“You can try,” he teased and shook his head.“Do you work tomorrow?”
She focused on the conversation, distractingherself from the inferno, also known as Chase Anderson, pinnedagainst her leg, "Sure do. Back to the rigmarole tomorrow. And it'sthe night shift, which I hate. But, it's my turn." Maddy loved howthey rotated shifts, so no one-person was stuck with night shift,but hated when it was her turn.
Aiden nodded, then threw a curveball,silently gauging her for a response, "You see Dylan's back intown?"
Maddy glared at her brother, not pleased thathe would bring that up when she was trying to relax with herfriends. "Yes, why?" she responded through tight lips.
"I heard he's trying to buy out a big chunkof waterfront to bring in a cruise line stop. Wants to build a hugedock for it. I overheard him talking up his grand plans with someof his old friends yesterday. His docks would take out McAllisterFisheries and extend as far up the beach as Winter's. Fuckingbullshit." Aiden shook his head, clearly as angry at the situationas she was. Aiden looked to Chase, "You'll let me know if he stopsby? I already warned Winter."
Chase responded back, "Hell, yeah."
Payson interjected, "Wait a minute. Dylan issuch a jerk; how would he accomplish something so major? How wouldhe get the connections to represent a large cruise ship? With hiscriminal record and creepster vibe, what reputable company wouldhire that two-faced, evil, conniving, manipulative… grrr." Shegrowled, running out of angry words.
Aiden teased her, "Grrr? You'd be fantasticin a courtroom.”
She elbowed him in the side.
He dramatically feigned major injury to hisribs, which only earned him another jab. Calling for a truce, hecontinued, “He paid his fines and served his full sentence for whathe did to Maddy. He's charming, charismatic. His dad is pretty highup in a successful mergers and acquisitions firm in DC; too big forour tiny town anymore, but he could easily help his son withconnections."
Payson fired back again, agitated enough forthe rest of them, "But, why would Dylan choose Seaview? We're doingjust fine economically. There are a number of other tourist townson the coast that would hand over enough property for such a goodchance to boost their own economy."
They fell silent. Maddy took a long gulp ofher beer, fearing the answer. Chase finally interrupted, "Becauseof Maddy." He looked over to Maddy.
She'd never told him what had happened,mostly as they hadn't talked while he was gone. She knew herparents and Aiden would not have told the whole story without herpermission but would have told him the basics.
Chase looked deep into her eyes, expressionpained, "Maddy, I don't know what all happened, but I gather it wasunforgivable. I know he hurt you." Chase paused as if afraid to goon. Maddy nodded, silently giving him permission to continue. "Doyou remember your sixteenth birthday party?"
Maddy and Chase's eyes connected. She wasthrown by the reference to something she remembered so fondly inthe middle of such a nasty conversation, but on seeing the glimmerin his expression and corner of his mouth turn up, she was quicklydistracted. Neither had ever acknowledged the moment beforenow.
She tried to hide her blush, as Aiden wouldhopefully not remember the party the same way she did. "Yes… why?"she managed to ask.
"Remember when I knocked Bryce out of theway, so you didn't have your first kiss with him during spin thebottle?"
"Of course. I remain herpes-free thanks toyou." She allowed herself to smile at the memory now. She wasn’tquite sure how he knew that was her first kiss, but then again,she’d been a total tomboy for most of their growing up years andhadn’t shown any interest in dating until around that time.
Payson's hand shot up, her finger raisedbetween them, "Wait, what? Maddy, you didn't tell me Chase was yourfirst kiss."
And now she was officially embarrassed.
Aiden fired back, and would have jumped outfrom his seat if Payson hadn’t held him by the arm, "What? That wasyour first? Chase, what the hell? That's my little sister."
Chase shook his head at his friend and smiledinnocently, "Which is why I saved her from herpes. Your sister. Myfriend. Thought you'd thank me for that." He smugly grinned as hetook a swig of his own beer.
Aiden shrugged, "Maybe. It's just disturbingto think about. I really don't need a visual of you making out withmy little sister."
Maddy rolled her eyes. "Aiden, I don't want avisual of you making out with anyone."
"Touché," he nodded in ascent.
Chase shook his head. "Back to my point. Doyou remember Dylan’s behavior at the party?"
Maddy shook her head in confusion; she hadcompletely forgotten he was there. They didn't start dating untilmuch later.
"He was starting to get up to take Bryce'splace too, but I was faster. He was… not pleased. He came after mewhen you guys turned on the movie and were all absorbed in it. Ihad ducked outside for a smoke. I still remember the look in hiseyes as he stalked onto the patio and went to slug me. I didn'teven have to try to hit him back; he ended up knocking himself overa flowerpot and walked home crying."
Maddy's brow creased in concentration, "Idon't even remember him being there."
Aiden jumped in, "I remember now. Why wasRonan even friends with him?"
