Break Me (The Summer Series) (3 page)

Four

Gemma took a deep breath when she
knew she was out of hearing distance of Abe. What was she doing? What was wrong
with her? Men weren’t something she’d planned on messing with this summer. She
wasn’t Kate, apparently here only to find someone to pass the time. She
wouldn’t be her mother, lost and broken with nothing in the end.
Goodbye, Abe
,
she thought to herself, worried that she felt grief at the thought. There was
no way she could already be crushing on him. Gemma was so much more than that.
She didn’t fall right away. Her mother and her life had taught her better than
that, and yet, there she was, sad over the idea that she would never see him
again and upset that she had been playing all those years. She wasn’t as cold
as she wanted to be. Abe had just proven that to her. She would have to start
going to the beach during the day. She couldn’t risk letting herself get sucked
into that vortex of sad endings.

When she climbed through her bedroom window,
she noticed Kate lying on her side in bed, facing the wall. Gemma wondered what
she had been up to the past couple of days. They rarely saw each other, and
when they did, it was as one was on her way in or out the door. After cleaning
up and getting ready for bed, Gemma climbed in and pulled the curtain by her
bed closed to hopefully allow for a little more sleep in the morning.

“Gemma?”

Startled that Kate was actually awake, Gemma
turned over and faced her. “Yeah?”

“Oh, thank God, you’re still awake.”

Gemma nearly snarled at her. “I just lay down.”

“Yeah. So, anyway, I was talking to this guy
today, and he and his friends are throwing a party up the beach a ways on the
public property. I told them about you and how we’re so freaking bored here,
and they invited us to join them.” She jumped off her bed and bounced onto
Gemma’s. “What do you say?”

Gemma was so shocked to have Kate sitting on
her bed she almost forgot to respond. Usually Kate respected her boundaries and
Gemma avoided Kate. That seemed to be working just fine. Gemma wasn’t sure if
she liked what was going on here. “Um . . .”

“Please, Gemma.” Kate clasped her hands
together and begged. “I don’t want to go there alone. I’m not looking to get
drugged, and if you go, Mom and Dad won’t think twice about it.”

Gemma thought about it and figured she could go
to the beach, bail to some deserted section, and get some peace and quiet away
from Abe. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“Eeeeeek,” Kate yelled, “really? Oh my gosh, I
can’t believe it. Thank you so much, Gemma.” And with that, Kate bounced back
to her side of the room and burrowed under her covers. “Night, Gem.”
Again with that freaking nickname
, Gemma thought as she rolled over and closed her eyes.

~~~

The next morning Gemma followed Kate
out of the house. Kate was on her way to run, and Gemma was on her way to avoid
Abe at the beach. She had a hat, sunscreen, and a book. She was ready to
finally have the time at the beach her new “friend” was keeping from her. Just
as she turned the last corner that would lead her to the beach, she came face
to face with someone all too familiar pulling a trashcan to the road and
wearing one of the community cleaning staff shirts. “Oh, crap on a cracker. What
are you doing here?”

His eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing,” she said with a clenched jaw. “Just .
. . excuse me; I’m headed to the beach.” She shook her head and turned abruptly
to walk away.

“Okay . . .”

She had only taken two steps when she stopped
and turned on her heel. “I mean, seriously, you’re cleaning crew here too? Are
you just everywhere?” Gemma gasped and then paused as her mind came up with
another scenario. “Are you, like, stalking me or my dad or something?”

“What?” He laughed and looked around. “Are you
serious? Wait, should I be stalking your dad? Is he a famous athlete or
something?”

“Oh, ugh.” She groaned. “Don’t worry about it. I’m
going now.”
He probably didn’t even
read.

“Now, wait a minute.” He hurried to catch her.
“Where are you headed? I know you aren’t on your way to the beach. That’s our
thing and we don’t do that until night.”

A flutter came through her that she had never
felt before as he smirked down at her. Something about this boy set things off
in her she couldn’t even describe. “No, I mean, yes, I’m going to the beach,
and no, that is not our thing.”

“Sure.” He winked as he started backing away. “See
you tonight.”

She turned toward the water, both furious and
turned on. She wanted to scream.
Who the hell was that guy and what was he doing to her?

Gemma grumbled to herself the rest of her walk
to the beach and found a vacant seat away from the loud group of kids building
a castle in the sand. She sprayed her sunscreen everywhere she thought the sun
could possibly reach, pulled on her hat, and lay back. Abe North was getting to
her, damn it. The thought of reading was as far from her mind as it could get.
She had walked all the way down here, and there was nothing she could think of
besides the sexy security guard who also happened to clean the beach houses,
which would, of course, include her own. Blowing a frustrated breath through
her lips, she pulled her hat back and picked up her book. He would not ruin her
day. She wouldn’t allow it. Funny how all of a sudden the dark-haired
heartthrob in her book was a tall muscular beach bum. She wanted to scream.
Freaking Abe North was ruining her books now too.

