I raced down the stairs and across the courtyard, throwing myself into our stairwell and shutting it quickly behind Claud.
“What the hell is going on?” Her eyes were bright with concern as I pushed past her and ran up the stairs.
It wasn’t until we were in my bedroom with the door locked that I whirled around to face her, my whole body shaking as the pain I’d been trying to hold in exploded out of me. Claudia caught me, holding me tight and murmuring soothing words in my ear as I sobbed an explanation into her hair.
Chapter Two
“We’re so going to get in trouble for this,” I muttered, staring around at the gathering of my class, their faces flickering in and out of the light cast by the bonfire I knew I’d have to keep a careful eye on.
I’d come home from spending the summer with my cousins in Florida to discover my friends Lacey and Rose had colluded with my ex-boyfriend Alex. They’d put together a welcome home party for me in the woods at the edge of Alex’s parents’ property on the outskirts of town. A huge old gazebo sat surrounded by crumbling concrete seats overwhelmed with weeds. Right now the gazebo was littered with underage drinkers, beer cans, firewood, and a music dock.
Lacey shoved me playfully. “Who cares? Let’s just enjoy it. I doubt they’ll bust us. Tomorrow’s Labor Day—they’re too preoccupied with the festival to care what we’re up to.” She handed me a beer.
“You didn’t need to do this.”
Rose nodded. “I suggested we throw a party before going back to school. It was Alex who suggested we make it your party.”
Lacey snorted. “Could he be more obvious?”
I followed her gaze to where Alex was standing with a sophomore girl, but he didn’t appear to be listening to her as he watched our little group. “He knows we’re not going there again. We dated for three months before summer and it didn’t work out.”
“Yeah for you.” Rose sighed sadly. “He’s still hung up on you. And he’s so cute, Charley. And he plays football. That’s hot.”
“Alex is nice and all, but he’s not for me.”
Alex was perfectly nice, in fact, but during the three months we dated, I kept waiting for that something to hit me. When we kissed, it was just … nice. And since kissing was nice but nothing more, I didn’t really want to do anything else with him, which made me seem frigid. Anyway, we were too different. He was all about football and keeping up appearances for his family. That was important for him, considering his mom was the mayor.
To be honest, I didn’t know what Alex saw in me. I’m sure his mother thought the same thing. My sister Andrea would’ve been perfect for him if they’d been the same age. She was prim and proper and immaculate from head to toe. I, on the other hand, always had my nose in some project, I was obsessed with music, I dressed where my mood took me, and I said it like it was.
The only thing Mayor Roster had ever found appropriate about me was my sister. I think it was the only thing that gave her hope—that maybe one day I’d suddenly transform into a mini version of Andie.
“Forget Alex.” Lacey turned to me, her eyes bright in the firelight. “I’ve decided Jake Caplin is perfect for you.”
“Ah, the mysterious Jake,” I chuckled.
All summer I’d been treated to excited phone calls from my friends. First they relayed the news that a new family had moved to Lanton. This was news because Mr. Caplin was opening a law office that had thrown Brackett & Sons, the already existing law office, into a tizzy. It was also news because the Caplins had two boys—Jacob, a junior, and Lukas, a freshman. Both, apparently, seriously cute.
They’d also made quite a name for themselves over the summer. Or at least Jake had. He’d quickly found friends, seemingly able to move from group to group according to Lacey. He hung out with the musicians, the nerds, and the stoners, but also had a lot of fun with the jocks. And, more importantly, Lacey said, he’d already slept with a bunch of junior and senior girls. Rumor had it he’d also slept with Stacy Sullivan, a hot senior who worked at Hub’s, a popular diner on Main Street. This was news because Stacy only dated guys in college. Having sex with Stacy made Jake a bit of a legend among our classmates.
But all of it just made me question why the hell Lacey would want me to hook up with him.
“Oh my God, he’s here.” Lacey said breathlessly as if Batman had just walked into the party.
I twisted my head to follow her gaze and found myself staring past the fire and into the dark eyes of Jake Caplin.
