I half-cough, half swallow. Then I try to breathe and feel my eyes bugging out.
"Angie!" Fi exclaims. I hold up a finger like I'm fine. I'm not fine. I attempt to cough it out, but I can feel the sharp pieces stuck in my throat. I attempt to swallow again and that goes sideways.
Kaylee points at my drink. "Girl, you'd better wash that shit down and do it quick, before Fi here throws you on the ground and starts doing CPR. Sure, she’ll save your life, but it'll ruin that nice top."
I know that Kaylee's not kidding. Fi takes health and bodily harm very seriously. I grab my drink, shove the straw into my mouth and gulp several sips down as fast as possible, hoping to dislodge the wayward chip with sheer volume. I hope it works, too, because if I can't breathe very soon I'm going to take Fi up on her very generous offer to do CPR on me. I'm already starting to see spots.
The two of them grab chips of their own, dipping and then eating them, without even choking. Which is what normal people do. But they’re both watching me closely.
Swallowing the last of the punch, I inhale deeply, if a little wheezily. Then I exhale with relief. Whew.
"What the hell, Angie? You are not yourself tonight at all. Pirate Festival is like your favorite time of the year."
"Yeah, but this year it's infested with Jake. Hey, look, I have to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow?"
"You sure you're okay?" Kaylee asks, and by the look on her face I can tell that there's not a damn thing that I can tell her that she's going to believe.
She and Fi look appropriately and astutely suspicious. And I decide not to acknowledge that fact, because if I do tell them what's going on they will absolutely talk me out of it. So I just nod.
A minute later, I've gathered up my things and I'm hiking back through the sand to my car.
At almost eleven o'clock at night. After the Pirate Festival Ball. Possibly to my doom, and absolutely against the advice of my best friends had I asked them.
And so, in probably one of the worst decisions I've made since that idiot Jake breezed into town. I'm going to meet him.
Because of this text. Pirate Float Complex. Come alone. Need your help.
Whatever Jake has and hasn't done in his life and whatever my feelings for him now are, we've always had each other’s backs.
Even when his parents found out he cheated on his eighth-grade pre-algebra exam. Even when he got caught speeding, and yes, even that one time I got caught skinny dipping in the ocean near ex-television star Alistair Mane's mansion. In my defense, I thought he was out of town for the weekend.
The point is, that text is not so subtle code for SOS. I'm mad as hell at Jake as my ex-lover, but I'm not about to turn my back on a friend.
Chapter 23
Angie
I pull up to the dirt parking lot and cut the engine.
My window is rolled down and I can feel the gentle night’s breeze. There’s only one other car in the parking lot, so naturally I assume it’s Jake’s.
I try to steel myself since I have no idea what I’m walking into here. Then I open the door and make my way across the dirt to the gate. It’s open.
Oh yeah, Jake’s a Quartermaster, so he has his own key. I wonder if this is some kind of pirate parade float emergency or a real emergency. Jake’s a lot of things, but he’s not one to fake drama.
The place is eerily quiet at night, and I find myself tiptoeing in. “Jake?”
I use my phone flashlight to see in the dark. I know there are lights around here somewhere, but I’ve never been the one to turn them on.
“Over here.”
His voice sounds far away and small. But he still somehow manages to project his signature baritone sexiness. I follow the general direction of his voice figuring I’ll run into him eventually since I don’t hear any footsteps approaching me.
It takes a minute, but I find him finally. He’s sitting on the flatbed of his pirate parade float. Before he even says a word, I can smell him. And I know immediately what has happened.
I fail to suppress a giggle. He smells just like Fi.
“Oh no,” he says, “don’t tell me. Of course you would have something to do with this. I just wish it were your perfume instead. I like your scent better.”
Did he just say he likes my scent? Does he mean my perfume?
“I said what I said,” he chimes in, as if hearing my thoughts. I’m happy it’s dark in here because suddenly I feel my cheeks heat.
Then, he surprises me by turning on a lantern. He looks up at me and grins, but I know him too well. He’s upset about something. And sad too. I climb up into the flatbed and sit down next to him.
“Where’s your date?”
I laugh. “Stop being a big baby. There’s nothing going on between me and Tristan. What about your date?”
“Oh, same.”
We sit in silence a few minutes.
“You couldn’t turn the lantern on five minutes ago so I could see where I was going?”
He laughs, but I know that something heavy is on his mind. “What is it, Jake?”
He’s quiet for a moment. “You always could read me better than everybody else.”
“Well, we’ve been best friends since the second grade.”
“I’m sorry, Angie.”
“You already said it,” I answer, “there’s no need to beat a dead horse. I believe you. I mean, I’m not about to confront daddy about it. There’s no point to it. But I
