Changing Tides (Kill Devil Hills Book 2) (8 page)

“Say something,” I whispered, her silence killing me. “Please, Georgie.”

“I’m happy,” she said in a soft voice, finally turning to look at me rather than the damn ceiling. A smile touched her lips. “No…I’m ecstatic. I want to be mad at him. I mean, seriously, what the hell was he thinking? And I still don’t understand why he joined the Coast Guard in the first place. That part has never made sense to me. Something bad must have happened, something really bad, something to make him want to leave and then keep him from coming home. But I’m too relieved and thankful that he’s alive to be mad at him. This is crazy…and amazing.”

She might have been ready to forgive her brother, but I wasn’t and likely never would be. Still, I blew out a breath of relief. Fuck her brother. I only needed Georgie to be okay and she seemed to be. Better, actually. “Come here,” I grunted and drew her closer to me.

She pressed in against my body, nestling her face into my chest. My arms wrapped around her tightly like they’d done a million times before. In moments like this I saw my future. Georgina was my future.

“Did you speak with him?” she whispered, her voice growing a little rough with emotion.

“Um.
”
How did I put this without sounding like a dick
?
“Fuck no. Sorry, but I’m not going to be able to forgive Ben so easily. I don’t think I even said one word to him earlier. And we’re supposed to go back there for dinner…apparently…at least that’s what I overheard Ellie say.” I’d also overheard Ellie’s new celebrity friend say, and I quote,
you saw me naked and we almost fucked.
Which was random and shocking given the fact that my friend didn’t enjoy seeing men naked, or so I’d always thought, but I kept the rest to myself because that didn’t matter right now.

“Will you come me with to dinner?” Georgie asked.

“Yes, of course. I can’t promise I’ll be polite,” I confessed. “Maybe with time and once we have more answers—maybe then I might be able to forgive Ben. For now, I can’t. But I’ll be there with you at that dinner. Nothing could keep me from going with you.”

She nodded. “Good.” Gripping the back of my neck, she brought my face down to hers. Her lips were warm and soft as they pressed against mine. “I love you, Noah,” she said firmly as she remained close. “This changes nothing. The past happened, it’s done, and I moved on from it long before today. So, yeah…let’s get up.” She pulled away and hopped out of bed. She found my duffle bag on the floor and tossed it on the bed beside me. “Get dressed. Disneyland is waiting.”

“You still want to go?”

“Yes. We aren’t seeing Ben until dinner, so why not?” A wicked smile filled her face. “Get changed already. And move slowly, I want to watch.” She winked at me, her blue eyes vibrant.

I did as told. She was right. Just because Ben was alive that didn’t mean anything between us had to change. We would end today just as we began it—together. I was proud and inspired by how well she took this news. I was a lucky man. And hell yes, we were still going to Disneyland.

CHAPTER 9:

NATHANIAL

E
llie and I were in the middle of a heated
Dragon Wars
debate when her friend and her sister made their grand appearance. “No way,” I argued. “There’s no a chance in hell. Lucian and Sisiline are not siblings. How would you know that and I wouldn’t? Did you read some bullshit conspiracy theory fan site?”

Sisiline was another character on the show. As in turned out, we’d never once shot a single scene together. Several different storylines happening simultaneously made up the show. I figured in the future our characters would eventually meet, unless one of us were to get killed off before then, but as the show was incredibly complex—I had no idea what to expect for the future. But Sisiline and Lucian as siblings? That was absurd.

“Have you read the books?” Ellie asked.

“Yes. Sort of. I don’t study them though. Do you?”

Narrowing her eyes, she crossed her arms over her chest. She was trying to look tough and maybe even intimidate me, but all she managed to do was look sexy as hell as she glared daggers at me. “Let’s make a bet,” she decided.

My eyebrows went up. “Yeah, what are the terms?”

Dammit. I wanted to come up with some naughty terms—something that involved Ellie naked and under me, but as it happened, we were interrupted at that very moment.

“Hi, Ellie,” the girl who I assumed was Georgie exclaimed. She had Ellie’s same chocolate colored hair and same ocean blue eyes. Also like her sister, she was equally beautiful. Only she let it show, while Ellie seemed to hide it behind baggy clothes and layers of sarcasm. In the past, Georgie’s more obvious beauty was the type I typically went balls to the walls after. But I found something about Ellie’
s
subtl
e
beauty so much more intriguing. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever felt something this deep this fast for a woman. Maybe dating Kelly and then getting my heart smashed had somehow changed me.

