, and I internally swore.

She was just as gorgeous as last night, but her eyes looked worn, exhausted. The confident, dazzling girl I'd met at the gala was miles away. That girl was only a part of Collins Bryant.

"You're hiding from me," I said plainly.

"No shit."

Collins tried to push past me, but I stepped in her way. And then I went even further and stepped her back into the bathroom. Her gaze widened, and I saw something flash in them when I pressed her against the sink—something I tried damn hard to ignore.

Retreating to give her space, I leaned back. "It doesn't have to be like this."

She bristled, raising a brow, and I knew I had my work cut out to convince her.

Luckily, I had nothing else to do today.

—

I was overly eager for this week. Seven whole days on the beach with Collins running around in the bikini I'd bought for her last weekend? Sign me the fuck up.

It was red. It was stringy. It was going to test my sanity, and I couldn't wait.

With the winter season officially over, it was time to move on to sun, sand, and spring. I'd skipped the final snow club competition, feigning that my twisted knee still bothered me from my last run. Whether or not Professor Evans thought I was fucking around, I couldn't tell. He gave me a pep talk about not taking my losses to heart, which I supposed I should have expected considering how shitty I did last time.

Of course, it had nothing to do with losing and everything to do with what had happened when I'd left town, and Mr. Colorado stepped in. Plus, I wasn't in the mood to get ambushed by Cato again.

Now that we were dating, I would have loved to bring Collins back to Mammoth Lakes, but I guessed that would have to wait until next season. Oh, well. I'd add it to my list of shit to look forward to—the running tally of all the places I wanted to bring her.

"I texted you the key code to get into the house if you get there before us," I said, sidling up to Bren in his convertible. Madie sat in the passenger seat, her converse-covered feet propped up on the dash and one arm hanging out the window. I smiled at how eager she looked—almost as eager as me. "You'll probably get there before us. I still have to wait for Grayson to get his ass over here and then we're picking Collins up from campus."

Bren side-eyed Madie and then flicked his sunglasses down. "Well, we might make a stop or two on the way."

I made the smart decision not to ask too many questions about that.

"Sounds good, man. Safe travels." I patted his car door. "Hope this thing makes it there."

Though I couldn't see it, I assumed that Bren rolled his eyes at me behind his sunglasses. Chuckling, I began to turn away, but he called after me before I could get too far.

"Hold up, man."

"Yeah?"

"I heard from Denver."

It felt like a wave had knocked me over, pulled me under, and spat me back out. I'd been hoping to hear those words from Bren for a while, but hearing them on today of all days? I didn't love the timing.

"What did he say?"

Bren's lips twisted wryly. "Basically that the Bailey family can be paid off after all."

Well, would ya look at that.

"Not surprised," I muttered, rocking up on my feet from the excitement of finally getting Collins out of this mess. "From what I've been able to tell, business hasn't exactly been booming for them."

Bren nodded, but he tapped his fingers on his car door like he was tentative to agree fully.

"Well, this is good," I said with a note of finality. I wasn't going to let Mr. Moody talk me out of this. "I'll work on getting something in writing."

"Don't get too excited," Bren said, lowering his voice. "The amount they want... it's high, Beau."

Given that they were greedy, self-centered bastards, that didn't exactly surprise me.

"Figured it would be. How high?"

"Seven digits high."

I blew out of a stream of air. "Not eight, though?"

"Not eight."

"That's good. I don't think I'd be able to make eight work."

Bren shook his head like he couldn't believe what I was saying. I could barely believe it, either. It would deplete me, for sure. But my gut told me it was worth it.

"We could probably negotiate. Don't you think?" I cocked my head in thought. "They wouldn't agree to this if they weren't fucking desperate."

Like goddamn penguins surrounded by a pod of orcas, the Bailey family was probably sweating it. And that was fine by me.

"True," Bren agreed, glancing over at Madie. She was looking the other way and pretending not to hear our conversation. I wished she hadn't heard it at all, but the likeliness that Bren hadn't clued her in about the situation was...slim.

