Why was Bowie here, in Hilton Head? I had assumed he’d gone to Gainesville for college. Although seeing as he’d completely shut me out of his life, I didn’t know for sure. Was he here with a friend? Maybe it was the girl he was with. I set the tray down and walked over to get a glass of water. I needed to take my break.

  “You look rattled. Did some douche canoe touch you?” Quinn asked as she walked up to me.

  I shook my head and downed the rest of the water in my glass.

  “Then, what happened?” she pushed.

  I put the glass back down and looked at her. “Remember the guy I told you about that Kye and I were friends with, growing up?”

  She nodded. “The one you dated, then kissed Kye, and he dropped both of you.”

  “Yes, that one. His name is Bowie … and he’s here.”

  Her mouth fell open. “No fucking way!”

  I nodded. “Yep. I just offered him a shrimp cocktail. He recognized me, obviously, but he acted like he didn’t know me. Which, after the thing with Kye, when he treated me as if I were invisible in school, I should have expected this, but I don’t know. It’s been a few years. We’ve grown up. I just kinda thought he’d be over it. That he’d say, Oh, hey, Genesis. How’s life?—or something like that.”

  Had I really wanted him to do that? Maybe. I wasn’t even sure. Seeing him had definitely messed with my head.

  “You must have broken him hard, girl. If he’s still pissed about that kiss, what, three years later … damn.”

  I shook my head at her. “It’s ridiculous. Kye was drunk. He kissed me. We have never, not once, touched each other in any sexual way since. You would think Bowie could let it go and at least … I don’t know.” I shrugged.

  There was no reason to think about this. I was wasting my time. Seeing Bowie had just reminded me of Kye and the fact that I had loved him most of my life and wasted years hoping he saw me as something more than his best friend. But no more! I had stood my ground. Moved back to Savannah. Put distance between us so I didn’t spend my summer moping around, waiting for him to give me attention.

  “Ladies,” Chuck, our boss, said as he held out two trays full of appetizers to us. “Break is over. Get out there.”

  We each took a tray.

  “Point him out if you can,” Quinn told me. “I want to see if he’s as hot as Kye.”

  I rolled my eyes and followed her out of the kitchen.

  The rest of the evening, I intentionally stayed clear of any area that Bowie was in. It became a game in a way. I made sure to locate him once I was on the floor, then went everywhere but there. Quinn kept giving me looks, wanting me to show her who he was, but I wasn’t about to be caught, pointing at him. She served his group more than once, and it made me grin. It was killing her that she didn’t know.

  By the time the party was over, I hadn’t seen Bowie in the crowd in over an hour. Quinn made guesses on who it was as we cleaned up the kitchen. When we were headed out to Quinn’s car, she was still giving me descriptions of guys while I read the last text from Kye.

  Call me. I miss your voice.

  I sighed. I knew he didn’t realize how painful it was for me when he said things like that. Kye loved me. I knew that. But the problem would always be that I was in love with Kye. He couldn’t know that. It was my cross to bear. Being in love with your best friend sucked.

  “Brown hair—kinda has a sexy, messy look—brown eyes that have dark lashes long enough to make a girl jealous, wide shoulders, lean but muscular build, wearing a blue button-down and jeans.”

  Quinn’s description started sinking in, and my head shot up from the text.

  “Yes, actually. That’s really accurate,” I said, surprised that she remembered so many details about him.

  She nodded, then raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, well, probably because he’s walking this way.”

  Wait. “What?” I asked, my gaze swinging over the parking lot until it landed on Bowie. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh. Guess you aren’t invisible anymore after all,” Quinn said in a singsong voice beside me.

  “Shut up,” I whispered as he got closer.

  “Fine, I’ll just go wait in the car.”

  I grabbed her arm before she could move. “Stay. Do not leave me.”

  She laughed quietly. “Okay, fine. I’ll be your bodyguard. All five feet of me.”

  I shot her an annoyed look, then turned back just as Bowie reached us. Was I supposed to say something? I stared at him and couldn’t think of one thing to say.

  “Hey,” he said, breaking the silence.

  “Uh, um, hey,” I stammered, confused by this.

  He hadn’t spoken to me in four years.

  He licked his bottom lip and glanced over at Quinn. Was he here to meet her? Maybe? How awkward would that be?

  “Oh, uh, Quinn, this is Bowie. A childhood friend,” I said to her, then looked back at him.

  His eyes were locked on me.

  “Bowie, this is Quinn, my roommate and best friend.”

  “Backup best friend,” Quinn corrected me with a smug smile. Then, she looked at Bowie. “It’s nice to meet you. She refused to point you out tonight, so I was left guessing.”

  I elbowed her before she said anything else.

  A grin tugged on the corner of Bowie’s lips. “So, you told her I was there.”

  I was going to kill Quinn. She’d better sleep with one eye open.

  I felt my face grow warm, and I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I might have mentioned it,” I admitted.

  “But she said that she was invisible where you were concerned. I guess she was wrong. You are clearly seeing her now,” Quinn added.

  I glared at her. “Why don’t you go wait in the car?” I suggested.

