“Pickford?” A girl with dark hair shuffled through the sand. Her eyes landed on Pick, and he tossed her in the air as if she were a feather. She started giggling.
Eden leaned toward my ear. “Marin. They’ve been married less than a year, but it’s like a constant honeymoon. I apologize ahead of time if they make you want to vomit.”
I laughed. “It’s fine.”
She wasn’t kidding. Pick’s arms were wrapped around Marin, while her legs hooked against his waist. They seemed oblivious to the rest of the party.
“I’ll introduce you in a minute.”
“Yeah, I’ll just wait on that one.” I turned away from the couple. “I’m going to feel the water. I’ll be right back.”
I walked toward the surf. There was enough light from the bonfire to illuminate a path to the waves. I felt the water splash around my feet. It tickled at first, but I sunk into the wet sand when the waves pulled hard with the current.
I sipped the drink. The lime drink reminded me of the margaritas in San Antonio. The night of tequila shots at Pete’s. The lime tasted too much like Mason’s lips. I closed my eyes, wishing for a second I could let the waves pull me out too. I could float on top of the swells. My body listless and light, carried by something stronger than me.
My hair blew across my face, but I kept my eyes closed. I didn’t want to open them and face the party. I wanted to imagine for a few more minutes what it would feel like to let go of everything and wash out to sea.
15
Mason
“There is a hell of a lot of ice in this cooler,” Grey grumbled.
He held one handle, and I lugged the other over the sand. It shuffled under our feet, making a path to the fire pit ask if it had been formed by a couple of sea turtles.
“Can’t drink warm beer though.” I nodded at him.
“Oh no. Not doing that.”
We had to make two stops before we had the cooler full. We weren’t the only ones in search of ice on Friday night. It had been a long time since I went to one of these parties. They always had a good time on the beach. Music. Drinks. Pretty girls. Someone usually ended up in the ocean before the night was over.
We dropped the ice cooler near the end of the row, as the crowd parted for us. The chatter quieted the closer we got. Something was up. No one was dancing, and it looked as if they had forgotten to throw wood on the fire.
“Hey, you’re here.” Eden smiled, but I could see it. She was hiding something.
Grey examined her. He could see it too. He glanced at me. “Something happen while we were gone?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I might have screwed up. A little.”
Connor traipsed over. “Eden’s not the one who screwed up.” He was always puffing out his chest where Eden was concerned. I didn’t know how Grey put up with it.
“Technically I did. Sorry, Mason.”
“Just tell us what’s going on,” I suggested.
She looked over her shoulder. I could see from where we stood there was someone down by the waves. I thought it might be a girl. What the hell? I started to lay into Eden, but she was already scrambling.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.” Her eyes darted in my direction. “And she’s leaving anyway. I didn’t want you not to come, and she didn’t want you to have to leave.”
“Darlin’, darlin’.” Grey put his hands on her shoulders. “You are talking a mile a minute. Who is here?”
But I knew. She didn’t need to say her name or explain how it happened. I took off for the water.
“Mason, wait.” Eden tried to follow me, but Grey pulled her back in the circle.
“Let him go,” he instructed.
I didn’t know what I was going to do. I only knew I had to see her.
The music died down the closer I got to the surf. The fire bounced shadows off the water. Her silhouette was still. I stopped before I was close enough to touch her. She was staring ahead. Maybe at one of the ships sailing by. The wind kicked up and my body seized involuntarily when I smelled her shampoo. Her long hair danced all around her.
“Syd?” I called her name.
She turned around as if she had been expecting me to call her name. “I’m leaving. I swear I didn’t come here to crash your party. Eden didn’t know you would be here.”
“I know. She stopped me at the top of the beach.” I paused. “Second time today this has happened.”
“Second?” Even in the dark I knew the confused look on her face.
“I saw you earlier at the press conference.”
“You were there and you didn’t say anything?”
“You were working. I was working.” I wasn’t going to tell her what seeing her did to me.