BARR: a bay falls high novel Read online

  “Christ,” Kip whispered.

  “Gram…,” Ruby said.

  Her grandmother came halfway down the steps and never looked away from me.

  “How are you today?” I asked her.

  “You think that habit is good?”

  “Not at all.”

  “You think it makes you look cool?”

  “Actually, I hope it makes me uncool,” I said. I leaned forward. “Ruby secretly has a crush on me. And poor Kip… he’s a little strange in the head… you know what I mean?”

  Ruby’s grandmother slowly smiled. “You’re lucky it’s you smoking and not anyone else.”

  “So he gets a pass?” Ruby asked.

  Her grandmother walked back up the steps and stopped at the door. “He’s true to himself. I appreciate that.”

  I grinned ear to ear. “See that, Pres? True to myself.”

  “Wow,” Tinsley whispered. “I’ve never seen her like that before.”

  “I also heard you play piano,” Ruby’s grandmother said to me.

  “That I do. I’m very good at it. It’s supposed to be a secret but I’m starting to think my friends can’t keep a secret if their lives depended on it.”

  “That’s fine,” Ruby’s grandmother said. “I find the piano to be both beautiful and sensual. An instrument that can do so much at once to a person.”

  Ruby’s grandmother went back inside.

  “She didn’t even say goodbye,” Ruby said. “Or warn me to be safe. Or harass me about checking in with her at some point.”

  “I think you broke her, Barr,” Tinsley said.

  “Shit, Gram’s got the hots for Barr,” Kip said.

  They all looked at me.

  I winked. “Fine by me. She’s actually kind of hot.”

  Ruby stepped forward and Kip slipped his hand around her waist.

  Ruby pointed at me. “I’ll hurt you if you ever say that again, Barr.”

  I turned and walked away, finishing my cigarette.

  They all loved me as much as they hated me.

  My best friends. My brothers. Their girlfriends.

  Yet there was one person I couldn’t get out of my head.

  * * *

  Pres kept his arms tight around Tinsley’s body while Kip showed off in the ocean for Ruby. And she was just too adorable as she stood there and clapped her hands with every wave Kip surfed.

  When the sun finally said peace out, motherfuckers and night rolled in, I felt more at ease. I was like a vampire. Coming alive at night. Although I could walk during the day and not burst into flames. Then again, I was known for making things burst into flames.

  I had an itch.

  Not the kind at the middle of my back where I couldn’t reach.

  A different kind of itch.

  The beach was quiet.

  Calm.

  Cool.

  Which should have been perfect.

  But not for a guy like me.

  When things got too calm and quiet I got jumpy.

  And by jumpy, that meant jumping into my car and going somewhere to blow off some steam.

  “Okay, I have a question to ask,” Ruby said. “Where did the Rulz come from?”

  “The darkest corner of hell,” I said with a wink.

  “Seriously,” Ruby said.

  “It was something that needed to be done,” Kip said. “Just the way things were going at the time. We needed to take control.”

  “And we did,” Pres said. “Simple as that.”

  “What about now though?” Tinsley asked with a grin, knowing she was gently kicking the hornet’s nest.

  “What does that mean?” Ruby asked.

  “Damn, love, you can’t help yourself,” I said to Tinsley. I looked at Ruby. “There’s some old shit walking around again.”

  “Nothing serious,” Kip said.

  “Nothing we should be talking about,” Pres said in his growling voice.

  “Oh, please,” Tinsley said. “We all know it’ll end up in some kind of fight.”

  Ruby looked back at Kip. “A fight?”

  “I always win my fights,” Kip said.

  “Not against me,” Ruby said.

  “I let you win,” Kip said.

  I rolled my eyes and turned around.

  Yeah, the East vs. West rumor was gaining some speed. The flames growing little by little. Nothing we couldn’t handle though. My mind wasn’t even there at that moment. And it sure as fuck wasn’t on BFH or on the beach.

