Perilous Waters (8 page)

“It’s pretty rad that girls were pirates,” Julia said.

“Agreed,” Kaitlyn said. “No one messed with them.”

“Imagine all the treasure?”

“Imagine walking through a room with a sword on one hip and a gun on the other?”

Julia grinned. Heat crept up Kaitlyn’s cheeks as she realized she was smiling back. She ducked her head, letting her inky black hair fall across her face like a curtain to hide her scar. She ran a glossy, black-painted fingernail down her screen, more to appear busy than because she wanted to read more.

“Hey, Kaitlyn?” Julia said, still grinning. “I think we just had a moment.”

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. “Is that what that was?”

Julia scooted closer to her. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us to the beach?”

Kaitlyn
did
want to come with them. That was the problem. She didn’t want to start liking these two. They already had each other, anyway. She would just be a tag-a-long. Besides, she didn’t want to feel like she could count on their friendship when at any given moment they were going to change their minds about her and leave her alone and isolated, safe with each other while she had no one. They didn’t need her and that was fine, because she didn’t need them either. She didn’t need anyone.

She took out her phone and looked at her empty text message screen, pretending to start a message to someone. “Can’t go. I already told friends I’m meeting them for a party.”

“’Kay, then,” Julia said.

“If we’re done here I should go,” she said, hearing the cold tone of her voice… and she didn’t like it. She saw the way Julia flinched. She noticed Angie tucking her hair behind her ear.

Kaitlyn felt a pang of uncomfortable heat in her chest.
Whatever
. Since when did she care what they thought? Since when did she want to be their friend?

Since never.

They unfroze time and Kaitlyn found her boots, slipping them on and tossing her hair back. “I’m out.”

“Catch ya later,” Julia said.

“You know where we’ll be,” Angie added, tilting her head and wiggling her fingers in a little wave.

“And you know how to find me if we get sucked into a mission,” Kaitlyn murmured blithely. “Laters.”

~ Chapter 6 ~

Julia

Water
lapped against the scalding sand. Julia tucked her feet up before the icy Pacific could reach her toes. She turned her head, eyeing the bonfire pit where Angie and David sat in quiet company. The two of them were always lost in their own world whenever they were together.

It was sweet watching the two of them. Angie with her fair, delicate prettiness looked like a storybook princess gazing up at David. David leaned his head toward Angie’s until their foreheads touched. The intimate movement caused a butterfly tremor in Julia’s heart.

Since when did she care about lovey-dovey, marshmallowy romance stuff?

Since Ethan, that’s when.

Julia buried her face in her hands. One way or another, her mind always turned back to him. Was it only because of their magical, bound-for-eternity connection?

Forever was so overrated. She drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, watching a white strip of foam roll toward shore.

Sitting quiet like this, a part of her wanted to reach out with their shared connection. She wanted those secret feelings to be real again.

Without meaning to, without thinking, her thoughts stretched out across the distance. Her eyes slid shut as she found Ethan. It took little effort. She sensed his jolt of surprise, followed swiftly by cold fury as he sealed his mind from her.

Her head dropped to her knees. When would she stop searching for him? He had made it clear that he would never forgive her. Which was completely unfair. Whatever he was so angry about had happened between himself and a future version of herself. She didn’t even know what that future Julia had done. And okay,
fine
, there was also the issue of dating his brother at the same time as they were together, but that was before she knew who Ethan was. It hadn’t been her fault.

Her fingers dug into the hot, powdery sand beneath her. He could at least talk to her, considering they were connected for eternity and all.

She had been doing awesomely the past few weeks, not thinking about Ethan at all for long stretches at a time. It had taken a while, but she even went to bed without wondering about him. It was as though her head and her heart were trapped in an eternal wrestling match. More and more, her head won by putting her heart in a choke-hold, knocking it unconscious and leaving her feeling as though she had no heart at all—which suited her just fine. Everything that had to do with love only caused people pain, as far as she could see. Love was for chumps.

She learned to busy herself. She didn’t let Ethan-feelings chomp on her mojo. She went online and talked to her friends, played random games, and most of all worked to save money for a car… but sometimes…
sometimes
her heart managed to outmaneuver her mind, and those heart-goopy feelings came out and put her brain in a coma. Without a brain, she always ended up reaching through their mysterious connection, hoping that this time he would finally reach for her, too.

