Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology (7 page)

We stayed like that, silent for another minute before I gestured to the headphones hanging around my neck.

"I should go. I have five more miles to run and it's only getting hotter." That was the truth, and only made the truth an even starker reality. I was now behind on my super tight training schedule for the day because I'd seen a glimpse of her. The quicker I got back on track and put this chance meeting behind me, the better.

For both of us.

She nodded and gave me a half-hearted wave. "Yeah, don't let me keep you. And…good luck on Saturday. I know how much it means to you."

Her words sounded sincere, and considering the gut-wrenching way we'd parted, they humbled me to the core. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

I yanked the headphones back onto my ears and jogged off before I said or did something stupid. Then I raised the volume up as loud as it would go, willing myself not to look backward. I could still feel her gaze on me, though.

So I poured it on, head down, legs churning, sand flying, sweat flying.

But no matter how fast I ran, the haunted expression on Melissa’s face chased me. Baffled green eyes, still desperate for the one answer I couldn’t give her.

Why?

"
K
ill me
."

I was slumped over my arms at the bar, muttering the same group of phrases over and over to myself, Ashlynn, and, occasionally, the nice lady bartender who might or might not have understood English.

"Seriously. Just kill me now and get it over with."

Ashlynn patted my back and made low, soothing sounds, but I could tell she was getting to the end of her rope and if I didn't get my act together, she was liable to go hunt down Robbie and give him a swift kick in the groin. Despite the fact that seeing him had thrown me into a cycle of misery, he didn’t deserve the wrath since all he’d done was show up on the same island as me.

"We probably won't even run into him again," Ashlynn said, her tone matter of fact as she grabbed a handful of my hair and tugged my head up until I met her gaze. "You let him steal the whole summer after senior year, Melis. Don't let him steal our last Spring Break from college too, okay?"

I nodded and sat up straighter, reaching for my half-empty glass. "You're so right. He doesn't deserve the energy."

My mouth said the words, but I would've given my left arm to be able to mean them one hundred percent. Because the fact was, aside from the very end of our relationship, Robbie
had
been worth it. He'd been worth
everything
. He'd loved me through my parents’ divorce, supported my dream to become a doctor, wiped my tears when I cried and picked me up when I fell.

Until he was the one who knocked me down.

Then, there was no one but Ashlynn. So fuck him. I wasn't about to let seeing him again spoil my mission. I was here to return the favor Ashlynn had done for me all those years ago. I was going to support her through the hardest, most devastating break up of her life and make this the best damned Spring Break anyone had ever seen.

All I had to do was wipe the memory of Robbie out of my mind.

I squeezed my eyes closed and downed the rest of my Long Island iced tea.

How could he be hotter than I remembered? He was already the most beautiful guy I'd ever laid eyes on. His soulful brown eyes spoke volumes. His physique had been the talk of every girl in school. The body of a man from the day he turned sixteen. I'd been by his side for all of it.

And the sad fact was? He'd only gotten better with age. He was thicker, his muscles bigger and more defined. Like his training was making him a lean mean fighting machine. The image of him sprinting down the beach, his tanned, muscled back gleaming with sweat in the Monaco sunshine would forever be burned into my memory, adding to the tapestry that was our lives together.

"Let's play Beer Pong," I chirped to Ashlynn. Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion at my apparent change of mood, but she didn’t ask questions. I motioned to the bartender for two more Long Islands before sliding off my stool and onto the floor.

There were a handful of guys already playing in the corner and, once we'd gotten our fresh drinks, we headed over.

We were welcomed into the fold with warmth and a couple of low whistles, but the guys all seemed well-meaning and friendly enough, so we let that slide. Turned out, it was a good move. The next two hours blessedly flew by in a whir of constant activity and drinks. Exactly what I needed to give my brain a break from replaying the conversation with Robbie over and over in my head like a broken record.

“Ready, partner?”

I had gotten paired up with a cute guy named Dan and we were currently crushing it at the Beer Pong table.

“Absolutely,” I said, blowing on my hands like they were weapons of mass destruction. “Next stop, four and oh.”

Unfortunately, the pong skills I’d magically and inexplicably acquired at some point in the night abandoned me just as abruptly. I beefed three in a row, not even touching the rim of a single cup, before I made one single ball in. Even though Dan did his best, it was no surprise when, twenty minutes later, we found ourselves standing by in disgust as Ashlynn and her female partner did some elaborate victory dance that they’d clearly worked out steps to in advance.

