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“Yeah,” I say sadly. I hate that people see me that way. I don’t want to be this Little Miss Handle Everything. But those are the roles Aiden and I have been cast with. He gets to go out in the world and explore because he has responsibilities to the band. Ones that are greater than mine. And I’m forced to help clean up messes and hide dark family secrets.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.” His tone is low and apologetic. If I could see him right now, I imagine his eyebrows are furrowed in concern or guilt.
“It’s okay. It’s the truth.” I shrug it off. Rising for the first time since we’ve been drinking, I stumble forward. “Woah!” I yell before falling forward.
I crash into him. In his drunk state, he does his best to catch me, but we’re just a tangle of arms.
“Ouch,” I say, a pain in my knee registering.
“You good?” he asks with a chuckle.
“Just knocked my knee on the ground,” I tell him, laughing a bit too.
I go to move, but he’s holding onto me. His hands are on my shoulders, and I’m holding myself up because if I weren’t, I’d be lying on his chest. I want that more than anything. I can see the new tattoo on his chest, and I remember the way I felt watching him get it. His eyes were locked with mine the whole time the waves and shark fin were inked on his chest.
“More whiskey will cure all that ails you,” he says.
“It just might.” We lock eyes, and I bite my lip, wondering what he would do if I placed my lips on his.
He clears his throat, and the next sentence comes out low and sexy. “I think you better get some, then. It’ll make you feel better.”
I want to pretend that he’s not talking about the whiskey and dive in, but I don’t. I sit down beside him so that our knees are almost touching and take a swig from the bottle.
“Maybe you’re overthinking it,” I tell him.
“What?” His head swivels in my direction. “What am I overthinking?”
“The writing of the songs. It’s great to have a goal or something that you’re working toward. But I think you’re putting too much pressure on the songs to be great. Maybe you should just relax a bit. Have some fun.”
“With you?”
I swallow audibly—I swear the whole beach can hear it. I have the worst case of cotton mouth right now. Any words I want coming out of my mouth are getting caught. Which is probably good because I’m not one to always have a filter. I’m afraid what I would say to him right now, buzzed on whiskey with my libido going crazy at the nearness of him.
I settle for a nod.
“Audrey, are you saying you want to have some fun with me?” He must have been unable to see the nod of my head, or he wants me to say the words.
“I am.”
“I think I would like that very much,” he replies. “What did you have in mind?”
“We should go jet skiing. Or the carnival is getting ready to come into town. We could go to that together, like old times,” I tell him, bumping his shoulder. Although I hope it won’t be like old times because that would mean trailing around after him, watching all the girls hit on him. It would mean pretending not to care or being out there looking for someone to hang out with too. Although, my pursuit of a guy was always useless. Aiden and Derek would scare anyone away if they tried talking to me. My parents would yell at them for it, but secretly, they were glad they did.
“Just like old times. Do we need Aiden down here too?”
“I was hoping to have you all to myself for once.” The words spill out, and I want to snatch them back up. I freeze and await his reaction.
There’s something in his tone I can’t quite place, an emotion of longing or happiness. Or maybe I just want there to be so that I’m not the only one attempting to play with fire. “I like that idea.”
“You seem to be saving me in more ways than one this summer, Audrey,” Derek says, returning my shoulder bump.
“How am I saving you?” I stammer out the words.
“You’re making it more bearable. And I forgot about how good it is to just sit and talk to you. It helps.”
I flush, thankful he can’t see me doing it. “I’m glad to be of service.” The words come out all sultry, and I laugh once I hear them.
Derek just chuckles. “I wasn’t aware this was a full-service summer.”
