Wendy Higgins - Sweet Reckoning

I should have probably thought this through better.

“What are y’all doing here?” Jay asked. He looked down at Marna’s uniform. “Layover?”

“Just a quick one. We leave at five a.m.”

Jay whistled. “Well, this is a nice surprise. It’s great to see you.” He smiled, but the edges of his eyes drooped from the day’s emotion.

Marna patted his cheek. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get out of here.”

The four of us left together, Marna never letting go of Jay’s hand. Ginger glared down at their joined hands from behind them. I understood her worry about Marna, and I had my own worries about Jay’s vulnerable, human heart, but I also knew it would do no good to try and come between them.

We exited into the hot, muggy night, and Ginger wrinkled her nose.

“It’s bloody stifling here in the summer.”

“Yep,” I agreed, though I was used to it.

“What do you guys wanna do?” Jay asked. “There’s a diner on the corner that makes awesome milkshakes.”

“Ooh!” Marna clapped her hands.

“I’m beat,” Ginger said.

“You can go back to the room,” Marna told her.

Ginger narrowed her eyes. “Not without you.”

I expected Marna to cave to her sister’s forceful wishes, as usual, but she held her ground. “You can stay or leave, but I’m not ready to go.” Marna lifted her chin.

Ginger’s little nose flared in annoyance as they battled in a silent stare-down. Then she snapped, “Don’t stay out late.”

“Bye, Ginger,” I called as she sashayed away.

“See ya,” she answered, not looking back.

“You seem tired, too,” Marna said to me with a sympathetic tilt of her head.

Dude. I was pretty sure Marna had just told me to get lost. I was beyond exhausted, now that she mentioned it.

“Yeah, I am.” I looked at Jay. “You okay?”

His mouth went up on one side in a half grin. “Sure.” He threw an arm around me and pulled me in, then the three of us walked to the diner, which was a few blocks from my hotel.

“I’m gonna head out,” I told them. “Please be careful.”

“We will,” they answered together.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said to Jay, then I walked to the hotel with a dainty switchblade in my closed fist, eyeing every shadow until I was safe in my room. I checked the bathroom, closet, and under the bed before flopping down on it.

I texted Patti to let her know I was safe, and she texted right back. We kept the messages brief and generic, but I still deleted them.

Without bothering to stand, I stripped off my jeans and tossed them to the floor. As I was about to climb under the covers and call Kaidan, I got a devious thought.

I turned on the camera feature of my phone, struck a pose, and took a picture of the bottom half of my body. It was so silly looking that I started laughing at myself. How in the world had I landed Mr. Sexy?

Determined, I struck different poses, shaking my head, laughing, or groaning at each picture, and deleting them immediately. And then I took one that made my whole body go still.

Wow.

That one was kind of . . . nice. I was lying on my side, one leg hitched up with my feet tangled in the covers, and it was a great shot all the way from my lower back down. I was wearing panties with black lace trim, nothing crazy, but the whole angle really worked.

I stared at the picture for a long while. My thumb hovered over the Send button, then over the Delete button. I chewed my lip. Kaidan loved me. He’d be shocked if I sent this pic, but he wouldn’t think less of me. Still, each time I envisioned him opening it, I felt a hot wave of embarrassment. I hit Save and dropped the phone next to me, falling back on the pillows. Maybe I’d send it someday. Maybe.

A light, persistent knocking woke me at four in the morning. I saw Ginger through the peephole, and let her in. My eyes darted down the hall, but there was no sign of Marna. It was the first time Ginger had ever looked less than perfect. Small purple bags rested under her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s Marna?”

“She went home with your friend last night,” Ginger spat. “We had a row about it over the phone, but she wouldn’t listen. You have to reign in that bloke of yours, Anna.”

“Ginger . . .” Man, she was prickly this morning.

“No, Anna. This is bloody serious, and you know it. She’s already talking about coming back to see him next week!”

Anxiety spread through me like nettles. This was the worst time for any of us to veer off our paths. The Dukes and whisperers would be watching. If she started making frequent trips to Atlanta, her father was likely to notice.

“You can use your persuasive ability thing,” Ginger said.

I shook my head. “It won’t work if they want to be together. They’ll fight it.”

Marna was desperate for love. And Jay was a relationship kind of guy, who was on the rebound with a girl he was wild about.

“I’ll talk to Jay,” I promised.

Ginger pulled out her phone and shoved it under my nose, asking, “By the way, have you seen this?”

I took the phone from her. It was an article from a Santa Barbara newspaper. The headline read LOCAL EXTREME sports star engaged. It had a picture of Blake and his girlfriend,

er . . . fiancée, Michelle, sitting on one of his motorbikes, beaming. They looked gorgeous. And in love.

“Oh no,” I whispered. I looked into Ginger’s broken face. “His father is making him.”

“Whatev.” She snatched the phone back and shoved it into her purse with a shaking hand.

“Ginger—”

“Gotta go. Take care.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and left.

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t relax. Ginger and I weren’t exactly friends, but I still hated to see her upset. Marna and Blake were the only people she cared about.

At five I pushed myself out of bed. By seven I was parking outside of Jay’s house, greeted by the scent of wild honeysuckle bushes. His home was quiet, everyone sleeping in since it was a Saturday. I let myself in, like everyone did at Jay’s place. He was conked out on his rumpled bed, lying diagonal across it. I sat next to him and gave his shoulder a gentle shake.

“Jay,” I whispered.

He didn’t budge. I shook him harder and said his name louder. With his eyes closed, he grinned and flung a heavy arm over my lap.

“Jay, it’s me. Anna!”

His eyes cracked open and he pulled his arm away.

“Dude. Sorry.” His voice was groggy. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven. I need to talk to you.”

He sat up and scrubbed his eyes with the back of his wrists before giving me his sleepy attention.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to jump right into something with Marna.”

He blinked and scratched his short hair with both hands.

“It’s nothing to worry about. I can’t believe you came all the way out here to say that.”

“I’m serious, Jay. I love you both, and I don’t want to see either of you hurt. Plus, if Veronica found out . . .”