The Lyons Next Door (A Lyons' Heart Book 1) Read online

“Here,” Catcher says, walking over to me and slipping a pair of sunglasses over my eyes.

  “Thanks,” I tell him, adjusting them slightly. “Did I just steal yours?”

  He shakes his head, whipping out a pair of aviators from his back pocket and putting them on. “I always keep a spare on hand. It’s a pickup technique.”

  “I’m sure you have a million of them,” I say, though slightly amused at the admission.

  “Want to hear a few?”

  I say, “Sure” at the same time Leigha grumbles, “Don’t get him started.”

  “You look familiar,” he says, stepping close enough that I’m suddenly hyperaware of my skimpy swimsuit. “Kind of like my next girlfriend.”

  “Oh, wow.” I bust out laughing, having to admit that’s not the worst I’ve heard.

  “If you were a Transformer, you’d be Optimus Fine.”

  Err.

  He keeps going. “There’s something in my eyes. I think it’s your beauty.”

  I sigh. “Well, this is going downhill fast.”

  “Believe me, it gets much worse,” Leigha tells me.

  Catcher ignores her. “I’ve had a really off week, but just seeing you turns me on.”

  “Okay, I think that’s enough. Your brother doesn’t need to learn how to treat a woman by your terrible example.” Leigha has her hands over Theo’s ears to keep such a thing from happening, his expression confused as he looks up at her.

  “You’d be surprised how many times those have worked,” Catcher says with a goofy, yet charming, grin. Turning to me, he reminds me, “I believe you requested floaties, madam.” Grabbing some inflated plastic floaties from one of the lounge chairs, he holds them up for me to see.

  Covered in mermaids and unicorns, and the size of a small child’s arm, I highly doubt they’ll fit me, but it’s worth a try.

  Giving him a nod, I say, “Good enough.”

  Once the floaties are on both Theo and I, his fitting a lot better than mine, Catcher and Leigha take us to the shallow end of the glittering pool, the water coming up to my waist and Theo’s chest. His brother shows him first how to doggy paddle while Leigha does the same with me. An hour later, Theo has taken to the water like a fish, nailing all of the basic maneuvers. I, on the other hand, haven’t gotten brave enough to venture farther than the handrail to the stairs.

  “I’m telling you, you’re not going to sink,” Leigha reiterates for the hundredth time, obviously starting to rethink her offer to help me. I did okay with the doggy paddle, and with kicking my back feet while holding onto the edge of the pool, but my body doesn’t seem to want to float.

  “My bones are filled with lead. It’s a hereditary condition,” I inform her, demonstrating by letting my hands come free of the handrail, feeling my body sink deeper and deeper into the water while I try to hold my breath.

  “I think the problem here is distraction,” Catcher says, coming back to the shallow end with Theo in tow. “You need to focus on something other than your fear. I’ll show you.”

  Motioning for me to fall back in the water again, sans floaties, I give Catcher a distrustful look before I turn my back to him. “If you let me go under as a joke, I’ll bring you down with me.” I threaten, knowing he’s the kind of personality that would find that hilarious.

  “Ooh, I’m scared now,” he teases, insisting, “I promise, I’m not going to let you drown. Now fall back slowly. I’ll catch you before you hit the water.”

  I reluctantly do as he says, allowing my body to descend into the lukewarm water, feeling it rise past my stomach and chest, getting dangerously close to my throat. But before that can happen, Catcher has his hands wrapping around my shoulders, keep me buoyant when I’m finally laying on the water’s surface.

  “Just look at me and center your breathing,” he instructs, his face half obscured by the sun at this angle. But the half I can see smiles down at me with a sweet tilt. “Breathe in, one, two, three. Out, one, two, three. There you go.”

  I focus my eyes on him, noticing the dimple in his chin, the slight curve of his left eyebrow. My mind keeps trying to compare him to Beckham, cataloguing all the ways they’re similar and yet totally different. I doubt this is the distraction Catcher was talking about, but it’s doing the job. Before long, I forget that I’m supposed be floating, not even noticing when Catcher steps away, leaving me to do the task on my own. When I finally realize it, I gasp, unable to keep the smile off my face.

