All That Jazz (Butler Cove #1) Read online

  I let out a long suffering sigh. “Fine, I’ll stay. But only because I’m physically handicapped at this particular moment. Lifeguard training and housekeeping,” I added, by way of explanation.

  Paulie arched a bushy white eyebrow. “Coke coming right up. So how’s your ma? Heard she got a job over at Hilton Head Hospital.”

  “She did. She loves it. Working for Dr. Barrett. Joey Butler’s gonna intern with him too this summer.”

  “Oh yeah? I thought that boy was too high and mighty to stay down here with the likes of us.”

  I chuckled. “Me too. But I guess Nana’s getting older.”

  He put a tall glass of ice cold Coke in front of me.

  My mouth watered. “Thanks,” I said.

  “Very fond of that lady, I am. Her and her neighbor Mrs. Weaton kick my ass at Canasta every Wednesday. Though haven’t seen Mrs. Butler in a while.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be back soon enough. She hates to miss it.” Keri Ann exited the kitchen in my peripheral vision. I wrinkled my nose. “Your bar top is sticky,” I said loudly. “I guess you can’t get good help around here.”

  “I’m not allowed near the bar according to Paulie,” Keri answered untying her apron. “So don’t blame me.”

  Paulie pushed the dollar bill I’d put down back at me, and I blew him a kiss. “You’re not old enough to serve alcohol,” he said to Keri Ann. “You done for the day?”

  “Hector kicked me out of his kitchen. Said I was messing with his system. So yeah.”

  “Best employee I ever had that guy.”

  “Thanks,” Keri Ann muttered, pretending to be offended, and slid into a stool next to me. Paulie jetted a Coke into a glass for her too.

  “So,” she said to me as Paulie walked away from us farther down the bar.

  “So,” I said.

  “Haven’t heard how it went with Chase the other night.”

  I laid my forehead down on the wooden bar top that was actually spotlessly clean.

  “That bad, huh?” she asked.

  “Worse,” I grumbled. “I’m so not cut out for this. So I want him for casual sex, right? But I spend the whole time analyzing every douchey thing he says.” I lowered my voice. “Until the very last thing I want to do is get naked with him. Then I realize we don’t need to be compatible to do the dirty. In fact, it’s him who points out we’re just having fun. And I guess a beacon blared across my forehead because it was like he suddenly knew I was a virgin.” I glanced around making sure we were still alone. “Coz apparently,” I make air quotes, “he has a rule about that.”

  Keri Ann covered her mouth with her hand, half laughing. “Shit. How? Did you do something?”

  “We were kissing. But, like, is there a virginal kiss? I mean there was tongue. I was a … participant. What the hell?”

  “The only person I’ve kissed is Jasper, so who knows?”

  I shrugged. “He did say he wasn’t averse to me giving him a BJ though.”

  Keri Ann choked on her Coke. “Ouch,” she howled as the soda came out her nose. I winced in sympathy almost feeling the burn, my own laugh erupting.

  “That was big of him,” she said when she could finally breathe.

  “I guess I’ll never know how big,” I said stoically.

  WE RELOCATED TO Keri Ann’s house. Though how I made it, I have no idea. My body was finished. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be getting out of bed with any ease tomorrow morning.

  Nana was chatting with Mrs. Weaton in the kitchen, so we called hello as we headed up to Keri Ann’s room. I promptly collapsed on her bed.

  “I may never leave,” I wailed. “My body hurts so bad! Let me just stay here and read. Do you have any trashy mags? Of course you don’t. Ugh.” I massaged a kink in my neck. I hadn’t seen Joey’s truck earlier when we arrived and wondered where he was. For years I could ask any question about Joey, if I ever wanted to. Not that I had. But suddenly if I so much as thought about him I was paranoid my weird feelings would be written all over my face.

  “So have you decided what you want to do for your birthday?” Keri Ann asked.

  I stuffed her pillow under my chest and propped my chin on my hands. “Let’s just pretend our class party on the beach next Friday is my celebration. It’ll be my birthday at midnight.”

  The bedroom door crashed open and I jumped.