  “Your turn to ask something, Tinsley,” Ruby said.

  “I have a question for Barr,” she said. “What was the first song you learned on piano?”

  I turned back around. “What?”

  “Oh, that’s cute,” Ruby said. “Imagine little Barr sitting there with a sippy cup of apple juice, playing Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

  They all laughed.

  “You want to feel what my fingertips can do, love?” I asked Ruby.

  Ruby stopped laughing and curled her lip. “If you think Tinsley is tough, you don’t know a thing, Barr. When I get done with you, you’ll be begging for Kip to knock you out.”

  “I’m taking that as an advance, love,” I said. “I need to go splash some water on my face now.”

  “Try some battery acid,” Ruby said. “Do us all a favor.”

  “That’s a burn,” Tinsley said.

  The two girls giggled.

  Kip and Pres just sat there with their girls.

  “Who’s turn is it to ask something?” Kip asked.

  “Why don’t we skip the questions and go into the dares?” I asked with a grin.

  “Why?” Tinsley asked. “So you can dare me to kiss Ruby?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I can dare Ruby to kiss you.”

  “Or I can dare you to kiss my ass,” Ruby said.

  I smiled.

  Kip pointed at me. “Don’t say a fucking word, Barr.”

  “I’m not wrong in anything I’m thinking or want to say,” I said. “But of course, I mean it all with love. I love you all. That’s all. Just friendly love.”

  I put my hands together and winked.

  “Worst part is that he’s telling the truth,” Tinsley said.

  “Yeah, Barr is the man,” Kip said with a laugh.

  “So can I ask something now?” Ruby asked. “It’s about the whole Tinsley fooling around with the three of you at once thing.”

  “Why, love?” I asked. “You want a turn?”

  I laughed at myself and walked away to have a smoke.

  And check my phone without anyone seeing me do so.

  * * *

  I liked sitting at the top of the beach.

  Distance from the water but still able to hear the waves.

  Just sitting on the hood of my car, smoking a cigarette.

  When I saw Tinsley walking toward me, hugging herself, the beach breeze making her dance in a way that made me wonder if she had made the wrong choice by hooking up with Pres, I waved and told my self-thoughts to go fuck themselves.

  Tinsley and Pres were meant to be together. They had that forever appeal, which they both needed.

  “Can I have one of those?” Tinsley asked.

  “You want to smoke a cigarette with me?” I asked.

  “No. Just messing around.” She pointed to the car. “That’s a really expensive car. Aren’t you worried about scratching it or something?”

  “Nope,” I said. “I own the car. If it gets scratched, I’ll get it fixed. Or I’ll buy a new one.”

  “Rich boys…”

  “Men,” I said.

  Tinsley rolled her eyes. “You can call yourselves men but you call us girls. How does that work?”

  “Ruby’s grandmother isn’t a girl. She’s all woman.”

  “Ew,” Tinsley said. “You’re sick.”

  “Me? She was the one who was all-”

  “Stop,” Tinsley said, putting a hand up. “Please.”

  “Come hang with me, love,” I
said. “Get close.”

  Tinsley moved toward me and put her hands to my knees. “Close enough?”

  “Now if you were wearing a loose fitting shirt… leaning forward like that… we’d be doing pretty damn good together.”

  “You’ll never stop, will you?” Tinsley asked.

  “Nah. I can’t. Not with you. You know that though, love. I’ll push you to the edge and make sure you don’t fall.”

  “Pres is going to hit you one of these days.”

  “Won’t be the first time,” I said.

  I took a drag of my cigarette.

  Tinsley just kept staring. “Something’s up with you. You’re off.”

  “Off? What’s off?”

  “You’re hiding something. You’ve pulled back.”

  “From what? The romance on the beach down there?”

  “Oh, is that jealousy I smell?”

  “No,” I said. “I had tacos for lunch. They’re talking back.”

  Tinsley curled her lip. “Barr…”

  I laughed. “Hey. You and Pres. Kip and Ruby. I’m damn happy for you four. I mean it. Ruby is good for Kip.”

