The Vincent Boys Collection Read online

  “You’re being obvious,” she hissed, keeping a fake smile on her face. Her meaning, however, sunk in.

  “I need to go to the car and get my phone. My mom’s probably called me ten times by now,” Lana announced.

  “I’ll go with you,” I quickly replied, glancing up at Sawyer, who seemed pleased I was being nice to my cousin. I used to seek out this sort of approval from him, but now it annoyed me. If I didn’t like my cousin, I’d stomp on her foot just to piss him off.

  Once we were safely out of the clearing and headed for the car, Lana stopped walking and turned to glare at me. “You’ve about ten minutes or so to get yourself together before your knight in shining armor comes looking for us. I’m going to go get my phone and make a few calls.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you need to stop openly flirting with Beau while the entire football team is around to witness it. It’s like you two think you’re the only ones out there. We all have eyes, you know.”

  She spun around and headed deeper into the pecan orchard and toward the parked cars.

  “She’s got a point, but it’s my fault.” Beau’s voice should have startled me, but it didn’t. Somehow I knew he’d find a way to get me alone.

  “Yes, it probably is,” I said teasingly as I turned around to meet his gaze.

  Beau took a step toward me and ran his hand through his hair, muttering a curse.

  “I want to rip his damn arms off his body, Ash. Sawyer, who I’d do anything for. I want to hurt him. If he touches you again in front of me, I’m going to crack. I can’t take this.”

  I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. I’d done this. My need to be near Beau had created this impossible situation.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered against his chest, wishing I could make it all go away. He sighed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tighter up against him.

  “Don’t be sorry. Just try not to let him touch you. When he touches you, I see red. I can’t take it. I don’t want to see him or anyone else touch you.”

  I pulled back just enough so I could gaze up at him. His jaw was clenched tightly. Knowing he was thinking of Sawyer with such ferocity made me feel so guilty. I hadn’t wanted to come between them, yet I was doing it anyway.

  “What can I do to make this right, Beau? I don’t want to come between y’all. It’s the main reason I’m doing this. He’s your family.”

  Beau slipped his fingers into my hair and cradled my head.

  “Staying with him. Letting him touch you, hold you, God. It’s eating me alive. You may be keeping Sawyer from hating me, but you’re only making me hate him.”

  I reached up and clasped his hands, pulling them away from my head as I stepped back. Tears blurred my vision. “What am I supposed to do, Beau? You tell me. What am I supposed to do?”

  He opened his mouth to respond and closed it as his eyes settled on something over my left shoulder. A possessive gleam came into his eyes as if to warn off any predators that might get near what was his. I knew without turning around who he was glowering at so fiercely. I didn’t glance back at Sawyer. I wasn’t sure what to say.

  “What’s going on? Ashton never yells at people. What in the crap did you do to her, Beau?”

  “It’s my fault.” Lana’s voice had me snapping my head up from my defeated stance as I turned to gawk at her.

  “What?” Beau and Sawyer said at the same time.

  Lana gave us all a dramatic sigh and shrugged her shoulders. “Beau was flirting with me and Ash didn’t like it. She thinks he isn’t good enough for me or something. They started bickering when she told Beau to leave me alone.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Had Lana just lied so believably for me and Beau?

  She smiled and nibbled on her fingernail like some flirty bimbo and smirked. “What? Might as well tell him the truth. You don’t think his cousin is worthy of your cousin.”

  I tore my gaze off my shy, meek cousin-turned-drama-queen to study Sawyer’s face. Was he actually falling for this? Surely not. He was frowning at Beau.

  “Beau, leave Ash’s cousin alone. She’s not one of your one-nighters. Go find some other rebound girl. There’s no use getting Ash all worked up over this.”

  Unbelievable.

  I glanced over at Beau, and his expression told me he was past furious. He was ready to kill Sawyer. I stepped in between them, putting my back to Sawyer and silently pleading with Beau. I mouthed the word “please” and watched the anger ease some before he turned and stalked off deeper into the pecan orchard.

