The Naked Truth (The Honeybrook Hamdens Book 1) (4 page)

"I understand." He took another step toward her and she held her breath, closing her eyes for a moment before swallowing hard and focusing on him again.

She couldn't deny that she'd wondered what he might have said that night on the ledge. Probably something suave and charming. Something to make her laugh despite herself. That was what he did.

And that was why she hadn't let him.

Not that time.

And maybe not this time, either.

* * *

T
his was his chance
.

In all the years since the last time he'd seen her, he'd imagined this moment. Though, in truth, he'd imagined that he'd be looking at the young, sweet girl she'd been then. Back then, her lip had quivered when she'd closed the window. Her eyes had been wide and thoughtful. The sorrow in them had pained him.

But now? With her arms crossed over her ample breasts, her bright blue eyes narrowed into icy slits? He didn't know what to do.

But he knew he had to try.

"That night was special to me."

She raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"It was wrong, but it was special."

"How was it wrong?"

"You were my best friend's sister. I shouldn't have--"

"I wasn't just your best friend's sister. I was your friend, too. How was that less important?"

"I betrayed Luke. I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't have been with you, Jules. I wanted to. I... You don't know how often I still think about it." For a year, he'd tried to come up with ways to tell his best friend how he felt. Like, maybe if he went about it just the right way, things wouldn't result in all-out war. And maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t destroy his entire relationship with her family—
his
family—if things went south.

But in the end? There was simply no way around it. The Hamdens were all he had, all he’d ever had, and to take a risk on Julie, when she was only 18 and he just a couple years older? There was no way two people so young could have made it work. And even if they had…

She deserved better.

It had been an agony, but he’d had to give it up. It was the right thing to do.

Julie had been better off for it, even if she still didn't realize it.

"I don't care how often you think about it," Julie said almost too quietly to hear. But when he did hear it, he knew it was a lie. "Make whatever stupid excuses you want. I'm sure you've justified it to yourself five ways from Sunday. You know what I’d really love to hear? An apology."

"I won't apologize for that summer.” He couldn't. Even in the years that had passed since, those had been the best nights of his life, just him and Julie alone in the woods.

He’d tried for so long to feel regret over starting anything at all with her. But then he remembered the way she used to make him laugh.  Then the way she’d looked after prom. She'd been so beautiful in that dress of hers...

And when she let the ringlets pinned on top of her head fall to her shoulders?

That was the first time he'd ever truly loved a person. That night. With her.

"That's not what I want you to apologize for."

"Leading you on, then--"

"Not that either. Jesus, how stupid are you? You know, I have my own problems. I don't need you to come dashing back in my life and adding onto the list, okay? So if you're not going to at least--"

"Tell me, then. Tell me what I did." He was yelling now, and he took another step toward her, but she stumbled back.

"You were ashamed of me," she said

"What?"

"I came up to you and that stupid arcade and when I kissed you, you winced. You asked what was wrong with me."

"Your brother was right there!"

"So was the rest of the freaking school. I was humiliated." Her cheeks flushed beneath the streetlight. "If you didn't want to be with me, you should have told me. You shouldn’t have lied and said you would tell him."

"Julie--"

"You know what, this was a mistake. All of this. I don't need to go over the past or any of this other bullshit. It doesn't matter. Congratulations on your bar and don't ever come near me again, okay?"

She started off, and he took a few steps toward her and then stopped. There wasn't much else he could offer her now. Not much he could say. So he stood in the darkness and watched as she disappeared into the night.

T
hey’d given her a year
. Maybe less.

Chase ate his lunch in silence, contemplating exactly how long a year was. He had six months until graduation, three until college, and then…

Then he’d be an orphan. Just him and Phil.

And he had no intention of keeping Phil around.

“What’s the matter? You look like someone spit in your food.” Luke glanced down at the barely-touched slice of pizza on Chase’s plate, and Chase shook his head.

“Nothing. Test later.”

“Same. Chem. You?”

“Math.” Reluctantly, he picked up his pizza, but dropped it again when a beautiful long-limbed creature stopped just short of their table and flipped one long golden lock over her shoulder.

“Mom just texted me. She says Luke, you need to turn on your phone or answer her texts. Chase, she’s making meatloaf, so you’ve got to help her make the apple sauce.”

“Actually, I think I’d better eat at home tonight.” Who knew how many more meals he had with his mother? How many more days?

Julie frowned. “Okay. I’ll tell her to save the ends for you in case you come by later.”

“Right, thanks.”

She gave him an odd look, glanced at his forearm, then up at his eyes. Her lips parted slightly, like she was about to ask a question, but he jumped from the table and said, “I’m gonna head to the library and study.” Then he left them in his dust.

