Tangled Read Online Free PDF Page B

tonight.”
    “Oh,” I said. ( Damn , I thought.)
    “Want to meet up later? Down at the beach?”
    DID I WANT TO MEET UP LATER??!!!!!
    “Uh…sure.”
    “What’s your number?” Dakota pulled out his phone. “I’ll text you when I get back.”
    HE WANTED TO TEXT ME!!!!!
    “Number?” Dakota asked.
    I had to pull myself together. “I don’t get reception here,” I said.
    “Want me to call your room then?”
    I thought about what would happen if Dakota called our room and Skye answered and ended up joining us on the beach. No way was I getting myself in a situation where he had his pick of her or me.
    “That’s okay,” I said quickly. “I’ll just hang out down there until you show up.”
    “Let’s meet around ten,” Dakota said. Then he leaned toward me and whispered, “I’ll get us some beer.”
     
    “Who were you talking to in the buffet line?” Skye asked as we were walking back to the suite. The moms were ahead of us, harmonizing some song. They were in an a cappella group in college. Whenever they get together, they invariably break out in a bouncy bop-bop-de-bop tune.
    “Some guy.” I shrugged. “He’s here with his mom and brother.”
    “You seemed pretty friendly,” she murmured.
    “It’s no big deal.”
    “He looks kind of suburban, doesn’t he?”
    “I don’t think so,” I said defensively. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what she meant. But given that I’m not all New York City cool like Skye, I most likely fit into that category as well.
    “Did you see that necklace he was wearing?” Skye asked. “Does he think he’s Hawaiian?” Then she shook her head and added, “Do whatever you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
     
    All I could think about the whole day was Dakota, our amazing kiss, meeting him on the beach tonight. Now and then, my thoughts drifted to the suicide note. I’d reread it in the morning and even taped it into my everything book. I’d contemplated showing my mom, or maybe Skye, but then I decided that Dakota was right. At the end of the day there was nothing we could do to stop this person.
    That night, when my mom and Luce went to the bar for a drink, I washed my hair and shaved my legs. After I toweled off, I borrowed a squirt of Skye’s expensive lavender moisturizer. Then I got worried she’d smell it, so I lifted my shins into the sink, scrubbed them off, and rubbed on my cheap stuff.
    A little before ten, I came out of the bathroom. Skye was sitting cross-legged on her bed, watching TV.
    “I’m going for a walk,” I said casually.
    Skye studied my sarong (purchased from the gift shop earlier today with all my babysitting money) and my mom’s low-cut top (stolen from her closet). She raised her eyebrows and said, “Be careful.”
    There was no one at the beach, just a row of empty lounge chairs. It was darker than up by the pool and cool, with the breeze off the water. I hugged my arms around my chest. I could hear laughing from the bar area. I wondered if Dakota was scoring us those beers.
    When Dakota didn’t show after fifteen minutes, I crept up the lawn, past the pool, all the way to the edge of the bar. I could see my mom and Luce at a table in the far corner. Luce was tracing her finger around the edge of her glass. My mom was drinking from a pineapple. No sign of Dakota, though. I hurried back down to the beach.
    I sagged into a lounge chair and looked up at the palm trees and the starry sky. Dakota stood me up. He totally stood me up. He saw me at breakfast and decided he didn’t like the looks of me in the daylight.
    “Hey, sleepyhead,” a voice said.
    I opened my eyes. I must have drifted off. Dakota was standing above me, a silver can in each hand and one jammed in each pocket, too.
    “Sorry it took so long,” he said as he settled onto the chair next to mine. “My mom got lost on the drive back and I kept saying she should let me take the wheel but she said no because it’s a rental car and we got into this