~~~

Hours later Gemma was walking down
the beach with Kate, who was literally bouncing with excitement. “Wait until
you see this guy and his friends.” She fanned herself. “They are like the
prettiest people I have ever met. I have
got
to start drinking the water
here. Seriously, I almost offered my swimsuit bottoms to the one who invited
me.”

Gemma turned to Kate in shock. “What?”

“Oh, come on, Gem”—she rolled her eyes—“we
aren’t at the house. We can admit we aren’t Daddy’s little girls out here.”

“Funny, didn’t know I was ever Daddy’s little
girl.” Gemma couldn’t hide the hostility and disgust in her voice, not that she
wanted to.

Kate looked at her confused and then shrugged
her shoulders. “Whatever, anyway, it’s not like we’re virgins or anything, and
when you get a look at these guys, I won’t be the only one in a constant state
of salivation. Seriously, they are gorgeous. Dibs on the tall one.”

“Take whomever you want. I’m here to make sure
no one slips you anything and to sneak away for some peace and quiet.” Gemma
felt her bag to double check she had remembered the book she had swiped from
Kate earlier.

The flames came into sight, and Gemma could see
Kate fixing her hair in her periphery. Flames darted up, and silhouettes of
people dancing and talking came closer. Gemma noticed a tall figure off to the
side and had to force her nerves back into place. He wasn’t here, she knew that.
He would be working his security job by now. The fact that she wasn’t sure if his
absence made her happy or not, didn’t bode well for her forget-about-him plan.

“Let’s go get a drink; I am dying for a beer.”
Kate started toward the keg and Gemma hesitated before following.
Who the heck was this girl and where did she
come from?
Kate was always the quiet goody-two-shoes.
Now she was, yep, she was definitely working some dude over to get him to fill
her cup up for her.

Gemma hurried over to catch up to Kate. “Well,
it looks as if you got this, so I’m just going to go over and sit, okay?”

“Oh my God, Gemma, there he is. Come on. You’ve
got to see this guy.” Kate took off, and Gemma let her head fall back in
frustration before turning to follow her. Just as she was making her way
through the crowd, she saw Kate reach up and wrap her arms around a guy’s neck.
Kate released him just as Gemma stepped up next to her. “Gemma, this is—”

“Abe.” Gemma finished, embarrassed at the hitch
in her breath. “Yeah, we’ve met.” Her heart picked up speed and then stuttered
out as realization dawned. This was the guy whom Kate wanted. This was the guy who
had invited her. This gorgeous specimen in nothing but swim trunks and giving
Gemma the first glimpse of some of the most amazing abs she had ever seen that
ran down into . . . Oh, dear God, there was a happy trail. She hadn’t even been
sure until that moment that non-fictional men actually had them. Abe did. Her
face flamed at the thoughts going through her mind, and she turned so she was
only looking at Kate. She could tell by the glimmer in Abe’s eyes that he was
aware she had been checking him out. “Well, looks as if you found your friend. I’m
off to do my thing.” She hurried out of sight and didn’t wait for either to
respond.

