Breathless (145 page)

“Can I go play on the slides?” I asked, not wanting to waste a minute of my time here since it would be my last.

“Of course, honey, but don’t go anywhere near
them.
” She sniffed as she pulled out her BlackBerry and started punching buttons.

I hated that thing. Mommy was always on it, and she never paid attention to me when she was. Daddy had one, too, but he always put it down if I wanted his attention. I didn’t mind Daddy’s so much.

“Thank you, Mommy!” I said as I leaped off the bench we were sitting on and ran for the slides.

I looked back once to see if Mommy was watching, so I could show her just how fast I could climb up the slide, but of course, she wasn’t looking. She still had that stupid thing glued to her hand.

I sighed in defeat and slowly climbed the ladder. I was so proud of myself when I made it to the top. Not every six-year-old could climb this high without being afraid, but I could. I’d been doing it forever or at least since I was five and Mommy had started to let me run around the park on my own. She always told me that I was a big girl now and that I could take care of myself while she worked.

I sat down and pushed myself down the slide, giggling when I got to the bottom as I felt the static in my pigtails. I loved the slide. It was my favorite part of the park—after the sandbox, of course. I glanced over at the sandbox to see that the boy and his mommy had moved on to the swings.

Now’s my chance!
I jumped off the slide and ran as fast as I could to the sandbox. Once I made it there, I sat on the edge, so I wouldn’t make Mommy mad by getting sand all over my dress. I picked up the bucket and started filling it with sand to make my very own fairy princess castle. One day, when I was all grown-up like Mommy, I would find a prince who would build me my very own castle.

“Whatcha making?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

I looked up to see the boy from earlier standing above me. I wasn’t supposed to talk to him, but how could I not when he’d asked me a question?

“Making my princess castle,” I replied, hoping he would lose interest after the princess part and leave me alone. If Mommy saw us talking, she would be so mad at me.

“Can I help?” he asked as he sat down right in the middle of the sandbox.

I looked around, expecting his mommy to yell at him for getting his clothes dirty, but she was just watching us and smiling as she sat on one of the slides.

“I can do it on my own,” I replied shortly, hoping that he would take the hint and leave me alone.

“Don’t you want to play with me?” he asked, sounding hurt.

“I’m not supposed to play with you. My mommy said so.” “Why not?”

“Because you don’t belong here, and you’re trash.”

His eyes widened at my words, and he frowned. “I am not trash!”

“Well, my mommy says you are, and she’s always right. She says you shouldn’t even be allowed to play here.”

“Well, your mommy is wrong. My mommy says that we are welcome here, just like everyone else.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care what your mommy says. My mommy is right, and you shouldn’t be here. Go away.”

Before he could respond, I heard my mommy calling my name.

“Emma Bellokavich Preston! Come here!”

I glared at the boy as I stood. “Now see what you’ve done? I’m in trouble all because of you!” I turned and ran back to my mommy. I felt a twinge of fear as I saw the angry sneer on her face.

“What did I tell you? I do not want you around people like that!”

I hung my head, ashamed that I’d disobeyed her. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I told him to go away, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“I don’t want to hear it! If you can’t listen to me, then you don’t need to be here. Come on, we’re going home.”

I sighed as I followed her out to the parking lot where her brand-new Mercedes was parked.

All I wanted was a princess castle.

One-Emma

Eleven Years Later

“Emma! Are you ready to go?” my mother shouted through my door.

“I’ll be ready in a minute!” I shouted back as I applied eyeliner around my green eyes.

I needed complete concentration to get the smoky look that I was going for, and my mother yelling through the door wasn’t helping matters. I finished applying the liner and reached for the brush sitting in front of me. I ran it through my strawberry blonde hair until it looked perfect.

Today was the first day of my junior year in high school, and I wanted to look perfect. I needed to
be
perfect. I’d managed to snag a spot on the varsity cheerleading squad my freshman year, but this was the first year that I was co-captain. I needed to set the standards for the rest of the girls on my squad. Anything less than perfection was unacceptable for the girls of Hamrick High School’s State Champion Cheer Squad.

