My Sweetest Escape (6 page)

or missing pages.

“This one okay?” She held one up and I

flipped through it. Only a few of the pages

were bent, and the spine was fine.

I nodded and she put it into the basket

Hunter was holding.

Who knew getting textbooks would turn

into an exercise of humiliation?

“Why don’t you go see if you can find

these?” She tore the list in half and shoved

him toward the next shelf. Once he was

gone she gave me a smile.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said,

staring at the books as if I was looking for

one when really, I didn’t even know what

the titles said.

“No, it’s fine. I know how it feels, believe

me. Been there, done that. How’s this

one?” She handed me another used book

and I found a mysterious brown stain on

one of the back pages.

“I don’t even want to speculate what

that is,” she said, holding the book in the

tips of her fingers and putting it back.

We got the rest of my list and filled the

basket.

“Now this is one of those times when it

really does pay to have a strong guy

around.” We’d both tried to lift the basket,

but it wasn’t happening. As if she’d said his

name, Hunter came around the corner with

another equally full basket that he carried

with no problem.

“Did my ears deceive me? Did you order

a strong man?”

he said with a cocky grin. Yep, Renee

hadn’t been exaggerating. He was a

stunner.

“Shut up and carry this for me.” She

kicked the basket toward him. Hunter

looked over his shoulder.

“Hey, Dusty, you wanna give me a hand,

man?”

“Sure,” a guy said, coming around the

corner. “Hey, Tay,” he said, smiling at

Taylor. “And…Red, we meet again,” he said

with an even wider smile for me. Seriously?

“You two know each other?” Taylor said,

giving me a look. I knew what that look

meant, and I knew what it implied, and I

had to shut that down before it went any

further.

“No,” I said at the same time the guy,

who was apparently named Dusty, said,

“yes.”

“We’re acquainted,” Dusty said with

another wink. Jesus, he thought he was

God’s gift, didn’t he?

“We met. Once,” I tried to clarify.

“Where?” Taylor said. Hunter hadn’t

said anything, but he was looking at Dusty

and then looking at me, and I could feel my

ears getting hot. One of the major

downsides of being a redhead is that when

you get uncomfortable or embarrassed, you

broadcast it to the world. Which was what I

was currently doing. Dusty seemed to get a

kick out of it. D-bag.

“It was at the hospital the other night.

So, um, I think that’s everything. We should

probably go,” I said, leaning down to pick

up the basket. I was determined to get it

myself. A set of arms beat me to it.

“Let me get that, little lady,” Dusty said

as I looked up to find our faces only inches

apart. He laughed a little under his breath

and I stood up so fast the blood rushed to

my head.

“I don’t need your help.”

He looked like he was going to make a

snappy comeback, but he just ducked his

head.

“Well, you’ve got it anyway.”

“Okay, then. Ready to go?” Taylor said,

taking my arm and steering me toward the

checkout counter. I heard Hunter and Dusty

talking behind me and I distinctly heard

Hunter tell Dusty my name. Like it was any

of his business.

After I checked out and gave the

UMaine bookstore a good chunk of my bank

account, we carried the books back to

Hunter’s car. Of course, being the

always-helpful guy he was, Dusty had to

come, too.

“So Hunter tells me you’re enrolling

here,” he said as we put the books in the

trunk. Taylor and Hunter were deep in

discussion, probably about me.

I just nodded.

He leaned against the car. “Look, I

appreciate you’ve got this whole ‘don’t

touch me, don’t look at me, don’t even

fucking think about me’ thing going on, but

I’m just trying to be nice. You could, you

know, thank me for it.”

“Thank you,” I said, giving him a

completely fake smile.

Yes, I knew I was being a complete

asshole to this guy, but there was

something about him that just made me grit

my teeth. There was also something

familiar that had gotten under my skin and

was itching like crazy.

He shook his head.

“Okay, fine.” He started to walk away.

“Hey,” I said, and he stopped. “I’m sorry

I’m such an asshole. It’s kind of my thing.” I

laughed at the truth of it.

“No, I don’t think it is,” he said, looking

at me intently with those green eyes that

seemed to see everything. “See you

tomorrow, Hunter?”

“Right,” Hunter said, as if he’d just

remembered something. “Tomorrow.”

“’Bye, Red,” Dusty said, walking

backward with his hands in his pockets.

“’Bye,” I said, closing the trunk of the

car.

“What in the hell was that?” Taylor said,

crossing her arms and giving me a look that

was almost exactly like Renee’s. Damn,

those two had rubbed off on each other.

“Nothing,” I said, trying to get into the

car.

“You guys hungry?” Hunter said, in a

blatantly obvious way of trying to divert

attention.

“I don’t know what you’re making such a

big deal of,” I said, getting into the

backseat. “We met at the hospital for, like,

five seconds. End of story. Am I not allowed

to talk to people now? Is that part of the

unwritten rules my sister didn’t tell me

about?”

Hunter gave Taylor a look, and she

shook her head.

“Never mind. I overreacted. I have a

tendency to do that, just so you know,” she

said.