What could the Hamdens understand about loss? About having a less-than-perfect family?

How could they understand what it felt like to be alone? No, not alone, to have someone depend on you the way his mother had always depended on him.

And then to have that person ripped away?

He tightened his jaw, glanced at the corridor that led down to the library, and then turned on his heel and headed for the school’s wide glass doors.

Indie Fashion Show Set For Success

After months of careful planning, Madison Square Garden is finally getting ready for what some are calling the event of the season--the Independant Fashion Show of New York City. Unlike the big fish at New York Fashion Week, this smaller event is poised to show off over one hundred of the city's best and brightest upcoming fashion stars.

Heading the event is Eli Wilcox Fashion and Co. who, after starting only two years ago, have already branched out into some of the biggest stretches of the city. A representative from the company, Troy Wilcox--brother of the famous Eli--reports that the event is in very capable hands.

"Our star assistant and event planner Julie Hamden has handled every detail of the event. She's made every call personally, has had her hand in everything from the decorations to the food. Honestly, the success of the this show should be entirely credited with her."

The rest of the article droned on about the designers who were slated to attend the event, and though Chase hardly recognized any of the names, he knew what it meant for Julie. This was big. Beyond big.

And she'd done it all by herself.

"Hey, have you seen the paper yet this morning?" Chase waved the thing toward the place where Luke was hunched over the bar, working on yet another spreadsheet.

"Yeah."

"And you saw this thing about Jules?" Chase read the piece over again.

"Yeah, it's great."

“That’s all you’ve got? Great?”

“What else do you want from me? It
is
great.”

"It's not just that, it's huge. Did you call her? I mean, she's totally turned her life around. This is incredible. She's like a real success." He thought back to the blonde, careless Julie he'd known before. The one who used to spend time with him in the woodshop after school and accidentally spill stain onto the workbenches.

The one who used to sneak out of her bedroom window and meet him behind the convenience store. She used to drive her brother--and everyone else, for that matter--batty. But now?

She was a success.

And she'd done it all on her own.

His chest tightened with pride,

Maybe the girl he'd cared for was gone for good.

His mouth tightened, but then he looked over at Luke to find that his friend had apparently stopped listening.

"Hello?" Chase leaned on the bar and his friend looked up at him, his expression blank as ever.

"What?" Luke blinked.

"Nothing. I'm just saying Julie's almost as successful as us."

Luke made a sound somewhere between a guffaw and a snort.

"What?" Chase asked.

"Nothing."

"Are we not successful?" Chase cocked an eyebrow.

"Sure, sure. An ex-army guy and a carpenter owning a hole-in-the-wall bar on the dodgy side of town. We're practically sheiks."

"What's going on with you, man? Ever since we finished this place you've been..." Chase searched for the word, but coming up with nothing particularly kind, he said, "Different. Is this about Karen or--"

"Karen? Who said anything about Karen?"

"Nobody. Which might be the problem. What the hell is going on with you?"

"Nothing. Karen's not a problem. We're finished, I'm fine, and I don't need relationship advice from a guy who can hardly keep his own love life together."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You get weird every time Julie is mentioned. Dude, it was ten years ago. Let it go."

"That's what this is about? You think I have a thing for your sister?"

Luke let out another little burst of breath. "Think?"

"What do you care?"

"I don't."

"Good, maybe I'll go over there right now and ask her out," Chase baited him.

"Knock yourself out, but don't come sniffing around me asking for advice about my sister or complaining that she's not the same as she was ten years ago."

"I wasn't with her ten years ago."

"I've let you get away with a lot of things, but lying to my face isn't one of them."

"How could you--?"

"I'm not an idiot." Luke slid from his booth, grabbed his papers, and tucked them under his arm. "I don't care what you do. Just don't give me advice when you're still living in the past. You've changed. She's changed. Whatever teenage glow you think you have is gone."

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"No problem. Just the truth." Luke walked through the bar's swinging wooden doors and down into the basement, and when he'd disappeared Chase stared from the place he'd gone to the bar's glass entrance.

Whatever Luke said, there was clearly a problem here, but whether it had anything to do with him and Julie was yet to be determined. Still, he'd given him the go ahead...

Which, he remembered, still didn't mean much of anything.

Julie had been pretty clear about what she wanted and what she didn't want.

Still, what was there to lose, now? She was already angry. It wasn't like she would hate him more than she already did.

But then there was the heartache in her eyes when she'd looked at him last night. And the fact that Luke was right--she wasn't sixteen anymore. They weren't the same people they'd been.

