Chapter 21
We’re putting the cat back in the bag.
Sophia
I rush into the Five Fathoms Brewing restaurant and hurry toward the table in the corner where Chloe, Nova, Maya, and Paisley are waiting.
“Sorry I’m late,” I say as I plop down beside them.
“Judging by your sex hair, I know why you were late. Bow chica bow wow.” Chloe waggles her eyebrows.
I glance around to make certain no one heard her. “Shush. Not so loud.”
Nova gasps. “You did have sex!”
I slap my hand over her mouth. “What part of ‘not so loud’ do you not understand?”
She licks my palm and I drop my hand. “You can’t blame me for getting excited.”
“Go ahead and get excited but do it quietly.”
“Why quietly?” she whisper-shouts.
“Good question.” Paisley nods. “Did sexual intercourse with Flynn not satisfy you?”
I groan. “Please don’t say the words sexual intercourse again.”
“What other terminology should I use? You specifically said I couldn’t use the word fornicate ever again. I remember. I wrote it down in my diary.” Paisley reaches for her phone.
Maya slaps her hand. “We don’t need the date. We all remember when you asked Jack and Lily how often they fornicate.”
“I don’t know what the problem is. They were perfectly happy to answer my questions. I found their information about fellatio extremely detailed and interesting.”
I groan. “We are not discussing my parents’ sex life.”
“No.” Chloe smiles. “We’re discussing yours.”
Ugh. I should have kept my big mouth shut. “I’m not discussing my sex life either.”
“But you have a sex life?” Maya asks.
“Maybe.”
She squeals. “Yes!”
“Shush. Keep it down. I don’t want the entire island of Smuggler’s Hideaway knowing my business.”
Nova giggles. “You’re cute if you think you can keep a secret on this island.”
I frown. Is she right? What will happen if everyone learns Flynn and I are involved? Will Flynn run away? Will he say I’m a mistake again?
“Out with it,” Chloe orders.
I force a vision of Flynn walking away from me out of my mind and feign innocence. “What do you mean?”
“She’s asking why you suddenly appear as if you need to defecate,” Paisley answers.
I bury my face in my hands. “I thought we agreed she wouldn’t use the word defecate either.”
“Do I need to add this to the list of words I’m not supposed to use?”
“Yes!” Maya, Nova, and Chloe shout in unison.
Time to move this conversation on. “Aren’t we supposed to be trying the new beer Paisley developed? Something non-alcoholic?”
Paisley snorts. “Even I know you’re not getting away with changing the subject.”
I shrug. “It was worth a try.”
“What’s going on? Why are you being secretive and shushing us?” Chloe asks. “Why are you not screaming from the rafters about how you had sex with Flynn?”
“One. I don’t scream about my sexual conquests. And two. Those rafters can’t support my weight. They’re purely decorative.”
“Rafters are never decorative. They are an essential element of the structure of the roof. I believe you’re referring to the beams, which are decorative.” Paisley scans our faces. “What? Why does everyone look like they swallowed a lemon?”
“I’m ignoring her,” Nova declares. “What’s the real reason you’re not shouting from the ra— beams about finally having sex with Flynn?”
I contemplate not answering. I know how bad it sounds. It’s the whole reason I initially told Flynn no. I don’t want to be a secret. I want someone who fights for me. Someone who wants to shout from the rafters about being with me.
But he made some good points. The gossiping on the island is out of control. And what we do together is no one’s business but ours.
But there’s no way I can keep a secret from my girlfriends. They know me too well. They’d see through any attempt at lying on my part.
“Flynn and I agreed to keep our relationship on the down low.”
Chloe gasps. “You’re Flynn’s dirty little secret?”
I flinch. Dirty little secret sounds horrible when you say it out loud.
“Uh oh.” Maya shakes her head. “This type of situation never ends well in my romance novels.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not in a romance novel.”
She stares off into the distance. “But what a wonderful romance it would be. The woman finally captures the man she’s always loved. I’d read that book.”
“But hopefully not buy the paperback since the stack of books you currently have is ready to collapse and suffocate you to death,” Chloe mutters.
Enough with the romance books. “There is no book, and I don’t love Flynn.”
Maya rolls her eyes. “Yeah. Ah hah. You don’t ‘love’ the man you’ve been obsessed with since you barged in on him doing push-ups in your brother’s bedroom without his t-shirt on. As I recall, you claimed you were going to marry him and have eight children with him.”
I wince. Eight children is a lot. I’d settle for two. I evict those thoughts from my mind. I am not having Flynn’s children. I’ve barely gotten him to admit he wants me. Children are not on the radar.
“Oh, please.” Chloe scoffs. “She was obsessed with Flynn way before then. Don’t you remember the time she poured grape juice into the locker of the girl he was dating?”
