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Beau Devereaux stared at the clock, watching the minutes tick by. The only noise in the stuffy classroom was the monotonous, raspy voice of his teacher. Like a thoroughbred chomping at the bit, he waited to bolt.
The jarring bell couldn’t have come soon enough. Not even taking time to put his book in his bag, Beau headed for the door. He turned a corner on his way to the gym and spotted a familiar dirty-blonde messy ponytail.
“Leslie.” Beau cornered her in the hall, pinning her between a break in the lockers. “How’s it going?”
Her blue eyes ripped into him—just what he expected. “What do you want, Beau?”
What did he want? He almost laughed. He drank in her flawless, porcelain complexion, the regal curve of her jaw, her small, perfectly shaped nose, and enticing full lips. His attention settled on the notch at the base of her neck. It fluttered like a scared little butterfly.
“Can’t a guy say hello to his friend?” Beau put his arm on the wall behind her, trapping her between the lockers. “We see each other in the halls but never speak. Why is that?”
He loved watching her eyes dart about, searching for a rescue, but no one would challenge him. No one ever did.
“I’m not your friend.” She shoved him back. “Go talk to Dawn.”
He curled his hands into fists. If he couldn’t have Leslie, her twin sister, Dawn, was the next best thing. He’d started dating her to get his mind off Leslie, but it hadn’t worked. They were alike physically, but Dawn wasn’t Leslie. She didn’t have her sass. That he still wanted Leslie infuriated him. He always got what he wanted.
Beau leaned in, letting his breath tease her cheek. The scent of her skin, like fresh spring clover, filled his nose.
“One day, I'm going to take you to The Abbey and set things right between us.”
“Is there a problem?”
The deep voice tinged with pseudo-macho angst buzzed in his ear like a gnat. Beau turned around, knowing who he would find—her trusty watchdog, Derek Foster. The brown-haired son of a waitress, Derek spent way too many hours studying with the geek patrol and not enough partying with the popular crowd.
“No problem, Foster,” Beau said in a reassuring tone. “Your girl and I were just talking about next week’s biology test.”
Leslie edged around him. “Do you even know how to spell biology?”
He bristled at the question. That smart tongue of hers begged to be tamed.
A few students gathered next to the set of lockers to his right, taking in the encounter.
Beau gave his best wholesome grin. “That’s really hostile, Leslie. I’m trying here, for your sister’s sake.”
Derek was about to pull her away when Beau wheeled around, stuck out his elbow, and landed a perfect shot right to Derek’s cheek.
He stumbled back, bouncing off some freshman girls.
“Derek!” Leslie went to his side, pushing Beau out of the way.
Holding in his satisfaction, Beau displayed a fretful frown as he rushed up to Derek. “Oh, man. I am so sorry.” He put a hand on his shoulder, avidly checking the red spot on his right cheek and suppressing a smug grin. “That was my fault, Derek. I didn’t see you there.”
Leslie shot him an icy glare. “You’re an ass, Beau.”
He gave her his best wide-eyed expression, reveling in her reaction. “I’m sorry, Leslie. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hit him.” Beau spoke loud enough for onlookers to hear. “Stop making me out to be the bad guy here. I know you dislike me, but can you give this attitude of yours a break?”
Derek took Leslie’s hand. “I’m fine. It was an accident. Let it go.”
Beau smiled sweetly at her. “You should listen to your boyfriend.”
“What’s going on here?”
Ms. Greenbriar’s screeching voice made all three of them spin around. The middle-aged principal of St. Benedict High stood with her hands on her hips.
“Mr. Devereaux?”
Beau presented the principal with one of his winning smiles. “Nothing, ma’am. Just a misunderstanding. I caught Derek with my elbow when I turned around. My fault entirely.”
Ms. Greenbriar shifted her beady brown eyes to Derek. “Mr. Foster, anything you want to add?”
Derek nursed his cheek. “No, ma’am. It was an accident, just like Beau said.”
She tapped her high-heel on the tile floor, glancing from Beau to Derek. “My office, Mr. Devereaux.”
Beau backed away from the lockers as his stomach tightened with anger. “Yes, ma’am.”
* * *
“That bastard!”
Leslie bolted out of the wood and glass double doors to St. Benedict High School, tugging Derek behind her. The strong October sun shone down, highlighting the red mark covering Derek’s right cheek and sending a sharp pain through her chest.
Damn Beau Devereaux.
For almost a year she’d tolerated his comments and lewd glances, but since she’d started dating Derek, he’d stepped up his game.
“I can’t believe he punched you like that.”
Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and ushered her down the stone steps to the school parking lot. “He didn’t punch me. It was an accident.”
