At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

I chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. I’m the worst. But a lot of it is just a waiting game.”

“Have you asked Derek about the will?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it with him.”

“He can’t give you the scoop?”

“No way. You know how he is.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” She put an arm around me as we continued toward Bay Street. “Well, I’m sure you’re going to win. Gran wanted you to have the house. That’s all that matters.”

“I hope you’re right.”

We walked out onto Bay when I jerked to a stop. Stepping out of an open doorway was none other than Derek Ballentine. He froze as the door to Ballentine Law closed shut behind him. I’d completely forgotten that this was where the practice was. I’d only ever been here once before.

“Marley,” he said evenly. His gaze shifted to Lila, and he narrowed his eyes. “Delilah.”

“Hey, Derek,” she said with a smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“Checking on Marley.”

He looked around as if Ash Talmadge might jump out at any second. “Just Marley?”

“Yes,” she said flatly.

“It’s fine,” I said, jumping in. “She’s here for me.”

He nodded. “All right.” Then, his gaze swept to mine, and something shifted there. “Can I talk to you a minute?” He looked to Lila and back. “In private?”

“Uh…”

“It’s fine,” Lila said easily. “I’ll wait here.”

“Sorry,” I said to her and then stepped aside with Derek. “What?”

“What is she doing here?”

“I told you already.”

“She’s not going to see Ash?”

“No!” I ground out. “Jesus, she’s not stupid. If you just want to talk about that, then I’m going to go back to my friend.”

He reached out for my arm. I looked down at it in surprise. “That’s not why. Look, were you serious about helping with Ash?”

I blinked at the change of subject. “Yeah.”

“His birthday is next week, and I wanted to get him out of the house but not something like… the yacht. Want to come with us?”

I met his gaze head-on, trying to find the Derek-sized play in all of this. But he seemed genuinely concerned for his friend. And I was equally concerned about Ash.

So, I finally nodded. “Sure. I’ll come out.”

He grinned, and my body melted at that look. “Great. I’ll text you the info.”

I stepped back quickly. “Sounds good. See you around.”

Then, I hastened back to Lila.

She arched an eyebrow at me. “What was that about? The case?”

“Ash’s birthday.”

Lila bit her lip. “Oh. Right. That’s next weekend.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we’re not here about my worries. Let’s wander around and talk about Gran. River Street?”

“Definitely,” I agreed.

I followed my friend down the steep steps and reminisced. So many people had wanted to talk about missing her. It was another thing entirely to remember her. That made it worse and also somehow better. It was just what I needed.

12

UNC

February 10, 2010

Sarah looked at me in exasperation. “Girl, what are you wearing?”

Olivia and Carly looked equally uncomfortable.

“Seriously?” Olivia asked.

I looked down at my outfit—a Blue Devils T-shirt, Dancing Devil shorts, and a blue Duke D logo on my cheek. “What?”

“When you said that you wanted us to get you a ticket to the Duke-UNC game, we knew that you were going to cheer for Duke,” Sarah said. “We didn’t think you’d dress like the enemy in the student section.”

“You’re going to get so much shit,” Olivia said.

I shrugged. “Who cares? Technically, I am a UNC student as well. Sort of. Unofficially.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “You’d better hope we win, or I don’t know if we’ll be able to get you out of the Dean Dome alive.”

“How did you get an extra ticket anyway? We can never get them at Duke,” I said with a wink. “Someone offered me ten thousand dollars for my floor pass last year. Just some stranger on the street. It was crazy.”

“Whoa,” Carly whispered.

“I pulled some strings,” Sarah said. “My dad knows some of the coaches from when he went to UNC. He was able to weasel out one extra ticket. And then you blaspheme in Duke attire.”

I laughed and followed the girls through the line and into the Dean Dome. The stadium was much bigger than Cameron, nearly twenty-two thousand to Duke’s nine thousand. But I thought Cameron had more charm while the Dean Dome was much more modern and fancy. I got a seat in the bleachers, ignoring the incredulous stares from Tar Heels fans.

“Amiguita, you enjoy it,” Carly said with a head shake. “You’re twisted.”

I was a pot-stirrer to the core. No one could shake my love of Duke. Not after years of TIP and a full-ride scholarship to the university. UNC hadn’t offered me anything like that.

The crowd went wild as the UNC basketball team came out and made a lap on the court. Each starter was announced. I ignored them to find Derek in the lineup. He wasn’t a starter for UNC, but he was a constant sub for the defense. He was completely in the zone when I found him in his white-and-Carolina-blue home uniform. Ballentine was written in block letters across the back. I’d seen him in uniform before, but it was different on his home turf.