I felt his look seize hold of me and I swear to God, my breath hitched in my throat.
He was beautiful.
I didn’t know how to describe him any other way. And as he moved through the crowd, eyes on me, my friends whispering in disbelief that he was coming over, I decided then that I didn’t care about rumor. There was something about the way his tall, built body moved—confident and strong but also somehow wild and untamed. I watched his mouth curl up at the corners in a half-smile and I read a million things in his expression. A million stories, a million jokes, a million dreams …
Deep down, I somehow knew that Jake Caplin would never, ever bore me. It sounded crazy—I know it did because we’d never even exchanged a word, but I just knew.
“So, you’re the mysterious girl who’s been gone all summer.” He stopped right in front of me, casual, beer in hand. I tipped my head back to meet his gaze, my body tingling. It suddenly occurred to me that someone as beautiful as Jake must have girls throwing themselves all over him all the time. I read it in his cocky confidence. I read it in the ease with which he spoke to me, a complete stranger, when there were guys I’d known my whole life who stuttered when they tried to flirt.
“And you’re the mysterious newbie,” I answered with a shrug.
He smiled at my response and held out a hand. “Jake.”
Reaching out tentatively, I let him take my hand, ignoring the curl of tension in my lower belly as our skin touched. “Charley.”
“I know. You’re famous. Supergirl.” He grinned wickedly and I shot my friends a dirty look. I couldn’t believe they’d told him that story.
No, in fact, I could believe it.
Two years ago I’d gone into town with Lacey and Rose. We were coming out of Hub’s when we heard my sister Andie shouting. It was so unlike her that we stopped to spectate. Andie was a senior at the time and she and her long-term boyfriend Pete had been having problems. That day those problems had escalated so much that my sister—who was the epitome of public decorum—started to shout at him in the town square. He’d shouted back as she walked away, and Andie had stupidly stopped in the middle of the street to turn and shout a response.
I saw Mr. Finnegan’s SUV come roaring around the corner, and I also noted he was too busy fiddling with something on his dashboard to notice my sister. I didn’t even think. I tore across the street and shoved her out of the way, just in time for Finnegan to realize what was happening and hit the brakes. Unfortunately, he found the brakes too late and he still hit me. The impact wasn’t hard enough to do serious, serious damage, but I ended up with concussion, a few fractured ribs, and a broken fibula.
I’d been laid up for a while. Enough time for the town to hail me as a local hero and everyone, including my sister, to affectionately nickname me “Supergirl.”
“I hate living in a small town,” I grumbled, taking another pull of my beer.
Jake laughed, a deep, rich sound that tugged my eyes instantly back to his. My heart started racing hard again as we stared at each other. “Don’t sweat it. If you’re going to adopt a nickname, I could think of worse ones, and definitely not a better reason to have one.”
“We’re going to get more beer,” Lacey announced cheerily and not so very subtly grabbed Rose’s hand and dragged her away, giving Jake and me privacy.
I grimaced at how obvious they were. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Jake stepped a little closer. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
I tipped my head, my expression knowing. “Oh, I’ve heard you’ve met lots of people already.”
He fought a smile. “You shouldn’t listen to gossip.”
“Especially when it’s true?”
He laughed now, shaking his head. “I was just being friendly. Getting to know the new town. It’s not easy moving to such a small place after living in Chicago. Everything seems to move faster there and faster here causes shock.”
“Yeah, I can imagine it’s a huge change.” I frowned and leaned against the post behind me. “Why did you move here?”
Jake blew out a breath between his lips and shrugged. “My mom and dad are from small towns, they missed it. My dad was pretty successful in Chicago and my mom liked her life there. However, my kid brother, Lukas, got mugged coming home from school one night when he missed the bus. They pulled a knife but didn’t hurt him. Still, it freaked my mom and dad out so much, they upped stakes.”
I nodded. “You know bad things happen everywhere.”
“You get a lot of muggings in Lanton, do you?”
“Only when things are slow. I like to shake things up a little.”