  “Joey,” Keri Ann yelped in surprise. “Dang it. Why do I have to knock on your door and you feel like it’s no big deal to come barging into mine?”

  I turned.

  Chest.

  It was all I could see. Skin.

  Blink. Blink, quickly. Shut eyes. I tried the command again.

  Nope.

  He was fresh out of the shower, cargo shorts and no shirt on, one hand rubbing a towel rapidly back and forth over his light brown hair, the water making it darker than usual. I’d never seen so much of his chest. Okay, I had. At the beach. But it was different there where you’re supposed to see it. Not when he was fresh from a shower and his shorts were not for swimming. And he was muscly. Not steroidal, but perhaps he’d lost his football bulk he’d had in high school and he was lean and cut and … ugh. What was I saying? He’d always had a good body. This was no different than seeing him my whole teenage life. It was just … I was different. I was seeing him differently.

  And. I. Hated. It.

  “Big brother privileges, I guess,” he shrugged with a smirk, answering whatever Keri Ann’s question was that I’d long since forgotten. Then he looked over at me with his steel blue eyes, his hair sticking up all over the place, his chin nodding up once. “Hey, sidekick.”

  You see? Like this shit. He was annoying as hell. The moment we moved toward having our own friendship he reminded me I was still just his little sister’s best friend.

  I kind of grunted at him, then turned away to look at the books on Keri Ann’s night table. Smooth.

  It was weird that I hadn’t told Keri Ann, but I kind of thought my weird crush on her brother, if that was what it was, would pass like a quick summer cold.

  The crush just hadn’t passed yet. It had kind of … gotten worse. I couldn’t figure out why. It’d be way easier to be all like, “Hey so, funny thing, I thought I had a crush on your brother, but it passed, so all’s good. Anyway.” But no.

  “There’s a bonfire and Shrimp Boil on the beach tonight to raise money for the Island Rec Center,” he said. “I’m offering you girls a ride if you’re coming.”

  “Another bonfire,” I muttered to Keri Ann. “Yay. People might think that’s all we do around here.”

  “It pretty much is.” Keri Ann lifted a lip in mock disgust. “Did you tell Nana?” Keri Ann asked Joey. “I think we’re all supposed to have dinner together.”

  “Yep. We’ll head out after if that’s okay. Eat light. I said I’d meet Courtney there.”

  Do not look at him, do not react. I looked back at the books with determination.

  “You two together now?” Keri Ann asked the question I wanted to. My ears perked up as I pulled open one of her books like it was the most interesting piece of literature I’d ever come across. I couldn’t have told you if I was holding it right side up.

  I risked a glance up and saw that Joey was watching my ham-handed attempt to pretend I was reading. I slid the book back onto the side table.

  “Nah, we’re just hanging out,” he said, a small furrow between his eyes. He slung the wet towel around his shoulders and his blue eyes skimmed over both of us with our cutoff jean shorts and tank tops and lingered on my ankle with it’s raggedy colored string I always keep tied around it. “Well, I’m leaving after we eat. With or without y’all. I told Courtney I’d meet her before eight.”

  I let out a small snort that I covered with a cough. “Scuse me.”

  “I’m trying to assure her,” Joey clarified, “that we are better as friends. It would be awesome if you guys were there,” he directed at me. I suddenly realized he didn’t know if I’d told Keri Ann about
the favor he’d asked of me.

  “So Jazz can pretend to be your girlfriend for the evening?” Keri Ann scowled, answering his unspoken question. “Can I just say? That is a pretty large favor, Joseph.”

  “I know,” he said, staring at me hard.

  I stared back.

  “Whatever,” he said. “Come or don’t come.” He turned and walked toward his room, leaving the door wide open behind him.

  “Grr,” my best friend growled after her brother’s exit.

  I concurred. Perhaps not exactly with the same sentiment behind it. And now I felt like I was lying to my best friend.

  “Well, I think I heard Nana say she was making chicken fried steak and potatoes tonight.” Keri Ann rubbed her annoyingly concave stomach.

  “Like I need anymore comfort food padding my bones,” I grumbled.

  She stepped in front of her dresser and grabbed a brush and began redoing her hair. “Your bones are absolutely perfect. Most girls would kill for your body and you know it.”

