“You don't need to drag me, I'm coming.” I ripped my arm free and ground to a halt.

“Just get in the damn car, Lon—”

“I swear, if you call me that again, I'll...”

Maverick's lips tugged up at the corners. “You'll do what?” His eyebrows rose in amusement and I glowered at him. “Fuck you, Prince. You should be thanking me, I just saved your arse.”

He held my gaze for a second then shook his head and ducked inside his car. I did the same. When we were inside, he took a deep breath and raked a hand over his head. “Like he could take me.”

“God, are you always this annoying?”

He didn't answer. The car purred to life, and he backed out of the driveway. 

“Was it about his sister? Caitlin?”

“What do you know about Caitlin?”

“I know you went out with her last year and ended it before junior prom.”

“Laurie Davison needs to learn to keep her mouth shut,” he snapped, and I watched him through the corner of my eye. 

“You don’t need friends. You’ve got Summer and Kyle and…” he stopped and I wondered if he’d been about to say his own name because that was a joke if I ever heard one. The only time he ever spoke to me was if he was bossing me around or dragging me to his car.

We were not friends.

Not even close.

Silence filled the car, and not the good kind. Ringing my hands in my lap, I took a deep breath and said, “So, what really happened back there?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Fine.” I folded my arms over my chest and turned away from him.

“Fine.”

It was a football team party. Laurie said the basketball team wouldn’t be there, and they weren’t until Maverick showed up. Apparently, there was no love lost between the two teams, but now I wondered if it was because of the animosity between their captains, over a certain blonde-haired girl who had warned me off her brother, maybe? Or was it something else entirely?

These people I now called my family were exhausting, and I began to think Summer had the right idea keeping her head down. The car pulled into the Stone-Prince’s driveway, but Maverick didn’t cut the engine. “You’re welcome,” he said.

My head snapped over to his. “Please tell me it wasn’t all some sham to get me to leave the party?” I said, eyes wide with disbelief.

He shrugged and held my glare, giving nothing away. I felt my anger levels shoot through the stratosphere.

“What the hell is wrong with you people? You ignore me most of the time, act like I’m no one, and then keep pulling this crap. It ends now.” I sucked in a ragged breath. “I didn’t ask to be dragged halfway around the world. I didn’t ask to be moved into your pool house, and I certainly didn’t ask to end up on that beach with you last summer.”

Maverick didn’t speak, but I saw the muscle in his jaw tic.

He just sat there, his cold eyes boring into mine. That’s how he wanted to play it? Fine. I could pretend it didn’t happen either.

I threw my hands up in defeat. “You are quite possibly one of the most infuriating people I have ever met. Back off, Maverick. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself. I don’t need you riding in on your white horse trying to save me from imaginary bad guys. It might fly with Macey and Summer, but it won’t fly with me. I. Don’t. Need. You.” I pushed the door open and slid out of the car, only pausing when his voice perforated the thick silence.

“Stay away from Holloway, London. I mean it.”

I slammed the door and didn’t look back.

~

The next day, I let Laurie talk me into spending the day at the Bay with her. Gentry was taking Dad to play golf and explore and I didn’t want to be at the house alone. Not if there was a chance I would run into Maverick.

“A little birdie told me Devon tried to kiss you last night?” she said with excitement dancing in her eyes.

I pulled my knees up and shifted until I was comfortable on my towel. “He told you?”

“Jess saw it. She told Autumn who told me. You know how it goes. What’s up with that, anyway? I thought I was sensing some serious lust-vibes between the two of you.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. He’s cute and we have a laugh together, but I’ve been here a week, you know? I’m not looking to jump into anything with anyone.”

It had absolutely nothing to do with a certain infuriating Prince.

Nothing.

“He likes you, a lot. Word of advice, don’t lead him on if you’re not interested.”

“I’m not leading him on, Laurie.” But I had danced with him. There had been some groping.

“He’s a decent guy. Unlike some people.”

I leaned up onto my elbows to see who she was talking about. Kyle and his friends were in the water playing football.

“You want him.” I lay back down.

“Yeah, but he’s a Stone-Prince. You guys aren’t an easy bunch to fit in with.”

“Hey, don’t include me in with them. I’d met them once before moving here, hardly constitutes being family.”

“Yeah, but you are,” she sighed. “You’re a Stone. I can’t even imagine what that’s like. I mean, no one really gets close to Maverick or Macey but we grew up with them. They’ve always been around. How are you finding it?”

“Honestly, I have no idea how to answer that. Kyle is… he’s Kyle, and Summer seems like a nice girl. Macey is a total bitch and Maverick is…”

“I hear ya.” Laurie laughed softly. “Kyle told me once Maverick is just like his father, Alec Prince. He’s a hotshot businessman, owns half of Wicked Bay. Real piece of work. He married a model—she had a son from a previous marriage—and they had two kids together.”