I tried to act like I was mad that we’d lost, but I was so glad to see her smiling, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, so you got lucky. We want a rematch later.”

“You’re on,” she said with a grin as she rubbed her hands together in preparation for her next opponents.

“Looks like we have to give up the table, partner,” Dan said, chuckling. “Want to go sit and talk where it’s a little quieter?”

I nodded, and let him lead me to a table a few yards away. I slid into the booth and he slid in next to me.

As the adrenaline from the lively competition drained away and the sounds of merriment faded, I suddenly realized that I was drunk.

Very, very drunk.

“Want another drink?” he asked, his easy smile one I found myself returning.

“Sure,” I said, giving him an unnecessary accompanying thumbs up. Might as well do the job right. Passing out would be the only way I’d get a wink of sleep tonight anyway.

“Life is tricky, isn’t it?” I found myself murmuring as I stared blearily at the candle flickering on the table in front of us. “Happiness is so fragile…”

My seatmate raised his shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I guess so?”

The cocktail waitress came over and I waited for him to order before leaning closer to continue our conversation, which seemed imperative all of a sudden. "So Drew...it is Drew, right?"

"Actually, it's Dan, but--"

"Right, Dan, sorry," I said and then hiccupped. "’Scuse me. So as I was saying, you can't ever really be sure of anything, you know? Like, one second, everything can be going along awesome. Perfect. Noooo sweat. And then..." I slammed my hand down on the table hard enough to send beer sloshing over his plastic cup and he flinched in surprise. "Bam! It's over. Just dust in the wind..." I whispered, making soft windy sounds with my mouth to make sure he really got the full visual.

His mouth twitched and he nodded. "Right. Got it. Dust in the wind."

I closed one eye and narrowed the other at him suspiciously.

"Do you think I'm being funny? I'm not being funny, I'm being dead serious, Drew. People will get close to you, make themselves indispensible, weave themselves into the very fabric of your being," I laced my fingers together in an attempt to top my last stellar interactive story-telling attempt, “and then, they will decimate your life like an atom bomb. If you're smart, you won’t ever let someone get that close. Trust me. Just have casual flings. That's what I'm going to do,” I said with a resolute nod. “I'm going to start having some casual flings, like a normal twenty-one year old."

Drew's eyes lit up at the announcement and he slid a little further into the booth until our knees touched. I hadn't really thought it all through when I'd said the words. It was more like a concept. I liked the idea of it, but now, when faced with even the remote possibility of making it a reality, it was everything I could do not to recoil. He hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, he'd been super nice and patient with my drunk ass. But the thought of a stranger's hands on me? Hands that weren't Robbie's?

Made my stomach clench.

"Want to go for a walk on the beach with me? Maybe head back to my bungalow? The rest of the guys will be here for another couple hours, so we'll have the place to ourselves..." he trailed off, his blue eyes full of promise.

I opened my mouth to try and backpedal when a gritty voice chimed in.

"You think she's in shape to make that kind of call, buddy?"

I nearly sprained my neck whipping my head around to see Robbie standing a foot from the table, his dark, icy gaze locked on Dan…or Drew. His arms were crossed over his chest making his biceps pop like two grapefruits as my liquor-soaked brain tried to keep up with this farce.

Could this seriously be happening right now? Had my ex-boyfriend really showed up at my last Spring Break and watched me get pelted in the face with a volleyball? Was he really standing not two feet away from me now, about to throw down with some poor guy who thought he’d landed the easy holiday hook up?

It was like something out of a reality TV show…a really depressing reality TV show.

"She made the offer, brah. I wasn’t pushing shit on her. What's the problem?" Drew-Dan said, rising to his feet to stand toe to toe with Robbie.

He was a big guy, two inches or so taller than Robbie's six one, but he was leaner and much less muscular. I’d seen Robbie box more times than I could count and I had no doubt what the result of an actual brawl would be, but there was no way I was letting it get that far.

I scrambled from my spot in the booth, almost tripping over my own tangled feet before sliding between them and laying a hand on both of their chests right as Robbie was moving closer.

"I don't care who offered what,” Robbie said, his voice low but lethal. “She's obviously drunk. And I'm not your ‘brah’."

"Okay, okay. Stop it, both of you." I turned to Drew-Dan and gave him a polite smile. "Sorry, but can you give us just two seconds? I'll meet you at the bar, okay?"

