“What are you doing in Sadie’s room in only a towel?”
Ice drenched my veins. Oh, we were so fucked and not in the good way. I knew someone had to have heard the vase break and of course it would be Emma. I had the worst luck on the planet.
“There was a spider in the shower. She screamed and I came running over to see what was wrong.”
“And you got wet in this shower?”
I peeked around the edge of the bathroom doorway, but I couldn’t see Emma. All I could see was Ezra standing there, wet, in nothing but a towel. Normally this would be a wonderful sight to see, but not right now.
“Well, the shower was running so yes I got wet. But I came from my bathroom, where I’d been taking a shower, which is why I’m in a towel.”
Man, Ezra could lie pretty well under pressure. It was kind of scary.
“Mhmm, I’m sure that’s what happened,” she said doubtfully. “Is everything okay though? We heard something crash, so that’s why I came up here.”
“Uh, a vase might’ve been broken in the process of trying to kill the spider. It was huge. Mammoth sized. And fast. I’m lucky I escaped with my life intact.”
“Yeah, well, I’m happy to see you’re alive. Try not to hurt yourselves too much killing spiders.” She said the words like they were code for something. Maybe they were.
I heard her steps retreat away and a second later Ezra closed the door and turned to look at me. Panic shimmered in his dark eyes.
“We are so screwed.”
IT WAS OUR third night at the beach house and Ezra and I hadn’t had any more close calls. But that was only because we were doing our best to ignore each other.
“Where are we going again?” I asked Emma.
“I can’t remember the name,” she said, pulling on a pair of flowered wide leg pants. She was also wearing a white crop top. “But it has karaoke.”
“Karaoke, great,” I mumbled.
“Hey, it’ll be fun,” she said, swiping a clear gloss over her lips.
I leaned closer to the bathroom mirror, blending my eye shadow. I was going for a sultry smoky eye. I’d curled my hair and braided a few pieces before pulling it back into a bun. The dress I chose was hot pink with a dipping neckline and a short skirt. It made my already golden skin appear even darker.
Remy was already dressed in a simple long black dress, accented with a necklace. Her blonde hair was styled straight and she wore her signature red lipstick.
Arden hadn’t joined us. She wasn’t going out, instead she was staying home with Mia. I felt bad ditching her, but she had insisted that the rest of us not stay behind because of her.
Since my dress and eye makeup was bolder I opted to wear a nude colored lipstick with a pale pink gloss on top.
When my makeup was done I grabbed my strappy pale pink heels and put them on. Not to sound egotistical, but I knew those heels made my butt look amazing and my legs impossibly long. Even if Ezra and I were trying to avoid each other right now, so that we didn’t get caught, it didn’t mean I couldn’t try my best to drive him mad.
We headed downstairs to meet the guys. They were all hanging around the TV, but looked up when we approached.
Ezra looked at me like a starving man seeing food for the first time, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say it made me feel good.
I knew the others were speaking, but I couldn’t hear a word they said.
For the moment, all that existed was Ezra and I.
His hands rubbed against his jeans and he bit his bottom lip. I wanted desperately for him to take me in his arms and kiss me, but that was impossible.
“You look beautiful,” he said.
They were innocent words. Words he’d spoken to me many times in the past through our friendship. But somehow, right now, they felt different. The others didn’t notice though, so maybe the difference was merely a figment of my imagination. Something I conjured up in an effort to make his feelings as strong as mine. I had to keep reminding myself that while I wanted more with him, he didn’t want the same. Friends. We had to remain friends.
The others moved around us, heading to the door, and I snapped back to reality.
I hastily turned away from him, breaking the spell he’d cast over me. For the moment at least.
“Is Hayes not coming with us?” I asked, noticing that he’d disappeared.
Emma turned to give me a puzzled look. “Did you not hear him when he said he wanted to stay with Arden so she wasn’t here alone?”
“Uh, must’ve missed it,” I muttered.
“Are you okay?” She asked, genuine concern coloring her tone.
“Yeah, yeah,” I rushed to assure her, “I think the sun is just getting to me.” I laughed it off and then my body went ramrod straight when I felt the commanding presence of Ezra behind me. My whole body reacted to his proximity. It was entirely unfair. My only saving grace was that I was starting to believe that he wasn’t as immune to me as he seemed.
“Should we go?” Ezra prompted.
“Oh, yeah.” Emma seemed to realize that Maddox, Mathias, and Remy were already outside waiting.
We all managed to pile into one SUV, so that the other was left in case Hayes and Arden needed it. When we got home, or if I got a chance to catch her alone, I’d have to ask Arden what was going on with the two of them.
Great, now I was going to act like Emma.
Scratch that, I wasn’t asking Arden anything.
I would not be the annoying, nosy friend like Emma. God, I loved the girl, but she was getting on my last nerve. She kept bringing up ‘killing spiders’ in small talk and then eyeing Ezra and me for a reaction. She’d yet to get one. We were masters of disguise. Okay, so not really, but neither one of us wanted to deal with the drama-fest of our friends finding out we had a friends-with-benefits relationship. They’d be mad, tell us we were stupid, and that we should stop immediately. While stopping would probably be the best thing to do the thought of it scared me more than anything else ever had and filled me with a pain far worse and than the crippling betrayal I’d felt when I caught Braden cheating on me. God, that seemed like a lifetime ago.
“We’re here,” Ezra said, bumping my elbow and jarring me from my thoughts.
I looked up to see that we were outside a shack looking building. It had bamboo sides and what looked like a straw roof. A neon sign decorated the front. It was pretty non-descript and I wondered how anyone ever found this place since there were no other establishments nearby.
We filed out of the vehicle and into the building.
It was pretty busy, which shocked me. I figured it would be empty.
A hostess greeted us and led us to a table, setting the menus down.
We were seated near the stage, where karaoke was well underway. The poor girl up there now was butchering a Mariah Carey song. I was pretty sure my ears started to bleed.
“Ow.” Ezra winced.
At least I wasn’t the only one that thought the girl was horrible.
When she finally finished the song I sent up a prayer that she wouldn’t sing again.
She didn’t.
I eyed the menu and ended up ordering a cheeseburger and salad. It seemed safe enough, and I could trick myself into thinking I was being healthy.
“So, are you guys going to sing?” I asked, eyeing Maddox and Mathias. Mathias was the lead singer of the band, but Maddox could sing too. Ezra, however, sounded like a dying cow when he sang. I knew this because I dared him to sing one time.
“Nah,” Mathias shook his head, draping his arm over the back of Remy’s chair, “I don’t want the attention.”
Remy automatically leaned into his body and smiled up at him. “And what makes you think anybody would be paying any attention to you?”
He cracked a half-smile. “Have you seen my face? And this voice? It’s the sound of an angel. The combination is an attention grabber and a panty dropper.”