He never did.

A breeze picked up, carrying the scent of burning wood and roasting hot dogs on the salty air. She should probably get up and join everyone. At some point. She rubbed the tears from her eyes with the heels of her palms, forgetting that her hands were full of sand. “Ouch,” she grumbled, blinking past the grit in her blurred vision. “Ouch, ouch, ouch.” She stood, stumbling forward and stepping on something sharp. “Dangit. What the heck!”

“What’s wrong?”

Angie’s little-girl voice blended in with the ocean. Julia squinted toward it, fluid streaming from her burning eyes as she cradled her foot. “I got sand in my eyes. And I stepped on something—gosh, this freaking
hurts
. Am I bleeding?” She imagined a giant piece of glass sticking out of her foot. “What did I step in? What is it?”

“Hold still,” Angie said.

“Is it a needle?”
Crap.
Her mom always went on about how careful she had to be with needles at work. “Can magic cure blood-borne pathogens?”

“You’re silly. It’s just a splinter—”

“Are you sure? It feels like a needle.”

Angie’s voice dropped to a hush. “No one’s watching. I’ll use magic to heal your eyes so you can see for yourself.” The mark on Angie’s arm shifted from pale gold to shimmering white. “Restore.”

A wave of soothing power washed through her eyes. She blinked, her vision clear. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Angie smiled, tucking back her hair.

Julia smiled, too—it was impossible not to smile back at Angie—and checked her foot. “Oh.” She felt her cheeks grow hot at the sight of a very small splinter. Angie’s nose wrinkled in another smile that said,
Told ya.

“Hot dogs are ready,” David called.

“Hey, Brian,” another voice called from the distance. “Can you give us a hand with the cooler?”

Julia’s head snapped up. Brian?
Not her ex-boyfriend-and-also-Ethan’s-Brother-Brian. The world was full of Brians, after all. It could be anyone—

“Such an awesome idea to come to Cabrillo,” another voice said, one she recognized as a friend of Brian’s from student government. She scanned the group ambling down the bluff that led to shore.

Oh no! It was definitely Brian, as in, her ex-boyfriend-and-also-Ethan’s-Brother-Brian! He made his way down the incline, an ice chest in his hands and an easy smile on his lips. She ducked down, wishing there were something she could hide behind on the barren shoreline.

Her eyes squeezed shut. How had she not known that they were brothers? How had she not seen it? Now the similarities leapt out at her. They shared the same strong jaw and full lips. They both had their mother’s tanned skin and wavy hair, even though Ethan’s was jet black where Brian’s was summery blond.

The realization that she was comparing them hit her like a swift kick to the gut. Her cheeks flooded with heat. “Angie?” she called, and her voice sounded weak and pathetic.

Angie glanced up, her head tilting to the side.

Julia tried not to sound like the end of the world was coming. She gulped. “W-what’s Brian doing here?”

A group of student government kids followed him down the hill, holding towels and beach umbrellas.

“Oh… it looks like they’re having a bonfire party.”

Julia shot her a narrowed look. “I can see that, geez. Don’t you know when a question isn’t meant to be answered?”

“You mean, a rhetorical—”

“What I mean is, I need to get out of here!”

Angie’s crystal-blue eyes widened. “You’re going to run away from him?”

“Yes! Definitely,
yes
.” Wasn’t that the only sane thing to do? How else did one deal with something as monumentally awkward as seeing an ex-boyfriend?

Brian set down the ice chest and froze. His dark gaze locked on hers.

Julia felt like a gorgon had spotted her.
Holy crap! The jig is up!
Apparently, ducking down in the sand hadn’t made her invisible—who knew? She cringed. Wasn’t there a spell for humiliation suppression?

He took a step back, and then another. After a silent moment, he mussed his hair and gave her his back before heading to the last available fire pit.

Oh man, the sun’s blazing rays didn’t have anything on the heat of embarrassment rushing through her. She wasn’t ready to deal with this. She didn’t think she ever would be.