Maybe the mistakes of our past opened doors we never would have considered in our future.

“How’s everything?” Ellie asked them, the meaning behind her question obvious. She wanted to know how Georgie was taking the news about Ben.

“Fine,” Noah answered. “Better than fine. She’s fine. Neither of us needed to worry. And…you’re still here,” Noah said, turning his attention to me. His voice was much lighter than it previously had been. His eyes were kinder too. Actually, his whole demeanor had changed in the short time he’d been upstairs.

“I’m still here,” I responded.

He took the seat Rhett had been sitting in. Then he tugged on his girlfriend’s hand until she plopped down on the sofa beside him. His arm wrapped around her shoulders. Whatever giant burden Noah had carried before had somehow disappeared. I saw a whole new person before me and I liked this version much better than the previous one. “Georgie, this is Nate West,” he told her. “Nate, this is Georgina.”

“He prefers Nathanial,” Ellie piped in to say.

Georgie smiled widely at me. “Hi, Nathanial. Good to meet you. Are you from around here?”

“Yes, Malibu,” I said warily, unsure if she recognized me. It seemed like maybe she didn’t. “I’m a transplant though. Grew up in Florida. I’ve been living here about five years now.”

Georgie’s eyes shifted between me and Ellie. We weren’t sitting anywhere near each other, but she was looking at us like sh
e
kne
w
. She knew more than the start of a platonic friendship had happened between us.

A slightly awkward moment passed and then Georgie continued to drill me with more questions, wanting to know how Ellie and I met, and wanting to know what my plans for the rest of the day were. She asked if I’d ever been to Disneyland. I’d lived here five years and, no, I’d never been.

“Then you’re going with us,” she decided. “Where is everyone else?”

Okay then. I guess I was going with them.

Ellie explained to the others about Rhett’s overreaction and disappearing act, while my mind wandered. A big part of me wanted to go with them to Disneyland—the kid inside me who had never been. But going somewhere public like that wasn’t possible for me. I’d probably be mauled before reaching the front entrance.

“I can’t go with,” I told Ellie, pulling her aside as we were leaving the hotel. Rhett and Sydney had been found and were now with us. The only person missing was Luce, but she’d already made it to her uncle’s place so she wasn’t coming.

“Why?” Ellie demanded, seeming almos
t
hur
t
by my sudden decision not to go. “You’ve never been. Are you busy today? Because I kind of got the opposite impression in the parking lot. Or is an amusement park too childish for Nate West?” Most people would have politely accepted a declined invitation without prying. Ellie wasn’t most people. I liked how ballsy she was, but her questioning pissed me off a little. “Or…are you embarrassed to be seen with me? Because if that’s the case then you can get the hell away from me right now.”

Shi
t
. My anger dissipated as fast as it had come. I didn’t want her to think that was why I wanted to back out of this.

“Well?” Her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes fiercely glared at me, and her cheeks changed to a nice pink shade. “Which is it?”

“Nothing, I would love to go.”

She didn’t believe me, that much was obvious, but we rejoined the others and she said nothing else.

* * *

Two hours later, and I was in a giant blue genie costume. No joke. My pants were baggy and blue. My shoes curled at the toes. And my head was sweating under the weight of the full mask I wore. This had been Ellie’s plan—dress me up like a costumed character and no one would recognize me. Three seconds into the park, she’d found an employee and demanded they take us to their manager. Now here we were.

The manager had been a
Dragon Wars
fan and had practically bent over backward to help us. Ellie’s plan was a good idea…in theory. In reality, dressed as a loveable Disney character in the middle of Disneyland had turned me into a bigger celebrity than even I was. On the bright side, getting hugs from little kids was much better than getting hugs from sweaty men in airport baggage claims. It didn’t hurt that Ellie seemed really happy.

Watching her watch me in my costume was cute. She took a million photos to document what she kept referring to as ‘my best acting role yet’ and stuck with me—even when the others left to go ride rides. I’d never seen someone have so much fun over something so trivial.