  I needed to make sure he was okay, but I couldn’t do that with Sawyer standing behind me, waiting for me to return to the field with him. Back to playing pretend. Back to being miserable.

  “You okay?” Sawyer asked, closing the distance between us and taking both my hands in his.

  No. I wasn’t okay. I was never going to be okay. Beau was off in the dark, upset and angry. I was stuck here pretending with Sawyer. AND I’d made my saint of a cousin lie for me.

  “I just want to go home. I’m not feeling well,” I said, hoping Sawyer didn’t read any more into it.

  “Of course. No problem.” Sawyer turned his head toward Lana. “You okay? Sorry about Beau. He can be difficult at times. Just overlook him.”

  “That’s okay. I’m fine, really,” Lana replied. I could hear the guilt in her voice. This was going to eat her up. She adored Sawyer. Knowing that she’d willingly lied to him for me made my eyes sting. I was causing everyone around me pain. All my bad decisions were snowballing. At some point I was going to have to take the blame and deal with the consequences. I couldn’t keep letting people I cared about take the blows for me. I didn’t like the person I was becoming.

  Chapter 18

  ASHTON

  As we stepped into my bedroom, I reached for the light switch. Lana walked around me and dropped her purse on my dresser, then leveled me with a frown. She hadn’t said anything on the ride home. I’d been forced to carry on a conversation with Sawyer as if nothing had happened while she sat silently in the back. Apparently, she was ready to talk.

  “I did that for you tonight not because I think what you’re doing is right or wrong, but because I think you needed a wake-up call, not a crucifixion.” I raised my eyebrows at her explanation. “Sawyer’s a good guy. He and Beau have always been close. I can remember how thick as thieves you three were as kids. I envied your friendship with those boys. Y’all had something special. Something unique. I couldn’t just stand there and let it all come crumbling down. Besides, from the look on Beau’s face I’m afraid he would have killed Sawyer with his bare hands had Sawyer said the wrong thing.”

  I sank down onto my bed and buried my head in my hands. This was a disaster. She was right. I was ruining a lifetime friendship. “What do I do?” I asked, knowing she didn’t have the magical answer either. Lana sat down beside me and patted my back, which made me feel even worse. Here I was having a breakdown over two guys, and she’d been out with me tonight because her cheating father had come to face her obnoxious mother. In the grand scheme of things, her problems were much bigger.

  “You choose one and let the other one go.”

  It sounded incredibly simple, yet it was impossible. Didn’t she see that?

  “I can’t. No matter who I choose, one of them will hate the other and possibly me. Choosing one of them won’t fix anything.”

  “You’re right. It won’t. You need to let them both go. If you let them both go, then one day you all will have a chance of finding the friendship that this is destroying.”

  I hated that her words made sense. I needed to break up with Sawyer, and we all needed to move on. My chest constricted at the thought of walking away from Beau, of not having his arms around me or burying my face in his chest. But I couldn’t have him. Having him would eventually mean losing him. He’d never get over losing Sawyer. Me, he could live without. A hot tear rolled off my chi
n, and I reached up to wipe it away. I’d made this mess. It was only right I fix it.

  “You’re right,” I whispered, staring straight ahead, “but I wish you weren’t.”

  A soft knock on the door reminded me of the other issues going on in the house tonight. I reached over and squeezed Lana’s hand before the door opened and her mother stepped inside. Her hair was the same color as mine and my mother’s, but that was as far as the family resemblance went. Where my mother was thin and petite, my aunt was heavy and big-boned and she wore a permanent scowl. She never seemed happy, even before she’d caught her husband cheating on her. She hadn’t been here when we got home. Mom and Dad had also been missing. From the sounds coming down the hall, everyone was back.

  “Hey, girls. Um, Lana, sweetheart, let’s go talk a little bit, okay?”

