After the shit hit the fan with Summer and Maverick, life in Wicked Bay settled down. The morning after Maverick had almost pummelled Nick into a bloody mess, he walked into school and apologised. I didn’t witness it with my own eyes, but news circulated the school hallways like wildfire and everyone was talking about it. Summer was a different story. She refused to forgive so easily and two weeks on, things were still frosty between her and Maverick.

Had I only been in Wicked Bay a month? In some ways, it felt longer. But in the ways that mattered, I still wasn’t sure I’d ever feel truly at home here.

For starters, I was still living in the pool house. Dad came and went. We were like ships passing in the night. Strangers in a strange place. It was okay, though. I wasn't ready to forgive him, and it seemed that spending time with Stella was more important than spending time with me and trying to fix our relationship. Besides, I'd asked for time and space, and for as much as it stung, he’d given it to me.

A hat landed on my head and I turned to find Kyle propped against the counter grinning at me. “Much better.”

I whipped it off and brought it in front of my face. “I'm not wearing this.”

“Sure, you are.” His head shook with silent laughter. “Team spirit, Cous.”

My eyes dropped to my white t-shirt. “I am the epitome of team spirit.” I pointed to the red heart emblazoned on the front. “And it comes with love.”

“Just wear the damn hat, Stone,” he barked, but I heard the amusement in his voice. 

“You're extra bossy today. What happened?”

“Nothing.” He raked a hand over his face. I learned it was Kyle's way of showing everything was not fine.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“I asked Laurie to Homecoming, and she said no.”

Ah yes. The dance next weekend. Any excuse and it seemed high schools in the States threw a dance. In England, we were lucky to get a tacky leavers ball held in some dated musty-smelling hotel. Not that I’d attended any.

“Ah, so it's girl trouble.” I stifled a laugh into my hand. 

“Fuck you.” He walked away grumbling to himself.

“Kyle, wait. I'm sorry.” He liked Laurie—really liked her—and I was fed up of seeing them mope over each other when it was obvious they both still cared.

He paused and turned, looking at me like a lost little puppy dog. “I thought she would have forgiven me by now. But it's not working. Every time I think I’m forcing my way in, she pushes me back out.” Shoulders slumped, he looked defeated, and I wanted to give him a big hug. It was so unlike my cousin to bare his soul. He usually laughed his way through his problems.

“Have you tried asking her what she wants?” I gave him a pointed look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You said it yourself, you’ve tried forcing your way back in… has it ever occurred to you that’s the reason she broke it off? You Stone-Prince boys are intense, Kyle. And newsflash, not all girls want to feel like they’re dating a stalker.”

“You’re calling me a stalker now?” His eyes widened with disbelief.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it, but have you actually listened to anything she’s been telling you? Have you ever given her space to figure out what she wants?”

Realisation flashed over his face. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck.” I laughed softly. “Laurie wants you, Kyle. Anyone can see that. You need to give her what she wants.”

His gaze darkened, and he blew out a frustrated breath. “You girls are as confusing as shit. So, what do I do? Back off? Give her space?”

I shrugged. “You’ll figure it out. I have every faith in you. Now go do whatever it is you do before a game because I expect to see you kick some arse tonight.”

“Damn right, I’ll kick some arse.” He smirked, and I flipped him off.

“I do not sound like that,” I protested.

“You bet your arse you do.” He slammed his fists against his chest and roared with laughter. “I’ll see you later.” He left but glanced back at the last second. “And Cous, wear the hat.”

Smiling to myself, I finished my cereal. Macey wandered in and helped herself to juice and left without a word. The girl knew how to hold a grudge of epic proportions, and since the mess with Summer and Maverick, she’d been extra moody. But I figured if she hadn’t accepted Gentry after all these years, there was no use holding my breath that she’d accept me anytime soon.

“Good morning.” Dad breezed into the room, grinding to a halt when his eyes landed on me. “Lo, what are you doing here?”

“I live here, remember?” Anger sizzled in my veins. ‘Kind of like you were supposed to.’

“That’s not what I meant, sweetheart.” His face was ashen. “I was just surprised. I thought you’d be—”

“Staying at Laurie’s?”

I’d stayed over the last couple of weekends. Her parents were out of town a lot and she liked the company which worked out well for me since I’d rather be anywhere but at the Stone-Prince house.

Something changed after the incident with Summer and Nick, and, if possible, Maverick had become even more guarded around me. If our paths crossed around the house, he always nodded curtly or said a flat hello, but he never looked at me. And at school he completely ignored me.

