Pull (Seaside #2)(10)

BOTH OF YOU SUCK. I HATE U. O, AND I ALMST CRIED

IN MY COUNSELING SESSION. YOUR FAULT. BOTH OF U. P.S.

I TRIED THREE FLAVORS OF TAFFY TODAY. SCORE!

I jumped into my car. Within seconds the phone buzzed. I looked down, and there was a picture of Alec and Nat both making sad faces, and below the picture it said, WE LUV U. STOP BEING

A BABY. MAYBE IF U EAT THE ALCOHOL-FLAVORED TAFFY, YOU’LL STOP BEING SUCH A GIRL. KIDDING. STAY CLEAN !

“Right.” I rubbed my eyes and started the engine, then remembered I lived next door. What the heck? Maybe I was losing my mind. The last place I wanted to be was home by myself. Bob might get pissed, considering he’s kind of like my babysitter, but still. I wanted to go. Out.

I put the car into drive and headed toward city center.





Chapter Five


Alyssa


I closed the door to the store and leaned against it. There wasn’t much to clean up, considering we hadn’t been very busy.

After my counseling appointment, I came back to the store to work.

Dad and Mom both decided to go home and have some dinner. But I wasn’t hungry; besides, someone had to stay and lock up.

I went to the counter and put away the free samples. We had just made a new flavor. It was salted caramel popcorn. I had wanted to try it, but the smell kept me away.

Grimacing, I threw it in the trash and gathered up the tossed wrappers. Within a few minutes the back counter was cleared. The sun was beginning to set. I went to the windows to pull the blinds, when a flashy car caught my eye.

What the heck was Demetri doing back at work?

I knew his schedule. Okay, so I hated myself that I knew his schedule. But he only worked until four every day. It was already past six. I was still trying to decide how pathetic it was that, after only a few days, I knew exactly when the guy arrived and left work. Clearly, I needed to find a hobby or something.

Like a peeping tom, I drew the blinds farthest from the door then peeked between them. Demetri’s car was parked by the taffy store, but he was nowhere to be seen.

I squinted and opened the blinds wider.

Weird. Did he go inside?

I was just getting ready to open the door and step outside when a hand hit the window in front of me.

With a curse, I fell back to the ground taking an entire row of taffy with me.

Lucky for me, the blinds to the door weren’t closed, meaning Demetri, the bastard, saw everything.

Though to be fair, he did look a bit shocked as he ran into the store and helped me to my feet.

“Trying to kill me?” I brushed his hands away, but he kept prodding at me as if I was some sort of science experiment gone bad, so I shoved him. It just seemed like it was the right thing to do.

And honestly, it felt good to hit him. Maybe I was packing a lot of rage for the rock star. But nobody should have it as easy as he did.

Good looking? Rich? All he had to do was smile, and he had the world at his feet. Maybe it was jealousy that while I was stuck at my parents’ store, he had the whole world as his oyster, yet chose to get high and nearly kill himself instead of doing something with his life.

“I’m so sorry.” Demetri dropped to the floor and began putting the taffy back into the buckets.

“You’re sorry you scared me? Sorry you nearly gave me a heart attack? Or sorry you caused me to bruise my butt?”

Demetri looked up into my eyes with his smug smile. “Your butt, huh? Want me to take a look? Wouldn’t want any permanent damage.”

“No thanks.” I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to him.

“You can go. I’ve got this.”

“This…” He pointed to the mess at our knees. “Is all my fault. Honestly, I was just trying to scare you, not kill you or destroy your taffy. Hey, what flavor is this?”

“ADD much?” I snatched the taffy from his hand.

“ADD? Hey, that’s like our band name, AD2…” He grabbed another piece of taffy from the floor. “How about this one? What’s this flavor?”

“Oh my gosh! Just leave!” I snatched the taffy from his hand.

He shrugged. “I have nowhere to go, and this is going to take you at least another hour. Plus, it’s the least I can do after nearly killing you at the ripe old age of…” His voice trailed off as he looked at me with seductive eyes.

I felt myself flush as I looked away. “Eighteen. I’m eighteen.”

“Me too.”

“Congratulations, you’ve found common ground. Now we can get married.”

“Ah, the other one.” He snapped his fingers in the air and grinned.

“Huh?”

He unwrapped a piece of taffy. “The other sarcastic client Mrs. Murray had today. Thanks for that, by the way. By the time I got to her she had already had her fill of sarcasm for the day. And I ate an entire bowl of popcorn to keep myself from spilling all my feelings.”

“An entire bowl?” I divided the taffy into piles, so I could put them in the right buckets. “And you’re still hungry?” I pointed to the taffy he was unwrapping.

“Oh this.” He put the trash in his pocket and popped the taffy into his mouth. “I told my friend, Nat, that I’d stay clean, right?”

I nodded.

“So, I have this thing. Every day I stay clean, I try at least three new taffy flavors. Gives me something to look forward to and all that.”