Read Here With Me (Paloma's Edge) Online
Authors: Robin Shaw
Here With Me (Paloma's Edge)
Here With Me
Robin Shaw
Copyright © 2013 by Robin Shaw.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Please do not re-sell or give away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient, or utilize the lending programs at your retailer. If you’re reading this book and you did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Editing by Genevieve Scholl
Formatting by
Little Dove Formatting
Cover design by Robin Shaw
Dedicatio
n and Acknowledgements:
To every reader who contacted me with their support and enthusiasm for Drawn To You, this is for you. I am thankful to every blogger who participated in my book blitz in July. And to my dear mother and sister who understood why every minute I had went into HWM. I loved every moment for telling Mariska and Hunter’s story.
Amanda Heath, thank you for formatting HWM.
Genevieve, thank you for editing HWM. You’re great!
And last but not least, to every person who has an addiction, I believe that you’re more than sum of all of your struggles. If you’re not getting help, please seek it. I don’t care if you can’t remember the number of attempts you’ve made to get help. Your life is worth fighting for—time and time again. And please know that this stranger is praying for you and those who have been impacted by your addiction.
HERE
WITH ME (Paloma’s Edge, Volume 2)
Hunter Lovell thinks his life is as good as it could possibly be. He and his twin brother Chase are now on speaking terms. He has his dream job as a tattoo artist and he’s attending the same college as Chase and his girlfriend, Beth, who has become his friend. However, Mariska, one of Beth’s best friends hasn’t accepted him into her life and it gets under his skin.
Mariska Landry has been the dutiful daughter for as long as she can remember. She’s only disagreed with her parents on two main things in her life: her friendship with Beth and leaving Franklin Parks to attend college in Miami. Away from home for the first time, she wants to live her life on her own terms. Something about Hunter, the guy she wants to dislike with every fiber of her being, intrigues her, and she does whatever she can do within her emotional arsenal to resist him. But what will she do when fighting her feelings for him isn’t an option?
Other Titles by Robin Shaw
Drawn To You (Paloma’s Edge, Book 1)
Author Contact
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Hunter
“IS THIS TOO MUCH for you?” Beth asked me, furrowing her brow as she propped her hand on my upper arm.
I shook my head and gave her a smile. “Happy Birthday. You’ve just turned nineteen. You don’t need to worry if the alcohol is too tempting for me. I am good. I promise.”
“My birthday wouldn’t have been the same without you. You keep forgetting that we’re friends now, Hunter. ” She searched my face, uncertainty reflected in her deep blue eyes. “And you didn’t have to tell Scott that it was cool that he brought beer, when it isn’t. He knew the rules.”
“I told Chase not to make a big deal about it. I’ll be right over in a minute.”
Beth’s hand fell to my wrists. She firmly squeezed it, before she grinned at me in return and left me to meet Chase at the middle of the bar. Chase and I looked at each other for a slight second. Turning away from me, he wrapped his arm around her, taking her to a round table where a bunch of people and others surrounded it, talking, laughing, and having drinks. Alcoholic drinks.
Since I’ve been in recovery, I’d been to many places where there had not only been alcohol, but also a cocktail of drugs. I hadn’t had to pay for any of the alcohol or drugs, either. Should I have gone? No. But I had. Some customers had usually invited my co-workers and I to go out with them as an extra thank-you for their tats, because Lasting Impressions Tattoo Studio offered the best rates and quality ink. The warnings from the professionals and from other people who could relate to me had been the same no matter the modality they believed promoted long-term abstinence; always watch for people, places, and things that can influence me to use again. For the most part, I’d been very cautious, but there had been times that I could have gone backward, in a deeper shithole than I’d been in before. Perhaps, I’d gone backward by being at those places, or for sitting at a table where the smell of stale beer and sweat overpowered the cleaning agents used in this establishment.
I’d decided not to come to La Floridita after I’d finished work. Jake and Chase had each called me and said that Beth would be upset if I wasn’t here. Chase, Jake, and Mariska had tried to plan a surprise birthday for Beth without her finding out, but she knew what they were up to. Apparently, she didn’t like surprises, even nice ones. As soon as Beth had found out that they were going to close down the bar/restaurant at The Paloma Hotel to throw her a surprise party there, she’d changed it to La Floridita. She’d made a rule that there wouldn’t be any alcohol and I’d told her that it wasn’t fair to prevent others from having alcohol. Beth had argued that they could drink after her party or not come at all.
Beth had become a part of my life serendipitously; she’d been staring at me while I’d been talking to Mike, a customer of mine out who worked in Franklin Parks. Before Mike had said that she was checking me out, I’d known. The only thing was that she hadn’t been trying to hook up with me. She was my twin brother’s girlfriend and she hadn’t known that Chase was a twin, or anything about his past, until he’d had no choice but to tell her about it, or lose her for good.