She halted and stared at him numb with disbelief. “You don’t buy his bullshit, do you?”
“No, but what am I going to do about it? Punch him back?” Derek urged her along. “Then I would be the one in Greenbriar’s office, not him.”
She searched the parking lot while students on the grassy quad outside the school entrance sat on benches, tossed footballs, studied their laptops, or listened to music.
“Does anyone in this town stand up to him?” Leslie shook her head. “He’s got everyone believing he’s Mr. Perfect and I’m the crazy bitch.”
Derek slipped the book bag off her shoulder to carry it. “No one thinks you’re crazy, least of all me.”
The simple gentlemanly gesture melted her heart. Leslie touched Derek’s dimpled chin, feeling fortunate. “Maybe we should go have you checked out. Just in case.”
“It’s just a bruise. I’ll be fine.” He stopped on the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps. “What did he say to you, anyway?”
“The usual.”
A car turned on a monster bass, blasting the park-like setting with hard rock.
Derek glanced at the source of the noise. “I still don’t get how the guy can be crazy about your twin sister and not like you at all.”
Leslie removed the band holding her ponytail. “Sometimes I think she went out with him to spite me.” She ran her hand through her shoulder-length hair.
“What makes you say such a thing?”
She shrugged and fell in step beside him. “We aren’t exactly the closest of sisters. It was always a competition between us when we were younger. I joined the swim team, and then Dawn joined. Dawn wanted to join Brownies, so did I. Except I gave up competing with her when we got into high school.” She gazed down at the neatly trimmed grass beneath her feet. “Dawn never stopped. Sometimes I think that’s why she became a cheerleader and started seeing Beau—to show me she could.”
Derek put a protective arm around her shoulders. “I can’t see her dating Devereaux to get back at you. He’s the richest and most popular guy in town. Isn’t he every girl’s dream?”
Leslie stopped short, shuddering. “Not mine. There’s something off about him.”
“He’s just a guy used to getting his way. My guess, it comes from two hundred years of inbreeding. Don’t all those old, rich Southern families marry their cousins? Maybe that’s his problem. Too many crazy relatives in his family tree.”
A brisk wind stirred as they crossed the blacktop to the white Honda Accord she shared with her sister. The chill wrapped around her, seeping into her bones. She wasn’t sure if it was a change in weather coming, or something else.
Derek nudged her. “Hey, you okay?”
She came out of her daze, shaking off the bizarre feeling. “Just really sick of dealing with Beau.”
Derek smiled at her from across the roof of the car and her heart skipped a beat.
“I know what we could do. Want to sneak up to The Abbey? I could show you around. It’s pretty cool.”
She didn’t like the idea of crawling around the derelict abbey. She’d never been to the abandoned St. Francis Seminary on the banks of the Bogue Falaya River but had heard stories from friends.
“I don’t want to go there. We should get you home and see to your cheek.” She hit the remote on her key chain and unlocked the doors.
“Stop worrying. I’m fine.” He climbed into the car, brandishing a wicked grin. “We can skip The Abbey tour and hang out at the river.”
She put her book bag in the back seat. “I have no interest in going to the river. I’ve told you that before.”
“No. You told me you used to go there but stopped around the time we met.”
Leslie wanted to jump all over him for pursuing the subject, but she didn’t. Her life had been empty before she’d met Derek. They had shared classes for almost a year before getting the courage to talk.
“Do you remember the first time you spoke to me?” she asked, warmed by the memory.
“How could I forget?” He leaned over the console. “I left class early and found Beau pinning you against a locker. Seems to be a thing with him. Anyway, you threatened to tell everyone his dick was the size of a number two pencil. I was impressed.”
She laughed as Beau’s horrified expression came back to her. “And you told him to leave me alone and then offered to buy me a soda. Never realized how thoughtful you were.”
“Then why did it take you two months to go out with me?”
Leslie started the car. “Because I wanted to see how serious you were.”
A bit rough around the edges, Derek reminded her a little of James Dean, with his bashful glances and soulful brown eyes. He was from, what some would call, “the wrong side of the tracks.” The total opposite of the polished Beau Devereaux. But Leslie didn’t care where he came from or how he dressed—Derek Foster was the most perfect boy in the universe. Cute, smart, and funny, when he’d finally asked her out, she hadn’t wanted to ruin her daydreams of him with the disappointment of reality. But she’d taken a chance, and six months later, here they were.
A funny fluttering cascaded through her stomach with one glance at his contagious smile. “If I agree to go to the river, what did you want to do there?”
Derek sat back in his seat, his eyes on the road, his smile beaming. “I’ll come up with something.”
