About the Author
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Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA TODAY,
and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach,
Field Party, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A
devoted book lover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama. She
maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be
found at Facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlinesBooks.com.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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While It Lasts
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Chapter One
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Eighteen months later . . .
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CAGE
“Thanks for giving me a ride,” I said, reaching for my duffel bag
holding my entire summer wardrobe.
“I did it for Low,” Marcus Hardy reminded me for the second time.
My best friend, Willow, was a chick—a smoking-hot chick. Marcus,
her fiancé, was an elitist ass at times, but I dealt with him.
Had to if I wanted to keep Low in my life. All that mattered was
that he understood that Low walked on fucking water. As long as
he kept that in mind and treated her as such, I could live with
the prick.
“I never questioned that,” I replied with a smirk, pulling the
straps of my bag up onto my shoulder. Turning my attention from
Marcus, I looked at the large white-and-tan farmhouse in front of
me. It was surrounded by miles and miles of green grass, trees,
and a helluva lot of cows—my purgatory for the entire summer.
Glancing back at Marcus, I nodded and started to close the door.
I knew he was ready to get back to Sea Breeze, where Low was
waiting on him. No one wanted to be stuck in this fucking cow
town.
“Cage. Wait,” Marcus called out before I could completely close
the truck door. Slowly, I opened it back up and arched an eyebrow
in question. What else could Marcus want with me? He’d barely
spoken to me on the hour’s ride up here.
“Don’t screw this up, okay? Stay sober. Don’t drive a car until
you get your license back, and try not to piss off your coach’s
brother. Your future is riding on this summer, and you’re
upsetting Low. I don’t want her worried about you. Think about
someone other than yourself for a change.” Well, hell, I’d just
got a parental lecture from Marcus fucking Hardy. Wasn’t that
sweet?
“I know what happens if I screw things up, Marcus. Thanks for the
reminder, though.” I let the sarcasm drip from my voice.
Marcus frowned and started to say something more before just
shaking his head and putting his truck in reverse. Conversation
over. Good. The guy should learn to mind his own damn business.
I slammed the door and turned my attention back to the house
while Marcus’s tires spun out of the gravel drive. Guess I’d
better go meet my warden for the rest of the summer and get this
party started. All I had to do was make this guy happy. I’d take
care of his cows and do manual labor for two and a half months,
and then my coach wouldn’t kick my ass off the baseball team. The
DUI he’d had to bail me out of jail for would be forgotten and my
baseball scholarship would remain intact. I only had three
problems with this plan:
1. No girls.
2. I hated manual labor.
3. No girls.
Other than that, this wasn’t all that bad. I’d get Sundays off.
I’d just have to get my fill of sexy little sorority girls in
tiny bikinis on Sundays. I reached the front door of the house.
The wraparound porch was pretty damn nice. I wasn’t into the farm
thing, but this place wasn’t half bad. I bet the bedrooms were a
nice size.
“You must be the fella Wilson hired for the summer.” A guy in a
pair of faded jeans and some worn-looking, badass boots started
up the steps of the porch. He was smiling like he was really glad
to see me. Must be the guy’s son. I’d be shoveling hay and cow
shit all summer instead of him. Bet he liked me a lot.
“Yeah,” I replied, “Cage York. Coach Mack sent me.”
The guy grinned and nodded, sticking both his hands into his
front pockets. All he needed was a damn piece of straw hanging
out of his mouth to look like every stereotypical country boy.
“Ah, that’s right. I heard about you. DUI. Man, that sucks.
’Specially since Wilson is a damn slave driver. My brother and I
worked many a summer for him through high school. I swear you’ll
never drink and drive again.”
Guess he wasn’t the old man’s kid after all. Nodding, I turned to
knock on the door.
“Wilson ain’t back from the stockyard yet. He’ll be here in ’bout
an hour.” The guy held out his hand. “I’m Jeremy Beasley, by the
way. I reckon we’ll see enough of each other over the summer,
seeing as I’m the next-door neighbor. And, well, then there is
Eva.” He stopped and his eyes shifted from me to the door. I
started to ask him who Eva was when I followed his gaze to find
the light at the end of the tunnel standing in the doorway.
Long brown hair that curled loosely was draped over one bare
shoulder. The clearest blue eyes I’d ever seen, framed by long,
thick black eyelashes and full red lips, completed the perfect
masterpiece of her face. My gaze slowly traveled south to take in
smooth, tanned skin that was barely covered by a bikini top and a
pair of tiny shorts that hung on her narrow hips. Then legs. Legs
for miles and miles until two small bare feet with red toenails
finished the fucking ridiculously perfect package in front of me.
Damn. Maybe I should have come out to the country more often. I
didn’t realize they grew girls like this out here.
“Eva, you aren’t ready yet? I thought we were going to make the
six thirty show,” Jeremy said from behind me. Ah, hell no. Surely
not. This goddess was with that guy? I brought my eyes back up to
her face to find her blue eyes staring directly at me. They
really were the bluest damn eyes I’d ever seen.
“Who are you?” The icy tone to her voice confused me.
“Down, girl. Play nice, Eva. This is the guy your daddy has
helping him this summer.” Her eyes flashed something that looked
like disgust. Really? I’d seen that look in a girl’s eyes, but
never before I’d used her and then tossed her. Interesting.
