“Holy shit, that Bethany? The girl with the braces and the glasses and all of that?”
Daphne got to her feet, brushing off some strands of grass as he approached. “Yes, the very one. I’m sure she’d love the memory you have of her.”
“What can I say, I’m a hottie, and she’ll forgive me.”
She shook her head, gathering up her tools.
“So, my little virgin, are you going to give us a test drive?”
She dropped her tools and turned toward him. “Don’t.”
“What? It’s not like Eric said anything.”
Daphne glared at him. “What game are you trying to play? What’s your angle? Why are you even here?”
“That’s three questions. Which one do you want me to answer?” he asked.
“All of them.”
He held his hand up. “No game. No angle. You.”
She put her hands to her hips and took a deep breath. “I need to go.”
“You can keep running, but we’re not going anywhere. For as long as this lockdown is going on, you’re stuck with us.”
“Yeah, I’m stuck with you, and believe me, this isn’t where I want to be.” She grabbed her tools. “Just leave me alone.”
“I’d make your first time so good,” he said.
This made her stop.
“I wouldn’t rush you, and I’d make sure you only had good memories.”
She looked at his face, expecting to see something that would give him away and at least show her an inkling of what he was up to. Nothing.
Daphne didn’t get it.
Why had they come into her life now? And why did they care about what they did twelve years ago?
Chapter Four
Six months ago
“Fuck me, I cannot remember a time when winning felt this good,” Micah said.
Eric smiled at his friend, taking another large gulp of the whiskey he’d been enjoying. Like everything in their life, it was the finest money could buy. They only had the best and after winning a multi-million-dollar contract, they were in the fucking zone, and in need of celebrating.
“You know, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate turning thirty than being with you guys and having a shit ton of money in our bank accounts.”
“We’ve still got to do the work,” Dean said.
“Oh, please, that’s the easy part. You’re lost in your thoughts there, Eric. Care to share them?”
“Not really. They’re kind of pointless.” He shrugged. “Can you believe we’re here now?”
“I didn’t see us being anywhere else,” Dean said.
Micah and Eric snorted.
“I don’t. We’re a team. We’ve always been a team, and our friendship will live on forever.”
Eric raised his glass in agreement, as did Micah. They were all winners today.
Staring into the dark amber liquid, the color reminded him a little of a girl he remembered.
“Do you guys … ever think about the time when we were in high school?” he asked.
“All the time,” Micah said.
“Vaguely,” Dean said. “It’s not like it was the greatest time of our life.”
“That’s my boy.” Micah swigged back another mouthful of drink.
“You’ve gone all serious on us. What gives?” Dean asked.
“Do you guys remember that girl? Long, brown hair, it kind of glistened in the sunlight but not because it was greasy. A sweet smile. Big tits and hips.” He thought back to Daphne Lewis. There were times over the years he’d thought about her, fleeting thoughts.
“Daphne,” Dean and Micah said in unison.
“Damn,” Micah said. “I … we were so fucking horrible to her. I always thought she was hot, but she was never on the cheerleading squad. Did she ever go to any of the games?”
He and Dean shook their heads.
“She was too good for a lot of the jerks. I couldn’t stand it when guys would hang around her.”
“Before her parents died, she always smiled,” Dean said.
“Yeah, she had the perfect life. At least I thought so for a long time.” Eric swallowed the last of his drink, needing to do something other than go down memory lane. “I wanted to fuck her so badly and I hated myself for it.”
“Wait? What? Dude, out of all of us, you were the worst at bullying her. You stuffed condoms into her locker and you even made sure the rumors of her having an STD went around the school.”
“I didn’t hate her. She was just too perfect.”
“How can someone be too perfect?”
Eric shrugged, getting to his feet. “Who knows? I was a messed-up kid with a dad at home who pissed me off. I took it out on her. She got everything until she didn’t.”
“You didn’t stop picking on her,” Dean said. “None of us did.”
Silence fell between them.
Eric frowned. “So, wait a minute. You all knew who I was talking about and you all wanted her in high school?”
“Guilty,” Micah said.
“Yes,” Dean said.
Eric looked at his friends. “What do you think she’s doing right now?”
“Well, with how perfect she was, I’d say she’s married with a couple hundred kids,” Micah said, the smile fading as he rubbed at his chest.
“Instead of us speculating what she’s doing, why not look her up?” Dean got to his feet and sat in front of the open laptop. He pulled up his social media account, which was mainly used by their company to keep updates and to have a broad presence as well as for research purposes.
Eric leaned over Dean, reading some of the names that came up. Nothing.
“She’s not on social media,” Micah said.
“Okay. After her parents died, where did she go?” Eric asked.
“Her grandma,” Dean said, already typing into the computer. The bed-and-breakfast Eric remembered from his past came up. A newspaper headline captured their attention, showcasing the bed-and-breakfast and the