Despite the fact that they’ve only been dating for a few months, Beth was going to my sister one day. Without her, it probably would’ve taken longer for Chase and I to talk. It was no fairytale. There were moments when Chase had looked at me like the stranger that I was to him.
The other night, when he’d come to my apartment for the first time, he’d admitted that he sometimes hated me for cutting the side of his face. I’d hate anyone if she did that to me. More surprising than Chase’s admission had been when he’d admitted that he’d thought of me as dead, so that he wouldn’t consume himself with not having the man he used to admire, even from a distance, in his life anymore. I’d been speechless. I’d also learned that there were times when he’d believed that I never existed. When he’d forgotten about me. And that shit fucked me up. I’d felt like going to the bodega and buying a bottle of whiskey. Say, to hell with trying to be clean when I’d always be that drunk and cokehead to everyone. To myself. And yet, I’d opened up my textbook and started reading a chapter from my Greek Civilization textbook.
As I headed toward the booth, I could see most people’s smiles fading. Only Rylan, a friend of Beth and Chase, was a little tipsy, but I was a buzz-kill. Everyone else wanted to get drunk. Beth stopped talking to Jake and Mariska when Chase gave me a club soda. He took one gulp from his own club soda. I’d noticed that he and Pierce, Beth’s cousin, hadn’t had an alcoholic beverage tonight. It made me feel marginally normal.
“Let’s make some room for Hunter,” Chase told Mariska, who gave me a nod, and then looked at Bri, who was sitting beside Jake. Beth was in between Jake and Mariska. She sent me an encouraging smile. I sat down next to Mariska when Chase went to help Emilio, the co-owner of La Floridita and another employee, with the platters of food coming out.
I stood up. “I can help.”
“You don’t get away that easily,” Beth said and Jake laughed as she crossed her arms. “We have more than enough helping hands.”
Acquiescing for the birthday girl, my shoulder sagged and I resumed my spot next to Mariska, who briefly looked at me with a polite expression, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she wouldn’t be breathing in the same air as me if Beth didn’t want us here.
Mariska
HUNTER’S ARM RUBBED AGAINST mine as he slid down next to me again. Startled that he’d given in to Beth’s request to stay, the hairs on my nape prickled. I assumed that he’d come over to tell her good night. For an hour and a half, he’d talked to some people, but he’d mostly kept to himself, far from us. With a stone-faced countenance, Hunter looked at Beth. However, he didn’t come across as angry, or perturbed. He cared about her or else he wouldn’t have made it. Not even Chase could break through the impenetrable wall that Hunter erected around himself; Beth was the only person who could produce any response from him, other than his calm, cool, unconcerned attitude. Stretching his hands out, Hunter helped Chase set two of the platters of food down and we began serving ourselves.
“Babe, you full?” Chase asked Beth after we’d eaten the platters of food.
Three months ago, my thoughts had been that he was the perfect distraction for her; a summer toy. Cindy, Beth’s mom, had taken up with Mr. Baxter, a married man, and left Franklin Parks, where Beth, Jake, and I had been born and raised, for some weeks until the affair had ended. I’d been furious at Cindy for neglecting Beth. It looked like Cindy was changing; she’s been employed at The Paloma since mid-summer and she hasn’t been with any married men to our knowledge. I didn’t think she saw the error of her ways. She hasn’t done anything to remove that doubt Beth had that Cindy didn’t love her. We’d invited Cindy before Beth knew what our plans had been for her birthday and she’d said she had no interest in coming. Jake, Chase, and I had decided not to tell Beth about it. As nonchalant as Beth would’ve acted had we told her, it’d really devastated her to hear that Cindy couldn’t be happy for her. Truthfulness was the groundwork for any relationship, but straddling the fence between knowing what someone needed to know, and what could crush someone’s spirit was even more important.
On the other hand, Beth felt how important she was to Chase; how much he was falling in love with her every day because of his attentiveness. And so, I didn’t have any concerns about their relationship. While they were together, I had some faith that he wouldn’t string her along, like Cindy had all of her life. He’d tell her if his feelings changed. Beth was a good-hearted person, and I couldn’t say with confidence that any other guy would be as selfless as Chase was with her.
A lazy grin flickered over Beth’s face as Chase pulled her body to his for a brief hug. “Not yet. But I am getting there.”
When she looked up, Emilio was in front of the big, round table with a big glass of morir soñado and her face brightened. “What kind of friends would we be if we forgot your favorite drink?” He wore an amused expression and gave her the drink, which she eagerly drank from as soon as it was in front of her. Soon afterward, Emilio left us with more food.
Scott, a teammate and friend of Chase’s opened up a can of beer and gulped it down like it was water. No one else drank alcohol, since Hunter joined us. I’d gotten used to drinking half a can of beer, or a cocktail, but like Beth, I needed to be babysit if I had more than that. I didn’t enjoy it as much as most people here.
