Chapter Two
Teague inhaled a slow drag of nicotine and let it out even slower. He flicked the ashes into a tray next to him and leaned over the railing, assessing the ocean with his dark blue-green eyes. Olivia Beach was sure boring as hell, especially in December. The day was partially sunny, so there were a few people out on the sand, but every day he thought about his former life and wondered what he’d be doing instead of just biding his time in Oregon.
But it didn’t matter. This was the tempo he needed. A slower pace, honest and friendly people, and a simple job he felt at ease with. It wasn’t fixing anything, but it was all he could do for now.
A figure caught his attention down below. He narrowed his eyes with curiosity as he took another drag from his cigarette. Pink, long-sleeved top nicely fitted to her body, and black skintight running pants. She was wearing a gray beanie over blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders.
Teague had nothing else to do, so he crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and wandered to the stairs that snaked down the embankment for the beach. Entranced, he barely realized where he was headed; where he hadn’t gone the entire ten months he’d been living here. He watched her his entire trek down, even though she was already far-gone. He figured she’d eventually turn back around and head his way again.
Unless she already was headed back from the way she came… Nah, he’d been on the deck for over an hour and noticed every man, woman, child, and fucking dog that passed below him. He didn’t remember any tight-bodied chicks going for a run.
He hesitated when he hit the last step on the stairs and stared at the sand below. Ten damn months and he hadn’t even touched it. Taking a deep breath, he convinced himself that his hiatus could be over. He shrugged, trying to feel apathetic, as he sat on the bottom step with his bare feet on the sand. Then he glanced down the beach to his right. He could see the dot of her bright pink top in the distance, but just barely. He pulled the carton out of his chest pocket, tapped another cigarette out, and lit it. He took several drags from it before he looked down the beach again, realizing that the girl was heading back his direction.
“Let’s see how your hot chick radar is functioning today, Teague,” he smirked to himself.
He waited patiently as her black pants carried her closer and closer to him. She was running near the shoreline, which was thirty yards away. This beach didn’t have much of a beach at times, but today the tide was in-between.
He had plenty of time to debate whether or not he would act on his findings. If she was hot, hell yeah he wanted to talk to her. If not, no loss. The trip down and up the steps would be good for his lazy ass today. Then again, he’d most likely hit the weights later anyway.
Taking another drag, he noticed she’d be passing by in the next ten seconds. He could already tell she had a nice body, and the long hair was a turn on, but other than that, she could be a total dog.
“Or a beautiful piece of ass.” He almost choked from his cigarette as he stared at her passing by. He didn’t even move and just watched her run, eyes forward, pressing on like nothing could distract her. He tried to tell himself to get up, to holler something at her, anything… But he just sat there like a dumbass.
Her figure disappeared to the left of him, and he watched as she hung a left for the public stairs and disappeared.
***
Panting and out of breath, Camryn climbed the two flights to her mother’s monstrous house. If it wasn’t the cold Northwest air, it was going to be all these damn stairs that would kill her. Her ass and calves were on fire.
She pulled out a house key that was zipped in the waistband of her running pants and slipped it into the lock. The second she opened the door she heard her mom’s weepy voice call out, “Cami, is that you, sweetie?”
She could hardly sigh with the heaving breaths she was taking, so Camryn just nodded to herself. “Yeah, I’m back,” she replied loudly. “Where are you?”
Lord, this house was ridiculous. It was three levels but it was anything but simple. It sounded like her mom was upstairs, but Camryn was surprised when she came around the corner right in front of her.
“Just in the bedroom.” Serena sniffled and wiped at her eyes with a tissue. “Did you have a nice run?”
Camryn nodded as she pulled off her hat and gloves, and slipped off her shoes at the same time. “Yeah, it was nice. Cold, but the scenery was different.”
“Did you find the public beach access easy enough?”
“You mean the nine stupid flights of stairs?” she scoffed. “Yeah, I made them my bitch.”
Serena frowned at her. “I see being around your Uncle Tim hasn’t changed much.”
Camryn only shrugged as she scooted her shoes under the bench by the entry, and her mom returned to her bedroom.
This was Camryn’s second day at her mom’s and she was already going crazy. Dealing with emotional breakdowns, phone calls from relatives, and doing her best to cook meals the “right” way was going to undo her. Finally she had to get out of the house. Running was Camryn’s only choice, although she wished she could run and not come back. But she coached herself into taking it one day at a time, at least knowing she’d be returning to California in a couple of weeks. She didn’t like spending Christmas and New Year’s in Oregon, but this year she decided to make an exception for a mom she’d never been close to.
The choice was laced with resentment and bitterness, so she hoped it had been the right thing to do…
Every day was the same for the rest of the week. Camryn would wake her mom up around ten in the morning, encourage her to eat some whole wheat toast and drink a cup of herbal tea, and then listen to her sob and tell stories about Lyle for an hour. When Serena would cry herself to sleep again, Camryn would do her best to take care of some housework, sticking with basics like sweeping all the hardwood floors, washing the few dishes that got dirtied, and an occasional basket of laundry.
Most of it was needless busy work to help pass the time.
The afternoon was similar. Serena would wake up, watch a little bit of TV with sporadic bouts of crying, eat something small for lunch, and then feel sleepy enough to go back to bed. This was when Camryn would throw on her running clothes and leave as fast as she could. Her mom knew that four o’clock meant she was out of the house.
She left the house on Friday for her regular run, especially grateful for the chance to leave that day. Her mom’s breakdowns had been intense from the second she woke up, and Camryn couldn’t wait to get away. She broke into a run the second she hit pavement, weaving through the streets until she hit the beachfront street of Anchor Avenue. Once there, she hung a right to the public beach access.
