Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(65)

A pounding on the front door had Mom’s heels stopping, and I set my ice-cream tub down, about to restart the game, finally, when a high-pitched voice had my whole body stilling.

I moved to my bedroom door so I could hear better.

“He hasn’t been here,” I heard Mom say.

“You’re lying; he’s always here. It’s like his second home or something.” May made a sniffing sound, and I could picture her nose in the air as she peered down it at our tiny foyer. “I just want to know if he’s okay.”

Mom repeated herself. “He isn’t here, and he hasn’t been for a few days.”

May was quiet a moment. “Well, where’s Peggy? Does she know?”

“What’s wrong? He hasn’t been home?” Mom asked.

May huffed. “If he had, I wouldn’t be subjecting myself to this.”

A short burst of laughter from Mom. “Goodbye, May.”

“Wait,” May said in a rush. “He hasn’t been home since Sunday morning. It’s not like him to be gone for longer than a night. His fucking cat gets anxious.”

Church did get anxious. He’d usually only eat when Dash was home. Still, I couldn’t make myself move. Where had he gone?

“Have you notified the police?” Mom asked.

May didn’t sound like she liked the sound of that. “No, Mikael said he’s just throwing a tantrum, and that we’d only make an unnecessary fuss by acknowledging it.” It was like May to make a fuss but not like this.

“Yet you’re worried,” Mom said.

May said nothing for a long moment. “Let me know if you see him.” Belatedly, she tacked on, “Please.”

Mom must have nodded because then the door shut, and I walked down the hall to peer through the living room curtains as May pulled away from the curb in her pearl white Mercedes.

“You haven’t heard from him?” Mom prodded behind me. “At all?”

I let the curtain fall. “No. Nothing.”





“Yeah, girl! Shake it.”

I swung my hips faster, the black dress I’d stolen from Mom’s closet swishing around my hips, flashing a little too much thigh.

I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything as I kept swigging from the bottle of vodka in my hand, and dancing over the sand.

“Fuck off, Tenterson,” Daphne said, kicking sand at him.

He raised his hands as he backed up. “Hey, she’s dancing of her own accord. I’m just here to watch.”

As were the other five guys creeping closer with drinks in hand. The music coming from the tiny speaker was loud enough to surround half the bay, and I was surprised any of us could hear a thing, let alone talk.

I didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to forget, and it’d occurred to me late Wednesday night when I’d found a half-emptied bottle of wine on the counter that Mom and Phil had shared, that alcohol was probably good for that.

I’d finished it, blamed its disappearance on Phil when he’d left for work the next morning after spending the night, and then made plans to get my hands on more. A hangover was worth it. Anything was worth being able to shut out the memories that kept me from sleeping. From smiling.

He’d taken enough from me, and I wouldn’t let him take any more.

“Whoa, baby. I never knew she had hips, let alone knew how to shake ’em,” a masculine voiced called.

My hips slowing, I narrowed my eyes at the voice, then crooked a finger. He’d do. There was something to be said about seeking distraction with another human being, and I felt that rush as Danny approached. Felt it sweep through me like a drug wrapped in promise.

Maybe I couldn’t do what Dash had done to me, but I didn’t need to go that far to aid in my quest of distraction and forgetting.

His hands hit my waist, and his breath stank of beer as he lowered his head, his hands squeezing. “You smell good for a drunken dancer,” he said.

“And if I didn’t?” I purred, unsure if I was successful but not caring.

The timbre to his voice changed, became rougher, as he rushed out, “I probably wouldn’t care. Just looking at you is making me hard.”

Game, set, and match. I grabbed his face, my body and lips swaying into his, and then he was pulled away. “Hey, what the fuck?”

“Go prey on someone who’s not trashed out of their minds,” Raven said, shoving Danny away when he made to move back to me.

Danny looked at me, and I winked, taking another drink from the glass bottle in my hand. It burned going down, but it was a nice match to the one residing in my chest. “Come find me later, Peggy.”

I probably wouldn’t, but I smiled anyway and ignored the glare Raven was sending me. “Pegs,” he said, plucking the bottle from my hand. He turned to Daphne, but she was ready, hands on her hips and her arched brow daring him to say something to her.

He turned to me. “What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?” I said, laughing as I tried to yank the bottle back from him.

He tucked it behind his back. “It looks like you’re drunk as hell and acting nothing like you usually would.”

I jumped, trying to reach it when he raised it over his head. “Dang it, you’re too tall. Just give it back; it’s not funny anymore.”