  “I’m doing it!” I shout, right before I lose concentration, my wide spread arms coming together, causing me to sink. I take in a lungful of water before coming back to the surface, coughing with a laugh.

  “That was perfect!” Leigha says, looking dumbstruck that I actually did it. “Wasn’t that good, Theo?”

  He nods, giving me a small smile and a thumbs up.

  “Wait, does that mean we’re no longer guppies?” I ask them, wiping my face of water. At the beginning of “class”, that’s what they called us. “Once you learn the three basics of swimming, you’ll be upgraded to sunfish,” Leigha had said like a troop leader, and I was just waiting for them to show us the badges we’d earn if we mastered them.

  Both Catcher and Leigha look at each other before nodding.

  “Awesome, we’re sunfish now.” I give Theo a high five, and his smile actually shows teeth this time – a first today. He seems to be having a lot of fun, and honestly, that feels like the real accomplishment.

  “That doesn’t mean that you guys don’t need practice,” Leigha reminds us, crossing her arms over her chest in a very serious manner. It’s kind of comical when she’s standing there, soaking wet with her hair drooping out of its bun. “Every day at noon we’ll continue training, but for now, you both graduated step one of the program.”

  Catcher swims up next to her in the pool, giving her an amused smile. “Step one? You make it sound like AA.”

  “Do not.”

  “Do too. You even said the word program.” Catcher points out.

  “Oh, my gosh, why do you care what I call it as long as it works?”

  They start to argue, leaving Theo and I to watch on as innocent bystanders. After five minutes of this with no signs of stopping, I turn to look at the youngest Lyons and his water-soaked curls; his arms still covered in dinosaur floaties. I ask him, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Slowly, a smile makes his cheeks grow, his head nodding.

  “Water fight!” I yell, and at the same time me and the little dude start flailing our hands to make the most waves we can, water going everywhere. The action makes Hawn go crazy, barking excitedly from the pool’s edge.

  We end up hitting our intended targets, drowning Leigha and Catcher most sufficiently. After that, it’s an all-out war, half the pool water flying in the air as the four of us fight for supremacy. It’s Theo and I against his brother and cousin, Davids versus Goliaths.

  In the end, we don’t get the chance to call a winner, because a tall shadow falls over us, stopping whatever result may have occurred. We all stare up as Beckham looks down on us all, a single brow raised in question before saying, “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  “What do you want?” Catcher asks him, wiping chlorine from his eyes. “We were kind of in the middle of something here.”

  “If you mean emptying half the pool, then I can see that.” His eyes scan over the deck, which is completely soaked, his accusation not far off, but still. He doesn’t have to look at us like a bunch of unruly preschoolers. “Anyway, Mom’s going to be home soon, and she’s bringing dinner. I think it’s time you wrap up the lesson.” For whatever reason, he looks at me in particular when he says this, eyes narrowing. I want nothing more than to send a giant splash his way, melting the scowl right off his face.

  “Hey, that’s a great idea,” Catcher says, turning away from his brother to look at me. Sending a small wave my way with his hands, he says, “You should stay for dinner, Blaire.”

  Leigha nods,
eyes lighting up at the suggestion. “You really should. We can watch a movie or something afterwards, or go for another swim.”

  “No, that wasn’t what I –”

  Beckham is quickly cut off when Leigha says over him, “I have some clothes you can wear until the suit dries. But if those don’t fit, we could always –”

  “Enough!” Beckham yells, bringing us all to a standstill. Looking at his brother and cousin, he says, “Do you hear yourselves? The girl moved in four days ago, and you’re acting like she’s a part of this family. The answer is no, she’s not staying for dinner. End of discussion.” With Beckham finally putting his foot down, his voice seems to echo over the yard, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. We all stare at him, shocked at the outburst.

