Chelsea Cameron - My Sweetest Escape

“No, it’s fine. I know how it feels, believe me. Been there, done that. How’s this one?” She handed me another used book and I found a mysterious brown stain on one of the back pages.

“I don’t even want to speculate what that is,” she said, holding the book in the tips of her fingers and putting it back. We got the rest of my list and filled the basket.

“Now this is one of those times when it really does pay to have a strong guy around.” We’d both tried to lift the basket, but it wasn’t happening. As if she’d said his name, Hunter came around the corner with another equally full basket that he carried with no problem.

“Did my ears deceive me? Did you order a strong man?” he said with a cocky grin. Yep, Renee hadn’t been exaggerating. He was a stunner.

“Shut up and carry this for me.” She kicked the basket toward him. Hunter looked over his shoulder.

“Hey, Dusty, you wanna give me a hand, man?”

“Sure,” a guy said, coming around the corner. “Hey, Tay,” he said, smiling at Taylor. “And...Red, we meet again,” he said with an even wider smile for me. Seriously?

“You two know each other?” Taylor said, giving me a look. I knew what that look meant, and I knew what it implied, and I had to shut that down before it went any further.

“No,” I said at the same time the guy, who was apparently named Dusty, said, “yes.”

“We’re acquainted,” Dusty said with another wink. Jesus, he thought he was God’s gift, didn’t he?

“We met. Once,” I tried to clarify.

“Where?” Taylor said. Hunter hadn’t said anything, but he was looking at Dusty and then looking at me, and I could feel my ears getting hot. One of the major downsides of being a redhead is that when you get uncomfortable or embarrassed, you broadcast it to the world. Which was what I was currently doing. Dusty seemed to get a kick out of it. D-bag.

“It was at the hospital the other night. So, um, I think that’s everything. We should probably go,” I said, leaning down to pick up the basket. I was determined to get it myself. A set of arms beat me to it.

“Let me get that, little lady,” Dusty said as I looked up to find our faces only inches apart. He laughed a little under his breath and I stood up so fast the blood rushed to my head.

“I don’t need your help.”

He looked like he was going to make a snappy comeback, but he just ducked his head.

“Well, you’ve got it anyway.”

“Okay, then. Ready to go?” Taylor said, taking my arm and steering me toward the checkout counter. I heard Hunter and Dusty talking behind me and I distinctly heard Hunter tell Dusty my name. Like it was any of his business.

After I checked out and gave the UMaine bookstore a good chunk of my bank account, we carried the books back to Hunter’s car. Of course, being the always-helpful guy he was, Dusty had to come, too.

“So Hunter tells me you’re enrolling here,” he said as we put the books in the trunk. Taylor and Hunter were deep in discussion, probably about me.

I just nodded.

He leaned against the car. “Look, I appreciate you’ve got this whole ‘don’t touch me, don’t look at me, don’t even fucking think about me’ thing going on, but I’m just trying to be nice. You could, you know, thank me for it.”

“Thank you,” I said, giving him a completely fake smile. Yes, I knew I was being a complete asshole to this guy, but there was something about him that just made me grit my teeth. There was also something familiar that had gotten under my skin and was itching like crazy.

He shook his head.

“Okay, fine.” He started to walk away.

“Hey,” I said, and he stopped. “I’m sorry I’m such an asshole. It’s kind of my thing.” I laughed at the truth of it.

“No, I don’t think it is,” he said, looking at me intently with those green eyes that seemed to see everything. “See you tomorrow, Hunter?”

“Right,” Hunter said, as if he’d just remembered something. “Tomorrow.”

“’Bye, Red,” Dusty said, walking backward with his hands in his pockets.

“’Bye,” I said, closing the trunk of the car.

“What in the hell was that?” Taylor said, crossing her arms and giving me a look that was almost exactly like Renee’s. Damn, those two had rubbed off on each other.

“Nothing,” I said, trying to get into the car.

“You guys hungry?” Hunter said, in a blatantly obvious way of trying to divert attention.

“I don’t know what you’re making such a big deal of,” I said, getting into the backseat. “We met at the hospital for, like, five seconds. End of story. Am I not allowed to talk to people now? Is that part of the unwritten rules my sister didn’t tell me about?”

Hunter gave Taylor a look, and she shook her head.

“Never mind. I overreacted. I have a tendency to do that, just so you know,” she said.

“No, really?” Hunter said, and she smacked him and turned on the music, leading to another argument about song choice.

What were the chances that I’d encounter Dusty all that much, anyway? I mean, he and Hunter were friends, obviously, but UMaine was a huge campus. Besides, if he ever came to the house, I could just hide in the basement if I had to. Or escape somewhere, if Renee would let me. She had to loosen the reins at some point. And who really cared if I saw him again? It wasn’t like he affected me or anything. He was just a guy.

Just a guy.

Chapter 6

Sunday was chore day at Yellowfield House. Lovable control freak as always, Darah had added the list of chores and everyone got their fair share, including a rotational schedule so no one had to do the same thing over and over. The funny thing was that they all followed it without question. Like she was their mom and giving out gold stars and higher allowances for each one they completed.

“I figured you’d need another week to settle in, but next week you’re on the list,” Darah said, as if she was offering me a plate of those amazing snickerdoodles.

“Great,” I said with a smile that was totally forced. Not that I wanted to be a mooch, but they seemed to have everything in hand. I kept my room and bathroom clean and helped with the dishes. They kept trying to integrate me into the machine of the house, and I didn’t want to be a part of it. I wasn’t a part of it, not really.

They were all helping pay for the house. I was just an inconvenience that had been pushed on them. The annoying kid sister.

By late morning all the chores were done, and the already-spotless house was even more spotless. I did my first load of laundry, and everyone settled into their own activities. Renee was having a “Call of Duty” tournament with a few of Hunter and Mase’s friends, Dev and Sean, and Darah was catching up on homework and Taylor was reading some vampire book on her e-reader while Hunter played his guitar.

Renee had told me he was some kind of musical genius who could play practically any song. At the moment he was playing anything that Taylor yelled out, including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Seal and Matchbox Twenty.

I changed my laundry over to the dryer and was about to sit back down and watch the “Call of Duty” battle when we all heard the doorbell ring.

“Got it,” Hunter said, getting up and rushing to the door as if he was trying to beat everyone else. No one else had even gotten up. Weird.

“Hey, man, you know you don’t have to ring the bell. It’s always open.” He stepped aside to let the person in, and I glanced at the doorway.

“I know, but I have this thing for doorbells,” a familiar voice said before a familiar person walked through the door. Dusty.

I was surprised to see him, but he didn’t seem surprised at all.