  “Kip is good for Ruby,” Tinsley said. “And I can’t believe I just said that.”

  “Fucked up world we live in, love.”

  “Beyond fucked up,” she said. “Maybe I should smoke one of those cigarettes.”

  “It’ll do wonders for you,” I said.

  Tinsley laughed. “I’m being serious though, Barr. What’s going on with you right now?”

  “I’m just hanging out,” I said.

  “So you’re going to be a dick to me. Make me force information out of you.”

  “Oh, I like that,” I said. “How do you plan on forcing something out of me, love?”

  “I can destroy you, Barr,” Tinsley whispered. Her eyes glowed at me. “You know that, right? I can fucking destroy you. I can do things…”

  She inched her hands up my legs and I sucked in a breath.

  I touched her wrists and moved her hands away.

  “On second thought, never mind,” I said.

  Tinsley laughed out loud. “So there is something wrong. You’d never turn down one of my advances. Ever.”

  I looked back at her and winked.

  She opened her mouth to say something else and I heard a yell.

  Here came Ruby, charging toward Tinsley.

  “I hate that guy!” Ruby yelled.

  I looked down the beach and Kip stood there with his hands on his head.

  “What did he do now?” I asked.

  “Some fucking bimbo with her boobs hanging out of her shirt and Kip is staring. Like a dog. Tongue hanging out of his mouth. And this bitch looks at him and smiles. And waves. And he waves back. And he starts flirting with her.”

  I laughed.

  Ruby snapped her gaze to me. “What?”

  “Ah, love, you’ll get used to it,” I said. “That’s Kip. He loves attention. That’ll never stop.”

  “I’ll fucking stop it,” Ruby said. “I’ll go knock a bitch out.”

  “Let’s take her to the ditch,” Tinsley said.

  I nodded. “Not a bad idea. I guess I should be a good friend and go track down the bimbo with the boobs, huh? Just to have a look for myself. See if she’s worth the hell Kip is about to experience.”

  “Hell?” Ruby asked. “He can experience anything he wants with his right hand from here on out. And you want to go flirt with the bimbo too? You’re all the same.”

  “I don’t know who I like more right now,” I said. “Tinsley or Ruby… tough choice.”

  “We will both destroy you,” Tinsley warned.

  I walked away, a smile on my face, quickly fading.

  “I know, love… I know how much you can destroy me…”

  Chapter 3

  Kip came out of the guesthouse and let out a long sigh.

  “Well, he’s still in one piece,” Pres said.

  When he got close enough, I grabbed his face. “No scratches. No stab wounds.”

  “She let you off easy,” Pres said.

  “Shut up,” Kip said. “She still wants to fight that girl.”

  “Who was it?” I asked.

  Kip shrugged his shoulders.

  “Christ, Kip,” I said.

  “I was just looking,” Kip said. “For a second. I mean… they were hanging out. It was like an inch from… nipples.”

  Pres snorted. “You’re like a fucking kid, you know that?”

  “I hope Ruby blue balls you until you can’t walk,” I said.

  “That’ll never happen,” Kip said. “I’ll just jer-”

  “I’m walking away,” I said. “I do not want to hear where this is going now.”

  I walked to the other side of the pool as the lights glowed from in the water.

  Pres and Kip came after me a few seconds later.

  Kip elbowed Pres and nodded.

  I lit a cigarette and turned my head to them. “What?”

  “You’re fucked up in the head,” Kip said.

  “Oh?”

  “You have something going on, Barr,” Pres said. “We can see. And we know what it is.”

  “Mel,” Kip said.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, curling my lip.

  “Your face has her name written all over it,” Pres said.

  “You have your Mel face on,” Kip said.

  “My Mel face?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Kip said. “You get this really serious look on your face. And it’s mixed with distance and sadness…”

  “Are you flirting with me right now, Kip?” I asked.

  “What? No.”