  “So, you don’t need me—”

  “Now,” I cut her off, which only made her smile bigger.

  She wiggled her fingers at Bowie. “See you around.”

  When she finally walked toward the car, I turned back to him. He wasn’t watching her go. Instead, he was looking at me.

  “She’s, uh … ignore her,” I told him.

  He smirked and tilted his head slightly to the side. “You told her about me.”

  I nodded. No point in lying.

  “But you introduced me as a childhood friend.”

  I glanced at the ground and shrugged before looking back at him. “I wasn’t sure what to call you exactly.”

  His eyes seemed to be reading my thoughts, and that made me nervous.

  “The guy you gave your number to tonight is a bastard.”

  A laugh bubbled out of me. “I’ll be sure to let Quinn know when he calls her.”

  Bowie raised his eyebrows with an amused expression. “I see.”

  “Yeah. It’s a thing I do. She’s used to it.”

  He shook his head and glanced away, smiling. “You’ve not changed much.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that so I stayed silent.

  When he looked back at me, he seemed nervous. “Any chance you’d give me your number? I don’t need Quinn’s.”

  Whoa. I had not been expecting that.

  I blinked several times, making sure I had just heard him correctly. Finally, I managed to nod my head. “It’s the—” I almost told him it was the same one I’d had four years ago, but my guess was, he’d deleted it from his phone. “Yeah,” I replied instead. “I can just text you it … unless your number changed.”

  “It’s the same,” he replied. “You still have it in your phone?”

  I lifted a shoulder in a small half shrug. “Never thought about deleting it,” I admitted.

  “Do you still see Kye when you’re home?” he asked me.

  I knew it was best to be blunt. If he had an issue with it, then he didn’t need to text or call me.

  “He’s my best friend, Bowie. Still.”

  His lips pressed together, and he nodded. “Okay. It’s, uh, good you could remain friends after the kiss.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well, he was drunk, and I think, looking back, I was just curious. Maybe he was too. Regardless, it cleared up any question we might have had in our heads about us feeling something more than friendship.”

  Bowie chuckled softly, a crooked grin on his lips. “Yeah, well, guess I should have stuck around longer to see that play out.” He dropped his gaze to the ground for a moment, then raised his eyes to lock on mine. A serious expression was now on his face. “I miss you. I’ve missed you for four fucking years.”

  Three

  Kye

  July 14

  Dropping the last box of Gage’s stuff in the back of the truck, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see if Genesis had texted me back yet. Nothing. Fucking nothing. She’d texted me that she was on a date and couldn’t talk, then hadn’t texted me the rest of the night. Now, it was three in the afternoon, and I’d sent her five texts, and she wasn’t responding.

  I slipped a cigarette between my lips and lit it. I was trying to cut back, but fuck that. I needed a smoke—or three.

  The truck that Gage was driving pulled around the house. He’d had a new road put in that led back to the house he’d had built for him and his girlfriend, Shiloh. It wasn’t completely finished, but they had enough done that they could live in it while it was being finished. He was determined to get her all to himself because I’d mentioned once that she was loud when they fucked. Crazy ass almost killed me. Huck and Levi had held him back. I wasn’t upset they were moving out. Gage was insane.

  “That all of it?” Levi called out as he climbed out of the passenger side.

  “Yeah,” I replied, shoving my phone back in my pocket with more force than necessary.

  Levi frowned. “What’s up your ass?”

  I started to say nothing, but I needed someone else’s opinion. I should probably go to Huck for an opinion since he had a fiancée and Levi fucked around with women as much as I did, but he wasn’t here. I took a pull from the cigarette, letting it blacken my lungs while giving me some relief.

  “Genesis went on a date.”

  I hated that saying it pissed me off. She was allowed to date. She’d dated before. But she always texted me back on dates. She had even called me on dates.

  “And?” Levi asked.

  “She isn’t texting me. She told me she was on a date and couldn’t text me.”

  Levi looked at me like I was talking in riddles. “So?”

  I ran my hand through my hair and growled, frustrated. “She always texts me back. Even on dates. If I call her and she’s on a date, she answers. It’s been nineteen hours, and she’s still not responding to my texts.”

  Levi shrugged. “Must have been a good fucking date.”

  That was not what I wanted to hear. Genesis didn’t get serious with guys. She dated. That was it.

  “She’s not like that.”

  Levi chuckled. “Like what? She doesn’t go on dates with guys and have sex? Dude, if you think that, you’re fucking delusional. I don’t know her, but I do know that any female who can be your best friend isn’t sweet and innocent.”

  I began pacing because standing still suddenly felt impossible. I was restless. “Something could have happened to her. Maybe I should drive up there and check on her.”

  “Where are you going?” Gage asked as he walked over to us.

  “He’s going to check on Genesis. She went on a date,” Levi replied in an amused tone.

  Gage smirked. “You need to make sure he fucked her properly?”

  I glared at him, and my stomach knotted up at the image in my head. Genesis didn’t fuck around. She would have to be serious with someone to sleep with them. Her text sound went off in my pocket, and I jerked it out so fast that I almost dropped it.

  Fucking finally.