The Lo from last summer would have felt hurt. She probably would have curled up on her bed and cried at the universe’s sick game her life had become. But I wasn’t that girl anymore. So, although I felt the electricity between us—the pull—if he wanted to be a twat, that was fine by me.

Two could play at that game.

I had friends now. Kids no longer looked at me like I was the British freak—even if Kyle’s friends liked to crack jokes about my accent in almost every class we shared—and my grades weren’t completely sucking.

Elliot would be proud.

So would Mum.

Except for that one blowout at the pep rally party, I only ever drank a couple of beers, and I hadn’t touched a joint since arriving in Wicked Bay. Inhaling people’s second-hand smoke didn’t count. Not really.

“I’ve missed you.” Dad changed tact but I ignored his half-hearted apology and took my bowl to the sink. He followed, leaning back against the counter beside me. “You’ll be at dinner tomorrow?”

“Do I have a choice?” I met his eyes.

“Eloise, please. You can’t shut me out forever. The house is almost ready. It shouldn’t be much longer and then we can move and start afresh.”

“Afresh. Really Dad? Are you that fucking clueless?” The bowl slid from my hands and splashed into the soapy water. “A new house isn’t going to fix us.”

“Lo…” his words trailed off. He knew as much as I did, no words could fix us.

Maybe we were past the point of salvage.

“Are you bringing her tomorrow?”

His gaze dropped to the floor. “I’d like to bring her, yes.” His eyes snapped back to mine. “But I won’t. Not if you don’t want me to, I won’t.”

This was a turning point. I felt it pressing against us, filling the silence. I could say no, like a petulant child, and we could pretend for one dinner that everything was okay. But everything was not okay. Dad would not end things with Stella—he loved her. She was part of his life now. And to keep him in mine, I would have to accept her eventually.

I didn’t have to like her though.

“Do whatever you want, Dad. She’s important to you, right? You love her, she should be there. She’s your family now.” I dried my hands and shoved past him and didn’t look back.

She was his family.

But she wasn’t mine.

~

“Holy crap, my heart is beating so hard,” Laurie screamed as she clutched my hand. I was pretty sure she’d done damage. I broke free, stretching out my fingers to test their strength. Relieved to find no broken digits, I slipped my arm into hers again, and leaned in close. “Your boy did good.”

“My boy?” Her face craned around to mine and I grinned. Soon she was grinning too. “He did, didn’t he?”

Laurie played a good game, acting unaffected by Kyle’s advances, but she still loved him, plain and simple. And part of me envied her. I’d never had that kind of connection with anyone, not since… who was I kidding? What Maverick and I had was toxic. Confusing. Like an annoying scratch I couldn’t quite reach.

When the final whistle blew, the benched players rushed out to their teammates and celebrated their fourth win of the season. I still didn’t entirely understand the rules, but the buzz was addictive and although I liked to give Kyle a hard time about attending games, I’d developed quite the addiction. More than that, I was proud of my cousin. He was only a junior, but he’d already proved himself to be a worthy player, scoring touchdowns in the last three games.

“He’s so getting laid tonight,” Laurie whispered.

“What happened to making him work for it?” I arched my eyebrows accusingly.

“Oh.” She winked. “I will.”

As if he heard her words, Kyle tore off his helmet and searched the crowd. When his eyes landed on our section, he covered his heart with his hand and pointed right at her.

“Oh my God,” she breathed out, and I smiled to myself. He was so getting lucky tonight.

“Come on, lover girl. I need to get my party on.”

And we did.

Brendon Palmer’s house looked different through sober eyes. We met Autumn, Devon, and Liam, carving out a spot next to the pool. Devon and I shared a lounger, while Laurie bounced nervously on her feet, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

A roar of cheers told us they had, and I watched in awe as Kyle and his teammates strolled through the house and into the garden like they owned the place. And I guess, right now, in this moment, they did. High school was funny like that. People placed the athletes and jocks on a pedestal. I’d quickly learned it didn’t matter if your grades were good or if you were going to get a full academic scholarship to a top college, what mattered was your place on the social ladder.

I’d never been bothered about those things back in Surrey. Our school was small, much smaller than Wicked Bay High. Everyone knew everyone, and you were either friends, or not. It was different here. Kyle was popular. People gravitated to his fun-loving nature, and he played on the varsity football team which gave him his top rung status. It was the same for Maverick. Although the basketball season hadn’t started yet, his team were untouchable. And they were mostly seniors. They ruled the school. Macey was on the cheer squad, and despite her surly attitude, most girls wanted to be her. For her access to the football team… and Maverick.

They were the Stone-Princes. They had it all. Popular because of their name and popular because of their status on the teams.