Nova giggles. “And it was the wrong locker.”
“It was a good deterrent to any other girls who wanted to date him.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Good deterrent? As I recall, it didn’t stop Flynn from dating every girl in his senior class.”
I don’t remember him dating every girl in his class. Granted ‘every girl’ isn’t much on an island with three small towns, but still. He’s not a man whore. Or is he?
“All I remember,” Paisley says. “Is how Sophia got detention.”
“Giving me detention was complete bullshit. I didn’t do any harm.”
“You ruined the girl’s track outfit. You deserved detention. The rest of us, however, did not since we weren’t involved,” Paisley claims.
“We were the lookouts,” Nova says.
“Some lookout you were. You were flirting with Hudson and forgot all about me.”
“Is it flirting when she stares at him with her mouth gaping open?” Chloe asks.
“I did not flirt or stare at Hudson. I wouldn’t. He’s a complete grump.”
“He wasn’t back in high school,” I remind Nova. “He could charm the pants off of any member of the cheerleading squad.”
“Remember when Nova tried out for the cheerleading squad?” Maya asks. “She tripped and took out an entire row of girls. They went down like bowling pins. She wasn’t allowed to finish the audition.”
“It was their loss,” Nova claims. “I would have been an excellent cheerleader.”
“Chloe!” A girl yells from across the restaurant. Chloe waves in response.
“Who is she?” I ask the table.
“It’s her neighbor’s daughter,” Nova says.
My eyes widen. “The neighbor as in the sexy cop next door who won’t give her the time of day?”
Chloe flicks her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t want Lucas to give me the time of day. He’s dead to me.”
“Tell me more.”
Paisley clears her throat. “I can summarize for you. Chloe showed up at Lucas’ house naked.”
“It was an accident,” Chloe interrupts to say.
Paisley ignores her to continue. “Lucas wasn’t interested and his daughter, Natalia, asked why she was wearing a raincoat when it wasn’t raining.”
“If the scenario you’re explaining had happened, and I’m not saying it did, it was because I didn’t know about Natalia.”
I burst into laughter at how indignant Chloe is. “How do you accidentally show up at your neighbor’s house naked?”
“I forgot to put on clothes when I went over to borrow some butter. If it’s a crime, arrest me.”
Maya snorts. “She wants Lucas to arrest her.”
The waitress arrives and sets several bottles without labels and empty beer mugs on the table.
“Have these been chilled to thirty-seven degrees?” Paisley asks.
Chloe scowls. “Do not give my waiting staff a hard time.” She nods to the waitress. “You can go, Addy.”
Addy ignores Chloe. “They’ve been properly chilled the way you instructed me. Do you need anything else?”
Paisley smiles at her. “Thank you, Addison.”
“Is this the beer we’re taste testing?” I ask, although the answer is pretty obvious.
“As we were discussing non-alcoholic beer the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to try these.” Paisley pours beer into the five glasses and hands one to each of us. “It’s a Shandy.”
“What’s a Shandy?” I ask.
“It’s a mix of lager and lemon-flavored soda.”
“Can I try it or do I need to swirl it around first?”
“Go ahead.”
I take a sip. “It’s refreshing.” I try another sip. “It tastes more of lemonade than beer, though.”
“Is that a problem?” Paisley asks. “Is the taste of the lemonade overpowering?”
“It’s good,” Nova declares.
Paisley sighs. “You can’t be critical, so your opinion is not interesting.”
Nova sets down her beer. “I can, too, be critical.”
“I can’t believe this.” Chloe slams her beer down on the table.
Paisley frowns. “What can’t you believe? We agreed to add low and non-alcoholic beers to our assortment.”
“I’m not referring to the beer.”
“I think it’s yummy,” Maya says.
Chloe growls. “How is everyone ignoring the big picture here?”
Nova shrugs. “It’ll be fine. If Flynn breaks Sophia’s heart, we’ll be there to pick up the pieces.”
Chloe points to my face. “He’s already hurting her. Making her his dirty little secret. And not fighting for her. It’s high school graduation all over.”
I flinch. This isn’t the same as high school graduation I remind myself. Then, Flynn rejected me. He’s not rejecting me now. Keeping our relationship private is not the same as being a secret. Flynn hates gossip is all.
Nova pats my hand. “Stop being mean.”
Chloe scowls “I don’t want Sophia to run away again. We just got her back to the island.”
“She won’t run away again. If Flynn breaks her heart, we’ll pull some prank to make him regret his choices.” Maya taps her phone. “I already have a list of ideas. Do you want to hear them?”
I hold up a hand to stop her. “I’m not happy Flynn wants to keep our relationship quiet, but he promised he’d tell my brother himself soon.”
And he’s not going to break my heart. He can’t. I don’t love him.
Yet.