So, Macey and Maverick had a bad case of abandonment issues. Between Rebecca’s new life with Gentry and Alec’s new life with his model wife, they had gained two step-siblings and three half-siblings. It explained their hostility to some degree, but there had to be more to it.

“Wait,” I said. “Alec is a Prince too? But that means Rebecca kept his name?”

Laurie’s head nodded up and down slowly. “I know, right? Kyle told me she didn’t want to have a different name to Macey and Maverick but I mean, come on, it’s just—”

“Ladies, looking good.” Kyle loomed over us, blocking the sun.

“Seriously, Kyle, Lo is your cousin, that’s gross.”

I sat up, tucking my legs to the side of me. “Are you stalking me?” He hadn’t mentioned coming to the Bay over breakfast this morning.

He winked and chuckled. “So paranoid, Cous. No boyfriend in tow today?”

“Devon is not my boyfriend.”

“The two of you looked cozy last night.”

“Drop it, Kyle. If Lo wants to hook up with Devon that’s her business. You don’t see me jumping down your throat because you were all over Megan.”

Kyle scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “I wasn’t all over Megan. She was all over me. I can’t help it if I’m this good looking. Besides, the girl I want all over me is playing hard to get.”

Laurie blew out an exasperated breath and crossed her arms. “Go bother someone who cares. We’re sunbathing and you’re annoying.”

He laughed again, but I sensed the strain. He really did want to fix things with Laurie—he just had a strange way of going about it.

“I’m out. If you need a ride home, text me. Or a few of us will be heading over to The Shack later if you want to come?”

I looked to Laurie to answer, I didn’t want to force her into a situation she would rather avoid. “Maybe,” she said earning her a goofy grin from Kyle.

“Enjoy the sun and don’t burn.” He gave her a pointed look before running back to his friends.

“He’s so bossy.”

Just like his stepbrother. I smiled to myself. Maybe the Stone-Prince boys weren’t as different as I first thought.

Laurie and I sunbathed for another hour until my skin felt tight and Laurie told me a smatter of freckles had appeared across my nose. “I’m done,” I announced, pulling the loose vest over my bikini top. Unlike Laurie who had stripped down to her bikini top and bottoms, I’d kept my shorts on.

“What do you want to do?” She pushed her glasses onto the top of her head and craned her neck as I stood up and dusted myself off.

“I’m easy. If you don’t want to go to The Shack, we don’t have to. I need food though.”

“Ugh. Okay.” Her smirk told me she was more than willing to go despite her attempt at being indifferent.

After rolling our towels and dumping our stuff in the boot of her car, we walked the short distance to The Shack which was exactly that—a wooden beach hut style diner with a wraparound deck housing tables and chairs. She held the door for me and I slipped inside. Kyle spotted me immediately. “Cous, get over here.”

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” I muttered to Laurie, but she laughed me off, moving toward the group huddled into a booth with a circular table.

“Scoot up, Stone,” she said to Kyle, and he shuffled along to let us in.

“Lo, you remember Matty and Trent?” He thumbed to the two guys on his other side. “Guys, meet Lo Stone, officially, and you already know the light of my life.” Kyle tried to slip his arm around Laurie’s shoulder but she elbowed him in the ribs.

“Don’t be a dick, Kyle. We’re here to eat. That’s it.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“So, Lo, how is it living with this jerk?” one of the guys said.

I shrugged. “It’s alright. Technically, I live in the pool house.”

“Your accent is so cool. Say something British.” He flashed me a smile that had me cocking my eyebrow.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, something posh or whatever.”

“Dude, she’s my cousin, not a freak show.”

“Kyle,” Laurie and I hissed at the same time, but his friend was watching me eagerly so I sat straighter and said, “How now, brown cow.”

Four pairs of eyes stared back at me and then the booth erupted with laughter, but the mood changed when someone came up to the table. Kyle grumbled something under his breath.

“Stone,” JB Holloway’s eyes flickered to me but I knew he was addressing Kyle. “You said he wasn’t going to be a problem. He came into my home, to my party—”

“Chill, JB, it was a misunderstanding. No harm, no foul, yeah?”

“You’re on the team because I say it’s okay for you to be on the team. Rein. Him. In. This shit is getting old.”

“Everyone needs to chill the fuck out.” Kyle laughed, but I heard the strain there. “You know how he gets.”

“I don’t need Prince fucking up the season for me. We clear?”

“Crystal.”

JB turned his attention to me. “Feeling better?” He slid his thumb across his bottom lip, the way he had in the kitchen at the party and it made me shudder.

