The Girl of Sand & Fog Read Free Page A

quickly jumped into marriage with husband number two, Jesse Harris,
a bestselling novelist.
    Fuck, Bobby Rowan.
    Yep. It’s him. I shouldn’t have missed that one,
because even as hot as he is now I can still see my childhood playmate
somewhere in those intense green eyes.
    Then I cut myself some slack because it has been
ten years since I’ve seen him and he has changed. Crap, how the hell did a geek
like Bobby Rowan grow up to be one hot motherfucker?
    Shit, he’s hot, but I shouldn’t let myself forget
who he is.
    He’s danger, Kaley. Danger.
    Being friends with him would not be a good thing.
    What should I do?
    “Hey, Bobby. Aren’t you going to introduce me to
your friend?” a chubby blond girl sitting on the hood of a Mustang next to my
Lexus SUV shouts out none too softly.
    “Don’t pretend you don’t know who she is, Zoe,”
Bobby says. “And if you want to talk to her, get off your ass and walk over
here.”
    She grabs her things, slides off the hood and
bounces across the parking lot. “I was trying to be polite,” she says, annoyed.
    “Too late for that,” he counters, but there is a
change to his tone that tells me they’re friends and he likes this girl. He
looks at me. “Don’t be rude. Zoe is OK.”
    That comment prompts me to give the girl a more
careful study. She’d be pretty if she just lost twenty pounds. But she is very
attractive even plump and doesn’t seem malicious in any way. The way she smiles
at Bobby makes me wonder if they are more than friends, if she might be his
girlfriend.
    “Kaley, this is Zoe Kennedy,” Bobby says. “Her
dad’s Ian Kennedy the music producer. She is the other corner of the Bermuda
Triangle of industry brats here.”
    Oh crap, this day just keeps getting better. Is
everyone I meet today going to have parents who are friends with Chrissie? Way
to suck the fun out of my life, Mom. Drop me in a school surrounded by the
children of your warped universe.
    Fuck, at least in Santa Barbara I didn’t have to
deal with this shit: newbie at school, fucked-up home life, and a shitload of
things I’ve been ordered not to tell anyone.
    Great fucking move, Chrissie. Yep, Pacific
Palisades was a good call when you decided to relocate.
    I shake off my irritation and frown. “Bermuda
Triangle?” I hate feeling like I’m totally left out of the joke. “What are you
talking about?”
    Zoe smiles. “There are only three of us now,
music industry brats. Last year there was a herd of us and they were definitely
out of control. The faculty expects us to be hell-raisers. That’s
why the teachers call us the Bermuda Triangle. Given who your dad is, I think
they were in terror of you coming here. Why do you think they are all  terrified
of you? The actors’ brats do drugs. The rich are pretentious wannabe-famous
stalkers. But the music industry kids—”
    “We’re considered the worst,” Bobby explains.
“You’ll figure out pretty soon that none of the teachers like us here. And that
you can pretty much do anything you want.”
    “I know your dad, too,” Zoe says in a satisfied
way. “You look just like him. Even the stare. Positively eerie.”
    Bobby tosses her a mean look. “Fuck, I hate it
when you eavesdrop, Zoe.”
    “Well, I could hardly not listen. You both are
very loud.”
    I unlock the car. “My dad is an ass. Don’t
compare me to Alan Manzone.”
    Zoe nods in earnest. “Where are you guys going?
Can I go, too?”
    Bobby ignores Zoe and studies me for a moment.
“Do you really hate him that much? You don’t give him an inch. Why are you so
angry?”
    I flush. I’ve already been more honest with Bobby
Rowan than anyone else I’ve known in my life.
    I shake my head. “I thought we’d settled that.”
    Zoe climbs into the backseat without being
invited. “So where are we going?”
    “Don’t you both have cars?” I ask. “I’m not
bringing you back here for them.”
    “I rode my motorcycle and I’ll get my mom to
bring me back if