"Okay," I said with a distinct, final nod. "Let Colorado Springs know that I'll get back to him soon."

Bren nodded back before pulling out from the curb in front of our apartment.

****

"Look at my pretty painter, hard at work."

Collin whirled around so fast I thought I saw some paint fly off her brush. After shrieking my name, she cried out, "You can't be here," and deliberately stepped in front of the canvas she was working on.

Curiosity and suspicion swirled in my gut. I took a meaningful step forward, ignoring her outstretched hand trying to shoo me away. "It's four o'clock, baby girl," I said with a chuckle. "That's when I said I was picking you up. Your bags are in the car."

She gasped, spinning back around to grab her phone to check the time—as if she didn't believe me. "Already?"

"Yes, ma'am." I leaned against the paint-covered tabletop that I'd almost fucked Collins against that one day after she kissed me like she wanted exactly that. "Nessa and Grayson are in the car, so we gotta hurry before he takes her pants off in my Range Rover."

Collins rushed to untie her smock, and I used the distraction to peek around her at the canvas. I shouldn't have. Like I really shouldn't have when she clearly didn't want me to look. But my curiosity was like an itch I needed to scratch. And what I saw floored me.

"Is that...?"

After jumping back in front of her easel, Collins tried to spread herself out so I wouldn't see it. If I weren't so flabbergasted, I would've laughed. Baby girl was way too tiny to block that whole canvas, especially now that I realized what I was looking at.

"That's me," I murmured, pushing her gently out of the way. The colors were bright, vibrant, arranged abstractly around my portrait. I was laughing, my eyes looking away at something. Happiness and complexity mirrored each other on the canvas. "Is that me?"

Collins sighed and threw her brushes into the water, which splashed up dramatically. "Yes, it's you. But you weren't supposed to see it yet. I was going to show it to you at the spring exposition if you came."

"If I came?" I repeated, still captured by what she'd created. "Of course I'm coming."

"I wanted it to be a surprise or something," she said softly, and I tore my eyes away from the portrait to look at her. "Okay, maybe it was more that I didn't want you to see it when it was only half done. And I knew if I told you...well, you would make me show you."

"You're probably right." I shrugged, still in a state of semi-shock. "Is this...no, you were drawing then. Not painting."

"You mean when you modeled for me?"

I nodded.

"I was never able to finish that piece since we were...interrupted."

I cringed. That was my fault. My shit had not been together back then, not even enough for Collins to look at me for more than a few minutes.

"But I used what I had from that day as inspiration for this," she added.

"It's—" I floundered, trying to find the words. "Is it conceited to say it's beautiful? I mean, it's not me that's beautiful. It's—"

"Beau, you don't—"

"No, seriously. Baby, this is amazing. It's incredible. You make me look incredible. Okay, maybe that is a little conceited, but it really is so—"

"Beau, stop." Collins went as far as to step forward and slap her hand over my mouth. "I—I don't know what to say, but it's not conceited. I'm..." She looked away, suddenly shy. "I'm glad you like it. So far. Remember, it's not done."

"It sure looks done."

She shook her head. "No, it needs some few finishing touches still."

I kissed the top of her head. "Well, I can't wait to see it at the exposition."

That made Collins smile secretly as she hurried around the art studio, cleaning up. I watched the warm, hopeful look on her face, wondering why she made it seem so foreign to have someone commit to being there for her. Maybe it was because she was friends with people like Tuscon in high school, who obviously didn't give a shit about anyone but themselves. Or maybe because her dad had been gone a lot, given his active role in the military. Who knew what it was—but I was going to fix it.

A few minutes later, I got in my car to find Nessa and Grayson making out in the back of it. It didn't get more typical than that.

"Jesus Christ." I slapped a hand over my face. "My eyes."

"What's wrong with them?" Nessa laughed as I heard them shuffling around in the back seat.

"They're burning," I groaned.

"Guess I'll have to drive us to Malibu, then," Grayson said, his deep voice smoothly cutting into the conversation.