Hunter and Scott looked at each other. I’d overheard earlier this week that Hunter had been addicted to alcohol and cocaine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. The reason behind her insistence about no alcohol tonight was clear. Beth reasonably feared that it’d be a bad situation for Hunter, because, if he drank, he’d spiral out of control, or bolt out of here. Most people thought that she was being unfair, but I didn’t agree. Since seriously becoming friends with Hunter, she’d kept information about him close to the chest.
“You finished the lap report for Bio yet?” Scott’s brown eyes, with speckles of blue, focused on me, his mouth turning up on one side.
“Yeah,” I responded.
Scott shook his head, his earthy brown hair combed back perfectly, unmoving. “You think maybe I could get a look at your report. See if I am on the right track?” He threw me a wink that made the other girls swoon over him. Jake and Chase chuckled—loudly. In turn, he shot them a steely look and his eyes shifted back to me, a smile working the corner of his mouth once more.
“Nice try,” Jake said, his chest vibrating with laughter. Bri involuntarily shook from the movement, because his arm was around her neck.
Scott shrugged his shoulders, as if it hadn’t crossed his mind to copy directly from my report. “It was just an idea,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Maybe a beer,”—he raised his can of empty beer up a little—“will make you re-consider.”
Hunter shifted. “It’s not wise to joke about changing anyone’s mind with liquid courage,” he told Scott. The icy chill that threaded through his tone did something to me. The trace of feeling that had flitted over Hunter’s face, when Beth and I had first spotted him at Andersen’s car dealership and I’d mentioned Chase, was nothing compared to the firmness of his strong features. There was no room for Scott to question Hunter, unless he wanted to argue and really sober up. Maybe he needed to.
Gesturing in an effort to back-pedal from his comment, Scott said, “I am going to look over my sorry excuse of notes and see if anything clicks.”
He really wanted to tell Hunter that he was talking to me, but he was clear-headed enough to consider that he and Chase were on the football team together. Besides, Jake, Pierce, and Chase didn’t look like they felt Hunter was the one who was out of line. And I didn’t feel like he was blowing anything out of proportion. Hunter had said something just to make it clear that coaxing and alcohol shouldn’t mix. The lines could definitely get blurred. And I wasn’t going to say anything, because I didn’t want Beth’s birthday to become more awkward.
Hunter gave a fractional incline of his head to Scott, returning to his calm mien.
“Check that out!” Bri said. Her emerald green eyes shone brightly as Joel and Gavin rolled out the biggest cake I’ve seen in person. But not just any cake—a mantecado that I’d tasted at Beth’s uncle house with a replica of her face on it. It was guaranteed to be delicious and it was so exquisite that I almost didn’t want to eat it.
A trickle of tears wet Beth’s face.
“Oh my God! H-how’d…” Beth swallowed her words and Chase looked at her with an immeasurable amount of desire and fulfillment. He took her hand, kissed it, and clasped it in his. She went on her tippy-toes and kissed him deeply.
“Nancy baked the cake,” Chase said against her lips and her face broke out into a smile. She’d forgotten for a moment that they weren’t by themselves. “Hunter offered to paint your face on the cake when I told him Nancy was going to bake one for you.”
Impressed, Jake lifted his chin up to Hunter. We hadn’t known that Chase set this up, because Beth wasn’t really into sweets. She hadn’t gorged on the mantecado, like Jake and I had.
Pulling away from Chase, Beth signaled Hunter and I to move so she could get up from the table. Once all of us were standing, she gave Hunter a tight hug. When he bent his head, she kissed his jaw. “This is awesome. It must have taken up all your free time.” She peered at him for a second. “Thank you. It’s very thoughtful.”
The side of Hunter’s face quirked up. He moved away from her and motioned her to cut the cake.
He and Chase had a strong resemblance for fraternal twins, and when Hunter’s face relaxed into a grin, he was more handsome than Chase. He could be mistaken for being as equally friendly as Chase was to us. And then I saw something I hadn’t seen in his eyes when I’d seen him at school: longing. But what could Hunter be longing for? He had Chase in his life, and Beth. It didn’t get any better than reuniting with your estranged brother and making friends with his girl.
Beth’s cousin, Pierce, held the knife out to Beth, and she cut the first slice.
“Huh, Hunter’s got himself some skills,” Jake remarked as he cut a slice for himself and handed the knife to Bri, who was behind him in the line. “It was like Beth was staring at us.”
As Bri and I nodded, I glanced at Hunter for less than a second. He’d waited for everyone to be seated and then he took a spot that enabled him to leave without being in anyone’s way. But it was probably for the best, because he hadn’t looked okay when the only available chair was the one next to me.