“You’re the drunk,” she stated.
It wasn’t a question. So I didn’t reply. Instead I flashed her a
smile that I knew affected any female’s panties and took a step
toward her. “I got a lot of names, baby,” I finally responded.
Her eyebrows arched, and she straightened her stance and me
the coldest glare I’d ever witnessed. What was this chick’s deal?
“I’m sure you do. Let me guess: STD, Loser, Jackass, and Drunk,
just to name a few,” she clipped, stepping out of the door and
slamming it behind her. She swung her gaze to Jeremy, who I could
have sworn just chuckled.
“I can’t make the movie, Jer. I need you to ride over to Mrs.
Mabel’s with me and help me get her well working again. It needs
to be primed.”
“Again?”
“Yes, again. She really needs a new one.”
Eva walked past me, grabbed Jeremy’s arm, and pulled him toward
the stairs. Apparently, I had been dismissed.
“Has your dad called her boys yet? They need to get their asses
down here and help their momma,” Jeremy said as they started
walking away without a backward glance.
What the hell? Who just walks off and leaves a guy standing on
their porch without a word? She was one insanely gorgeous but
crazy-ass bitch.
“Hey, do I just go inside?” I called out.
Eva stopped and spun around. The same disgusted expression was on
her face as before. “The house? Uh, no,” she replied with a shake
of her head like I was crazy. She lifted her hand and pointed
toward the two-story red barn that was located back behind the
house. “Your room is in the back of the barn. It has a bed and a
shower.”
Well, wasn’t that just fucking fantastic . . . ?
EVA
I hated guys like Cage. Life was a joke to him. There was no
doubt in my mind that females of all ages drooled at his feet. He
was y, alive, and throwing it all away like it was a game.
“Pull in the claws, sweetheart. You got your point across. He
won’t come sniffing ’round you again.” Jeremy reached over and
squeezed my leg gently, then turned on the radio.
“He’s a jerk,” I said through clenched teeth.
Jeremy let out a low laugh and shifted in his seat. I knew he was
deciding on how to respond to me. The only other person who had
known me as well as or better than Jeremy did was Josh—his twin
brother and my fiancé. We’d all grown up together. Jeremy had
always been the odd one out, but Josh and I had done our best to
include him as much as possible.
When Josh had been killed by a bomb just north of Baghdad
eighteen months ago, the only person I could stand to have near
me had been Jeremy. Josh and Jeremy’s momma said it was because
Jeremy was the only one I felt could understand my grief. In a
way, we’d both lost our other half.
“And how’d you get that outta the brief conversation we just had
with him? Seemed like a nice guy to me.” Jeremy was always
optimistic. He always saw the best in people. It was up to me to
keep people from taking advantage of his trusting spirit. Josh
wasn’t here to do that anymore.
“He’s here because he was drinking and driving, Jer. That isn’t
exactly a small offense. He could have hit a family. He could
have killed someone’s kid. He’s a selfish loser.” Who really was
too good-looking to be real. I’d have to get over that, though.
His pretty face wouldn’t get to me.
“Eva, lots of people drink and drive a little. He probably was
just going a short distance from the bar to his house. I doubt he
was on a road trip. Probably just had a couple of s.”
Sweet Jeremy. Bless his heart, he had no idea how depraved some
people were. It was one of the things I loved about him. I
happened to know Cage York was lit up like the Fourth of July
when he had been pulled over. I’d heard Uncle Mack talk about
what a thug he was and how the only thing he ever took seriously
was baseball.
“Trust me, Jer, that guy is trouble.”
Jeremy didn’t respond. He leaned his elbow on the open window and
let the warm breeze cool him down. The inside of Daddy’s farm
truck was smoldering hot this time of year, but it was the only
vehicle I’d drive. My vehicle sat in the garage, untouched. I
couldn’t bring myself to drive it, and I couldn’t bring myself to
get rid of it. The pretty silver Jeep that Daddy had bought me
hadn’t been driven since I’d gotten the call from Josh’s momma
telling me he’d been killed. Josh had proposed to me in that
Jeep, overlooking Hollows Grove. Then he’d turned the music up on
the radio and we’d gotten out and danced under the stars. I
hadn’t laid eyes on it in a year and a half. Instead I drove the
farm truck. It was just easier.
“Eva?” Jeremy asked, breaking into my memories. He always seemed
to know when I needed someone to stop me from remembering.
“Yeah?”
“You know I love you, right?”
Tensing, I gripped the steering wheel tightly. When Jeremy
started with something like that, I never liked what he was going
to say next. Last time he’d asked me that, the next thing he’d
said was that I should really start driving my Jeep again because
Josh would want me to.
“Don’t, Jer,” I replied.
“It’s time to take the ring off, Eva.”
My hands stung from the death grip I had on the worn steering
wheel. The gold band on my finger dug into my skin, reminding me
it was there. I’d never taken it off. I never would.
“Jeremy, don’t.”
He let out a long, heavy sigh and shook his head. I waited
patiently for him to say more and was so thankful when we pulled
into Mrs. Mabel’s. I all but jumped out of the truck before it
came to a complete stop in my determination to get away from him
before he could say anything else. The engagement ring Josh had
put on my finger couldn’t be removed. It would be as if I was
forgetting him. Like I was moving on and leaving him behind. I’d
never leave him behind.
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