Before You(18)

“Alec, Marc, this is Bre,” Cam said, tugging her in front of him.

Marc gave Bre an open if not overly friendly smile, followed by a hug. Alec merely nodded in her direction, not even bothering to smile. She found it amusing that Marc and Alec’s personalities matched their looks.

Marc was the complete opposite of Alec, physically and mentally. He had a loud, crude sense of humor that grated on her nerves most of the time. His light brown hair always looked mussed from the wind or other more intimate encounters.

Alec, on the hand, rarely spoke. He was dark in looks and personality, with his black hair and eyes and black tribal tattoos starting at his fingers and lacing up his arms to his neck. His quietness didn’t seem to bother women. They flocked to his dark brooding looks probably hoping they would be the one to melt his cold reserve.

Within a few minutes, Cam became absorbed in a conversation about band business with Alec and Marc, so Bre drifted down the stairs of the deck to explore the beach. On the beach, she was soon surrounded by a group of men discussing the pro and cons of surfing different beaches in Southern California. She joined the conversation, asking questions about surfing techniques, and after an hour and a half she had accepted an invitation to take an early morning surf lesson from a guy named Reed who was staying at Jax’s house, too.

Realizing that Cam was probably wondering where she was, she excused herself, saying she needed a drink. Walking around the side of the house and up the steep stepping stones toward the front of the house, she discovered a door propped open on the side of the house. She slipped into the room, pausing at the entrance to let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting.

“What are you doing in here?” Jax said, announcing his presence.

Bre looked up and saw Jax in his swim trunks, sitting in a chair in the corner of the bedroom with a guitar in his lap, his long legs stretched out in from of him. “I should ask you the same thing. What is the host of the party doing hiding out in a bedroom alone?” Bre said, walking toward him.

“Who says I’m alone?” Jax’s lazy voice mocked.

Embarrassed, Bre froze in place, then started walking backwards toward the door. Trying to avoid acting like a naïve dimwit, she shrugged her shoulders to give the impression that she was blithely unfazed by his comment. Of course, Jax wasn’t alone. Internally cringing, she glanced at the bed, fearing she would find Katie there, but she noticed it wasn’t disturbed. Her eyes flew back toward him, only to see his face filled with humor. She tried to think of something mundane to say. “You have a beautiful home,” she commented, and then cleared her throat. “Well, I better find Cam.”

“Yep, you probably aren’t going to find him in my bedroom, or at least I hope not.” Jax shivered in mock horror.

Bre smiled. “That would be awkward.”

Jax put his guitar on the ground and walked over to the wall next to the door, leaning against it as he studied her for a few moments in silence. “So,” he smiled. “How are things with Cam?”

“I don’t know—better, I guess.”

“Did you ask him why he was late that night?”

“No. Not exactly,” she replied, twisting her interlaced hands. “He mentioned that he had to cover for another bartender at the restaurant, but I don’t know what to believe. Even if he had to work late, that doesn’t explain why he didn’t call or text me.”

He raised his eyes as if he were amused by her comment. “So you accepted his answer and decided to pretend as if nothing happened.”

“Pretty much,” Bre said sheepishly, staring down at the floor, not wanting to meet his gaze.

Jax pushed his body away from the wall and walked toward her. “Are you enjoying the party?”

“I don’t really know anyone here, but I met some guys who promised to teach me to surf in the morning.”

Jax laughed, and she smiled at him. She loved his laugh.

“How did they talk you into that?”

“They claimed it would be just like snowboarding so there wouldn’t be a steep learning curve.”

“You snowboard?” he asked, arching one eyebrow.

“Of course, I grew up in Colorado, near Aspen no less.”

“Right, sometimes I forget you and Cam grew up together. So where’s Cam? Isn’t he supposed to be introducing you to people?”

“I left him at the bar the with Marc and Alec and went for a walk. They were a little absorbed arguing about the best way to do a sound test. When I came back from the beach, I didn’t see him by the pool.”

“So you decided to wander around my house and snoop through the rooms?”