"I put on makeup to express myself. I could care less about my so-called insecurities."
Aura Chandler was so sure she had her life figured out. After securing a photoshoot gig with up-and-coming musician Lacey Redd, she was convinced she would get d...
AFTER HER MINI FREAK-OUT, Aura and Tyson went out together to the beach. Of course, that didn't happen without getting borderline unpleasant comments from her mother. Aura loved her, but she would never understand her makeup.
Despite the little setback, she dragged Tyson to the shore to take pictures. He offered to take a few full body ones, which brought her mood right up. Someone who understood her need for good pictures? Big yes. She went crazy trying different poses.
He laughed and went crazy with the pictures too. And he was a good photographer. He was one of those that would do the weirdest positions to get the right angle, which she was grateful for.
She was having so much fun.
"Okay," he struggled, his head getting covered in sand. "Stay in that pose." Aura hid her snicker behind soft coughs as she did as told. She let her wet hair be blown by the wind as she faced the camera with a tiny smirk.
Once he was done, he let his body collapse on the sand. She laughed and raced to him, helping him dust off sand from his face, neck, and shoulders. He was doing the most for those pictures.
"You are by far my favorite photographer I've ever worked with," she said. Her cheeks heated when he gave her the cutest smile in return.
She shouldn't be feeding into his crush, but it was hard not to.
Well, how could she pretend to be someone else when it was Tyson Smith she was dealing with? She couldn't treat him like the others. He was special to her.
Perhaps Mrs. Smith would be one hundred percent right and he would never tell her anything about it. Considering she was there for just the summer, he might not want to get involved with someone who had a limited time.
"No one else willing to sacrifice their sanity for you?" He joked, watching as more sand came out of his short hair.
Aura chuckled, remembering all the guys she had at her feet back home. None of them compared to the man lying before her.
"Not like you, I'm afraid," she confessed. She grinned before he could say anything else, and pointed closer to the water. "Shall we get a little wet?"
"Sure," he started to say, but stopped as a frown settled into his features.
Aura turned to see why, and her heart dropped to her stomach.
"Aura!" Zachary called out, waving at her frantically. He jogged up to the pair in nothing but gym trunks. His chest was exposed for the rest of the beachgoers to enjoy. Aura pursed her lips as her cheeks heated up.
"Zachary, what a surprise," she said, momentarily forgetting she was there with Tyson.
His bright smile adorned his face as he stopped right in front of her. His blue eyes drank her up from top to bottom, taking in the siren makeup she had done on herself hours before. How he had recognized her, she did not know.
"You really are something when it comes to makeup," he said. Without hesitating, he reached over, hooked a finger under her chin, and planted a lingering kiss on her blue cheek.
She trembled at the unexpected touch, and sighed inaudibly when he pulled back.
"Aura, we need to get dinner again sometime. Might just beg Millie to pull her stunt again so we can...finish what we started?" He ran a hand through his hair, flexing his biceps at the same time.
Aura chuckled at the insinuation, tucking her hair behind her ear. The boy was bold, she would give him that.
"I don't like having red wine spilt on me on purpose," she said, giving him a smile. "But I do like the idea of dinner."
"I'll take that, beautiful." He winked at her before focusing behind her. Her heart sank deeper remembering who was there with her. She bit down on her blue lip, wishing she could delete the moment from existence. "I guess I'll call you later."
He sent her another smile and left, leaving the pair standing there not knowing what to do.
"You're still hanging around that guy?" Tyson asked. Aura closed her eyes, feeling every bit of betrayal in his voice.
"Sometimes," she confessed. She almost broke when she saw his face. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at her in disbelief.
"It's not anything serious, Tyson. He's just a friend...." She trailed off.
"Just a friend doesn't really treat you that way," he argued. "Why are you with that guy, Aura? He's nothing but trouble. He doesn't care about you, he likes to toy with you."
And I like to toy with him!
She bit back on her comment. Zachary was one of the few things giving her life on that vacation. Playing with him was just as amusing as him believing he was in control of what they had going on.
"Tyson, I can take care of myself in that department. Trust me." Aura recalled all the times guys had tried to play with her. None of them realized they were the ones being played. She liked it that way. After being taken advantage of once, she changed her ways of dealing with guys. If they can play others, mostly women, and be regarded as kings for doing so, then she could do the same.
"Look, I just don't want to see you fall," Tyson explained. He spread his arms to the side as if saying can you blame me? Aura rolled her eyes and looked away. "We all know about him. He's this pretend charming dude, but it's not real. You shouldn't be around him. Don't waste your time on him."
"Tyson, I'm a grown woman. I know what I'm doing. This ain't high school drama. Stop acting like he's the popular jock and I'm his bet. Can you grow up?"
Aura scoffed and turned away. She thought about all the fun she had with Tyson on the beach, but now everything had been tainted. She wanted to hop in the shower and scrub away all of her makeup and forget about everything. There were enough photos for her to choose from anyway. She didn't need to spend more time with someone who was trying to tell her what to do.
"Ari, please, I'm trying to protect you here," he cried out.
She held back a snarky laugh. If there was anyone who needed protection, it was Zachary McBane.
"I can be friends with whoever I want, Tyson," she said.
"I know you can, but, Ari, I'm telling you this guy is not good." He attempted to convince her of how terrible he was. She had heard it all before. Millie Moore was quite the talkative woman, and it wasn't like Aura wasn't aware of his player moves. She was playing too, but none noticed it.
Regardless of Zachary's reputation, it didn't give Tyson the right to tell her not to be around him.
"I'm going home," she responded.
She tucked her hair behind her ears and left. She wasn't sure if he was following behind her, but she didn't care. At that point, she wasn't in the mood to look at his face. He had no right to tell her who to be with. It was her decision through and through.
If he had a problem with who she liked to be around, then he should look elsewhere for friendship. Clearly they had different tastes in people, so it would be smart to go their own way. If he was going to act like a child about who she liked, then she was sure he'd be just fine hanging on his own.
There was one thing Aura hated, and that was people thinking they could control her.
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