Football players are assholes. I know; I'm related to their king. My older, and annoyingly overprotective, brother Jake is the star quarterback at Santa Cruz High School. I love him but hate living in his shadow. Everyone worshiping the air he breat...
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One look.
My hand smacked the back of Bryce's head when I saw her. One look sucked my lungs empty and locked my legs into tree stumps.
With long brown hair and brown eyes burning with stubbornness, she wasn't a typical beach girl who tanned her skin to crispy bacon. Her unconventional beachwear included jeans, her lips were dry, and her stringy hair resembled seaweed. Her tiny frame was overlooked unless stared at, but quiet self-assurance was her second skin.
Courtesy of the taller girl with dark blonde highlights and giant breasts strapped down with Band-Aids for bikini straps, Mystery Girl fell into my arms. Blondie was my new best friend for that move. Big, doe-shaped eyes blinked at me, the darkest shade of brown shrinking around her rounding pupils. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. She was one of the prettiest girls I'd ever seen. Touching her was worse than a long-distance look. She was tiny and I squatted more weight than her.
Those eyes glared at the last guy I wanted to see today or any day. Wedged between us, her olive skin turned a gray-green, her full lips parted-
Wait a second.
"Oh, fuck," she whispered.
In one lurch, she doubled over and blew chunks all over my feet. A jellyfish exploded from my ankles south. I wore sandals and beach sprayers fixed the squish between my toes, but... gross.
Her watery eyes apologized under a curtain of thick lashes. Gone were her furrowed eyebrows and scowl from dragging a paddleboard bigger than her. I was too busy forgetting how to blink and dumbfounded at why I had to know who she was instead of offering help.
I palmed her heaving back. "Are you alright?" On a beach filled with almost-naked bodies, this girl wore jeans and a sweatshirt. No wonder she was sick; probably from heat stroke.
"As soon as I bury myself in the sand," she whispered with closed eyes.
Capitalizing on this... situation, I slipped my free hand into her front pocket. As her hand dragged over her mouth, the pink in her cheeks was adorable. I didn't mean to smile at her discomfort, but it was better than guessing what she'd eaten. She dropped her eyes and offered a wry smile. Embarrassment coated her face and my heart thumped faster the deeper she blushed.
Say something charming, something to make her melt.
I leaned over and rubbed her back. The hard ridges of her spine slowed their upward pitches. Her hair smelled of ocean remnants and my mouth dried as I whispered in her ear, "It's okay, baby. I was feeling off today too until you came along and turned me on."
At my closeness, Jake clenched my shirt, again, and shoved me back.
I kinda forgot Harrison was here.
"Get the fuck out of here, Hightower!" his sullen voice roared. "If you ever put your hands on her again, bitch-boy, then I'll fucking rip them off your body and beat you senseless with them."
