Changing Tides (Kill Devil Hills Book 2) by Sarah Darlington Read Free Book Online

company, and I couldn’t have been happier. Even Luce and Sydney seemed to be warming up to one another. But then, to give Rhett some credit, he sure had a way of bringing people together.
    After we went back to our hotel. The time change and the long flight had taken its toll. We were all exhausted and desperate for sleep. I set my alarm for six in the morning and then settled in to sleep next to Sydney. She was already in her pajamas, wearing an eye mask, ear plugs, and falling asleep.
    The four of us—Noah, Georgie, Sydney, and I—were all sharing a hotel room because money was tight and LA was expensive. While Rhett and Luce were in a separate room. I’m not sure how that made Sydney feel, knowing Rhett was literally next door and possibly screwing some other girl, but if she cared she wasn’t showing it. Actually, I kind of envied her confidence. She had thick skin and a ‘don’t-fuck-with-me’ attitude. Luce had called her a bitch, but I knew better. She was smart, she was beautiful, and she wasn’t about fall in love with Rhett simply because he had a nice body and a pretty face. We could all take lessons from Sydney.
    So with that final thought, I flipped onto my stomach and closed my eyes.
    In no time at all, I was fast asleep.
     
    * * *
    The shrill beep-beep-beep of my alarm woke me . Oh God, morning . In two seconds flat I was wide awake. Then my nerves kicked in. The happy feelings I went to bed with were replaced with unsettling fear. I missed my brother but was also scared to see him again. Mostly because I had so many questions surrounding his ‘fake’ death.
    Well…actually, I really only had one question.
    Why?
    Why had he faked his own death, put as all through the hell of losing him, and then disappeared? All of it to live with some random old lady out in Malibu, California. It was just too weird. Our family meant everything to me, flaws and all, and I couldn’t fathom ever leaving them. Why had he?
    “Shit,” Noah growled from the other bed, waking at the sound of my still buzzing alarm. “Ellie, it’s too damn early. We’re on vacation. You don’t set alarms on vacation. Turn it off already.”
    “Calm down, Sleeping Beauty,” I mumbled into my pillow. Blinking, I opened my eyes to a semi-light room. I reached over to stop the beeping. Sydney hadn’t woken because she had her ear plugs in and eye mask on . See, smart cookie . Maybe Noah should do the same and lighten up a little. Georgie was a sound sleeper and didn’t even budge.
    Carefully, I crawled out of bed and started silently digging through my suitcase.
    Deciding that I couldn’t be in Los Angeles another second withou t going straight to see my brother, I hurried to get ready. Ben had asked me to come today for dinner—not knowing I had Georgina and a whole slew of other people with me. But screw dinner. I was going to go see him now . Him and the old lady he was crashing with. I didn’t care how early it was.
    But my nerves were getting the better of me. Even my hands shook. I stepped into the shower, giving myself a pep talk . You can do this. Pull it together!
    Hurrying through the motions, I finished getting ready at record speed. When I came out of the bathroom, I found everyone still asleep. Including Noah. Briefly I thought about heading out to see Ben alone, but that had never been my plan.
    My plan had been, and still was, to see him first with Noah. Because I was scared out of my mothe r freakin g mind at the thought of taking Georgina to see Ben. The night after his funeral, after we’d laid an empty casket in the ground, Georgina had tried to commit suicide. She’d been extremely close with our brother and she’d been devastated by his death. The image of Georgie laying in a pool of her own blood with Noah holding her and frantically doing everything in his power to save her life…well, it wasn’t an image I’d ever be able to remove from my memories.
    How would Georgie react when she found out Ben was