I set down the brush and grabbed my bag on the way out of my room. As

I started down the stairs, my phone rang. I smiled as I listened to Ke$ha’s “Die Young” playing. I had that ringtone reserved for one person and one person alone—my dad.

My parents had divorced when I was eight. My dad, Alexander

Preston, traveled a lot with his rock band, Seducing Seductresses, so I rarely got to see him anymore, and I cherished every phone call that I would receive from him.

“Hi, Daddy,” I said as I held my phone up to my ear.

“Hey, baby girl. Are you ready for your first day?” he asked.

“Yep. I’m getting ready to walk out the door now.” “I wish I were there to see you off,” he said sadly.

I knew that he’d meant it, but like always, he was thousands of miles away from the home I shared with my mother in Santa Monica.

“Me, too. How’s England treating you?”

“It’s great. It’s far rainier than I remembered though,” he replied, sounding truly distraught about the weather.

I laughed. “You’re such a dweeb, Dad.”

“Did you just call your rock-god dad a
dweeb
?”

“I did. Listen, I need to go, or I’m going to be late. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course, baby girl. Enjoy your day.”

“Thanks, Daddy. I love you.”

I disconnected the call and walked into our kitchen to find something quick to eat for breakfast. Our chef, Razoule, was standing by the island, holding a granola bar and smiling.

“Thanks!” I said as I grabbed the bar from his hand.

“You are very welcome, Miss Emma,” he replied as he turned back to whatever he had been working on.

Razoule was one of the best chefs in the country, and my mother had managed to snag him a few years ago. After living off of his cooking for most of my life, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it if he ever left us.

I walked to the front door, but just as I put my hand on the knob to open it, I heard my mother calling my name.

“Emma! Don’t forget that I have a committee meeting tonight, so I won’t be home until late.”

“I know, Mom. You’ve only told me about it twenty times since last week.”

“Don’t use that tone with me. This is a very important meeting, and if all goes well, we will have a new and very well-known celebrity on our side.”

My mother was on every committee from here to San Francisco. Since she’d walked away with a huge chunk of my dad’s fortune when they divorced, she could afford not to work. Instead, she spent all her time climbing the social ladder around here, and she expected me to do the same. She only liked my friends if their parents were rich or famous or both. I loved my mom, but she was conceited and power hungry, not two things that you want to put together.

“Have a good day!” she called after me as I opened the door and walked out into the bright sunlight.

I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes and smiled as I walked to my car. I loved California. The weather was perfect, the beach was just a short drive away, and the entire place was beautiful. I’d traveled some with my dad over the years, but no place could ever come close to California.

I attended a private school, Hamrick High School, with most of Santa

Monica’s finest. Rather, I attended it with the demon spawn of Santa Monica’s finest. When mommy and daddy were gone most of the time and they supplied you with endless amounts of cash, the perfectness that surrounded our school and the students attending all but disappeared. Underneath were wild parties, drunken fights, and more than one crashed sports car. Lucky for me, I was at the heart of it all.

I played the perfect daughter and the perfect student by day, but when the parents disappeared and the alcohol flowed, I liked to party with the best of them. Chalk it up to my mommy and daddy issues, but I used the parties as an escape from reality. After all, who is really perfect when it comes right down to it?

My school was less than ten minutes from my house, and I arrived before

I’d even managed to finish my granola bar. I parked my brand-new MercedesBenz next to my best friend, Lucy’s, Jaguar and stepped out. Students were everywhere. Most were standing by their cars while others, the more responsible ones, were walking up the steps to the school.

I caught sight of Lucy’s dark brown hair in a crowd of people next to the stairs. I snuck quietly over and launched myself onto her back. Her squeals of terror had everyone laughing as she tried to throw me off. I finally gave up and released her after I thought she’d suffered enough.

She turned to glare at me. “That was so not cool, Emma!”

“It might not have been cool, but it was funny,” I said as I giggled.

