At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

“About the divorce?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Derek had been married to another local girl, and it hadn’t worked out. As far as I knew, the divorce had been finalized sometime this summer. But as much as Josie joked, I really hadn’t been keeping up with him. I’d blocked him on my social media so that I didn’t have to see any of it. He made me angry, but we’d been real for however brief of a moment, and I didn’t want it in my face.

Amelia laughed. “Hardly. Good riddance. He was pumped when the divorce was settled.”

“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t know what happened.”

“She’s crazy. That’s all you need to know.” Amelia flipped over, applying more bronzing lotion all over her lean figure.

“I see.”

“And he never got over you.”

I laughed heartily and opened my book again. “Yeah right.”

Amelia shrugged. “Believe what you want, but he doesn’t look at anyone else like he looks at you.”

“He took on a case to contest my grandma’s will,” I told her with more bite than I’d intended. “I don’t think he’d have done that if he was still into me.”

“I’m a hundred percent sure that was because of our father.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter. Derek and I are old news.”

But as the day progressed, I wondered if maybe Amelia was right. Derek brought me sidecars all afternoon until I had to stop drinking because I was getting drunk. Then, he brought me water unprompted. I finished the book in record time and hadn’t brought a second with me, like an idiot. So, I spent a lot of time hiding under the umbrella and watching all the women fawn over Ash. There were other guys there, too, but it was as if Ash were some Greek god and not just a damaged rich boy.

I headed inside at some point to get out of the hottest part of the day and found Derek on the other side of the bar, chatting with the bartender and laughing.

“Ah, hey, Minivan,” Derek said with a grin. “I was coming up to bring you another drink.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He smirked. “Right. Yeah. Another sidecar.”

“You’re making them?”

The bartender shrugged. “He insisted.”

“I know how you like them.”

“Well, thanks.”

He passed me the drink and swept a finger over the bridge of my nose. “You’re a little pink.”

“Story of my life. Forgot a hat.”

He pulled off the UNC baseball cap he’d been wearing and plopped it onto my head.

I gagged and passed it back to him. “I’m not that desperate.”

He chuckled. “Come on. It’s not that bad.”

“We both know that Duke is better.”

“We both do not know that,” he said with a shake of his head. Then, he dropped the hat back down. “Leave it. It’ll keep you from burning too bad.”

I huffed and tugged it lower on my brow. “I’m going to regret this.”

He laughed and held up his phone. “Let me get a picture of you in that.”

“Oh God, no.” I covered my face as he snapped a picture.

He laughed even harder and showed me the series of pictures of me hiding and then sticking my tongue out at him. “This is definitely your new photo for your phone number.”

“And when are you going to use that again?”

Derek glanced down at me. “Anytime I want.”

I took another sip of my sidecar and a step away. I remembered all the ways that Derek could make me turn to goo and all the ways he could break my heart. I didn’t have time or energy for that, especially with the case between us.

“Oh, Derek… do those lines actually work?”

He tipped the hat up to see my pink cheeks. “Sometimes.”

“Thanks for the drink,” I said, pulling away from that heated look.

He shot me a perfect smile on those pouty lips, and for a second, I was transported back in time. Back when those lips had touched mine and everything in the entire world had been different. A lot had changed since then. But somehow, we were still on opposite sides of everything.

Part II

9

Duke

October 23, 2009

I jogged off of the basketball court in Cameron to loud applause from all the Cameron Crazies. Duke was kicking off this basketball season with Countdown to Craziness, and the dance team had performed their season opener before the guys came out onto the court.

I breathed heavily as I faced the captain to listen to the post-dance pep talk. Hilary launched into an excited recap and then pulled us all together for a picture.

Brinley nudged me and laughed. “You killed that aerial sequence.”

“You seriously did,” Lora said. “I just wish that I had your acro skills.”

“Girl, your turns!” I chef-kissed my lips. “Both of you! I swear.”

Brin hugged me tight and then grabbed Lora. “Bestie’s the best,” she said as she danced in a circle. “You’re still down for going to the frat party after Countdown, yeah?”