Page 78 of Rebel Summer

He sighed, dusting his hands off on his pants. “Fine. Two hours, and if I do have fun, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

I held back my squeal and shot Cat a text, telling her I’d meet her there.

Surprisingly, Dax didn’t make us wait to leave. He jumped down from the boat, and within minutes, the lights were off and the garage was closed. After a quick stop at the duplex to change clothes, we were headed south to the public beach.

It felt like we were skipping out on something, playing hooky even though we were leaving well past Dax’s closing hours. I had hardly spent any time on the beach, and my body craved the sun—as did Dax’s.

“Those legs are disturbingly white for an island boy,” I said, eyeing him.

“I will turn this cart around, Books.”

The vision of Dax wearing green-and-gray striped board shorts and flip-flops along with his white tank top gave him such a boyish charm it was hard to look away. It lightened something dark and became so appealing it had my face heating.

Families and sandcastles lined the beach when we pulled into the parking lot on the south side of the island. There were kids flying kites in the breeze, and the smell of cotton candy and hot dogs coming from somewhere made my mouth water. The breeze lifted my curls, and I immediately reached into the pocket of my shorts and pulled out the hair tie I always had there. My hair was almost tied in a top knot when I looked to Dax, startled to find him watching me before his eyes flicked away. He looked out toward the volleyball courts, a look of trepidation crossing his face.

I spotted Jane and Cat and Holland, along with several other friends, and began walking toward the court.

Dax fell behind me a few paces, looking slightly ill at ease as we grew closer.

“Come on,” I said, lightly gripping his arm. “These are all your friends, too. They’ll be excited you're here.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

I gave him a light push. “It’s true.”

“Because of my sparkling personality?”

“I mean, I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean everyone else feels the same.”

His reply was cut short when we were spotted by Beau and Phoenix, who immediately beelined toward us.

“Holy crap. Is that Dax Miller?” Beau’s loud, friendly voice caused a smile to break out across my face while Dax’s flushed with color.

“This is now worth five hours,” Dax whispered.

I tried to tug my facial expression into something that wasn’t a smile. All I wanted to do was grin at this moment, and I wasn’t sure why.

Beau punched Dax lightly in the shoulder and looked at me, an awed expression on his face. “How’d you get him to leave the shop?”

“I threatened to key his golf cart,” I said.

Beau nodded approvingly. “Threats and blackmail. I like it.” Suddenly, his gaze locked on to my bare arm.

“Is that a tattoo?” His excitement quickly drew a crowd, and soon everyone was admiring my bookish beauty.

“Is that real?” Jane asked, glancing between me and Dax curiously.

“Ten bucks it’s a fake,” Cat stated, wearing one of our old volleyball team shirts tied in a knot a the waist.

“I don’t know. She’s been hanging out with Miller for a while now,” Beau remarked. Suspicion laced his voice as he held Dax’s gaze.

“You’ve got to pick better friends, Ivy,” Phoenix stated, still looking as dapper as possible in jeans and a t-shirt—which must be his casual outfit. Everyone, including Dax, laughed.

Dax made a point to not be on my team. When we met across the net from each other, he leaned in closer.

“Five hours for whoever wins,” he said.

I smiled. “Deal.”

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