I'd taken barely two steps when I spotted Roy standing near the side of the house, almost directly in my path. He was holding that godawful video camera. And yes, it was pointed straight at me.
Terrific.
With a sigh, I turned in the opposite direction, looking to avoid Roy and his camera, at least while I regained my composure.
Maybe it was cheating. But at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Turns out, that was a mistake.In the process of changing course, I nearly collided with yetanotherbrother.
Oh, for crying out loud.
I felt like a human pinball, bouncing from Blastoviak to Blastoviak. It was like they were crawling out of the woodwork or something. This latest one was the middle brother, Chase, who was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.
Like Brody and Mason, he looked obnoxiously good, even in work clothes. And for some reason, I only found this more annoying.
It was like all three of them had been sprinkled with "lucky dust" or something. They were rich, famous, and so good-looking, they might as well be movie stars. But then, I remembered. Theywerestars – just of a smaller screen, that's all.
Well, goodie for them, too.
After the near-collision, I told Chase, "Excuse me," and made a move to go around him.
As I did, he said in a tone that was almost friendly, "So, you're the pyro, huh?"
My steps faltered.Pyro? As in pyromaniac?
Well, this was just delightful.
I stopped and turned to face him. "I'mnota pyro."
He grinned. "Hey, I meant it as a compliment."
It was vintage Chase. From watching the show, I'd seen enough of him to know that everything was a joke to him.But didn't he get it?
This was no joking matter.
With a stiff smile, I turned in the opposite direction, heading once again toward the beach, having decided that it was better to brave Roy's camera than to deal withanyonenamed Blastoviak.
Still, as I marched toward the back of the house, I felt like a giant toad for being so rude to this latest brother. After all, he'd been the only Blastoviak who hadn't acted like I was some sort of psychopath, even if hehadcalled me a pyro, which admittedly wasn't much better.
As I walked, I gave Roy a nervous glance. Sure enough, he was filming my march of shame like it was the most interesting thing he'd seen all morning, even amidst all the other commotion.
Ignoring the camera as best I could, I picked up the pace and kept on going. Probably, I looked like a total idiot.
But this was exactly what I'd signed on for, wasn't it?
Still, my thoughts churned like the waves crashing against the shore. The construction project had just barely begun, and already I was asking myself a serious question.
What on Earth had I been thinking?
Chapter 35
Brody
Next to me, Chase said, "You never mentioned she was hot."
He'd just sidled up to me after nearly colliding with Arden.On purpose? Maybe.
Ignoring my brother's bullshit, I watched Arden as she stalked around the side of the house, heading toward the beach. She was wearing jeans and a plaid long-sleeve shirt – just like your average construction worker, except she didn't look average to me.
