For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 38

Before Vince returns, a few of his friends show up.

One of his friends, named Oliver, takes a deep inhale as he walks further into the beach house, "Damn, it smells amazing in here!"

"That's all thanks to Charmaine's amazing baking skills," Annalisa tells them as she leads them to where I am in the kitchen.

Annalisa introduces the others; I smile as I shake their hands, "Please help yourselves." I tell them politely. As Vince's friends eat the brownies and cookies, we get to know them and hang out, waiting for everything to start.

Annalisa is a gracious hostess for Vince while he's still out; she mingles with everyone. She's good at getting people to talk about themselves. I converse with a few of them but eventually, I stroll over to Tobias and Jimmy, finding comfort in the familiarity of their presence.

It's hard not to notice how most of Vince's friend's eye Tobias and Jimmy cautiously; I'm sure wondering why two men in suits are sitting in the house with us. Luckily, Vince arrives shortly after, so we don't have to explain.

We head out to the beach, where some people are busy setting up a Crossnet Volleyball game.

Another group is setting up another game; Annalisa tells me it's a lot like beer pong on a larger scale, but I've never played beer pong, so I just shrug when she explains it to me.

I head over to help with setting up the food table and organize the different food trays. I'm trying out a delicious turkey and cheese pinwheel when a shirtless guy with board shorts approaches me.

He has sandy blonde hair and green eyes. "Where should I put these?"

I turn to chew the last bite hurriedly and swallow quickly, and then run my tongue over my teeth, praying I don't have food stuck in my teeth. I turn back around and see he has store-bought cookies in his hand.

"Went all out with store-bought cookies, I see." I joke.

He laughs, looking a little embarrassed. "Hey, it's either play it safe with these or risk the chance of getting food poisoning with my cooking."

"Good call then." I laugh and take the cookies from him and set them up with the rest of the desserts.

"Did you make any of these?" He points to the tray of desserts. I nod and tell him I made the brownies and snickerdoodles and watch as he grabs a cookie and takes a bite.

"Damn, these are amazing."

I thank him, slightly blushing.

"Do you bake for a living or just a hobby?"

"Right now, hobby, but I want to open my own pastry shop eventually," I tell him as I continue to move things around.

"I'm Connor, by the way. I'm a friend of Jacob's." I turn towards him as he holds his hand out for me to shake. "Are you a friend of his too, or do you live next door?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know who Jacob is. I'm Charmaine." I tell him as I shake his hand. "I'm here with Annalisa and Vincent De Luca. Vince is staying at one of the houses here, and Annalisa and I are visiting from New York."

I mentally kick myself, remembering what my dad always told me, not divulge too much information to strangers. But as I look over at Tobias and Jimmy, who are overlooking everything, I push the paranoid side of me away.

"Nice, I've never been to New York. Although, it's one of those bucket list things for me to do one day." He tells me, giving me a boyish grin.

"This is my first time in California," I tell him as I finish setting up the food.

"And what do you think so far?" I notice his eyes stay on Tobias and Jimmy.

"It's definitely more chill than I'm used to, but it's nice," I tell him honestly.

"What's with the men in black over there? Is there a celebrity here or something?" He asks as he looks over the groups of people that are starting to grow.

I shrug and pretend that I'm looking too. "Who knows?" The last thing I need is to have him question who I am and why I have personal bodyguards.

He continues to look around, but then I watch as he rubs the back of his neck with one hand, nervously. I don't usually make guys nervous; it's usually the other way around.

This is new.

"Would you like to grab a drink with me?" He asks me, nodding towards the makeshift bar.

I shrug, "Sure."

Annalisa is already at the bar talking with Oliver and gives me a side hug when she sees me. I introduce her to Connor.

After talking for a few minutes, we all decide to join in on the games.

We get lost in the ambiance of the music that's blaring; several oldies are played from Under the Boardwalk, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Wipeout, to more recent songs from Summer of '69, California Gurls, Gravity, and Cake by the Ocean.

The games we play are fun, and being naturally competitive--I make it a point to win as many times as possible.

I soon forget everything that's been on my mind and enjoy being carefree for the first time in a long time.

We started out playing pickle-ball and then moved on to Crossnet Volleyball. It is similar to volleyball but ten times more intense and fast-paced.

Annalisa and I are winning, high-fiving each other at one point. But then Connor cheated and picked me up, moving me away from getting to the ball that came on my side, letting it hit the sand.

I'm laughing, enjoying the game when I hear Vince's confused voice.

"What the hell are they doing here?" I look at him and then over to where his eyes are focused. I swear I see things, but then I hear Annalisa curse and know my eyes are not playing tricks on me.

Walking towards us, in a small group, are Joey and JP.

JP's walking next to a pretty blonde girl, wearing his Columbia hoodie. The same one I wore the night he took me on a ride after being attacked in the library. My eyes move back to him, and my heart picks up as I watch him.

He looks good, wearing dark grey cargo shorts and a white cutoff shirt with his defined, tattooed arms on display. He and the girl he's with are talking and smiling at each other, utterly oblivious to what's around them.

I watch as she trips over something, but he catches her before she falls. She laughs and smiles up at him, as he smiles down at her, too, and then I watch as she links her arm in his to walk the rest of the way over to the bonfire. Then, again, he smiles down at her, and my heart twists uncomfortably.

They sit next to the fire, and that's when he looks over, and our eyes lock as he finally notices me. I'm having a hard time pinpointing what I'm feeling, but mostly I feel confused and a little hurt.

Okay, fine. It hurts more than a little. 

How can he go from ignoring me all week and just move on to another girl so quickly? Especially after what we did.

Annalisa grabs my arm and pulls me towards the bar. "Just ignore him, Char. See how he likes it. He didn't have the guts to talk to you all week, and now he's here, acting as if nothing happened? Fuck him."

My eyes sting as the tears start to build when I hear the familiar, annoyingly overconfident voice behind us.

"Ladies. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two are stalking me, but I can't say I'm surprised. I tend to have that effect on women."

Annalisa and I look at each other and share the same annoyed expression as we turn back to the voice.

Joey is standing there, with his arms folded, smirking at us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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