After a couple hours, the costume had to go. Any amount of recognition had to be better than this. It was hot and heavy and surprisingly hard work. We returned the costume, thanked the manager, and then spent the rest of the afternoon riding rides. A few people stopped me for pictures, but the attention wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared.

“The fame thing really gets to you, huh?” Ellie asked, once again with no filter whatsoever. We were in a souvenir shop, trying on various hats. Each hat crazier than the last. She looked ridiculously good in all of them. While I just looked ridiculous in all of them.

“Not really.” I shrugged off her question, because who was I to complain when I was so fortunate, even though she happened to be right. Luckily for me, she didn’t call me on my lie.

Instead she found a wizard hat and squealed. “This is the hat! I’m getting this one.”

I laughed because leave it to Ellie to get excited about a hat. I picked a random one and followed her to the checkout line. After, both of us wearing our new hats, we went for some ice cream. Kelly wouldn’t have dared eaten a double scoop of triple chocolate fudge like Ellie did. In fact, Ellie didn’t care anything about her hair or her shoes or retouching her makeup or the amount of calories she ate. She was the most laid back, easy-going woman I’d ever met. It was refreshing and fun. But I was having a hard time figuring her out. Sure, we’d made out twice now and both times I’d felt like she’d been really into it. But right now…I couldn’t tell if she was trying to put off a friend vibe an
d
onl
y
a friend vibe.

“You know, earlier, when you accused me of being embarrassed to be seen with you…yeah, that’s not the case at all. You know that, right?” I asked her.

She stopped eating her ice cream. The wind was blowing the short edges of her hair that weren’t tugged under her hat around her face. She turned away to sweep her hair aside as she said, “Sorry about that. I guess some insecurities die hard.”

“What do you mean?”

Looking back at me, she squinted then shrugged. “Just the typical high school insecurities. Jenny McIntyre made my life a living hell. Which I’m sure you know nothing about—I mean, look at you.” She gestured toward my body. “I’m sure no one has ever messed with you and lived to tell the tale.”

“I was a quarter of my current size back in high school. But no, it wasn’t so bad for me.” It had been a different story from my brother though. A story that I assumed had to be similar to Ellie’s and I felt for her. No one should have to put up with that kind of shit simply because they didn’t fit into some ‘ideal’ society tried to fit them into. Not my brother and certainly not Ellie.

“I had Noah though,” she said with a half-smile. “We were two outcasts, but we had each other.” She stood to her feet, ready to toss the last bite of her ice cream cone in a nearby trashcan.

“Wait.” I stood. Taking her wrist, I stopped her hand in mid-air and drew her fingers toward my mouth. This was the first time we’d touched in hours and I purposely made my movements slow. Not asking for her permission, and despite the pounding in my chest, I ate the last bite of her ice cream cone right out of her hand. “The end is the best part,” I muttered, keeping my eyes on her.

And there it was—color to her cheeks and a small, quick intake of breath.

Fuck the idea of friendship.

That wasn’t what was happening between us at all. And now I had no doubts.

“I’m glad you had Noah,” I said softly, staying close to her now that the opportunity had presented itself. “Your brother referred to him as a lost puppy you brought home one day.”

She nodded, her eyes filling with emotion. I half expected her to pull her hand from my grip, but she didn’t. “I suppose we were both lost puppies.”

Her comment made me need to swallow down a lump in my throat
.
Why did this girl affect me so much
?
“I lied before,” I said. “You asked me about the fame thing and I brushed off your question. It does bother me. It shouldn’t but it does.” Never before had I admitted that out loud. But something about Ellie demanded honesty and I had to give it to her. The blood in my veins pulsed as I waited on her reaction.

Instead of commenting on my confession, she pressed her lips against mine. Her kiss was nothing R-rated like our earlier kisses, just a quick press of her lips to mine, but it kind of meant everything to me. She was so warm and soft and she smelled like sunshine. Despite our very public setting, my cock stirred at her nearness. I was forced to ignore it. Nevertheless, I knew something special was happening between us. I only hoped I was right about her since I’d been so wrong about Kelly.

“Jesus, you’re easy to like,” she said against my mouth. “It might be a problem.”

I was glad she was having that problem because I was having it too.