  Sorry! I was out late, and then we went to breakfast this morning, then decided to have a beach day. Just getting back to the apartment. Haven’t had time to respond.

  I reread that three times, trying to make sense of it. Who was we? A guy? Quinn? And why couldn’t she have taken a minute to let me know she was alive?

  “What’s it say? She’s exhausted from a night of wild fucking?” Gage asked.

  I ignored him and walked away from them. I pressed Call while inhaling deeply. Texting wasn’t going to do it for me. Not now.

  “Hey.” Genesis’s voice came over the line, and the war going on in my chest eased from the sound of it.

  “Hey, you scared the shit out of me. Since when can you not text me when you’re on a date or out with Quinn?” I was throwing that in there because I needed her to confirm the “we” had included Quinn.

  She was silent a moment too long, and my chest was back to feeling like it might explode from the shit it was doing. Getting all tight and painful.

  “Uh, well, it wasn’t any date. I’ve been seeing this guy for a while now, and we’re dating.”

  Those words caused me to need to sit down. I walked over to the stairs leading up to the front of the house and sank down.

  “How long? You’ve not mentioned anyone.” I tried to sound casual.

  “We went out for the first time on June 18. But we made it exclusive about a week ago.”

  Exclusive.

  Serious.

  Fuck.

  She didn’t do serious. She had left me to go back to Savannah, and now, she was serious with some guy a little over a month later.

  “That was fast. You must really like him,” I managed to get out without choking on the words.

  She laughed softly, and I winced. God, I missed her.

  “I do. It’s … I think it’s fate. You know, just meant to be.”

  I dropped my head into my hand and closed my eyes while the cigarette stayed clamped between my teeth. This was not happening to me. Genesis was mine. I’d not had to share her with anyone since fucking Bowie.

  “That’s, uh, good,” I lied. What else was I supposed to say?

  “Yeah, it is. I’m sorry I made you worry though. I won’t do that again. I’ll get back to you when you text. Promise.”

  “You’d better. Next time, I’m not waiting; I’m coming to Savannah.” And to see what this fucker looked like.

  “That would be drastic,” she said in a teasing tone. “Okay, I hate to cut this short, but, well, he’s here, and I am supposed to be getting in the shower. I hate to leave him alone with Quinn too long because she talks too much.”

  He was there. He had been the “we” today. They had gone to the beach.

  I felt sick.

  “Yeah, okay. Well, text me later.” I sounded pathetic.

  “I will,” she replied. “Bye.”

  “Bye, Baby Doll,” I said just as the line went dead.

  I stared down at the phone in my hand and wondered how the hell this had happened. She was supposed to be here with me this summer. We should have been at the beach together. I’d had my chance to keep her here and fucked it up. My life wasn’t something she fit into. She was my best friend, but it wasn’t like it used to be. We’d gotten older. There had been lines drawn that kept parts of our lives—mostly mine—separate.

  “I take it, she’s alive?” Levi said, and I looked up at him before standing.

  “Yeah.”

  “You don’t look happy about it.”

  “I need to see tits, drink, and fuck. In that order,” I told him.

  He nodded. “Devil’s it is. Kitty said Chyna quit last week, but that new girl—Echo, I think is her name—she’s got some triple D’s on her.”

  Triple D’s sounded perfect.

  “That’ll work.”

  “I’ll drive, and you can start drinking,” he said, slapping me on the chest with a flask.

  I took it, opened it, and drank one long, hard swig.

  Deep down, I had known that this was eventually going to happen. Hell, Genesis was gorgeous, sexy, smart, and funny. Fuck. I took another drink. Why had Baby Doll had to grow up to be blazing hot? It made life complicated.

  Four

  Genesis

  August 30

  Looking up from my phone, where I’d been texting Kye back, my eyes met Bowie’s. I knew without him saying a word what he was thinking. I also knew he was right, but I didn’t want to talk about it. Not tonight. My texting with Kye had become sparse, as had our calls. I didn’t even know when I would see him next, and I was not telling him about Bowie over the phone.

  I turned my phone on silent and put it on the dresser before walking over to the bed, where Bowie was propped up, watching me.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I told him as I climbed onto the mattress, then moved over him to straddle his legs.

  He put his hands on my thighs. “How?” he asked.

  I waved my hand in front of his face. “Like that.”

  He grinned then. “What look is that, Gen?”

  I sighed dramatically. “That look that says, You need to tell Kye about us. It’s been over two months since we started dating. And I agree, but I need to do it in person.”

  Bowie raised an eyebrow. “You are aware that it was me who got fucked over. Not Kye. He did the fucking over. This shouldn’t be a touchy subject for him.”

  If it were any other guy, I knew they would struggle to believe that Kye and I were just friends. However, Bowie knew him as well as I did. He knew that Kye was never going to look at me as anything but a friend. He didn’t do relationships. Our friendship was the longest relationship he’d ever had.

  I cupped Bowie’s face with my hands. “Trust me, I get that. It’s just that we all have a past. A complex one. So, yes, it will be a big deal that we are back together. And as much as I wish you and Kye could be friends again, I know that you don’t think you can do that. I told you in the beginning that I would never expect you to.”