Just as she was getting to the outskirts of the
party, she was stopped by a brunette who looked familiar. “Hey, sorry to bother
you, but are you the one staying in the red house in the Villages?”

“Oh, yeah”—Gemma checked over her shoulder to
see if Kate or Abe were following her—“that’s us.”

“Cool.” The girl put her hand out. “I’m Emily
and I’m good friends with Abe. He was telling me he had run into you and was
hoping to introduce us tonight.”

“Tonight?” Gemma furrowed her brow. “How would
he introduce us tonight? He didn’t even know I was coming.” She looked around
again, concerned and a little creeped out by Abe’s all-knowing mind.

“One thing you’ll learn about our Abe is that
he knows everything. He says I’m crazy, but I swear that boy has some kind of
sixth sense. I call it ‘stalker-stinks,’ short for ‘stalker instincts,’ but
really I just like to imply that the golden boy stinks.” She grinned
mischievously. “You can call it whatever you want, I guess.”

“No, ‘stalker-stinks’ sounds about right.”
Gemma growled.

“What?” Abe surprised Gemma from behind. “Are
you telling stories again, Em?”

“Hey, there you are.” Kate stepped up next to
Gemma.

“Yeah, I just ran into Abe’s friend, Emily. I’m
still headed out though.”

“No.” Abe stepped up closer to her. “I mean
don’t disappear. Stay and hang out. We can talk about more than you getting off
my beach.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “And what would we
possibly have to talk about?”

“Hmmm, how about the book you have in your
bag?”

“How did you kn—? You know what? Never mind . .
. stalker.” Gemma finally let a smile break out. Abe smiled back, and there was
something in the way he looked at her that made leaving no longer an option.

~~~

They all sat in a circle. Gemma, with
Emily and her boyfriend Ryan, sat on a log that had been rolled up from
somewhere down the beach. She finally placed them as two of the three kids she
had seen walking down the street the day she arrived. Kate was in a beach chair.
Abe stood next to her, along with a couple more of their friends, including
Trey, an insanely muscular guy who intimidated Gemma, and Megan, the blonde
from that first day who still seemed to be giving Kate and Gemma the stink eye.
Kate hadn’t stopped trying to get Abe’s attention, and his position above her
had her chest out ridiculously far. Gemma couldn’t believe the irritation she
felt toward both Kate and the Megan girl, who was also obviously fighting for
some attention. Emily kept trying to get Gemma to focus on her so they could talk,
but Gemma’s eyes always made their way back to the three people across the
circle from her.

When she finally decided to give Emily her
attention or have to admit things to herself about her feelings for Abe that
she refused to face, it was like pulling two pieces of tape apart. Her eyes
fought hard to stay on the others. Once Emily had her attention, she smiled and
began talking about surfing and wanted to know if Gemma had ever tried. After
laughing longer than she should have, she simply replied, “No.”

“That’s too bad.” Emily started to get excited.
“You have to come with us tomorrow. I’ll swing by and pick you up. You’ll love
it.”

“What a whore.” The girls both turned to the source
of the snarl that came from across the group and saw Megan sneering at the
retreating backs of Kate and Abe. Gemma’s stomach dropped not only at the
possessive tone Megan used but at the sight of Abe turning and putting his
hands on Kate’s hips as they started dancing.
What the hell had she been thinking?
This was why you don’t let them in. Men always want the Kates and
the Megans. They never want the plain girl who sneaks out to read. They want
the ones who offer up their swimsuit bottoms.

“I think I’m going to get another drink.” Gemma
stood and ignored everyone as she made her way to the keg. The same guy who
Kate had been working on earlier stood by the keg still, clearly using that as
his opportunity with women. As a girl ahead of her waved goodbye, Gemma stepped
up. “Beer, please.”

He looked down at her curiously and then smiled
as he filled the cup. “Anything else I can get you?” The smirk told her that he
wasn’t having much luck and even she would do tonight.