America's Geekheart (Bro Code #2)(14)

And that my life can go back to normal very, very soon.

He and Charlie reclaim their electronics from my living room and head out, but not before Beck looks back at me one more time, studying me with gravely serious eyes that make my pulse kick up and my breasts tingle before his easy grin comes back. “Thank you. Again.”

He looks like he wants to say something else, but Charlie nudges him, and they depart, leaving Mackenzie and me alone again to rewind my DVR and catch up on the game. Meda spies on us from her hidey-hole in the cat tower next to my bookshelves of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books, and I act like we didn’t just see an underwear model out the door while I try to figure out how to just toss out Hey, Mackenzie, funny story about my childhood and utterly fail.

Yep.

Life’s going back to normal.





Seven





Sarah



The parking lot at the nature center is fuller than normal when I arrive for Sunday morning clean-up. Mackenzie and I volunteer here once a month to help pick up trash, repair trail signs, and do anything else the little preserve in the Belmont district of the city needs. I head toward the small cabin that serves as both ranger station and mini-museum for visitors to learn about the animals that live in the city, and someone calls my name.

“Sarah! Sarah, right?”

I nod at the perky woman approaching in a Belmont Nature Preserve T-shirt.

“How much did Beck Ryder pay you to do that video?” she whispers.

I open my mouth.

Then shut it.

Because I haven’t posted the video.

I haven’t even opened Twitter since yesterday morning, mostly because Mackenzie talked me out of it during my three minutes of weakness when I wanted to.

“Back up, Tricia,” Mackenzie says, sidestepping the woman to link her arm through mine. “Betcha I pick up the most trash.”

“How did he post the video?” I whisper. “I just sent the contract back an hour ago, and I didn’t post it yet.”

Her lips twitch, and she points a shaky finger at a tree, clearly trying to distract me. “Look! Do you think the baby robins have left the nest yet?”

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“You were going to edit the video,” she whispers.

“Mackenzie!”

“And you didn’t do it for the money,” she adds as I yank her off the main trail and into a small alcove that’s not nearly private enough.

“Mackenzie.”

My phone buzzes. I yank it out, and there’s a message from Ellie.

Hey, Beck here, borrowing E’s phone. Thanks for the trust. I’m re-tweeting the video now. Will send receipts for the donations ASAP.

My chest buzzes.

My feet go lightheaded.

Swear to god, they do.

I was supposed to have another few hours to call my parents, who probably aren’t even up yet in California.

“I have to tell you—” I start, but Adriana, the center’s manager, rushes from the cabin to hug me.

“Sarah! Oh, Sarah, why didn’t you tell us you were dating Beck Ryder?”

“I—we—we’re friends,” I babble.

That’s what the contract said to say.

Kind of.

Both parties agree to refrain from speaking negatively of the other, or from starting rumors, blah blah blah.

Okay, fine. We’re friends is the standard Hollywood code for we want you to wonder what we actually are.

“So it was just a joke? That tweet about having babies but not with him?”

“Sarah! Was that you?”

“Sarah! @must_love_bees Sarah?”

“Oh my god! Sarah! You two are adorable!”

“I think your boyfriend owes you security,” Mackenzie whispers.

I look at Adriana. “I have to—”

“Tell me everything,” she says.

“—make a phone call,” I finish.

There are usually a dozen volunteers, and at least half of them change every month.

But I swear there are almost fifty people here, and most of them are gathering around us.

“Great message about the honeybees,” one of the regular volunteers tells me.

“I looked it up, and you were right about the giraffes being endangered,” a guy says. “But not all giraffes. Just three species. The rest of the giraffes are only vulnerable. You should’ve—ow.”

“Stop being an ass,” the woman next to him hisses. She rolls her eyes at me. “And you shouldn’t have let Ryder off that easy. He’s what’s wrong with the world.”

“You guys. Give Sarah some breathing room.” Mackenzie leaps in front of me and holds her arms wide. “Are we here to be gossips, or are we here to help make the world a better place? Go on. You. Shoo. Get to work. You too. The trash isn’t going to pick itself up. And did a single one of you mention that the Fireballs won last night? What’s wrong with you?”

The crowd breaks up, and of course, now I should’ve brought my sweatshirt, sunglasses, and hat.

But no one’s talking about my parents.

So apparently no one recognized me.

I’m sagging with relief while I steal Mackenzie’s hat and sunglasses, because she owes me this much. “I’m going home,” I tell Adriana. “I’m so sorry, but I think I’m more of a hindrance than a help.”