Jake threw his head back and laughed, his eyes glittering warmly. “Ski mask and all?”
I shook my head. “Bandit eye strip, a banana, and a black trash bag.”
He chuckled. “Let me guess—the banana works three-fold: a ‘gun,’ a snack to keep your mugger energy up, and then the slippery peel is a great tool in your escape.”
I widened my eyes in mock surprise. “Dude, you got this down. Want to be a bandit with me?” I didn’t mean it to sound flirtatious, but it totally did.
Jake’s gaze turned even warmer and he ducked his head a little to murmur, “Definitely.”
Flushing and unable to keep the smile off my face, I dropped my gaze from his, a little overwhelmed by the intensity of the spark between us.
“So you and Alex, huh?”
My eyes immediately shot up and I saw Jake looking over his shoulder to where Alex stood watching us, not appearing too happy at all. It definitely didn’t help that his best friend Brett Thomson was sneering at us and although I couldn’t hear what was being said it was apparent Brett was making comments about us that were upsetting Alex. I’d never understood why a nice guy like Alex was friends with Brett. Brett, unfortunately, hadn’t fallen far from the bad-apple tree. His dad, Trenton Thomas, was a car salesman. On the surface he was charming and self-effacing. Some people liked him. But a lot of people knew him for what he really was—a misogynist, a bully, and a petulant toddler all rolled into one. I’d witnessed the way the elder Thomas treated his son and wife when I’d been at Brett’s house while dating Alex. I wanted to punch him in the nuts. My mom and dad had gone to high school with him and said he’d always been an ass. Lucky Brett had inherited all those wonderful qualities from his dear papa.
I waited until I had Jake’s attention again before I replied softly, “He’s a good guy, but we broke up before the summer and that’s not going to change.”
“Well, by the look on his face right now, he wants it to change. We were kind of friends before this … I’m guessing by that death stare, just talking to you has changed that.”
I sighed, annoyed. “Sorry. His family is kind of a big deal, and Alex is a little territorial. He’ll move on.”
“I don’t know.” Jake’s expression grew serious. “Is it possible to move on from a girl like you?”
I laughed softly. “Nice line.”
Jake smiled, running a hand through his messy dark hair. “I’m not sure that was a line.”
“Oh, it was a line. So was that. You’re very good at the flirting thing. Very confident for your age.”
“I don’t know about that. I’ve never really had to wor—”
“Work at it,” I finished for him, quirking my eyebrow at him. “Confident or arrogant …”
His laughing eyes narrowed on me. “You think you’re pretty smart.”
“No. I know I’m pretty smart.”
“Now who’s arrogant?”
I chuckled but shrugged. “Well, I have reason to be. I’m awesome.”
“Fuck.” Jake was grinning again and he placed a hand above my head on the post and leaned in. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
Heat suffused me, the butterflies in my stomach going absolutely crazy at the thought of it, but I somehow managed to control myself. “I don’t know you well enough for that.”
“I disagree,” he leaned closer, his intent clear. “Five minutes with you and I feel like I’ve known you forever.”
“Jake.”
He stopped, his expression changing at the sound of his name on my lips. I didn’t know what that expression meant, but it made me want to melt into him. I forced myself not to.
“I’m not going to kiss you.”
A spark of intensity lit up his gorgeous dark eyes. “Are you going to make me work for it?”
I nodded and straightened up from the post, bringing our bodies so close I could almost feel him against me. “If I don’t believe I’m worth the effort, why the hell would you?” With a small shrug, I slipped past him and headed toward my friends who were gaping at me, obviously eager to know what was going on. I didn’t get the chance to tell them because Jake fell quickly into step beside me.
We hung out with my friends for the rest of the night, exchanging barbs, enjoying the frisson of electricity that sparked and pulled between us. We enjoyed it, but we didn’t encourage it. Jake didn’t encourage it. There was no more talk of kissing me, but I knew as my dad arrived to bust up the party, dragging me and Lacey and Rose back to his car, that Jake Caplin was intending to make the effort.