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“Thanks for telling me, and for being there yesterday. I know she’s not your favorite person but—”
“Never said that.”
Her attention whipped back to me. “Uh…you kind of made it clear more than once, dude. It’s a thing. Lock dislikes Elena. We all know it. Although, no one has a clue why.”
I shook my head. “I never said that, Hells. Some people, it takes me a while to warm up to. I liked you right away. Theo, it took me longer.”
“You called her poison, dude.”
“Sweet like,” I corrected.
“Same difference.” She slapped my shoulder. “Whatever. Sort your complicated feelers. I’m going to cool off in the water. You should go play with the boys. There was talk of football—just don’t smash my man into the sand if you play. I’d like to keep him in one piece.”
Helen left me, running for the ocean. When she reached Elena, she hooked her arm around El’s neck and took her underwater with her. They both splashed above the surface seconds later, screeching and laughing. Something that had been sharp and stabbing in my gut dulled at the sight of Elena’s full-blown smile and the sound of her laughter. Warmth that wasn’t from the sun settled over me in a disconcerting blanket.
It shouldn’t have satisfied me so much that this girl was happy.
I shouldn’t have been breathing a sigh of relief to see her smile again.
But it did.
And I was.
Shit.
I got up, kicking my way through the sand to where Theo and Marco were tossing a football around. Theo grinned at my approach.
“All right, Lock’s here. Does that mean you’re ready to play, big man?”
I caught the ball he threw me, lining up my fingers with the laces. “Only if you’re ready to be beat.”
Marco jogged over to my side. “I call Lock’s team.”
Theo glanced at the water where Amir was still standing guard over Zadie. “Great, now I have to pull him away from his girl and try to keep his attention on the game? I might as well forfeit.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Amir, you’re on my team. It’s go time.”
Amir barely glanced in his direction, crossing his arms over his chest. Zadie pushed him in our direction. When she wouldn’t relent, he finally kissed her hard, smacked her butt, then started toward us.
Marco cackled at his boy’s pointed reluctance, clapping me on the back. “We’ve got this in the bag, man. No sweat.”
He was probably right. It’d be an easy game.
Right now, I needed something easy to remind me why I avoided complicated.
Elena’s laugh cut through the ocean breeze and my sternum. That arsenic-laced candy was so very tempting, it was all I could do not to reach out and take it, damn the consequences.
Yeah, I really needed the reminder.
