Second String (In Too Deep #3) Read online

  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 you 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 like 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 el
bow 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 think, 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.

  I laughed. "Being persistent is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially when it earns me things like lip-locks and private dances and what not."

  "Oh yeah? And what happens after you've earned all those things?" she asked. "On to the next girl?" She was smiling as if she was just teasing, but I sensed there was some true concern lurking in there somewhere. "You know what? It doesn't even matter," she said. "We've both got other people in our lives, I'm sure. Casual is good."

  I had absolutely no idea where that last bit of rambling had come from. We've both got other people in our lives? What was that supposed to mean? I happened to agree that casual was good, however, so I didn't ask.

  Voices in the crowd began to count down from ten. I cupped my hands around the sides of her face and positioned her where only a few inches of space separated our mouths. "I'm going to kiss you now, and it won't be the last time."

  "What makes you so sure about that?" she asked. She was trying to act tough, but the way she was clinging to me made it totally obvious that she was mine for the taking… or at least mine for that kiss.

  Chapter 9

  Emily

  "Ethan's already texting me to make sure we're on the road," Collin said as he adjusted his rearview mirror to look at me. "He's all stressed out about you being back in time for work tonight."

  "I told him we were leaving early," I said. I rolled my eyes a little, pretending to be annoyed, but I was secretly happy that Ethan was checking up on me.

  "I didn't even see him until the party was almost over," Rachel said.

  "That's because he didn't get there till the end… well, almost," Collin said. "He was out on the water, so it took him a little while to get to shore."

  "I still feel bad about Josh telling him," I said. I was lying through my teeth. I was so glad Josh told him. I wanted Ethan there so badly; I was just too stubborn to tell him since I thought he had plans with another girl, which I'd obviously been right about. He was extremely quick to leave wherever he was once he heard I'd come to town, and I took some satisfaction in that, despite the whole lipstick thing.

  "Well, I for one, am thankful Josh told him," Collin said. "Ethan would have killed me for not telling him even though I had no idea he didn't know you were coming." Collin glanced at me in the mirror again. "You can't do that to me next time."

  "I know, it's my fault. He made other plans when I told him I wasn't coming to the party, and I hated to tell him I changed my mind."

  "He must like you," Collin said. "I heard he was at a party with some supermodel, and he made them change course to bring him back to his car."

  I let out a humorless laugh. "It's probably not that he likes me all that much," I said. "I'm sure it's more about the fact that I'm harder to figure out than most girls he goes out with."

  "You mean you're harder to get in the sack than most girls?" Collin asked. Rachel looked at him like she couldn't believe he'd say such a thing.

  I laughed for real at that. I loved Collin's candor. "Yeah, that's probably what it boils down to," I said. "I think I'm the only girl who's ever made him work this hard."

  I thought about the way he'd taken my face in his hands and kissed me so gently just as the clock struck twelve. I thought about how it was getting har
der and harder to remember why I was making him work so hard in the first place. I also thought about how I hadn't thought about Jeremy lately… well, not nearly as much as I used to. I was absentmindedly wondering what Jeremy did for New Year's when my text message alert sounded.

  Gretchen: "Happy New Year! Can you fit me in for lunch sometime in the next few days?"

  Me: "Sure! And Happy New Year to you too."

  Gretchen: "How's tomorrow at Taco Sisters?"

  Me: "Sounds tasty. What time? And is everything okay?"

  Gretchen: "Noon if that's good for you, and yes,everything's okay. I wanted to talk to you about the center."

  Me: "Noon it is. See you then."

  Gretchen: ""

  ****

  At noon on the dot the following day, I parked in the gravel lot in front of the small taco shack where I was meeting Gretchen. She had already sent me a message to let me know she was almost there, so I sat in my car until she pulled up. She was driving Joel's old hot rod. "That car's so awesome." I said as she stepped out. "You might have to take me for a ride sometime."

  She smiled. "Anytime. It's so fun to drive. I expected Joel to be protective of it, but he doesn't care at all if I take it out."

  We walked into the tiny taco joint. There were just a few tables, and if we'd come any later, we wouldn't have had a place to sit. I found a little table for two in the corner, and we grabbed it before anyone else could.

  "Let's figure out what we want and I'll go stand in line," Gretchen said. "You can wait here so we don't lose our table.

  "Chicken tacos with extra cilantro," I said, without even looking at the menu.

  "And to drink?" she asked.

  "Diet coke, but I hate for you to have to take my order. Do you want me to go wait in line and you stay here?"

  "No, I got it," she said. "I'll be right back."