  Lana’s hand squeezed mine this time before she stood up. If my aunt would let me, I’d go with her and hold her hand through the whole conversation. Lana had ended up being the friend I so desperately needed this past week. My door closed behind them, and I lay back on my bed and whispered a little prayer for Lana. God knows she needs it with a mama like hers.

  Beau: I’m sorry about tonight. I should have protected you.

  He was taking the blame for something that was my fault. I had to find a way to stop this.

  Me: You did nothing wrong. This was my decision. This summer I let this happen. I can’t change the way I feel but I can control how I handle things. I’m doing it all wrong.

  Beau: What do you mean? What are you going to do?

  I wasn’t sure yet. I had to think about that some more. Telling Beau I was breaking up with Sawyer wasn’t the kind of thing I needed to text him.

  Me: I don’t know. I’m thinking about things.

  I waited but after a few minutes and no response I lay the phone down beside me. If I could go back and change it all, would I?

  Beau: I love you.

  The warmth that flooded me answered my question for me. No. I’d never take back one moment of this summer I’d had with Beau. Closing my eyes I drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  I was growing weary of good-byes. Lana and her mother stood at our front door with their suitcases in hand. My aunt was headed back home to take my uncle to the cleaners in what would be an ugly divorce. Lana had a lot of drama and pain ahead of her. I’d begged her to just stay here with us. She could let her parents battle it out without her around, but she said her mother needed her right now. In a way I understood, but then I wondered, If I had been in Lana’s shoes, would I be so kind? She was really the better person. I was the selfish brat.

  “I’m going to miss you,” I said, wishing my voice didn’t sound so forlorn. Strange how you can think someone is ruining your life and they end up being your friend. I’d been so upset over having to share my space and listen to my aunt that I hadn’t realized I had a friend right under my nose when I needed one the most. I still needed her.

  “I’m going to miss you, too. Keep me updated on your . . . life,” she said with a small lift of her eyebrows.

  I nodded, then leaned in to hug her. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

  “I’m so glad you girls have bonded again after all these years,” my aunt said. “We’ll have to come back and visit again soon—after I get through the divorce and all. Maybe I can use my extra money to take the two of you on a cruise. Wouldn’t that be fun?” There was no way I was going on a trip with that crazy woman, much less on a ship where it would be impossible to run away from her. The smirk on Lana’s face had me forcing back a giggle. She knew well and good there was no way I was going on a trip with her mama.

  “All right, y’all, we’ll be in touch,” my aunt said brightly, and turned to head out to her Lincoln Town Car. I stood watching as my dad helped them load their luggage into the trunk and my mother hugged and talked to her sister. Lana waved at me from the passenger seat. My room would be quiet and all mine again . . . but that no longer sounded appealing.

  * * *

  There are some things you don’t expect to see, and Beau Vincent sauntering into church on a Sunday morning is one of them. Finishing my solo hadn’t been easy. My eyes wanted to eat him up as he sat alone on the back pew, wearing jeans and a snug, navy blue polo that stretched across his broad chest.

  Sawyer hadn’t noticed his cousin because he was in the third row to the front. I’d been sitting in that row since I was a little girl. My parents expected me to sit in either the first, second, or third pew. I couldn’t go back any farther. Sawyer never complained. Every Sunday he was right there waiting on me to finish singing in the choir.

  My gaze drifted back to meet Beau’s even though I knew it was a bad idea. He was liable to make me forget the words. A slow, titillating grin touched his lips. It suddenly felt like it was a hundred degrees in the sanctuary. My face flushed, and I tore my eyes off him and his delectable mouth. Somehow I managed to finish the words to “How Great Thou Art” without messing up. The choir began to exit through the side doors of the stage, and normally, I just made my way down to my pew. Today, however, I needed a breather. I fell in behind Mary Hill and let out a sigh of relief as I stepped into the warm sunshine.

