“Oops,” I said.
“Was what I said really that surprising?” she asked, amusement clear in her tone.
I groaned. “I need to go get that.”
“You can’t. People aren’t supposed to climb on the dunes.” She pointed to a sign posted near the public access next to our house. It promised hefty fines if anyone was caught climbing.
“I’m not climbing,” I countered, flipping my hair over my shoulders. “I’m retrieving.”
“Just leave it down there.”
I probably should have. I mean, really, it was a stupid mug. There were a dozen others just like it inside. But if I stayed here, I’d have to finish this conversation. I’d have to listen to Missy tell me she was still interested in B. In the guy I had hot sex with just hours ago.
“No one will even know I went down there,” I said and rushed toward the side of the deck that led down to the parking beneath the house.
“Ivy!” Missy hissed.
“I’ll be right back!” I called and rushed down the stairs. Once I was standing on the concrete parking pad beneath the house, I leaned up against one of the stilts the house was on and dragged in a ragged breath.
Get it together, Ivy! I told myself. If I reacted like this every time she said his name, everyone would know what happened without me saying a word.
So what if she still had a thing for him? He already made it clear—the big jerk—that he wasn’t interested in her that way. It’s not like her feelings were going to change anything. Other than make me feel worse about what I did.
However, that was my cross to bear, and I could do that quietly.
Feeling much stronger and less caught off guard, I pushed away from the thick wood pole and went to the side of the house underneath the stairs. I hesitated a moment because it was cooler and shadier under here. The deck kept the sun off the sand and the grasses were grown up well past my knees.
What if there were creatures living down here?
I told myself to get over it and pushed forward. My feet sank into the sand as I climbed beneath the deck and walked along the house until I came to the edge of where the deck above ended.
“Hurry up!” Missy called from above me.
I looked up to see her staring down at me. She pointed toward the mug, and I followed her direction to where it lay nearby.
The weeds brushed against my skirt and pulled at it. Shuddering, I gathered the fabric up in one hand and bunched it up around my knees as I made my way over the mug.
“There’s a lot of crap down here,” I yelled up. A Frisbee, a beach ball without its air, scattered shells, a couple straws, and empty plastic cups littered the sand. It was cold beneath my toes and so was the grass that brushed against my calves.
The sounds of the beach were a little muted down here, and it sort of felt like I was in a whole other world.
Sounds from up above caught my attention, and I looked up, squinting against the bright sky. Missy turned away from me and was looking toward the house. Footfalls against the deck vibrated the wood, and I started praying.
Please be Trent. Please be Trent.
“What the fuck are you doing?” boomed a voice overhead.
My teeth snapped together. It wasn’t Trent.
“Washing my car,” I spat.
Missy told him about my mug, and he laughed.
“How much of that coffee did you actually drink before you dropped it? Apparently not enough.” Braeden was clearly amused by his unwitty banter.
Missy’s light giggle floated above, and I narrowed my eyes. Oh no she didn’t just laugh.
“Jerk face!” I yelled and then totally turned my back on the both of them. The mug had fallen near a patch of tall grasses, so I had to reach my hand into them to get it.
Before I did, I parted the foliage and peered in, making sure there wasn’t something else in there. I heard talking above me, but I ignored it. I ignored him.
My hand closed around the ceramic and I lifted it. Well, part of it. The other half was still lying in the sand. Figures. Stupid thing was broken. Since I was already down here, I was going to pick it up. Even though, by the looks of everything lying around, no one else ever bothered to clean up after themselves.
Once I collected the pieces of the mug, I straightened up, one hand full of the glass and the other holding my skirt up so I didn’t trip.
“Be careful,” Missy called down.
“Wouldn’t want you to trip and break a nail.” Braeden chortled.
I tossed my hair back and glared up. The smartass remark died on my tongue as the breath in my lungs stuttered.
He was leaning over the railing, watching me with a red hat turned backward on his head. From where I was standing, he really wasn’t much more than a dark shape looming overhead, but he still affected me. He still caused awareness to crash through my limbs.