She rolled her eyes as she linked her arm through mine, and we started walking up the steps to the school.

“Lookin’ good, Emma,” Todd Bex said as he walked past us.

I sighed dreamily as I watched him walk by. Todd was a senior and the captain of the football team. Add in his good looks and charm, and he was the most sought-after guy in our school. I rarely wasted my time on boys, but he wasn’t a boy. He was a man. He kept his dark hair cut short most of the time. His eyes were a beautiful baby blue, and that, coupled with a strong jawline and full lips, made every girl turn to mush at his feet. The fact that he had talked to me, a lowly junior, sent thrills through my body. Maybe this would be the year that someone finally tamed him, and that someone could be me.

“Wipe the drool off your face,” Lucy teased.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Shut up.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off when we heard a loud backfire coming from the parking lot. Both of us turned to see a beat-up Jeep pulling into the lot and parking beside my car.

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.
Who on earth is driving something like that around here? And why do they feel the need to park next to me?

“Who is that?” I asked as we watched a guy climb out of the Jeep and walk toward us.

“I have no idea, but I wouldn’t mind finding out,” Lucy replied as she stared at the new arrival with lust-filled eyes.

I squinted, trying to see him as he walked toward us. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Lucy squeezed my arm as he looked up and noticed us staring. I thought my arm was actually going to fall off when he approached us and stopped directly in front of me.

“Hi. I was wondering if you could tell me where the office is,” he said politely.

Now that I could see him up close, I understood Lucy’s excitement.
Wow. Just wow.
I had been ogling Todd not two seconds before, but I had to admit that this guy was far better than Todd. His hair was a shaggy mess of blond curls, and his eyes were the brightest emerald green that I had ever seen. His upper lip was a bit thin, but his bottom was full and just begging to be kissed. He was wearing a fitted polo shirt, and it stretched to its limit every time he moved due to the muscles that it was concealing. Several tattoos covered his arms, and they were a total contradiction to how he was dressed. This boy looked like a fallen angel and a surfer boy all rolled into one, and I wanted to wrap myself around him.

I blushed as I pictured us together, both wearing nothing but a smile.
Dear Lord, what has gotten into me?
Yes, I was a partier, but I’d never been in
that
situation before. Virgins didn’t imagine total strangers naked, yet here I was, picturing him naked.

“I’m Lucy,” she said as she held out her hand for him to shake.

He took it and smiled. “I’m Jesse. It’s nice to meet you, Lucy.” She gave him her brightest smile as I stood frozen.

“And this is Emma,” Lucy introduced me.

He held out his hand to me, and mine rose on its own to meet his. When our hands touched, I felt like I’d been shocked, and I pulled back quickly.

“It’s nice to meet both of you,” he said politely.

“Uh, yeah. You, too,” I said lamely. I knew Lucy was going to have a field day with this later.

“Anyway, can you point me in the direction of the office?” he asked again.

“Oh, right. Of course.” I turned and pointed to the doors where several students were walking through to go to their first class. “Just go through those doors and make a left. It’s right down the hall.”

He smiled. “Thanks so much for your help.”

I watched as he walked around us and made his way through the doors.

“Holy shit. I think I’m in love,” Lucy groaned as she stared at the empty spot where he’d just been standing.

“Wow,” was all I could manage to get out. My brain wasn’t functioning at the moment.

“Yeah, wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you freeze up like that,” she teased.

“I just…wow. I don’t know what happened.”

“I think we both have it bad,” she said as we walked up the rest of the steps and headed into our school.

I remembered him pulling in with his piece of crap car. “I wonder who he is. He has to be a new student since I’ve never seen him before, but I don’t see how since he drove up in that thing.”

“Maybe he’s one of the scholarship kids,” she suggested.

“Scholarship kids?” I asked stupidly.

“Do you ever pay attention? Coach Sanchez was just talking about it the other day at practice. I guess the school awarded scholarships this year to two or three kids from across town. They normally attend the public school over there.”