  “You leaving?” Jason Tibbs asked, sticking his pimply face out the door and frowning at me. His dad was the associate pastor, so he felt our meager relationship gave him the right to question my actions. Instead of insulting him, I took a deep breath, forced a smile, and glanced back at him.

  “No, my head is hurting. I needed to take a quiet break.”

  He grinned, showing way too much gum and flashing his crooked overbite. His dad really needed to send the boy to a dermatologist and an orthodontist.

  “Okay, I’ll leave the door unlocked so you don’t have to walk all the way around the building to get back inside.”

  I nodded and said an obligatory “Thanks.”

  The door closed quietly behind him, and I knew I had limited time before people started to notice that I was missing from the third row.

  “You hiding out here because of me?”

  Beau’s voice caused me to gasp. His long legs ate up the grass as he closed the distance between us. I couldn’t keep from ogling him. It was just unfair for someone to look that good in a pair of Levis.

  “No response means yes,” he said with a smirk on his face as he came to a stop mere inches from me. He knew I was lusting, and he liked it. Determined to regain some of my dignity, I straightened my posture and flipped my hair over my shoulders as I peered up at him.

  “I always come out here to get some fresh air before I go sit down for an hour of preaching,” I lied.

  Beau chuckled and reached out to trace a line from my ear to my lips. “Why don’t I believe you?” he asked. His voice deepened as he studied my mouth. All I could manage was a shrug. His thumb was delicately brushing over my bottom lip as if he were asking for admittance and I was lost. We were standing right outside the church where anyone could walk out and catch us, but all I could think about was pressing my lips against his. Beau was becoming a necessity, and nothing about such a revelation could be considered positive.

  “Beau, what are you doing?” I croaked out.

  “Yeah, Beau, I’d like to know the same thing,” said a voice that didn’t belong to Beau.

  Several things happened at once. Beau’s thumb stopped its caressing, but he didn’t drop his hand. I could feel his body tense at the sound of Sawyer’s voice. What I should have done and what I did do were in two different stratospheres. Stepping back and putting distance between Beau and me would have been the logical, intelligent thing to do. Reaching out and grabbing his arm and squeezing it was my immediate reaction.

  “Are either of you gonna speak or are you just gonna continue gawking at each other?”

  The hard edge to Sawyer’s voice woke me up out of the trance I’d been in, and I dropped my hand from Beau and took se
veral steps back. If Sawyer was expected to keep his cool, then we needed to put some space between the two of us. Beau’s eyes bore into me. He was silently pleading with me. I could almost hear his thoughts. Then he turned to face his cousin. This was the confrontation I’d hoped would never happen.

  “What exactly are you insinuating, Sawyer?” Beau asked in a deadly calm tone I knew he’d never used with Sawyer.

  “Oh, I don’t know, cuz, maybe the fact I came out here to look for my girlfriend, and I found her being mauled by you.”

  Beau took a step forward and a low growl rumbled in his chest. I ran up and grabbed his arm with both my hands. This probably didn’t help Sawyer’s temper any, but it kept Beau from pummeling his face. Both boys were in shape, but Beau had the market on badass. I couldn’t let him do something he’d never forgive himself for.

  Sawyer stared fixedly at me. I could only imagine what was going through his head. The sad thing was that I knew he wouldn’t even get close to the truth. Sawyer would never imagine I’d lost my virginity to Beau in the bed of a truck.

  “Want to tell me what’s going on, Ash?” There was hurt in his voice. I hated knowing that the words I had to say to him wouldn’t erase this but would only make it worse. I pushed Beau behind me as I stepped in front of him.

  “Go on home, Beau. Sawyer and I need to talk, and I don’t want you here.” Turning back to see Beau’s reaction was tempting, but I didn’t do it. I kept my eyes on Sawyer, praying silently that Beau heeded my orders and left. It was time I finished this and saved their friendship before it was too late.

  “I don’t want to leave you alone,” he replied, steel lacing his words.

  “Beau, please. You aren’t helping matters. Just go.”