But he was still Chase and she was still Julie.

He'd messed this up once, but he couldn't, wouldn't, do that again.

He glanced at the paper on the bar and then at the entrance again.

He'd go to their house and congratulate her. Like a peace offering. She couldn't turn him away in front of her mother and then maybe he'd be able to set the record straight and see if the Julie he knew was still in there somewhere.

And if she wasn't?

He could finally
really
move on.

* * *

S
he had not had enough
to drink to have a hangover.

That was a fact. So, that meant the world was somehow crumbling around her head,

Oh my...

Her mother was standing in the backyard, wielding a chainsaw like she was the lone survivor in a horror movie and charging at an overgrown maple tree.

Quickly, Julie grabbed her fluffy purple bathrobe from her bag and sprinted down the steps, running through the house and out the back door like her mother's life was on the line. And, considering the way she handled the chainsaw, it very well might have been.

"Mom!" she shouted over the noise, but when her mother didn't look up, she cringed and stepped barefoot onto the wild lawn.

Luckily, nothing squished between her toes, so she took a few more steps until she was in her mother's eye line and the older woman powered down the machine.

"Oh, good morning. Did I wake you?"

Since she wasn’t sure what time it was, she opted for a lie. "No, I was up. But don't you think you should leave this for Luke?"

"Oh, he's done so much already. It's nothing, really."

"Right." Julie glanced around. "I guess Amy's running?"

Mom nodded. "Yes indeed. We had a nice breakfast. I saved some for you if you're hungry."

"Sure." Anything to get her mother away from that death machine.

Her mom stepped in front of her, then led her into the kitchen. Apparently, she'd made progress on this room even from last night. All the stacks of newspapers had been moved, and the smell--though not entirely gone--had cleared a bit.

After a minute, her mom sat a hot cup of coffee and a bowl of fruit in front of her, and then joined her at the table. With a glance at the clock, Julie breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't quite the crack of dawn when Amy got up, but not so late that she should be ashamed.

"I guess I'm going to have to start getting up earlier to keep up with you." Julie smiled, and then pushed a few pieces of fruit around her bowl.

"Nonsense. We just keep different schedules. You're young. You should be out late."

"I wasn't out that late."

Mom shrugged, and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "No, but maybe that will change. You'll want to catch up with old friends. Chase, for example."

Her mother had said the name as casually as ever, but Julie knew better than to let it slip by unnoticed. Still, it wasn't exactly like she could blurt out "I have a boyfriend, Mom."

First, because, well, she didn't.

Second, because she didn't want her mom to know she didn't.

And third, because saying something like that would only acknowledge the fact that she had, indeed, considered him as a romantic entity.

Which, of course, she hadn't because he was a low-down spineless ass.

So, as usual, she opted for the safe route. "Right."

"He's been such a help around here. He comes by almost as often as Luke."

"That's great." Julie shoved a strawberry in her mouth.

"Yeah, I always said he was a good boy." Mom toyed with the corner of the newspaper in front of her, then looked up again and added, "He must have been pretty put out when he heard about your boyfriend."

"Mom, please." She placed a blueberry between her teeth, and then popped it into her mouth. "It was never like that."

"Of course." Mom spread her hands out in front of her in that usual I-meant-nothing-by-it way she always did when she was laying her best subtext. "Well, anyway, I want you to know how proud I am of you."

"I know, Mom."

"No, really. I know you didn't have to come all the way out here to help us. It's a lot of work, especially with that big event you have coming up."

Julie stopped chewing mid-kiwi. "I didn't think I mentioned--"

"Look, I know you've always been modest. I don't know what that's all about, but you've really come so far. I wish you'd tell me these things. But, anyway, I read about it in the paper today, and I just wanted to say that you deserve this success. You're going to be great."

Suddenly, the desire to eat had completely vanished, and it was quickly being replaced with the burning need to suck on the end of a cigarette.

"Um, thanks, Mom," she choked out. "But what did you see in the paper?"

Her mom picked up the gray pages sitting in front of her, then handed them to Julie. It was only when she reached for them that she realized her hand was shaking.

Then, when she turned to the Arts and Leisure Section, it was all she could do not to scream.

He’d set her up. Troy Wilcox.

Not only had that dirty bastard stolen her designs and killed her dreams, but now he was setting her up for an even bigger fail while having the nerve to make it sound like a good thing.

“He must really like you to give you all that credit.” Julie glanced over the paper to see her Mom beaming at her with something that looked stomach-twistingly like pride. Almost the same as the way she looked at Amy when she talked about redecorating her bedroom.