Chapter 26
26
JULY 2023, PRESENT DAY
Belle and Diego. Belle and fucking Diego. As Caleb paced across the bar away from Belle and her friends, the idea of Belle and Diego together was wedged firmly in his head. He should have stayed, because storming off without saying a word had definitely made it a thing, but he just hadn’t been able to. What the hell was he supposed to say to Belle after her friend had dropped that bombshell?
Belle’s horrified face had perfectly captured how he’d felt. And now he was more confused than ever over his feelings for Belle and even less certain how she felt about him.
Her and Diego. What were the chances? Had anything happened between them since she’d been here? He remembered them talking together at Maria’s but he assumed they were talking business. Fuck! He reached his car and fired off a quick message to Diego.
Any chance you have time to stop by the house this evening. We need to talk.
By the time Caleb had driven to Solace and Diego had replied with a thumbs up, he felt calmer, but the revelation that Belle and Diego had once been intimate had sucker punched him in the gut.
He still had work to do but he could do it just as easily at home as at Spirit and he was glad of the headspace. He sat up at the kitchen island with his laptop and immersed himself in emails until his stomach rumbled.
He’d just taken a pizza out of the oven and was cutting it up on a board when Diego appeared at the open patio doors.
‘Front gate was open,’ he said, sidling in. ‘Everything okay?’
Caleb cracked open two bottles of beer and handed one to him. ‘There’s pizza if you’re hungry.’
‘I ate earlier.’ He raised the bottle. ‘Beer’s good though.’
Caleb grabbed a slice of pizza, sat at the table by the open doors and waited for Diego to join him.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you knew Belle?’
Diego frowned then shrugged. ‘I don’t know her.’
‘You slept with her.’
‘Ten years ago.’ He returned Caleb’s gaze. ‘Does it bother you that I did?’
‘No, it’s just, um…’ And now he was floundering for an answer because yes it did bother him when he felt it really shouldn’t. ‘I was surprised by the connection, that’s all.’
‘I slept with a lot of women back then.’
‘Yeah, I get it. She wasn’t actually the one who told me?—’
‘Because it’s none of your business and you’re her boss,’ Diego commented.
‘Exactly. But you usually tell me everything.’
‘I really didn’t think it was relevant.’ Diego swigged his beer. ‘It was a long time ago.’
With an eight-year age gap between them, Caleb had known Diego since he was in his early twenties and was fully aware how he’d behaved back then. It hadn’t been much different to his own behaviour at that age.
‘Maybe I should have said something.’ Diego scrunched his lips and tucked his free hand in his armpit. ‘Mama said you like her?—’
‘Maria is making more of our relationship than there is.’
Diego leaned forward and placed his bottle on the table. ‘Is she? Then why are we having this conversation?’
Caleb inwardly grimaced. He had him there. Why the hell bring this up with Diego if it wasn’t because it bothered him?
‘The whole conversation and the way I found out was strange, as if Belle’s friend was having a dig at her.’
Diego’s eyes narrowed. ‘Which friend?’
‘The one with the sharp tongue and killer curves.’
‘Gem,’ Diego said with an intake of breath. ‘She’s here on Ibiza?’
‘They’re here for a week staying at Spirit.’
Diego rubbed his hand across his stubble. ‘I didn’t remember Belle. I mean I did, but only when she reminded me. It was Gem I remember.’
‘Wait.’ Caleb frowned. ‘You slept with them both?’
‘Don’t look at me like that. I don’t feel good about it but I was twenty-four and having the fucking time of my life. You remember being that age. You made Paloma perfectly aware of what you were like.’
‘What I was once like.’
‘ Sí , I have grown up a little since then but I can’t change how I behaved. I was single, they were willing. I didn’t intend to sleep with them both, but I did nothing wrong.’
‘Does Belle know about you and Gem?’
‘She didn’t, but I sort of told her about it when she came for lunch the other weekend because she realised I knew something I shouldn’t. She worked it out for herself.’
‘How did it even happen?’ Caleb shook his head. ‘Don’t answer that.’ He definitely didn’t want to hear the sordid details, but he felt guilty now for unwittingly leaving Belle on her own to deal with a messy situation.
Caleb took a bite of the now-cold pizza and dropped it on his plate.
Diego swigged his beer and gazed out through the open patio doors. ‘I remembered Gem because there was something special about her.’
Like there’s something special about Belle , Caleb thought.
‘I watched my sister marry you, the love of her life, and I was supposed to see Belle again the night after?—’
‘Hold on, you hooked up with Belle the week we got married?’
‘Yes, and I was supposed to see her the last night of their holiday and somehow I ended up with Gem.’ He shrugged.
‘ Somehow? ’ Caleb shook his head. ‘Somehow you slept with two best friends on the same holiday without either of them knowing?’
‘No, Gem knew I’d already been with Belle.’
‘Bloody hell, Diego. No wonder the two of them seem pissed at each other.’ Caleb was fuming on Belle’s behalf; some friend Gem was.
Diego clasped his hands around the bottle of beer. ‘I never expected to see either of them ever again. But I remember Gem because I’ve thought about her since.’ Diego shrugged. ‘You know I’ve never made a relationship work, I still prefer a good time with zero commitments. But that night with Gem, we just connected. I talked to Belle plenty, but I really talked to Gem, opened up to her in a way that I never do. She told me all kinds of stuff too; it wasn’t just about sex.’
‘If it was Gem you connected with, why the hell did you go for Belle in the first place?’
‘I was working, selling club tickets, got chatting and was flirting with all three of them. It was Gem who I’d noticed first, it’s just their other friend made it clear that she and Gem weren’t single.’
‘So you decided to try your luck with Belle instead?’ Caleb clenched his fists.
‘I did fancy her, but Gem caught my eye.’ He rubbed his hand across his stubble and took a swig of beer. ‘I had every intention of seeing Belle again on their last night and never expected what happened with Gem to happen. I gave Gem my number but never heard from her.’ He folded his arms across his chest as if he was trying to close himself off. He didn’t meet Caleb’s eyes. ‘I thought about getting in touch with Gem, but never got further than thinking about it.’ He shrugged. ‘It was one night that shouldn’t have happened, but I was glad it did.’
Caleb’s jaw tightened. ‘They’re going to the Ushua?a club night so you’ll have every chance to see her. You slept with them both, Diego. You’ve talked to Belle; at least do the decent thing and talk to Gem, particularly if you have feelings for her.’
‘I said we connected with each other ten years ago. I didn’t fall for her,’ he said brashly, but there was something about his sudden brusqueness that suggested Gem had got to him more than he was willing to admit.
‘But you liked her enough to have remembered her, and I get the feeling you still do, so don’t ignore her or let the situation with her and Belle get worse.’
‘Maybe take your own advice then and talk to Belle. What have you got to lose?’ Diego drained the rest of his beer and stood up. ‘Are you coming with them to Ushua?a?’
‘Nah, going to give it a miss. Not sure I’ll be particularly good company that day.’
Diego frowned before realisation crossed his face. ‘The twenty-first of July.’
‘It would have been our tenth wedding anniversary.’
Diego gripped Caleb’s hand and kissed him on each cheek. ‘If you change your mind and need company, you know where I’ll be.’