Sycamore, Stars and the Air Between

PART III

"Helen Kellan," I repeat the childhood nickname I gave him. Images fill my head, Helen Kellan skinny as a stick with braces and a bowl cut.

Nate barks out a laugh and slaps a hand on my back. It stings. Everywhere. "I forgot you used to call him that. That's f*****g hilarious."

Little Helen Kellan who I had nearly begged to f**k me last night. "You look different." I finally mutter.

"So, do you," Daniel says grabbing my attention. My eyes widen. He looks different too. Hot. Tanned, sandy blonde, fit and lengthy, he looks fresh off a surfboard. His stormy eyes rake up and down my body. "You look gorgeous. Are you sure you two are related?" He points a finger between me and Nate.

Nate sits down in his chair, flipping Daniel off. He ignores it, standing up, he crosses the table and lays a strong hand on my arm. He pulls my seat out for me and helps me into it. "Thanks, Daniel." I manage to say, still utterly awestruck.

A waitress flutters to our table, her eyes dragging across my companions. "Can I get you something to drink?" Perky is the best way to describe her. She nearly bounces on her feet. The boys mutter water while I say, "Tanqueray on the rocks." I pass her my ID before she can ask. And when she moves to give it back I add, "Make it a double."

"Classy." Nate taunts. I barely register it. My stare on the boys across the table.

"I'm sorry this is just blowing my mind. Helen Kellan. And Peeping tom Daniel?"

"I go by Highlander now. Wait did people actually call me that in high school?" Daniel's face turns worried.

I snort. "I certainly did. You were always sneaking around the girl's locker room waiting to get slapped." His face contorts into a wolfish grin.

Nate laughs again, full and loud. "I missed the way you ripped on these guys. They went soft when you left." Really? I was thinking the opposite, they looked hard, rippled with muscle. Not the scraps of skin and bone I left back home.

"Highlander and Ace. How'd those come about?" I ask. Our waitress drops off our drinks. I take no time to finish mine. Across the restaurant, I signal for another. Kellan follows the gesture and so lightly, barely noticeable his head shakes.

Nate misses the motion. "Highlander because he's a f*****g brute, led our football team to the championship." Daniel winks at me. "and Ace because he always scores."

I tilt my head at the innuendo. "f****d half our grade before moving on to the college girls at Riverside." Daniel adds gracelessly.

The refill of my drink comes and again, I throw it back. Nate puts a hand on my shoulder when I signal for another. "Hey, maybe that's enough."

"I know my limits, Nathan." The tone brings me back to home. Yanks me into the past. The nagging and prodding only a big sister gets away with. It shuts him up.

Heeding his advice, I sip on the third glass, glaring over the top of the thick crystal at Kellan.

Ace because he always scores.

That Bastard.

That Prick.

It was all a game, a conquest, another notch in his belt. Thick hands land on my shoulders and I jump, glass falling from my grip, it tumbles on the table top, ice shooting over the wood surface. Immediately, I jerk for it to clean it up, throwing the cubes back into the cup. My fingers fumble on the slippery cubes, the alcohol limiting my dexterity.

"s**t. Sorry, Ashley." A voice says behind me. I turn.

"Caleb." I smile, a blush across my cheeks. I watch his eyes go to my table. "This is my brother, Nate." I introduce him. "And these are his little friends."

Daniel objects with a "Hey!"

We all ignore it. Caleb's eyes linger on Kellan and then slowly he draws them back to me. In a low voice, he says, "I had fun last night."

"Me too." I smile, a plan hatching in my head, I brush a finger along his chest. The move turns his soft eyes feral. I flash him a sultry smile. "Let's do it again sometime." I let my voice turn low to match his.

A glass crashes to the ground. I flick my attention to the table. Kellan swears under his breath, glass shattered in front of him. I suppress a giggle. "I'll text you Caleb." I dismiss him coldly, eyes focused on Kellan as he watches me.

Daniel and Kellan mop up the water with their napkins. "How do you know him?" Nates asks, smiling as he watches his friends struggle to clean the mess up.

I shrug. "I slept with him last night," I tell him bluntly, eyes stuck on Kellan. On Ace.

"f**k Ashley, I don't want to hear that. Gross." Nates nose wrinkles up in disgust.

I shrug again. "I'm just being honest." Kellan jaw tenses and I push, dig the knife in farther. "My back is so sore." I grumble and slowly rub a hand across my shoulder blade.

"That's f*****g hot." Daniel says, watching my hand grip and rove over my skin.

"Stop. This conversation is over. That's my sister. New topic."

The waitress circles back to our table, requesting for our food orders. Kellan and I stand up in sync. "I'm not hungry." We say together.

"Creepy." Nate laughs. My eyes stay on Kellan's. Alcohol induced fury flowing through my blood. I press a quick kiss to Nate's forehead. "I love you. Dinner soon, okay?"

"Aren't you going to be at Delta Rho tonight?" I forgot he was pledging.

Eyes latched to Kellan's I say, "Why wouldn't I be? I just may not see you, I'll probably be with Caleb." Nate frowns and before he says something he can't take back I add, "He's vice president so you might want to go easy on him."

"Bye Daniel." I brush a hand on his shoulder and squeeze. "Bye Ace." I sneer and storm out.

He follows, clawing at my heels. "Don't call me that."

"Why?" I half turn to look at him as we leave. "You didn't mind last night Ace or is it a Jekyll and Hyde thing? Your only Ace at night and when the sun rises you're back to Kellan."

I push through the exit and start through the parking lot. "I don't want to be Ace to you."

"You already were." I snap. I lengthen my steps, hoping to distance myself. I weave between the cars.

He circles in on me, cutting on my exit. "Did you really sleep with that asshole?"

I let a dry, cold laugh out. "Did you think you were irreplaceable, Ace?"

"Dammit Ashley." His hand, in a shadow of last night's move, wraps around my arm and stops me. I squirm under his grip. He glances back to the patio of the restaurant and with a groan, he closes the distance between us, cupping his hands on my face, his lips slam into mine. The move knocks me backwards, my back hitting a car, he doesn't hesitate to press me into it. With a low groan, he pushes me up against it. His lips are relentless, kissing, nipping, teasing. I moan as he gives my lower lip a sensual lick.

He pulls back, resting his forehead on mine. "I'm Kellan. For you I'm Kellan." The words, hoarse and deep make me shudder.

"No," I say quietly. Then louder, "No." I push him back from me. "I knew Kellan, grew up with him. Whatever you've become, this manwhore alter ego, I don't know him. Ace is just some asshole that made me cry last night."

"Ashley." Regret.

"Stay away from me." I grind out.

I text Caleb on the way home, letting him know that I will be in attendance tonight and that I can't wait to see him.

Another text goes out to Kelsey, begging for outfit advice. Her reply is instantaneous Remember what you wore to homecoming last year?