  I think the most shocking thing, though, is the way Theo walks up the steps of the pool, runs past his brother, and into the house – floaties and all. He slams the door as hard as his little arms are capable of just to bring it all home. Hawn attempts to run after him, but gets stopped by the door. He whines through the glass, sitting anxiously on the other side.

  Catcher sighs, saying, “I’ll go get him,” as he takes the same path as his little brother had, giving Beckham a dark look when he passes. Hawn follows him into the house, ready to console his favorite human.

  I stare down at the water, calm now with the end of the fight. I focus on its brilliant blue color, a ball slowly starting to form at the back of my throat, a memory resurfacing. Leigha’s voice sounds in the background, her words indistinguishable while I get lost in the past.

  I had arrived at my locker a few weeks after the lunch table blow up with my friends, switching out my books, praying no one would stop and say anything, like days past. At least that day no one had defaced my locker with names like “Raggedy Anne to Rich Bitch” or “Backstabbing Blaire”. It was taking me up to an hour every day after school to clean off the permanent marker.

  I had just closed my locker when Rochelle stepped in front of me, her eyes dead like a shark’s. They had been that way for a while now, but it had taken me too long to notice. Even before my parents hit the jackpot, something had been off about her. To this day, I still don’t know what it was.

  “I’m giving you one more chance,” she said, a small crowd starting to form around us. Our school had never had much gossip to run on before, and so now with the new feud, they had taken every opportunity they could to be a part of the action. It was sickening to see the anticipation on their faces.

  “One more chance for what?” I’d asked, hoping to keep out the tremble in my voice, holding my books a bit closer to my chest.

  “You can either give me the money, and this all goes away,” she pointed behind me at the few lines of marker I hadn’t been able to scrub from my locker, “Or else I make things worse. And when I say worse, I mean way worse.”

  She had to be kidding. She was acting like some little mob boss that had a bunch of power she was just dying to inflict. It was so pathetic I almost laughed at her. Almost.

  She waited for my response, as did most of the hall. I looked around and saw all of their leering faces, itching to see what I’d say to that. None of them knew I was moving soon. School would be out in a week, and I wouldn’t have to see any of them ever again. So you know what? Have her do her worst, I thought. She wouldn’t get to have fun messing with me for much longer.

  “I think I’ll go with else,” I told her, feeling a rush of power go through me at seeing her face drop. Our audience laughed, shaking their heads at Rochelle’s momentary loss of leverage. I should have known this would only enrage her.

  “You bitch!” she yelled, her voice echoing down the hall like she was speaking through a megaphone. “I should have gotten that money. My family needs it more than yours does. And yet life always falls in your favor, doesn’t it, Blaire?” She sneered, her chest heaving with anger. “Even before you won, I always knew you thought you were better than us, what with your ridiculous need to have the best grades, and shoving your talent in our faces – reminding us that you were going to go somewhere one day while the rest of us get stuck here. You were never one of us. You were like a tick we couldn’t shake, and so we just let you tag along. But not anymore.” Stepping closer, so that her nose was almost touching mine, she whispered the final blow. “You will never belong no matter where you go or what you do. You’ll always be somebody’s unwanted leech.”

  I slowly come back to the moment, feeling tears in my eyes at the terribly clear memory, and at how closely it fits with Beckham’s words about how I’m not a part of his family, and he’s right. I just kind of fell into all of this through Leigha, and I went with it. Because on some level, I think I was craving being a part of a group again, even though I told my family otherwise.

  But to some, I’m clearly not wanted.

  And I won’t make the mistake again of staying where I’m not welcomed.

  Looking up, I see Leigha is yelling at Beckham, telling him he has no right to tell her who can and cannot stay, especially when it’s one of her and Catcher’s friends. I’m touched that she would fight for me, fight to let me stay. But I don’t want to cause a rift between her and her family. Family is a precious thing, and an outsider like myself shouldn’t come in front of it.

  Stepping out of the pool, I grab one of the spare towels and wrap it around my torso, telling myself to remember to give both it and the suit back to Leigha later.

