronny
asked. H
is frustration at Jake for monopolizing Becca’s attention
was
blatantly obvious.

“Yeah, I didn’t see any better alternative.”
I picked at the corner of the label on my beer.

“You know you love us, Gav
.”
Kelly
sounded
all sugary sweet.

“You got me there.”

Becca laughed
,
and I turned toward her.
H
er laugh was real. It kind of matched her. I was pretty sure she was laughing at my comment, and I liked knowing I’d caused it. Great, I was getting possessive over making her laugh now.

“So what do you think of Clayton Falls so far?” Tom asked her.

She hesitated for a moment. “It’s
,
uh
,
different from what I’m used to, but
it’s
nice.”

“Nice?
” Jake asked. “Is that code for
‘
get me the hell out of here
’
?
”

She laughed
again
. Obviously
,
I wasn’t the only one
who
amuse
d
her
. “No, it means nice. I say what I mean.”

Molly leaned forward like she was about to let us in on a big secret.
“She’s serious about that. Be careful. Don’t ask for her opinion unless you want brutal honesty. I learned that the hard way when I asked her whether I could pull off leggings and Ugg boots.”

Becca sighed.
“I don’t see why people ask questions if they don’t want to hear the truth.”

“Maybe they want reassurance, support.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think about filtering them.

“So you
’d prefer someone lie to you
rather than have them dash your confidence?”
She clasped her hands together and leaned forward.

“In some circumstances.”
I folded my arms across my chest. I was just itching for an argument.

“In some circumstances? Where do you draw the line?”

“There’s value in making people happy.” I didn’t know what the hell I was saying.
It didn’t matter.

She tensed slightly. “Well
,
do me a favor
:
spare me the sympathy lies.”

“I wasn’t planning on buttering anything up for you
,
sweetheart
. I
t wouldn’t be worth the effort.”

Molly reached over and smacked my leg under the table.

“Ouch.”
The word sort of slipped out.

“What the hell has gotten into you?”
She hit
me
with
a deadly glare
. Ben’s arm wrapped
protectively
around her.

“Don’t worry about it
,
Mol
. I
t’s my accent he hates. Or wait, that’s
just
what makes me
different from you
.”

“What?” Molly looked
back and forth
between us.

“Isn’t that what you said? I wasn’t what you expected because I wasn’t more like her?”

“
You’re
not at all
like Molly.” What the
hell
was I doing?
It’s not
as if
I wanted
Molly anymore.

Part of me expected her to storm
away
from the table, but she held her ground. “That’s okay, because
you’re
nothing like Ben.”
T
he girl could play ball.

“All right, you two sound
the way
Molly and I
usually
do.” Jake
scowled
at me as he referred to his famous disputes with his sister-in-law. From what I understood
,
they’d been fighting constantly since
they were
kids.

Ronny got an impish grin. “Are you sure you two didn’t sleep together last night?”

“No
,
”
w
e both said.

Becca
crossed her arms
,
causing
the
fabric of her t-shirt
to pull tightly
across her chest.

Tom laughed, giving me a look to let me know he
’d
caught me checking her out. I shrugged and took the last swig of my beer. I wanted another, but I wasn’t
going to drive
drunk.

“So…” Ronny tried to lighten the mood
and turned his attention back to Becca
. “What are your plans?”

“I start work on
Monday
.
I’m not sure about tomorrow. What am I doing?” She looked at Molly.

“We’re spending the day at the beach. You need some sun.”

Becca smiled. “Sounds good.”

“When are y
ou going? I might join you guys
.”
Jake
grinned
.

“We’ll
probably do breakfast at Surf S
ong first, but after that
we’ll be there
.”

“Okay, cool.”

I listened to their banter for a while before excus
ing myself. I purposely avoided
looking over at Becca again.
S
he seemed to bring out the wors
t
in me.

I heard Molly comment
as I walked away. “What’s
up with Gavin? That was so out of character for him.”

I didn’t cast a glance back. I wish I knew.

Chapter Five

Becca

I’d never been in a small town bar before. Sure
,
I’d spent time in my share of dives and hole in the wall
places
, but they were still distinctly urban. Gill’s was something else.

Walking in with Molly and Ben was overwhelming to say the least. They knew
everyone
. I smiled politely, but I felt incredibly out of place. Even though I wasn’t dressed differently, I knew I stood out like a sore thumb.

A guy
with dirty blond hair
touched my
arm
gently to get my attention.
“Hello, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you yet.”

“Oh, hey
,
Ronny. This is my friend, Becca,” Molly answered for me.

I accepted his handshake and returned his warm smile.
He was cute and being nice to me. I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to make allies in this town.

“So, rumor has it you’re working for the
Morgans
this summer.”

“Yeah
, they were nice enough to hire me.” I couldn’t believe how small th
e
town really was. Molly wasn’t kidding when she said that everyone knew everyone and each other’s business. I was used to the relative anonymity of a big city
,
and I wasn’t sure I liked the change.

“Cool, Matt’s a
chill
guy
,
and his dad’s great. I think you’ll
do well with them
.” He smiled at me again
.
I could tell he was trying hard to put me at ease.

“That’s what everyone’s saying.”

“So what brings you here? I mean
,
besides the incredible job opportunity.”

I laughed. “I needed a change. It’s been a rough year
,
and when Molly suggested I come down, I couldn’t resist.”

“Nice. Not the rough year part, but you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Oh d
amn it
.
I missed you losing your G
ill’s virginity.” Jake
put
an arm around my shoulder. I’m sure I blushed
. T
hat boy had a strange sense of humor.

“Gill’s virginity?”

“Yeah, I mean you only have your first visit once.”
He wriggled an eyebrow.

“Oh my god
.
Jake,
you’re
so weird.” Molly rolled her eyes.

I laughed. “Well we haven’t been here long, so you didn’t miss much.”