A scoff. "I don't think so."

Nessa sighed, exasperated. "You can look now, you drama queen."

Another car door opened, and I heard Collins giggle. Ah, that sound. Ain't nothing sweeter. My chest tightened, almost as tight as when she accidentally told me she loved me. Well, she loved me and the car. She hadn't meant to say it, and she almost took it back before I shut her up with a kiss because I'd wanted to pretend it was real. God, I hoped it was real.

It was real for me.

"Are your pants on, Nes?"

"I never took them off."

I dropped my hands, raising my brows. "I wasn't worried that you'd take them off." I pointed to Grayson. "Him, though..."

Grayson put his hands up in mock defense, palms facing forward. "I never would have risked peeling jeans off in a time crunch. I mean, maybe if you'd told us how long you would be gone...."

Wrinkling my nose, I said, "Just for that, I'm never leaving you unattended in my car again."

"Grayson," Nessa whined, "he's talking to us like we're children."

"I know." Grayson leaned back in his seat. "And just for that, I'm going to ask if we're there yet every fifteen minutes until we reach Malibu."

A glance over at Collins told me she was enjoying this far too much. "I think we should have rode separately," I muttered.

"Nonsense." She waved the thought away. "That would have been a waste of gas."

Of course. Practicality at its finest.

After everyone had buckled their seat belts and the backseat love birds assured me all clothes were on, I pulled out of the campus parking lot. I couldn't have been more ready to be done with school for a while. Usually, I didn't let the stress of midterms get to me because, to be honest, I was fine with coasting through with a less than perfect grade point average. But currently, I was taking an accounting course that was kicking my ass. And I wanted to spend spring break without looking at a single spreadsheet.

Excel? Don't know her.

And yes, Excel is, without a doubt, a woman. She's a beautiful creature, but you've gotta know what buttons to press. What the best combinations are. How to treat her right. Did I sweet talk to my computer every night for the last week? Absolutely. Collins probably worried I was cheating on her. But give those spreadsheets a little love and care, and Excel makes the world go round.

"Shit," Grayson swore. "Beau, stop."

I scowled. "What do you mean stop? We just left."

I was in the process of merging onto the highway, where I planned to stay for at least the next hour and a half.

"I mean, I forgot something."

"What did you forget?"

"Drinks."

"We loaded up on booze last night." My eyes flicked to his steely ones in the rearview mirror. "You were there, Grayson. Remember? We were at your house, and Julian FaceTimed me from the liquor store so I could make sure he didn't buy us piss water."

Football boy rubbed his jaw. "Yeah, in retrospect, I feel like that was a terrible idea, by the way. Nothing says I'm buying for minors like FaceTiming said minors while at the liquor store and having one of them shout FOR FUCK'S SAKE NOT BUD LIGHT."

"Did he get caught?" I shot back. "No."

"I'm just saying." Chuckling, Grayson leaned forward, resting one elbow on the corner of my seat and the other on Collins'.

"Did you take your seatbelt off?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "I wanted to show you the exit you need to take."

I elbowed him. "Put your seatbelt on, you giant man-child."

"I played division one sports with a heart condition," Grayson said, leaning back obediently, though not without a wry smile. "Living on the edge is my style, Beau."

A muffled ow sounded next, and Grayson fell quiet. I saw Nessa scowling at Grayson in the rearview mirror—concern in her eyes. Yeah, he'd be paying for that one. He'd activated protective Nessa, the only Nessa I was absolutely terrified of.

"Put your seatbelt on," she hissed, and he slowly stretched the belt back over his chest.

"Anyway," Grayson said, rubbing the spot on his shoulder where Nessa had smacked him. "Take this exit right here."

"Where are we going?" I asked with a sigh, flicking on my blinker and resigning to the fact that we were stopping within the first ten minutes of our road trip.

Grayson pointed to the drive-through of a coffee shop.

"Adler needs her caramel macchiato."

✨

a few people asked me, and I think it's

very fitting for a first look

back at the beach!

xoxo Amelie