“Much, thanks.” I flashed him an over-the-top smile.

“See you around, Stone.” I heard the same promise in his voice I’d heard before. What was his problem?

“What just happened?” Laurie broke the silence.

“JB’s just pissed Maverick turned up at the party looking for a fight.”

“But they didn’t fight, right?”

Kyle flashed me a knowing look. “No, because someone got in between them.”

Laurie craned her head around to me. “Seriously, Lo, you didn’t tell me it was you.”

“I…” She was right. I hadn’t. After my ride home with Maverick, I didn’t know what to make of it all so I did what I did best, pushed it down and acted like nothing had changed.

And it hadn’t, really.

When Maverick made a brief appearance in the kitchen this morning, he’d acted like the party never happened. So, I did the same.

“I can’t believe you did that,” her voice was low as the boys went back to talking about the giant stick up JB’s arse.

“What was I supposed to do? Let them go at it? Maverick looked ready to kill him.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” She glanced back at Kyle clearly uncomfortable discussing his stepbrother with him present.

“You’ve been holding out on me.” I cocked my eyebrow but Kyle cleared his throat ending our conversation. “You girls okay?”

“Peachy,” I said. “I’m starving. What’s a girl have to do to get fed around here?”

The conversation turned to food, and all talk of JB and Maverick was pushed aside.

~

“Dad?” I stumbled over my slippers and reached out to steady myself. Light streamed in through the blinds even though it was the middle of the night. I didn’t need to flip the switch to see his bed was still made, and for a brief second, I understood how it must have felt for him all those nights I stayed out, too drunk or angry to make it home. But my empathy quickly turned to irritation. It was two-thirty in the morning. Where the hell was he?

I stalked over to the windows and I peeled back the blinds. The main house was pitched in darkness, except for a light in the kitchen. Maybe he was in there, back from wherever it was he'd been. Slipping out of the pool house, I cut across the patio to the back door. It opened with ease, but the place was empty. I tiptoed through the house to the front door and peered out of the glass panel. Gentry's car was parked in its usual spot. So where was Dad? Hurrying back through the house to return to the pool house, I stopped to grab a drink. When I turned around, I almost jumped out of my skin. 

“Maverick?” I squeaked. He was in the shadows, arms folded over his chest, watching. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” My voice wavered as I tried to catch my breath.

“It’s late, London. What are you doing creeping around?”

Irritation etched into my face, I ignored the way his hooded gaze danced over my thin vest top, lingering on my chest for a little too long.

“Dad didn't come home yet.” I raked my eyes down his body. It was impossible not to look. The way his t-shirt rippled over his muscles. Ugh. But that wasn’t what caught my eye, it was the blood smeared across his knuckle. My gaze flickered back to his. “What are you doing up?”

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants. The ones hanging far too low on his tapered waist. “You ask a lot of questions.” Maverick stepped into the room taking the air with him and I gulped, suddenly feeling exposed in just my summer pyjamas.

“That's not an answer.” I quipped back, searching his face for any clues, noticing an angry bruise forming around his eye. My hand moved to reach out for him, but I stopped myself, tucking it behind my back.

“It's the only one you're getting.” He leaned casually against the door frame. Maverick really was something else and I let out an exasperated breath.

“Do you have any idea where my dad is?”

“It's the middle of the night and he isn't home, where do you think he is?”

My jaw dropped at his insinuation.

No. Dad wouldn’t—

“He wouldn't. We...” My throat closed, and I had to force out the words. “We just got here.” And it was too soon after Mum. Dad wouldn't just move on like that. He wouldn't. 

Something crossed Maverick's face, and he shrugged. “He might be your dad, but he's still a guy.”

Why would he say that? A fresh burst of irritation coursed through me. “Is that where you were?” I arched my eyebrow.

“Is that what you want to hear? I was out fucking some girl?” Maverick moved closer, stopping right in front of me. His eyes were hard on mine, pinning me to the spot. Tension rippled around us. And then his hungry gaze dropped to my lips. I stepped back shocked by his effect on me. I wanted him to kiss me.

Shit.

My façade slid away, and I hated that he saw my surprise. That he kept doing this … baiting me. Blowing so hot and cold. 

“Whatever, Prince. I'm going back to bed.” 

He didn't speak. He didn't move. With a soft shake of my head, I turned ready to leave, but I paused at the last second. “Oh,” I said glancing back at him. “You might want to do something about your knuckles, I can still see the blood.”

My heart galloped in my chest as I jogged back to the pool house replaying the conversation with Maverick over in my head. He'd been fighting without a doubt. And the idea bothered me far more than it should have.