At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

I shrugged. “He’s encouraging it. You can’t blame the women.”

“Yeah. Well, at least he has an excuse,” she said venomously. Then she shrugged a petite shoulder. “Come on. I secured the best tanning location.”

She dragged me away from Ash’s shitshow and to the other side of the yacht. I lathered sunscreen on my pasty self and was grateful that there was an umbrella that I could use to shield myself. Otherwise, I’d be a lobster within minutes.

I pulled out a book. I’d brought one for fun. Usually I was reading the latest articles from the neuroscience field to try to keep up with my research. But since I had the semester off, I could pick up a fiction novel. I’d settled on Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses because who didn’t like hot Fae and a Beauty and the Beast retelling?

My brain was deep in the woods with Feyre when a voice cleared to my left. And then cleared again. I glanced up in a daze and found Derek in all of his glory. He was shirtless, his toned chest and stomach on full display. How he managed to still have a full six-pack was beyond me. His pale pink shorts were a few inches shorter than his knees with Rainbows on his feet. He sported Ray-Bans and a smirk that made my brain short-circuit.

“Sidecar?”

I blinked at him in confusion. “What?”

He held a drink out to me. “You still like sidecars, right?”

“Oh.” I straightened, putting a cute bookmark that read, The stars belong to those who read, inside the book and took the drink. “Yeah, I do. You remembered.”

“Yeah,” he said with that same great smile.

“Derek, if you ruin this for me, I will cut you,” Amelia threatened.

Derek laughed. “Mia, shut it.”

“She’s the only one here I like. I need a good sunbathing partner.”

“I’m mostly in the shade,” I reminded her.

“Your legs are in the sun!”

“I won’t ruin your tan,” Derek muttered.

I took a sip of the drink and nearly groaned. It was perfection. It was the same brandy that Gran always used. For a second, I teared up. All the happy memories soured with the first sweet taste and the note of lemon. I blinked away the tear and took another drink.

“Thanks for the drink.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine. Just tastes like Gran made it.”

He shot me a sympathetic look and nodded. “Yeah. I should have thought of that.”

“I like it. I don’t want to forget her.” Then I arched an eyebrow at him. “Or watch her legacy be destroyed.”

He winced. “I did try not to take the case.”

I rolled my eyes and held a hand up. “Let’s not discuss this. If I have to be on this giant boat with you all day, I would rather not bring it up.” Then, I opened my book again and tried to get back into the story.

“All right.” He ran a hand back through his hair and looked out on the water. “I’m surprised that you showed up today.”

I sighed heavily and put my book aside. Obviously he was not going to let me sit here and read. “As I was telling your sister, I saw Ash at the liquor store, and I’m worried about him.”

“Me too.”

Derek grabbed a nearby chair and scraped it across the deck to bring it over to where we were sitting. Amelia glared up at him, and he shot her a look that clearly said, What? She huffed and lay back down, facedown.

“Why are you even letting him have this stupid party?”

Derek snorted. “As if anyone could make Ash Talmadge do anything.”

“True.”

“Are you going to tell Lila?”

“No! Why is everyone asking me that? I’m not going to tell her anything. I just don’t want him to jump off a building or something.”

“Derek! Stop bothering her,” Amelia said.

“I’m not bothering her,” he snapped back. “I’m trying to see if Delila Greer is going to walk back into his life and ruin everything again.”

“She won’t,” I told him confidently. “And anyway, I’m here for Ash. That’s it. I’ll help however I can.”

Derek nodded as if that was what he wanted to know. He was a dick, but he was loyal to his people. He and Ash had been close since high school but had really become best friends once Ash moved back home. This couldn’t be easy for Derek to watch.

“Good,” he said with a wink and then strode away into the sea of women.

I watched him walk away with a pang in my chest. As much as I was mad at Derek, there had always been something between us. Something I hadn’t even known existed for many, many years. Being around him, even when I wanted to slap him, just felt… normal.

“Don’t go there, Mars,” Amelia said softly.

“What?” I said, jerking my attention away.

“I love my brother, but he’s as much of a wreck as Ash.”