He nodded. “Liam has always been focused on his career. That’s the most important thing to him.”
“Huh,” I mused, glancing over my shoulder at Liam.
He was staring at Brady and me with a disgusted look on his face. I was instantly reminded of the saying, “If looks could kill.”
“You wanna head down to the beach?” Brady’s voice broke into my thoughts, and I felt bad that I was paying more attention to Liam than him. “Get away from him?” Brady jerked his head in the direction of Liam.
“Sure.” I smiled up at him.
He grinned and took my hand, guiding me to the stairs that led down to the beach.
We walked along, drifting away from the crowd, before settling on the sand in a quiet area.
We sat in silence for a moment watching the waves crash against the shore.
“Do you surf?” I asked him.
“Yeah.” He glanced down at me, squinting from the sun. “I’d love to go pro, but I’m nowhere near as good as Liam.” He shrugged. There was no animosity in his tone. Instead, his voice rang with admiration. “So for now, I work in construction.”
“Construction,” I mused. “Doing what?”
“Building homes, mostly. What about you?” He reached out, capturing a piece of hair blowing across my face from the breeze. He rubbed the strands between his fingers before tucking it behind my ear.
“Waitressing,” I replied.
He laughed, and it was a genuine, happy sound. Not forced for my benefit. My first impression of Brady had been that he was a playboy, but in our short time together, I learned that he was actually pretty nice.
“Look at us,” he chuckled, scrubbing a hand over his heavily-stubbled jaw, “living the glamorous life.”
“I don’t think grease stains on all my shirts counts as glamorous.” I laughed with him. “But hey.” I stretched my legs out and braced my hands behind me.
“What are you doing?”
Brady and I both looked up at the sound of Liam’s voice. He towered above us since we were both sitting and looked even more imposing with the sun haloed behind him.
Brady started to reply, but I cut him off with my curt response of, “We’re talking. Is there something wrong with that?”
Liam glared down at us. Well, at me actually. It was like Brady didn’t exist to him right then.
“Yeah, there is,” he sneered.
I stood, sand billowing around me in my haste to get up. “You know what,” I shoved a finger into his chest as hard as I could. “You’re an asshole. You told me to come to the party, here I am, and now you’re being nothing but rude. I guess I should’ve stayed in my room.”
Fire simmered in his eyes. “I didn’t know inviting you to my party was also an invitation for you to flirt with my friends.”
“Whoa, man—”
“Shut up,” Liam and I both shouted at Brady.
Brady’s eyes widened with shock, and he raised his hands in the air before walking away with a shake of his head. I knew I needed to hunt hi
m down and apologize, or better yet run after him, but I couldn’t get my feet to move.
“You are the most confusing person I’ve ever met,” I screamed at Liam. That was saying something considering the life I’d fled.
“And you’re infuriating,” he countered, his nostrils flaring while his hands fisted at his sides.
I glared defiantly back at him.