He maintained eye contact with Robbie even as he dipped his head. "Yeah, sure. That's fine. You handle your business first."

He backed away, posture tense and at the ready, and then picked up his beer before making his way over to the bar.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I whispered furiously, balling up the hand on his chest into a fist and pounding it against him. "You don't own me, Robbie. In fact, we’re not even friends. I'm a grown woman now and I have the right to hang out with whoever I like."

Robbie's square jaw clenched as he glared down at me. "You do. And still, if I see someone I care about doing something stupid, I'm not going to just let them do it without saying anything. Don't act like you wouldn't do the same."

Rage poured through me like a welcome elixir, giving me back the strength that all the pain and sadness I'd felt after seeing him had sapped away.

"Someone you care about?" I let out a low, bitter laugh. "If you cared about me, you wouldn't have cheated on me and then dumped me. Just like that. Together every day. Every hour, for four years and then I never see you again? No calls, no texts to see if I’m okay, not even an email. You don't care about me, Robbie. You only care about yourself." I turned before he could see the tears in my eyes and started to walk away. "Stay away from me. If you see me out again, just go somewhere else."

He grabbed my arm and tugged me to a stop, urging me to face him. His grip was loose enough that if I wanted to pull away, I could've, but something inside me made me stay put.

"I care about you, Melis. I never stopped caring. Which is why I don't give a shit if you're mad at me. I'm walking you to your room."

I faced him again and snorted.

"Not likely. I came to Monaco to party and have a great time. You think some blast from the past is going to keep me from that? You overestimate your power over me."

I jerked away from him with more force than was needed and the room promptly began to spin. I stumbled and was about to take a header into a potted rubber tree when a pair of strong arms closed around my waist.

I'd barely gotten my breath back to demand he let me go when he scooped me into his arms and started heading for the exit.

"Robbie, seriously," I hissed, shoving ineffectually at his massive shoulders. "Put me down, right now."

I was about to really make a fuss and start calling for help when my mouth started to water in the universal sign for "I'm about to puke”.

"Shit," I muttered, pinching my eyes closed to fight off the nausea. "I feel sick."

"Because you drank too much. Seriously, Melis, let me get you back to your room safely, okay? If you want to be with that guy tomorrow when you're in your right mind, go for it." His low voice was urgent as we approached the exit where a bouncer stood eyeing us both suspiciously. "But right now, tell the nice man at the door that you're coming with me of your own free will, okay? I don’t want to have to fight him."

I should’ve argued. Demanded he put me down, but it was taking all my energy not to hurl down the front of his shirt, so I just nodded.

"Everything okay here, folks?"

"Yeah," Robbie said with a nod. "My girlfriend had a little too much to drink. I just want to get her back to our hotel so she can lay down."

I offered the doorman a thumbs up and held my breath that it would be enough because the second I opened my mouth, it was about to get chunky.

The bouncer cocked his shiny, bald head for a second before moving aside and letting us past.

We stepped out into the breezy night and I instantly felt the nausea start to fade as the cooler air hit me.

"Oh, thank god. It was hotter than Satan's taint in there," I gasped, letting my head loll back to get the breeze on my neck and chest.

"Yeah, well, you probably got too much sun today and combined with the alcohol, it's a dangerous combination."

I popped him off a mock salute. "Roger that, Captain. And thanks for the life advice. You can put me down now."

He didn't slow his pace as he picked his way across the sand to the entrance of the resort. "I can, but I'm not going to. You're a hazard to yourself right now and I don't want you to fall again. Just humor me, okay? The second I get your room door opened and make sure you're in it, I'll back off. Scouts Honor."

That last part hit me in the solar plexus like a punch.

"Oh, fuck you, Robbie."

Scouts Honor.

Robbie had wanted to be an Eagle Scout his whole life. Raised by a distant cousin who’d never wanted kids and had done the bare minimum to keep him alive and fed, he'd had no help in the matter. But he wouldn’t take no for an answer and had paid for his dues and uniforms every year with money from cutting lawns in the summer time. Outdoors had been his refuge until he was old enough to be in the gym punching a bag, and he'd carried that love his whole life.

His Eagle Scout ceremony had been a day that had filled both of us with such pride. Scouts Honor soon became our way of telling the other when we were truly sincere about something. It represented an unbreakable oath or promise between us, and it meant everything.