“Well hello, bitch,” she greeted the nine flights of stairs that zigzagged all the way down to the beach. When she hit sand, she took off again, digging her shoes into the softness to give her the push she needed until she hit firmer ground.
Then it was a piece of cake.
But after a few minutes, she noticed that the tide looked like it was coming in. Depending on how quick it changed she’d either have to shorten her run, or just run harder.
Camryn chose the latter. Being a slacker wasn’t in her repertoire.
But on the way back, she noticed that same guy sitting on the bottom step of a long set of private stairs. It was the third time she noticed him in the three days she’d been at Olivia Beach, and he always appeared on her way back—after she passed that particular house the first time.
This time she was already willing to slow her run down a little. She’d pushed herself pretty hard to beat the tide and her lungs were burning, right along with her legs. She knew she was slowing before she saw him, but picking up her speed just to get past him wasn’t an option. She was dragging ass for real and she knew it.
He was puffing on a cigarette, like he was every time she saw him. She only glanced at him from the corner of her eye, noting that he was watching her every second she passed by. He seemed fairly tall, even in a sitting position. He had broad shoulders and dark hair that was short on the sides but stood in messy peaks at the top. He was in a gray henley and a pair of jeans with holes in the knees. His feet were bare on the sand and Camryn thought that to be odd. It was freaking winter on the Oregon Coast, and had she not been running, she’d be freezing her ass off.
Speaking of asses… Once she couldn’t see the guy anymore, she had the undeniable feeling that he was staring at hers. This made her self-conscious, just like the other times she’d assumed the same thing. But no way was she going to glance back to find out.
When she honestly couldn’t run anymore, Camryn slowed until she was eventually walking. The tide was in even further but she didn’t care. Between getting a little wet and dropping dead, she’d choose wet shoes. There was nothing left of her lungs anymore.
A large chunk of driftwood supported her weight as she leaned against it, trying to take steady breaths to manage the fire in her chest and throat. The air was cold and she would keep running as long as she had to be in this town, but she didn’t think the Northwest was something she was going to get used to anytime soon.
Camryn happened to glance down the beach to her right. That guy was now standing up, propped against the stair post, watching her!
“What a stalker,” she muttered, even though his bold yet casual presence intrigued her. Her body faced the ocean again, but not so she couldn’t see him where he was fifty yards away. He was still standing there, smoking a cigarette.
“Gross,” she scowled, trying to convince herself of a reason to loathe him. She was torn between flipping him off and just staring right back at him to see what he’d do, but eventually she took off in another run to head back to her mom’s.
***
Teague climbed the steps to his house, continuing to glance down the beach after her. She’d seen him this time and did something she hadn’t done before. She stopped running. What did that mean? She was definitely interested. He was positive.
As he marched up the last few steps, Jay came bursting through the back door. “There you are! Where the fuck you been?”
“Where does it look like I’ve been?” Teague replied dryly. When he reached the deck furniture, he propped his cigarette on the ashtray and dropped down into a chair.
“It’s cold as a fucking freezer outside. Why do you sit out here like this?” Jay plopped into a chair anyways. He pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt to cover his arms and flipped the hood over his short black hair.
“It feels nice,” Teague shrugged.
Jay eyed him suspiciously. “You never go down on the beach. What’s the occasion?”
“A girl,” he answered with a crooked smile.
Jay lifted a pierced eyebrow. “Yeah? What kind of girl?”
“A hot one. Nice ass, nice body—”
“Nice tits?”
“Don’t be crude.”
Jay laughed, his head tipping back at the same time. “Crude. You’re such a fucker. You talk about asses all the time.”
“Not the same thing.”
“Tits are in the same category, bro.”
“Not even close. ‘Ass’ is in the Bible.”
Jay laughed out loud again. “Yeah, in the form of an animal.”
Teague smiled with a shrug. “Whatever. I feel okay talking about a girl’s ass but not her chest, okay?”
His cousin rolled his eyes dramatically. “You’ve always been the weirdo in the family, so whatever.”
“Noted,” Teague smiled. “So you get the bike fixed?”
“Nah, man. I’ll do it tomorrow. Wanna help?” Jay didn’t get an eager answer out of Teague so he asked, “You have the day off, right?”
“Yeah, I do. Sure, I’ll help. What’s the matter, no father figure in your life?”
It was a longstanding joke between them and Jay smiled. He pointed to himself and said, “Self-taught in almost everything I do. I’m a fucking genius.”
“Join the club.”
“I know it. We come from the same shitload of siblings. There should be a McCallan family reunion with plenty of shrinks on standby.”
“Probably a little late for that.”
“True.”
They were both quiet for a minute until Jay asked, “So tell me about the girl.” He shivered and rubbed his arms with his hands. Teague knew Jay was willing to risk frostbite to finally hear him converse about a chick. Progress was progress.
“Didn’t talk to her,” Teague shrugged. “Thought about it, but didn’t. She runs by here every so often, around the same time.”
“So you wait for her?” Jay snorted. “She sees you doing that shit she’s gonna call the cops.”
Teague was amused. “Maybe they’ll drop by soon. She saw me today.”
“You just sit down on the beach until she comes by? That’s pathetic, man.”
Teague knew he was giving him a hard time but he didn’t care. It’s not like he had anything positive to say about the female population, but there was something different this time. Or maybe he just wanted there to be something different. Either way, the girl had made an impression on him. Physically she was all that and more.
“When I see her run by the first time,” he motioned, pointing to the beach from left to right, “I make my way down the stairs. She comes back by about ten minutes later. And don’t give me that shit. You know I’m out here at this time after work five days a week.”
“I know. Just fucking with ya. So talk to her next time.”
Teague stared ahead at the waves and took another drag of nicotine. He wasn’t so sure about that, but he’d think about it. There were some ground rules he needed to go over with himself first…