  “Kip is right,” Pres said. “You get a look. What’s going on? You saw her…”

  “And I know you were texting her,” Kip said. “Saw your phone one night.”

  “Great,” I said. “Just what I need.”

  “You’re the one with the face,” Kip said. He punched Pres’s arm. “It’s his RMF.”

  “What the hell is RMF?” Pres asked.

  “Resting Mel Face,” Kip said.

  I rubbed my jaw and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

  Nobody laughed at Kip’s terrible attempt at a joke.

  “You going to talk or no?” Pres asked.

  I took my phone out of my pocket. “Nothing to talk about.”

  I showed them the screen and scrolled to show how many messages I sent without a response.

  “Damn,” Kip said. “You’re like a stalker.”

  “Thanks, Kip,” I said.

  “So she stopped talking to you,” Pres said.

  “She stopped replying,” I said.

  “That’s different?” Kip asked.

  “It is,” I said.

  Silence fell between all of us.

  Then Pres turned his head and nodded.

  “What’s going on now?” Kip asked.

  “He’s going up there,” Pres said.

  “BC?” Kip asked.

  “No choice,” I said. “That’s my girl.”

  “Your girl,” Kip said. “She’s been…”

  Pres grabbed Kip’s arm. “She’s his girl, Kip. What would you do for Ruby?”

  Kip nodded. “The same you’d do for Tinsley.”

  “The same I’d do for both of them,” I said.

  “Which means we’re in this too,” Pres said.

  “Brothers,” Kip said. “Let’s go get her.”

  Kip cracked his knuckles.

  I shook my head. “That’s where you’re wrong. This is a solo thing. I have to go up there alone.”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Kip said.

  “Yes, a chance in hell,” I said. “We go up and just go rolling through…”

  “Fuck,” Pres said. “After what happened with me and them.”

  “That was settled,” Kip said. “Mac even told you it was settled. Shit, the guy apologized. And then he-”

  “It’s not about that,” I said. “This is personal.” />
  “Because of Mel,” Kip said.

  “Way beyond that,” I said. “It goes back years. Before the Rulz even existed. It goes back to when I showed up and took control. It goes back to when I left. And the way I left. And with Mel…”

  I walked by Pres and went toward the beach.

  I dropped my half smoked cigarette into the sand and stepped on it.

  I rubbed my jaw.

  Memories were fast and heavy.

  “So you’re telling us to stay put,” Pres said.

  He and Kip weren’t going to leave me alone.

  “I just have to check on her,” I said. “That’s it. I made that promise to her.”

  “Is it really just checking on her?” Kip asked.

  I nodded. “It really is. There’s no getting her out of there. She…” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “You still love her, Barr?” Kip asked.

  I looked at him and curled my lip.

  Kip put his hands up and stepped away.

  “At least give us a heads up when you’re going,” Pres said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “So we know,” Pres said. “And if something goes wrong or you need us, we’re ready.”

  “I mean, if I’m face down in Ruby, I’m not moving for anything,” Kip said.

  “She’s going to leave you face down in the pool if you keep looking at other girls,” I said to Kip.

  “I know,” Kip said. “But she’s so fucking cute when she’s jealous. Like this doll and then she becomes fucking crazy and violent.”

  “You are something, Kip,” Pres said.

  “I’m just honest with myself. That girl owns me.”

  “I know the feeling,” I said.

  I looked forward to the ocean.

  We stood in silence for a minute or so.

  Then I nodded.

  “Okay,” I said. “Heads up.”

  “For what?” Kip asked.

  “You both haven’t had anything to drink, right?” I asked.

  “Nope,” Pres said. “Why? What are you thinking?”

  I stepped forward and turned to face the Rulz.

  “I’m going to find Mel tonight… right now.”

  * * *

  I drove home to get some stuff.

  And by stuff I packed a bag of clothes.

  I got myself some keys too.

  Just to make sure I was well prepared for whatever was about to happen.