“No, really?” Hunter said, and she

smacked him and turned on the music,

leading to another argument about song

choice.

What were the chances that I’d

encounter Dusty all that much, anyway? I

mean, he and Hunter were friends,

obviously, but UMaine was a huge campus.

Besides, if he ever came to the house, I

could just hide in the basement if I had to.

Or escape somewhere, if Renee would let

me. She had to loosen the reins at some

point. And who really cared if I saw him

again? It wasn’t like he affected me or

anything.

He was just a guy.

Just a guy.

Sunday was chore day at Yellowfield

House. Lovable control freak as always,

Darah had added the list of chores and

everyone got their fair share, including a

rotational schedule so no one had to do the

same thing over and over. The funny thing

was that they all followed it without

question.

Like she was their mom and giving out

gold stars and higher allowances for each

one they completed.

“I figured you’d need another week to

settle in, but next week you’re on the list,”

Darah said, as if she was offering me a plate

of those amazing snickerdoodles.

“Great,” I said with a smile that was

totally forced. Not that I wanted to be a

mooch, but they seemed to have everything

in hand. I kept my room and bathroom

clean and helped with the dishes. They kept

trying to integrate me into the machine of

the house, and I didn’t want to be a part of

it. I wasn’t a part of it, not really.

They were all helping pay for the house.

I was just an inconvenience that had been

pushed on them. The annoying kid sister.

By late morning all the chores were

done, and the already-spotless house was

even more spotless. I did my first load of

laundry, and everyone settled into their

own activities. Renee was having a “Call of

Duty” tournament with a few of Hunter and

Mase’s friends, Dev and Sean, and Darah

was catching up on homework and Taylor

was reading some vampire book on her

e-reader while Hunter played his guitar.

Renee had told me he was some kind of

musical genius who could play practically

any song. At the moment he was playing

anything that Taylor yelled out, including

Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Seal and

Matchbox Twenty.

I changed my laundry over to the dryer

and was about to sit back down and watch

the “Call of Duty” battle when we all heard

the doorbell ring.

“Got it,” Hunter said, getting up and

rushing to the door as if he was trying to

beat everyone else. No one else had even

gotten up. Weird.

“Hey, man, you know you don’t have to

ring the bell. It’s always open.” He stepped

aside to let the person in, and I glanced at

the doorway.

“I know, but I have this thing for

doorbells,” a familiar voice said before a

familiar person walked through the door.

Dusty.

I was surprised to see him, but he didn’t

seem surprised at all.

“Red,” he said, giving me a little bow.

“Nice to see you again.” I looked at Hunter,

who was trying not to look at me.

Something clicked in my brain. Dusty had

said he’d see Hunter tomorrow. Well, that

day was today. Hmm, Hunter hadn’t said

anything about Dusty coming over. Wonder

why that was?

“Hey, Sharp!” Mase yelled as something

exploded and Dev groaned and threw his

controller.

“Hey,” Dusty said, coming in and sitting

down on the couch as if he’d done it a

million times before. He was also sitting in

my spot. “‘Call of Duty’ again? How bad are

you losing?”

Mase grumbled as I looked at Hunter.

He stepped around me and went to sit back

on the recliner. I had no choice but to go

and lean against the arm of the couch.

“Oh, Dusty, this is my sister Jos,” Renee

said, barely glancing up from the game. She

had a one-track mind when she was playing.

“We’ve met,” he said, glancing over his

shoulder at me and then back to the game.

“When?” Renee said, moving her whole

body as she moved the controller, as if that

would make some difference. I’d always

threatened to video her while she was

doing it for future blackmail use.

“I can’t quite recall. Where was it that

we met?” I couldn’t glare at him with

everyone watching, so I had to settle for

clenching my teeth. He knew very well

where we had met.

He was totally screwing with me in front

of everyone. Oh, two could play that game.

I wasn’t a redhead for nothing.

“That’s right. It was at the hospital, and

you needed to know the way to the

pharmacy. Has the itching on your junk

finally gone away?” I stage-whispered the

last part and motioned in the general area.

Dusty’s eyes went wide for just a second

before they narrowed and a grin spread

across his face. Everyone else started

laughing nervously, wondering if I was being

serious or not.

They didn’t know me well enough yet.

Of course Renee just rolled her eyes.

“TMI, dude,” Mase said, shaking his

head, and Dev tried to slide away from

Dusty on the couch.

“Well played, Red. Well played.” He

started a slow clap while he laughed. “Yes,

my junk is now itch-free.” He shifted on the

couch, adjusting his pants. Seriously, how

did his pants stay up? It was one of those

mysteries science had yet to solve.

Like where your missing socks went

when you put them in the dryer. He cleared

his throat when he caught me staring at his

pants. Jesus, he probably thought I was

trying to check out his junk. Not that I could

even see it…

“On that note,” Hunter said, clearing his

throat and giving me a look before grabbing

his guitar again. “Okay, requests are now

open from anyone but Taylor.”

“Hey!” she protested, glancing up from

her book.

“Sorry, Miss, it’s time for someone else