Page 14 of Haunted Hearts
WILL
“Dude. You need to chill,” I hiss, giving Zeke a sharp elbow to the ribs as Lydia and Autumn look to see who it is my brother so crassly pointed out. Shoving him out of earshot, I stab my finger into his chest. “First off, don’t talk about women that way. Second, you’re embarrassing me.”
“Oh, boo hoo.” Zeke rolls his eyes. “I’mobviouslytrying to make the redhead jealous. Don’t you haveanygame, bro?”
The redhead? As in… Lydia’s friend, Autumn?
“That woman is absolutely not jealous. If anything, she’s revolted.”
Zeke grins. “You just wait, bro. And remember—I call dibs. Don’t eventhinkabout making a move on her.”
I glance toward Lydia. She and Autumn are talking in hushed whispers, and there’s something on her face that looks absolutely… devastated. Her gaze keeps going back to the couple on the other side of the harbor.
Zeke narrows his eyes at me. “What’s that look for? Did you fuck her already?”
“No, I did not,” I snap. “We’re notallsex crazed, you know. I’ve never seen her before in my life. But if she’s Lydia’s friend, Ican tell you right now that she isnottrying to get it on with some douchey twenty-two-year-old.”
A smirk creeps over my brother’s face. “Ohhh. Lydia. I see, you fucked thebrunette.”
“Knock it off,” I growl. This kid is really starting to annoy me. “I havenotfucked the brunette, and you’d better keep your goddamn voice down if you want a roof over your lazy head.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Because she’s the assistant librarian at the Hawthorne Bay public library—for which I am currently in charge of renovations.”
Zeke pushes a slim hand backward through his hair, making it stand on end. He smooths it down again. “A librarian, huh? You like her.”
“As a matter of fact, she’s a pain in my ass—even more than you, if you can believe that.”
“Boo,” Zeke says. He cranes his neck to look at Lydia and Autumn again. “Looks like the redhead’s got a huge ol’ rock on her left hand. I’m not messing around with that.”
I snort. “I’d say that’s probably for the best.”
“And I’d say your brunette knows the guy with that blond chick over there. Love how they picked the missing nose guy to stand next to.”
Zeke juts his chin toward the couple, and I whip my head around again.
Thankfully, I can’t see whatever ghost with the missing nose Zeke keeps talking about. But Icansee that Lydia has gone up to the flesh and blood guy, who’s dressed in a tight-fitting polo and has so much gel in his hair I can see it glimmering from where I’m standing. I can’t hear anything Lydia is saying, but when she goes in for a hug, the guy goes all loose, slides one half-assed arm around her back. The woman he’s with—the blond one Zekecalled a piece of ass—looks genuinely confused, but Autumn’s staring at Polo Guy like he’s the scum of the earth.
I see Lydia give a nervous laugh, touch the guy’s arm. He flinches away, and her face falters. But the next second, her too-wide smile is back, and she’s waving goodbye to him, tugging Autumn after her into the crowd. It’s only when they reach a table covered with caramel apples that she lets the pasted-on grin slide. From across the way, Polo Guy shoots her this awful, pitying smile and places his hand on the small of the blond chick’s back as they head to a different booth.
“That dude is absolutely stringing your girl along,” Zeke remarks.
“She’s not my girl.”
From the looks of things, Zeke’s not wrong. I have no clue what the context of that little meet-up just was, but frankly, it’s not my business. I’ve got too much on my plate right now to go adding other people’s drama to the mix.
“Whatever,” Zeke says. He’s already striding toward the caramel apple booth, where Autumn’s standing with one hip jutting out, surveying the spread. There’s no telling what this kid’s going to say next, so I sigh and follow him. I’ve turned into his walking damage control.
Lydia glances back at the same moment Zeke and I approach the table. She catches my eye, cocking her head at me. “Are you… following us?”
“Maybe,” Zeke says with a wink. He quirks an eyebrow. “Do you want us to be?”
Lydia flicks a hand at him, but there’s laughter in her voice when she says, “You’re pretty full of yourself, kid.”
Zeke leans against the table, and his eyes flit to Autumn’s. “And for good reason.”
“Okay,” I cut in, handing the high school kid a five-dollar bill as he passes Zeke a caramel apple. Whatever happened totheredhead’s got a rock on her finger? “We get it, Zeke. If flirting were a viable career, you’d be a fucking billionaire.”