  Coming to stand next to Beckham, but not too close, I hold up a hand to stop their fighting.

  Biting my lip, I try to clear my eyes of any hurt before I look at him. He’s the last person I want to show weakness to. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, and as the words come out of my mouth, Leigha’s drops, staring at me in disbelief. “I’m sorry if my presence has made you uncomfortable. This is your house and I should respect when I’m not,” don’t cry, Blaire. Do not cry, “when I’m not welcomed.” Leigha goes to say something, probably along the lines of Don’t you dare give the jerk what he wants. But I stop her with a look.

  “I know you don’t want me here, and that’s fine. But you’re not going to scare me away from being friends with your family. From now on, they can come over to my house whenever they like, and I’ll stay on my side of the beach. And trust me,” I say under my breath so only Beckham will hear, “I won’t be looking in your window any time soon.”

  I only witness his guarded, slightly shocked expression for a moment before I turn back to Leigha. “I mean it. You guys are welcome at the house any time – you, Catcher, or Theo. And thank you for the swim lesson. Make sure Catcher and Theo know I thank them, too.” My heart starts to ache when I remember Little Lyons running off, his expression hurt like the yelling had been meant for him, not me. I wish there was some way I could go check with Catcher to make sure he’s alright, but I just promised not to come over here or go in the house again. And I don’t go back on a promise.

  I can see the sadness – and the resignation – on Leigha’s face before I turn and start walking towards home. I think she knew, deep down, that this was going to be the only way we could be friends, at least without a heavy tension following us around courtesy of Beckham.

  I still don’t get what it is about me that threatens him so much. I don’t think the window incident is the cause anymore. But maybe Leigha was right when she said it was the car accident that made him bitter and overly cautious where his family is concerned. And I just happen to be the closest thing to a target for him. Either way, I don’t need his negativity in my life. Not after all I’ve gone through to get here, a place I thought was going to offer me peace once and for all.

  Beckham

  “Oh. My. Hell. You are the biggest douche on the planet, you know that?” Leigha hisses at me long after Blaire has disappeared, wrapping a towel around herself after exiting the pool. I barely hear her, still staring after where our neighbor left; my body caught between feeling numb and like the world’s biggest jerk.

  “W
hat is wrong with you? I know you’re always on edge when new people come around, but don’t you think you’ve gone a little extreme with her?”

  I close my eyes, running a hand through my hair, nearly knocking off my headphones that I forgot I was wearing again. “I don’t know. Maybe. I didn’t…I didn’t think she’d take it that hard.” All I wanted was to subtly tell her to leave so we could have dinner. But then my stupid brother invited her to stay, and my cousin backed him up like usual, and I just burst. It’s like no one was listening to me anymore. This tiny girl had infiltrated our lives in less than a week, and no one seemed to think it strange but me.

  “You told her to get off our property because she doesn’t belong here. What part of that isn’t supposed to upset a person, especially someone with her past?” Leigha asks me, still steaming. But what she said catches my attention.

  “What do you mean especially someone with her past?”

  She shakes her head, bypassing me to get to the house. “It doesn’t matter. At least she was nice enough to still want to be friends with me, no thanks to you.”

  Spinning around, I ask, knowing it’s a mistake the instant I do, “How am I the bad guy here? All I wanted was one moment without her presence, and you all act like I just shot Bambi, Theo included.”

  She gawks at me, almost looking ashamed that she has to spell it out. “She’s been over here two times, Beckham. Not a thousand. And both times you chose to come down when she was here. You could have just stayed in your cave and pretended she didn’t exist. But oh no, you just had to come out and treat her like a leper – twice.” Boy, she’s really on a roll now. “And by the way, your little brother likes her. That’s why he ran away from you after you yelled at her.” She shakes her head, her voice lowering in sadness, almost making me prefer the yelling. “We had fun today. She treated him like there was nothing weird about him not speaking. He smiled for heaven’s sake, Beckham.” As if that wasn’t enough, she just has to add insult to injury by saying, “Apparently everyone can see how nice she is but you.”