  “Not you though.”

  “Nah, I can do without the attention the guys give you. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.” She laughed.

  It was true, over the last year or so, I’d shot up another two inches, which had been perplexing and annoying as far as my jeans went. But suddenly my breasts, which I’d thought of as a bit on the large and cumbersome side and had been a source of embarrassment, fit my frame. They were now a source of pride. And attention. Though some days, like Keri Ann, I didn’t know what to do with that attention either.

  “What are you going to wear to the bonfire?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ll have time to go home and change.”

  Keri Ann looked down at her own clothes. “I guess we can just go like we are. So, are you okay?”

  “Yes, what makes you ask?”

  I looked at her. A thousand and one things flew through my head like what would Joey expect me to do at the bonfire in front of Courtney? I mean, did he plan to kiss me again?

  “I knew it,” Keri Ann exclaimed.

  “Know what?” I huffed, squinting even though I thought I knew exactly what she knew.

  “You have a crush on my brother.”

  I let out a long, low groan. What would be the point in denying it?

  “I’m sorry,” I whined and covered my face.

  “Oh my God. Serious?”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Mad? No. Surprised. I guess. He’s annoyed you since we were in fifth grade.” She sounded confused, yet amused.

  “I know.” My voice was still pitiful. I was talking with my hand slapped over my eyes because I couldn’t bear to look at her right then. “Is it weird? It’s weird, isn’t it? Oh God. I tried. I reaaaaally tried not to.”

  “WHAT ON EARTH is wrong with you?” Joey asked as I winced, and cringed, and moaned, climbing out of his truck in the beach parking lot. The sun had set, the air was warm on my bare legs.

  Keri Ann laughed. “A hard day’s work, that’s what.”

  “How did you do it, Joseph?” I asked. “This beach patrol thing. Lisa is a bear.”

  “Oh, she’s just hazing y’all. She’ll ease up by the next go round. I may have told her to work you all harder when I called her to see if there was room for you.”

  I glared at his teasing eyes and punched him on the arm. “Ow!” I yelped as pain ricocheted up my already tired arms. “Shit.”

  “Serves you right.” Joey chuckled. “You really shouldn’t hit people, Jessica.”

  “Oh my God, you two.” Keri Ann rolled her eyes. “You’re making me feel nauseous with your flirting.”

  Joey’s attention snapped to his sister, and a weird look crossed over his face. Had it just occurred to him that we were flirting? I guess it had to me too.

  I arranged my fingers so when he looked back at me I was giving him the bird. When he saw it, he shook his head.

  We headed to the boardwalk entrance where the Island Rec Center had set up a table to buy tickets to the bonfire. We each paid our couple of dollars, and then Joey bought three bowls for the all-you-can-eat Shrimp Boil.

  “We just ate, Joey.” Keri Ann scrunched up her nose.

  “It’s for a good cause. Plus Colt will eat whatever you don’t.”

  The boardwalk down to the beach and a large area of sand were both lined with flickering tiki torches. There was a small band set up all the way to the left with a guy playing a fiddle and another with a bass. A huge bonfire roared in a circle that had been marked off with wooden posts crisscrossed over each other like a large octagon. They had to have worked fast to set it up once the tide went out. There were kids roasting marshmallows at a smaller fire with parents, and about ten long rectangular tables were set up off to the right where people could peel and eat their shrimp.

  Keri Ann and I separated from Joey and headed over to see some friends we knew from school. Cooper was sitting on a cooler he told us was filled with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and by his giddy face I figured he’d already had several. I snuck a beer too, figuring it would probably act as a bit of a painkiller for my sore muscles. Keri Ann stuck to bottled water.

  My eyes wandered over to the tables several times once I’d caught sight of Courtney, Joey, and Colt standing together. Joey looked up and caught my eye, waving me over. I took a deep breath. Game time. I nudged Keri Ann. “Time to go play girlfriend to your brother. You coming?”

  “Holy shit,” she said. “I didn’t think about it before, but this is a real problem now that you have a crush on him.”

  “Will you stop saying it? When you say it, it sounds really real.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How do you feel when you see him?”

  “Sick,” I admitted.

