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The way he says my name, hard and with bite, sends a fiery lance of pain, slicing across my chest.
I would have once given anything to hear Cruz call me anything again, but his scolding and possession quickly shifts what I’m feeling to anger.
“Just, who in the hell do you think you are,Cruz?” I seethe, emphasizing his name with hostility. “You can’t just waltz back into town after two years and act all smug when you see me, then come into my house unannounced, scaring the hell out of me by the way, and then kick down the door like some kind of lunatic when you see me doing something you don’t like!”
“For the record,” he leans in, “I used my key to get into the house. And I don’t give a shitwhatyou were doing, butwho.”
I place both hands on my hips and stare at him in disbelief. “You haven’t cared one lick about what I do since you left andnowsuddenly you’re interested. Why?”
“Because…” His eyes flash “I don’t need you acting like a whore atmyparty.”
I suck in a sharp breath, his words stinging more than they should. “How dare you?”
“How dare me?” His eyes narrow, like a snake about to strike. “How dareyou! You know that asshole has had a crush on you for years. Do you know what he will think if you go into a room alone with him at a party?”
I can’t believe Cruz is still pulling this possessive, high school bullshit. Isn’t he a little old for that now?
“Well guess what?” I straighten, which makes him pull back. “I knowexactlywhat he will think and that was part of the plan, butyoumessed it up.”
“Messed it up?” His eyes search mine in confusion. “So you wanted to be up here with him?”
“Did you see me trying to leave?”
“So you’re fucking Royce then, is that it?”
“What?” I can’t help but laugh. The idea is so ridiculous I don’t even know what else to say.
My response, however, is apparently not funny to Cruz whose anger only intensifies. “What the fuck were you doing up here with him!”
“Why does it matter?” I shout back. “It’s none of your concern. However, that door you busted down and the fact you look completely crazy right now, is.”
He turns and looks at the door, and as if only just now realizing what he did, runs a hand through his hair and blows out a tense breath. “Shit.”
While the idea of Cruz being stuck with a ridiculous repair bill seems justified given his behavior just now, he needs to calm down so I can leave and go after Royce.
Before Cruz burst in, Royce was about to ask me out, and had he been able to, it would have put me one step closer to getting the information I needed.
“I wouldn’t worry,” I say as calmly as I can. I can’t believe I’mtrying to put him at ease given what he just said to me, but well, desperate times call for desperate measures. “It pales compared to the damage last year’s renters left behind.”
Cruz turns back to me and the furrow in his brow eases. “That bad?”
“Oh, you know,” I can’t help but grin, “condoms in the pool and blow up dolls in the basement. Just your average summer toys.”
The skin at the corner of his eyes folds gently as his lips pull into a soft smile. “I bet Danbury loved dealing with that.”
Danbury was a nice man, but the owner of this house, Nathaniel Deveraux, was kind of a dick. He’d inherited the place from his parents and no longer came to Cherry Cove. The house was an income source, nothing more, and anything that messed with that revenue was bound to anger him.
Feeling the tension from earlier starting to lift, I take it as my cue to leave. “Well,” I clear my throat, “if you don’t mind…”
I start to push away from the sink but Cruz reaches for one of my necklaces, rooting me in place. It’s one I got on the boardwalk years ago, my name in gold cursive, and it used to be his favorite.
“You’ve changed,” he says softly, while fingering the lettering. That last summer together, whenever we were alone, he would run the pad of his finger over the letters, just as he was doing now.
“Did you think I would stay sixteen forever?” I swallow, trying to ignore the way the nostalgic gesture makes me feel.
“No.” He lets go of the necklace and looks up. “I know better than anyone you can’t stop time. You just look different, that’s all.”
“Bad, different?” I find myself asking as his eyes lock on mine.
