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I stopped, gripping the coffeepot in my hand, and took a deep breath. It was a technique I’d learned to employ when I was feeling dangerously close to blowing my top. I wasn’t a meek person by any means, but I also wasn’t hotheaded. I had too much to lose by dumping a pot of hot coffee over an asshole’s head. I’d be the one punished for it, not Ray. I knew that without a doubt. I’d learned not to make a fuss.
“There’s your tip, darlin’, and there’s plenty more where that came from, just you come see me,” Ray said smugly behind me. His friends tittered.
My gaze found Lily sitting across the diner. Her head was buried in the course catalog, trying to figure out the ideal schedule for me.
I took a step forward. I was getting away from all this. I took another step. I was starting college and getting a degree that would ensure I wouldn’t be bussing tables when I was older. My anger ebbed, and my steps became easier. I was going to change my life. I was already on my way.
In the other corner, there was a table of HHU students. All girls. I could tell by their clothes and accessories that they were the type of well-off that came naturally to kids in the Hade Harbor area. I felt all too aware of my ill-fitting uniform and scuffed sneakers. Actually, my sneakers weren’t just scuffed, they were super worn down and had more than a few holes in the bottom. I had a list of things I wanted to buy with a tiny portion of my summer savings, and new sneakers to wear at HHU were top of the list.
I didn’t want to be the girl in the hand-me-downs or the one whose sleeves were always three inches too short. I was always the girl in the Goodwill outfits. I’d spent my entire childhood trying to fit in with the rich kids of Hade Harbor, kids whose parents’ financial security was guaranteed. The only guarantee in my life was that rent day would come, whether my family had the money to pay or not.
I served the HHU students’ table, self-conscious the entire time. I always felt like there was a flashing neon sign over my head that shouted my bank balance. Like everyone could just tell, from a quick glance, that I wasn’t like them. They probably could.
After all, just like I’d learned at the Anderson house all those years ago, money was the great divider, separating the world into the haves, and have-nots.
I’d only ever been on one side, and one day, I was determined to change that. So, I worked. I worked like a dog and planned to do the same through college. I might not have a lot, but everything I had, I’d earned. There was a humble sort of dignity in that knowledge.
“Hey, your brother called,” Lily alerted me when I headed back in her direction. I’d left my phone at her table since I wasn’t officially allowed to carry it at work.
I grabbed my cell and let Gary know I’d be taking my five-minute break. I headed outside and immediately hit Asher’s number. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Evie. How’s it going?”
It felt amazing to hear my brother’s voice. He’d only been gone a week, and I already missed him so much it was hard to breathesometimes. Asher had been accepted into two schools on a hockey scholarship. A college in Denver, and HHU. While he’d been leaning toward HHU, the Denver school had come through with an even better scholarship offer. Considering how much my family struggled financially, he’d taken the deal, even though it took him away from his friends.
However, letting Ash know how much I missed him when he was the one far from home wasn’t an option. I forced a smile, beaming out at the sunbaked parking lot behind the diner.
“Everything’s great, how about you? Tell me all about Denver.”
Now that I was older, I was able to help my mom clean houses during the summer. Any house besides Cliff Point, that is. I’d long ago made a rule with myself not to help out at the Anderson house. But Cliff Point took up a lot of her schedule, and today, when I limped home after the early shift, I caught my mom downing painkillers as she put on her uniform. It was the all-white one she wore to Cliff Point. Colette Anderson loved everything white.
Lately, my mom had been struggling with the demands of her job. Unfortunately, neither me nor Asher were in the position to help her retire yet. My mom was getting too old to work such a physically demanding job, but she wouldn’t slow down. With two kids about to start college, she was working longer hours than ever. She wanted to help us, and she was doing it the only way she knew how – with the blood, sweat, and tears of a woman who had sacrificed so much and done it with a gentle smile.
Right now, my mom still depended heavily on her cleaning job income. She had always been one missed check away from losing our tiny townhouse in the bad part of town. I couldn’t let her go to work alone today, not when her sciatic pain was already so bad. She was taking way more pills than medically advised, and that was before her shift had even started.
The first time she’d fainted at work had been almost a year before. The hospital had warned her about her blood pressure and sent her away. She didn’t have insurance. Neither did I. The college in Denver had managed to set something up for Asher, seeing as he was a star asset for them. My mom earned above the threshold that would give insurance to the even less fortunate by about fifty dollars a month. That put us in the unenviable position of not qualifying for help but still being poor as hell.
The Martino women just had to rely on dumb luck not to get hurt or need medical care. There was only so long that would work for my mom. So, here I was cleaning the house of my brother’s best friend. My nemesis.
An hour later, I found myself making my way up the long and winding staircase in Cliff Point that led to Beckett’s room.
The boy from the house on the cliff. The one who hated his family and had cried when thinking about his mom. The one I’dseenall those years ago.
I had no idea what would have happened between Beckett and I if he hadn’t become best friends with my brother. Beckett and Asher were both talented at hockey and had become firm friends at Hade Harbor High. They were members of HHU’s most exclusive group of hockey players, nicknamed the Ice Gods, and ruled the school.
They were the guys who all the others wanted to be, and all the girls wanted to be with. But the Ice Gods was a closed group. Cayden West, Marcus Bailey, Beckett Anderson, and my brother. That was it. They were all supposed to go to HHU together and rule the Hellions, the championship-winning college hockey team, but Asher leaving had put a wrench in that plan.
Still, I had my brother’s relationship with Beckett to thank for being able to enjoy high school unscathed. While the extremely rich and entitled local billionaire’s son might have dreamt of bullying me at school, seeing as he’d hated me from the day we’d met, he hadn’t been able to.
That didn’t mean he didn’t notice me, and I sure as hell noticed him. He was impossiblenotto notice. He’d only gotten taller and broader as we’d gotten older. His awkwardness had melted away, and he was, without a doubt, the hottest guy at HHH. To me, anyway. The hottest and meanest. Beckett and I would never see eye to eye. I’d found that avoiding him was the best strategy, something that wasn’t easy considering he was my brother’s best friend, and he’d hosted all the best parties in high school. Thankfully, high school was finally over, and at college I could stay out of his damn way for real.
I hated cleaning Beckett’s room.
First of all, it smelled like him. Teenage boys should smell terrible, and Beckett was a jock to boot. My brother’s room at home smelled like sweaty sports socks half the time, so why the hell did Beckett’s bedroom never smell bad? Was it some rich-people magic?
I moved around the darkly furnished space. For the most privileged person I’d ever met, he sure was neat. There weren’tany clothes outside the hamper or suspicious tissues in the wastebin. Just the thought of that was enough to make me squirm.
Then again, guys like Beckett were probably not jerking off alone at night into tissues. He had a dedicated fan club who would happily get down on their knees for him, though he’d never had a girlfriend. Publicly, at least. The name Anderson was well-known, and if he dated anyone, it would be a very scrutinized match. I wondered if that had put him off, considering he’d never been linked to any girl in particular. I was sure that hadn’t stopped him fucking around with whoever he wanted to, however. Beckett could take his pick of adoring fans and puck bunnies.
