The Heartbreakers

Right. “How do you know? Ok I’ve been intentionally off the grid for the past year, but you seriously should be in the CIA or something. I swear to God, nothing happens in Star Cove without you knowing.”

Sarah nods. “Yeah, anyway. Kiara saw Anna twice at the beach. She’s graduated early and she’s back in town.”

I choose not to dwell on the news. “It’s ok. I haven’t seen her in two years and maybe she’s changed. People mature.”

My best friend looks as skeptical as I feel even as the words leave my mouth. “Right. I hope so for her, because stilettos come in pairs and if my right heel is for Darrius, the left one has Anna’s name written all over it.”

I giggle. “Damn, you became so violent while I was away.”

Sarah doesn’t take any prisoners. “In Anna’s case, I was violent even before. She’s such a bitch.”

I can’t entirely disagree. “She’s jealous of my relationship with her brother and her dad, that’s why she’s always been mean to me. By the way, talking about Kiara, where the fuck is she? She’s coming to the party, right?”

Sarah confirms that Kiara will be there. “Yeah, she said she had something to do. She’ll be here a little later. She’s been awfully busy lately. She’s going to kill me if I tell you, but she dropped out of college and she’s been looking for a job for the past two months. She was excited that you were going to be back, because she wanted to beg you to ask your mom if there was a position for her with the Angels.”

I don’t hide my surprise at the news. “That’s such a shame that she dropped out. But sure, when I see her, I’ll see what she wants to do and ask Mom. I’m going to intern there for the summer, if they don’t have anything immediately, I’ll keep an eye out for Kiara.”

A soft knock on the door interrupts our conversation. Mom is right outside my room. “Len, sweetheart, the party has already started. Darrius was downstairs looking for you.”

I look at Sarah, trying to draw strength from her. “We’re coming,” I say, squaring my shoulders and walking out of my room.

***

Lenley

THE PARTY IS IN FULLswing, the house is packed with people when we get downstairs.

Waiters are walking around the huge living room offering trays of canapés to the guests and at one end of the room, a long table has been turned into an open bar area.

Everyone is dressed to the nines and music is filtering in from the backyard where I can spot a DJ booth.

“Holy shit,” I say to Sarah, “These energy drink people like to do things in style.”

A deep, sexy voice agrees with me. “You can say that out loud, babe. This party is seriously lit and I can already see it’s got the hottest girls in town.”

The voice belongs to a tall, dark-haired stranger who looks vaguely familiar; but I can’t put a name to the intense gray eyes, the perfectly square jaw and the confident smile.

Maybe he’s a tourist or he works for the press; he doesn’t look much older than me, but if we’d gone to school together I’m sure I’d remember him.

“Hmm ... thanks?” I smile, unsure if I should know his name and I’m being rude by not remembering him.

“Want to do some shots?” he asks.

I hesitate, remembering the last time I did shots and how it caused me to run to Europe. But truth be told, I could use some liquid courage right now and if I keep it to one shot, I should be able to stay out of trouble.

“Sure.” I smile, following the hot guy toward the bar.

“Two wild mustangs, please,” he asks the bartender. “They have all sorts of signature drinks tonight and they’re all named after horses.”

His eyes are a mesmerizing silver color with blue flecks in them and they light up when he smiles.

I don’t know why I have the feeling that I’ve seen this guy before, he’s so hot that I doubt I’d forget him if I did.

Our fingers brush when he passes me one of the two shot glasses and I suppress an involuntary shiver; he doesn’t miss my reaction and he winks at me, I shit you not, before his smile widens.

“At my three, ready?” he prompts me, lifting the shot glass to his mouth. “One, two ... three!”

I down the cold liquid and wince. “Oh, eww!” I say, scrunching my nose with displeasure. “This is sickly sweet and harsh at the same time. It burned its way down my throat.”

The hot stranger takes a step toward me and lowers his head to whisper into my ear. “Oh, I’m pretty sure we can find a way to soothe that cute throat of yours.”

His deep voice reverberates through me, causing a fluttering in my stomach, all the way down to my lower belly. “I—” I start, unsure about what he meant.

“Jameson! Hey, I was looking for you all over!”

I’m about to tease him about being named after a popular brand of whiskey but I recognize the voice and the words die before they leave my mouth.

Anna Penn is standing behind Jameson with a friendly smile on her heavily made-up face; a smile that dies when her dark brown eyes, so similar to her younger brother’s land on me.

She gives me a quick once over and smiles again, but the friendly inflection of her tone is all but gone and the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “Lenley,” she says, as if my name left a bad taste in her mouth. “I heard you were back from France.”

The corner of her dark red lips quirks up in a cruel smirk. “I see that what they say about European women is true. They dress way sluttier than here.”

I don’t react to her poorly veiled insult.

That has always been the way our relationship has gone; she’s downright mean to me, unless we’re in front of Mom or Kyle.

She becomes especially catty if Darrius is within earshot and my best friend told me more than once how his sister thinks I’m uncool. Not that she makes a mystery of her dislike of me anyway.

When I don’t react, she offers me another bitchy comment. “That dress is so short, that if you aren’t careful, everyone will see what brand of IUD you have in.”

I open my mouth to say, something. Anything. But I come up empty.

I know I should say that her jeans are so tight that her hookup of the night will probably need to cut her out of them. But what’s the point? I can see through her jealousy and I’m not interested in engaging with her pettiness.

I hope that eventually, she’ll understand that our fathers were like brothers and that I’m not trying to steal her family from her.

Help comes from the most unexpected place. “That was catty, Ann.” Jameson says, the smile all gone from his handsome face.

“It’s Anna!” She snaps.