  “That doesn’t sound fun.”

  “Well, look at his smug mug,” I nodded in his direction, “lapping the attention up from his stalker. Of course it makes me feel sick.”

  “That’s not what you meant, and I know it.” She laughed.

  “Why are you so cool with this?” I blew out a pent up breath. “It can only crash and burn into Awkwardville, and you’ll be the one who has to live with the two of us.”

  “Why do you think it will crash and burn?”

  My stomach lurched. “Um. Okay. Now you’re being weird.”

  “He keeps looking at you. And frankly, naive though it may be, I think I’d like nothing more than my brother to end up with my best friend.”

  “What in the actual fudge?” I whispered so forcefully, I squeaked. “Did you seriously just say that?”

  Keri Ann shrugged. “Yep.”

  “Excuse me, but I think I need to go vomit up this beer.”

  “You’re starting to offend me. This is my brother we’re talking about.”

  “I know. Shit. I know.”

  “I’m kidding. Not about you ending up together but about being offended. Personally I’m strapping in for the ride. I should’ve made popcorn. C’mon.”

  She stood and pulled me up. My legs did feel better after the beer. Cool. Not letting go of my hand, Keri Ann led me across the sand toward the tables. I tried not to look up, but I could feel Joey watching our approach. Okay, I could do this. What would his girlfriend do?

  I took a breath and smiled, looking up to meet his eyes. He held my stare, silently asking me if I was going to blow his cover? Or just looking at me? His eyes were dark in the firelight. My heart beat wildly, and adrenaline flooded my body. “Hi guys,” I chirped. “Colton. Good to see you.” I immediately shifted my attention to Joey’s friend.

  Colt gave Keri Ann and I brief hugs. “You too.”

  “Courtney, nice to see you again,” I told her.

  She smiled at me, the expression not quite reaching her eyes, and stepped marginally closer to Joseph. “Hi,” she said. Then she turned to Keri Ann. “Oh my God, it’s so nice to see you. You look so amazing! You’re so pretty! I can’t believe how much you’ve grown up. I’m so s
orry I didn’t get to say hi the other day. Joey and I were having a really good talk, you know?” She flicked her hair.

  “No problem,” Keri Ann returned, a little shell shocked by the girl’s enthusiasm.

  I sucked my lips together to contain my reaction.

  “Hey, babe,” Joey said to me, then his hand snaked around my waist and hauled me up against his side. He dropped his face to my cheek and kissed me. The rough texture of his jaw and warm breath detonated goose bumps across my skin. “Thank you,” he whispered in my ear.

  I nodded dumbly.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I could feel Courtney watching us, so I tried not to blow Joey’s cover by looking too unfamiliar with his touch.

  He caught sight of the skin on my arm. “Cold?” He smirked.

  I glared at him. “I guess so,” I muttered.

  He leaned in again. “Thinking of our kiss though, I bet,” he whispered in my ear again. “I am.”

  He released me.

  “Actually I was thinking about Chase,” I snapped under my breath so only he could hear.

  We stared at each other.

  Then he busied himself with peeling a shrimp. I watched him as he slipped his finger along the body of the shrimp, prying it open. Then he peeled the shell off, dipped it in the bowl of red cocktail sauce, and popped it in his mouth. He went to work on another. Instead of eating this one himself, he held it out to me. I hesitated a split second, then grabbed his hand and brought it close, closing my mouth over the shrimp. “Mmmm,” I murmured. “Thanks.”

  Joey cleared his throat. “You’re welcome.”

  Around us I heard Colton and Keri Ann taking turns chatting to Courtney, keeping her occupied. There were a lot of “So, Courtneys.”

  “Are you seeing him tonight?” Joey asked, his voice tight.

  To lie or not to lie. It seemed I was pretty indiscriminate with what I lied to Joey about these days.

  I took too long to answer. Courtney was back in our faces. I thought I could use another beer. “I’ll be right back,” I said to the group.

  “Don’t be too long, babe,” Joey sang. “I’ll miss you.”

  I fake smiled, discreetly bugging my eyes at Keri Ann, then hurried over to Cooper. “I need another PBR,” I told him. “And a coozie to hide it.”