Summer was different. She didn’t crave the attention or the recognition. And then there was me. The latest addition to the Stone-Prince family. My name gave me some weight—I saw it in the way my classmates treated me. They were polite and interested, but never too interested. Kyle saw to that on my first few days of classes. In a way, he’d drawn a line. I was his.

Theirs.

Aside from Laurie, and in turn Autumn, Devon, and Liam, no one tried to become my friend or really get to know me. It hadn’t occurred to me before that maybe Kyle had orchestrated that. I looked over at Laurie and smiled, but it felt forced. I didn’t want to doubt her motives—we’d become good friends. But now the seed was there, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Another drink, Lo?”

I blinked up at Devon. He was standing over me. I hadn’t even felt him move. I really needed to pay more attention.

“Hmm, okay, just beer.” Even though my body already craved something stronger, I didn’t want to lose control again. Not after last time. But I hated feeling like this—that I’d let my mind go there.

Kyle broke away from his group and came over to us, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey, Cous.” His eyes flickered from me to Laurie. “Laurie.”

My mouth tipped up watching their exchange. He was out of his comfort zone. But Laurie made it easy for him, launching herself into his arms and kissing him hard. They staggered back and Autumn smirked at me. “About time,” she mouthed.

“Yeah,” I replied through a tight smile.

“We’ll, hmm, I’ll be…” Laurie’s voice turned into murmurs and giggles of delight as Kyle grabbed her hand and yanked her away from us.

“What’d I miss?” Devon handed me a beer.

“Kyle and Laurie made up,” I said.

“Jared will be pissed. He really likes her.”

“For real?”

He nodded, taking a drink. “Serious. He thinks she’s the one to tame his wild ways.”

“Don’t ever let Kyle hear you say that.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t have a death wish.”

We sat in comfortable silence, watching the party unfold around us. Autumn and Liam cuddled up opposite us, unable to keep their hands off one another. After watching them make out for five minutes, Devon snapped, “Go get a room, I am sick of seeing your tongue, Liam.”

“Chill,” he laughed at his friend. “We’re just messing around.”

Devon huffed. “Well mess around somewhere else.”

Autumn shot me an apologetic smile, but I shook my head. It didn’t bother me. Couples were doing the same thing all over the place. But Liam stood up taking her with him and they disappeared down the path toward the beach. I nudged Devon with my shoulder. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing,” he sighed, refusing to look me in the eyes.

“Devon?”

“I’m fine, Lo, I promise. I’m going to take a piss and get another drink. You want anything?”

“I’m good,” I said watching as he disappeared back into the house leaving me alone.

Just brilliant.

We hadn’t even been here an hour, and I’d already been abandoned by all my friends. Refusing to sit and wallow, I got up and wandered down to the beach. Groups of kids huddled near the bonfire, and some boys were playing volleyball. I kept going until it was quieter. Slipping off my sandals, I sat down and slid my feet into the sand, feeling the tiny grains rub against my skin. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I watched the sea lap gently at the shore. The sound was hypnotic. It really was like being in another world out here. So far away from my life back in England.

It was so peaceful, and I felt a calm settle inside my chest I hadn’t felt in a long time.

My eyes danced along the ocean. Far off in the distance was the Bay. In the other direction was a long stretch of rocks acting as a breakwater separating the beach from the small port in town, the tips of the sails just visible. Then my eyes landed on something not so beautiful.

Maverick with Caitlin Holloway.

They stood close, closer than you would expect friends to stand, but not so close they looked ‘together’. My blood warmed with jealousy, a million thoughts running through my head. He was here. At a football party.

For her?

I’d asked him once about Caitlin and he’d made it sound like there was no love lost between them. So why was she touching his arm? And why wasn’t he brushing her away?

Warmth turned to scolding heat as I twisted my body to get a better look. It was wrong, I knew that. Watching their private moment like some obsessed stalker. But it reminded me of a different time—a time when I’d been the girl in a quiet corner of the beach with him. I hadn’t known then who he was.

Who he was to me.

But it didn’t stop the sting of dejection rippling through me.

Maverick ran a hand over his head. I couldn’t see the lines of his face, the finer details, but I saw enough to know he was frustrated. Annoyed, even. Caitlin’s hand slid up his arm and over his shoulder, and she inched closer until her body was almost pressed up against his.

Stop her, my mind urged. Silently screaming as I balled my fists.

But he didn’t stop her.

He didn’t move a muscle as she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

I scrambled up and ran. I couldn’t watch him kiss her back. My heart couldn’t take it. Because although I knew Maverick Prince wasn’t mine, I couldn’t bear the thought of him being hers.