And now David, Angie’s sweet-as-sugar boyfriend was walking up to Brian? “Why?” she whispered to Angie, her heart racing. “Why is your boyfriend speaking to Brian? Why is this occurring?”

“Are these more rhetorical questions?”

“Angie, make it stop!”

“I warned you about this.” Angie said. “You’re my friend. Brian is friends with David. Which one of us should stop being friends with the other, for your sake?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “David,” Julia declared, hearing her voice squeak. “David should stop being friends!”

Angie’s face fell, but her eyes remained fixed on Julia. “You really want me to ask him to do that?”

A soft, thoughtful pout formed on Angie’s lips. Her giant, shining eyes vanished behind lowered lashes.
Geez, way to suck as a friend.
Julia instinctively reached for Angie’s hands. She bit her lip and glanced over at where David and Brian stood talking. Brian’s blond hair looked longer and more unkempt than usual. But he smiled at David. They looked happy to be talking to each other.

Julia slumped. Angie and David weren’t the kids in some custody battle. “Just forget it,” she said tightly. “I’ll be okay.”

Angie blinked up in surprise. A smile touched her lips. “Wow. That showed maturity.”

“I kissed Brian’s brother. Maturity has nothing to do with it.” She released a breath that didn’t seem to fully leave her constricted lungs. “Don’t you watch movies? Not even adults act mature about this.”

Angie’s smile broadened, her eyes returning to their usual sparkle. “I guess you’re right. You’re ahead of most adults, then.”

Julia didn’t think so. If she had a way to never see Brian again, it would be just fine with her. Not that this was possible thanks to her Ethan-guardian-for-eternity connection.

“Does Brian know about you and Ethan?” Angie asked, breaking into her thoughts.

Julia’s heart tripled its output. “No, and he can’t know. Not ever.”

“But—”

“Don’t start with your honesty bunk,” Julia said, brushing the sand off her hands. “Honesty can’t be the right thing. Not when it would make Brian hate his brother. Intra-family hatred would be way worse for my karma than lies.”

The tide rolled up and Julia backed away. Angie stood her ground, the water brushing past her ankles before receding again. She cast a glance at the boys before returning her level gaze to Julia. “You ought to be honest. These kinds of things have a way of coming out, eventually.”

“No. They don’t,” Julia insisted as Brian looked at her across the sand. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered, spinning around to hide.
Way to be obvious!
She needed to get out of here, but the ocean spread out in front of her. There was nowhere to go. “I, uh, feel like swimming,” she stammered.

Angie’s eyes rounded in surprise.

“What? I like swimming. Sometimes. The icy-cold ocean… with its sea creatures… and… drowning potential. What’s not to like?”

Okay, that was a flat out lie. She loved the beach, but she hated swimming almost as much as she hated running. What did it matter what she liked? She had to find some reason to get away from Brian, and swimming was the only thing she could come up with. She wriggled out of her tank top and tossed it out of reach of the rising tide, dressed now in a sunset-colored bikini top and matching boy-short bottoms, the set trimmed in deep oranges and bright tropical pinks.

“I’ll join you,” Angie said, her face lighting up as she shrugged out of her beach dress, skipping toward the sea in a pale, aqua-colored tankini that only left a strip of midriff showing on her perpetually underdeveloped body.

Julia followed her into the ocean. “Ho-ho-holy crap, this is arctic levels of cold.”

“It’s refreshing,” Angie called out.

Julia’s teeth chattered and her legs prickled with goosebumps, negating the shave she had given them this morning. “This was such a stupid idea,” she muttered to herself. She jumped a wave, nearly toppling over. Angie made it look so fun. The waves practically moved aside to let her through. Meanwhile, Julia plodded through the waves like a three-legged llama. Her heart hammered as another swell formed, and this one looked like it would be ginormous. She had to stay in the water… the alternative was facing Brian, and she couldn’t handle that.

The swelling wave turned into a falling mountain of water that crashed over her even as she turned to escape. So much water! So much freakin’ ocean! The thought of jellyfish and crabs and whatever else lived in the sea suddenly took precedent in her mind as she tried to free her tangled mess of waist-length hair from her face. Not to mention, the ocean was every sea creature’s toilet. What the heck was she thinking?