Page 19 of Ruse
I can’t help the urge to kiss her, but I need to find even an ounce of self-control. That cannot happen, yet.
Distracted by my thoughts, I turn and find Phoenix has disappeared, moving toward a table set up for beer pong away from the group sitting around a fire pit. I step forward to follow her, making sure nobody sees me, which luckily, they don’t since they’re all drunk or getting there, laughing about, oblivious to us. All accept one.
“You're the owner of the new Aston in Brook’s driveway?” a guy named Cole asks, halting me in my tracks. I’ve seen him around, heard about him too. The golden boy of Malibu Cove, well besides my stepbrother who’s currently the black sheep of the town.
He's supposed to be the good guy, perfect both in looks and personality. Cole Sheppard is the ideal.
I turn to face him, fisting my hands at my side in frustration but give him the friendliest smile I can muster. “Yes, that would be me.”
“That's a sick ride,” he mumbles, and I realize I was wrong. This dude is trashed, only he must be often since you wouldn’t be able to tell if not for the bright red tint of the whites in his eyes.
Fitz, the guy standing next to Brooklyn who I know is the third part of their trio of MC High celebrities, comes over and oats Cole on the back, making him jerk forward. “Cole’s dad owns a franchise of luxury dealerships up and down the coast, so anything about cars excites him,”
“Maybe a little too much,” the chick that’s been glued to Phoenix’s hip all evening mocks. Donovan Kennedy. She’s hot tonight in those tiny shorts she usually wears and might even be worth my time if it weren’t for the way she ogles my stepbrother. Hmm, I may hit two birds with one stone with that one, except I don’t think Brooklyn even knows she exists.
“Well, if you ever want to take it for a drive, that baby can go.”
Cole’s eyes brighten up with excitement. “Shit, I will definitely take you up on that.”
“Alright then, it's a date,” Donovan laughs, but Cole just brushes her off, annoyed.
For a second I think if it were under any other circumstance, I might just fit in a place like this. Go figure. I’m just as, if not more, loaded than they are, drive the baddest cars, go to the same ridiculously expensive high school, and have the same shitload of mommy and daddy issues I’m sure they all suffer from.
“Don't pay attention to her,” Brooklyn says, eyeing his sister's best friend. “She doesn't know a damn thing about anything other than bikinis, cheerleading, and gossip.”
Ignoring them, I excuse myself, which is easy to do when someone announces there’s a beer pong tournament happening at the table to our left, and over to the cooler lined up on the side of the seating area to the right. Grabbing a cold beer, I look up to find Phoenix has gone off toward the water instead of rushing off toward the game like everyone else.
"Can I offer you a drink?" I ask Phoenix, sneaking up behind her as she swirls her toes in the sand beneath her feet, holding her boots in her hand. The soft white sand covers her red painted toenails, as she continuously, and quite nervously, wriggles them around.
"Yeah, I'll have a beer, please." She shocks me when she accepts. I didn’t think she’d take anything from me.
Instead of acknowledging it with a snide remark and test my luck, I snap the cap off using my teeth, and hand it to her. She scoffs and rolls her eyes, mumbling something under her breath as she takes it.
Silence floats around us as I follow her gaze, watching the waves roll in and fade out in sync. It’s peaceful out here, completely different from what I’ve become accustomed to the last eight years. Being shipped away to Connecticut shortly after my eleventh birthday, I haven't spent a summer on the west coast since. Of course, I spent them flying out to the Hamptons or driving out to Cape Cod with my friends.
“What do you want, Maverick?” she blurts out, and for once, I’m dumbstruck. I have no answer for her, because honestly, I have no damn clue.
I was determined to come here and make Austin Bancroft pay, even though I know it’s equally my mother’s fault for getting involved with the fucker. But not only did he ruin my parents' marriage, he’s the reason I was shipped off to some preppy boarding school in Greenwich. At least that’s what everyone thinks happened. What they don’t know is that I was sent to a reform school for the troubled boys and girls of the rich and infamous. A school meant to whip me back in shape after I beat someone so bad, I sent them to the hospital.
That was the first time I caught my mother with him. It’s funny, that’s also what got me kicked out.
“Well, I thought I’d be polite and come offer my little sis a drink since everyone else ran off to play some game and left you all alone.”
Irritated by my mocking her, she smacks my chest, trying and failing to push me away. “Don’t act stupid, it’s not cute. You know that’s not what I meant.” Her eyebrows scrunch together as if she’s deep in thought, her tongue pressing against the inside of her bottom lip. “Why are you here?”
“I was invited by your besties, remember?”
Again, her annoyed glare proves she’s about to strangle me. “To Malibu Cove, Maverick.”
“It’s home.” I give her an answer I know she won’t believe, but honestly, it’s all I have. There are so many reasons I’m back, the main one being to make sure her father suffers for everything he’s put my family through, but unlike when I first arrived, I’m not one hundred percent sure I know how that’s going to play out.
Phoenix stares up at the sky, shaking her head like she doesn’t believe a word I say. “That’s bullshit and you know it.” Of course, she can easily see through my lie, which should scare me more than excite me.
This isn’t going the way I had planned. I need to reel myself back in. Stepping forward, I reach for her, taking her hand in mine, and turning her to face me. “Then what’s your theory, Nyx? Why do you think I’ve come back after all these years? Because I’m sure you’ve come up with a whole scenario in that pretty little head of yours.”
She watches me intently as a tense, almost murderous, look crosses her face. “I’m not sure yet, but I know you’re not as innocent as you’re trying to come off.”
My lips twitch as she pulls away, my mouth curling up into a playful smile. “I’m not innocent, Phoenix, and I ain’t trying to make you believe I’m a good guy. You should be weary around me because I assure you, I have no clue how this is going to play out.”
