Coastal Runaway (Coast to Coast #1)

Three

three

Luke

This was all Nolan’s bright idea; I knew it was a bad one but I needed a fresh start. years at Columbia had resulted in miserable grades, miserable weather, and a broken heart.

Again.

After Keegan performed an astounding disappearing act three years ago, I was devastated. I fell into a relationship with Hartford heart-throb, Kiara Brighton, pretty quickly. Kiara was a sweetheart and we got along well, but it was never meant to be.

We connected at a party at the beginning of freshman year in New York; I was nursing one too many beers and she let me unload my trauma onto her. She pulled me into a hug and told me that I would be okay. I called her the next day and asked her on a date. The relationship was fine, but she deserved more and we both knew it. We ended things amicably at the end of last year and I spent the summer moping around my hometown like a lost puppy again.

It was assumed that I was moping because I was in love with Kiara, but really, I was mourning yet another person who I wasn’t good enough for.

After I spent half of the summer licking my wounds, Nolan took pity on me. He agreed to keep my break-up under wraps as long as I agreed to consider a transfer for senior year. He had Mr. Kelly pull some strings for a late transfer to CCU so I could be with my chosen family.

The only problem?

She went there.

The bitter ice bitch herself. The woman who single handedly showed me my worth and then immediately closed my heart off for good.

As my Uber stopped in front of the Malibu house, I took a deep breath. I haven’t been here since I was a kid on vacation. There were a lot of good memories hidden in the bones of this house.

I got out and grabbed my bags as Nolan came running out soaking wet in a bathing suit, tackling me before I could dodge him. That was Nolan, a quintessential golden retriever, always in it for a laugh and always right by my side.

“Good to see you brother!” Nolan beamed, patting me on the back before he grabbed my bags and turned toward the house. “Everyone is going to be so excited you’re here.” He said over his shoulder with a wide smile.

I pinned him with a stare.

“Okay, well maybe not everyone, but maybe you can dislodge the Luke-sized stick that has been stuck up her ass for years. Are you ever going to tell me what happened to make her hate you?” He said with an anxious laugh.

One minute we were wrapped in her sheets together, and then the next she vanished into thin air. No note. No explanation.

She used me and then she left me behind just like my mother did.

I shrugged, “I’d tell you if I knew.”

After we resumed walking, Nolan dropped my bags in the foyer. As we made our way towards the back door, Nolan began introducing me to people, the place was packed. We stepped out onto the balcony and into a booming party.

Aiden approached us, wrapping me in a bear hug, “Bro! What the fuck? What are you doing here?” He turned to Nolan, looking for answers.

“He transferred here this semester. Say hello to our new fifth roommate!” Nolan said with a permanently pasted smile.

Aiden chuckled and patted my back, “Honestly, I am so happy to hear that. You’re family and it hasn’t felt the same without you. Plus, we’re finally going to outnumber the girls.” He high-fived Nolan then turned back to me. He warned, “but, and I say this with love, good fucking luck.”

Everyone knew something happened between me and Keegan, but to my knowledge no one knew what happened. Aiden clapped me on the shoulder and handed me a beer. Without meaning to, Aiden’s words started to heal the gaping Kelly-family-sized wounds in my soul. I took the ice-cold beer from his hand and cracked it open.

I scanned out across the pool deck, and stopped when I noticed Maeve glaring at me in shock.

I stand corrected….Maeve clearly knew.

Fantastic.

I glanced to her right and my heart seized. Sitting right next to her was a girl who vaguely looked like the one who used to be my best friend, except now she was even more stunning. Her hair was blonder, her skin was tanner, and the confidence she exuded in the scraps of fabric that she called a bikini was mesmerizing.

She looked up and caught my stare. The hazel green eyes that held me captive for my entire life widened in shock. Nolan clearly kept his word and kept my arrival a secret.

Keegan shot to her feet and bolted in the opposite direction of the patio.

Old habits die hard.

I tracked her movements as she wound her way through the crowd, people stopping her every few feet to give her a hug or chat. It was amazing to see how many faces lit up the moment she stepped into their space.

She smiled at them but shrugged them off until she was stopped when a Ken doll in a trucker hat and Oakley's caught her elbow.

Douche.

Glancing up at me, she smirked and draped her muscular arms around his neck. The douchebag had the audacity to flash a lazy smile at her and place his hands right on her ass.

“That's Patrick Sinclair: CCU golden boy and ex-boyfriend of the ice queen herself.” Aiden reported as he sidled up next to me. I laughed at his use of the moniker Nolan and I have called her since she took off.

“Doesn’t look like much of an ‘ex’ to me.” I scoffed and took another sip of my beer. Aiden had always been the observant one. years without so much as hearing her name out loud, and as soon as I was in her proximity she had my hackles up.

It’s hard to remind myself that the girl in front of me was not the best friend that I thought I knew. I didn’t know this girl; the one who paraded around letting guys touch her intimately out in the open.

“Yeah well, they hook up from time to time. Nothing serious from where I’m standing. I don’t even think she likes him. He’s just obsessed with her so it’s easy for her to stay closed off.” Aiden said with a shrug.

I guess she has a type.

“I already hate him.” I admitted.

“We all hate him. But Keegs is stubborn and does what she wants.”

Aiden thought I was acting protective. He saw me as another brother figure to his sisters, which was true for Maeve and Ryleigh, but he didn't know that Keegan was different. I didn't want someone touching what was once mine.

Even if it was for one night.

I kept staring at her and the Ken doll until Aiden started laughing next to me.

“Dude, you look like someone just pissed in your cheerios.” He said, nudging me with his shoulder, “so, what’s up with that? Are you going to try to talk to her?”

“I doubt she’ll talk to me.”

“Oh got it, so you two are just going to just fight until one of you burns the house down.”

I looked him in the eyes, arching a brow with a devious smile, as I asked, “where are the matches?”