Chapter Twenty-Three
MARINA
PRESENT
“You couldn’t be more awkward if you tried,” May says from where she’s opening the fridge in Caio and Isla’s kitchen.
I roll my eyes. “Okay, I don’t know what you expect when there are fewer than ten people standing between me and my ex right now.”
She pours orange juice into a glass, making me wonder why she’s not pulling out the bottle of bubbles instead. “There was way less than ten people between you when you saw him at the beach the other day.”
“Yeah, well, he wasn’t wearing a suit that day, either.”
“No,” she raises her eyebrows. “He wasn’t wearing anything at all, was he?”
I drop my head down, leaning it on the top of my arms that are resting on the marble bench top. “I regret telling you about that.” It comes out muffled.
She just cackles. “Okay, but why does him being in a suit matter? Unless it’s the fact that you’re overly attracted to him, even if you’re trying to pretend that you’re totally not attracted to him at all.”
I look up at her once again. “Well, breaking my heart sure didn’t make him ugly.”
If anything, it made him even hotter. Karma can go fuck itself.
May just shakes her head. “You’re aware you’ve basically already admitted to me that you’re still in love with him, right? You don’t have to keep up the act.”
I frown. “I am not still in love with him. I never said that.”
May tips her head, a sympathetic look in her eyes. “You didn’t have to.”
I look over my shoulder to see him talking with Leo, who’s decked out in a dark suit of his own.
All the boys decided to dress up in suits to look like Caio, and May and I are rocking sundresses to imitate our girl Isla.
But Miles, he looks devastatingly handsome in a sand-toned suit that complements the tan he’s built since being here. His somewhat scruffy hair is tamed back, and he’s even freshly shaven, still leaving the perfect amount of stubble, and of course, that mustache.
They should be back from their honeymoon any minute.
Miles was annoyingly helpful in letting us know the progress of their flight and when it landed in Rome.
So as long as they didn’t make any stops along the way, they should be here any minute.
Though knowing those two, I wouldn’t be surprised if they couldn’t make it the whole drive here without getting their hands on each other.
I don’t love Miles. I don’t . Nope, noooo. No, I don’t.
Wow, I can’t even do a good job at convincing myself.
I let out a sigh, grabbing May’s glass of orange juice and chugging it. Though it doesn’t quite have the effect I’m looking for.
I haven’t been able to get Miles off my mind.
Not after he touched me in the water that day.
The feeling of his skin on mine is enough to send me over the edge, careening straight back into falling for him.
Or at least acknowledging that I never really climbed back up that cliff in the first place .
So I just need to make sure that he doesn’t touch me again. Five feet of distance at all times.
May just fills back up the glass without a word, I can feel her watching me but she stays quiet. Just when I think she might say something, the door to the apartment bursts open.
A cacophony of greetings comes from the boys, all of them walking towards the door to greet Caio and Isla as they walk into the apartment. Everyone but Miles, who stays seated on the edge of the couch, a small smile on his face as he watches everyone else.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” I hear from Leo as May and I round the corner to see them standing at the front door.
Isla is sporting a new floral sundress, but Caio, Caio is wearing something akin to Crocodile Dundee.
“They’re called khakis. Everyone in Australia wears them, they’re cool!”
Leo and Rafael do that slow nodding thing people do when they have no idea what the other person is talking about, and Heath just snorts from behind his fist—the Australian in the group knowing exactly what is going on here.
“He wouldn’t leave without getting a pair.” Isla shakes her head, dropping her bags and running straight for us.
The three of us squeal as we collide, tipping from side to side as we wrap our arms around each other.
“You can never leave us for that long ever again,” May says.
“Aww,” Isla coos from the middle of our three-way hug. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes,” we say in unison.
“Did you get bored without me? Stuck with all these men?”
“Yes,” we repeat.
She just giggles, knowing full well we are being dramatic, but both of us did miss her. It’s not the same around here without her sunshine energy brightening the place up. It’s hard to remember Ruby Cove without Isla, she’s such a part of this place now.
The boys are still surrounding Caio as he tries to explain his outfit to them. Isla releases us from her grip, moving past us to go see her brother.
“Hey, idiot,” she says as she walks up to him.
His face breaks into a grin, one I haven’t seen in a long time.
One that a small part of me wishes was directed at me.
I can’t help but watch them interact, watch as his arms hold her in a warm embrace, watch as they sit together, his eyes bright as Isla talks to him.
He looks everything like the guy I used to know, and I feel oceans away.
“That look.”
I break out of my daze, looking to see May standing beside me. “What?”
She points at my face. “That look is why you didn’t have to say it.”
“In all fairness, it had red on it. It looked like a black widow to me, and I wasn’t going to stick around to find out,” Isla says.
“No,” Caio chimes in. “Instead, you just threw your sleeping bag in the air—probably tossing the spider onto me—and ran screaming out of the tent.”
“Yeah, you two aren’t built for the outback,” Heath says, shaking his head.
“It got better for a while there, but once I saw the snake by our barbecue, I was done,” Isla shivers as if the snake is right here in the room with us.
“Pick it up by its tail and you’re fine,” Heath says casually.
“Oh, so you’re a crazy person,” May laughs. “Who in the hell is picking up a snake? I’m running before I get anywhere near those scales. Fuck no .”
“Most of them aren’t poisonous.”
“How do you know until you’ve picked it up and it’s sinking its teeth into your balls, injecting life-threatening venom straight into your life supply?” Leo says, and a laugh bursts from my throat.
“Your life supply,” I mock, snorting as I laugh. It sets Isla and May off and before you know it, the three of us have tears rolling down our cheeks. Isla is nearly on the floor and Leo is just sitting there with rosy cheeks, arms folded across his chest as he watches us.
“So,” Caio starts up a conversation, ignoring the three of us who are now wheezing. “Miles, how long have you been here? Isla said something about you seeing one of the eagles in the forest at the edge of town?”
Caio and his newfound interest in birds.
That makes me quieten down, May too. Isla follows suit, her laughing fading as she looks at us as if to ask, “What did I just miss?”
“Oh, um. I think it’s been about two weeks now. And, uh, yeah, it was huge, man. I haven’t seen that many before and I wasn’t expecting them here of all places.”
May’s eyes meet mine as the boys launch into a conversation about eagles and their migration habits.
She gives me a wary look, as if she’s wondering what I think about the fact that Miles didn’t mention the fact that he saw more than just an eagle in that forest.
But I give her a subtle smile and a nod, grateful Miles chose to leave out that detail. But of course he did, he wouldn’t want to put me in a position where I felt uncomfortable, especially in a room of my friends. Considerate as ever.
Isla’s eyes jump between May and me, urging us to fill her in. I just mouth later from where I sit across the living room from her.
May gets up, filling yet another glass with orange juice. “What is with you and that juice tonight?” I ask.
“I have no idea,” she says before downing half the glass. “I’m just craving it for some reason. It’s so…orangey.”
I just frown at her as she finds a perch on Rafael’s lap before tuning back into the sound of Miles’s voice .
“They told me about this dude, Boulder? ” Miles’s face contorts in confusion. “Apparently, there’s a tournament this weekend?”
“I think I heard about that,” Heath says. “Never met a fella called Boulder though.”
“I need to go down to Luna’s gym, apparently. I might need to get a few practice rounds in if this guy lets me into the tournament.”
“Wait, you’re going to fight in a tournament?” The question slips out, worry fraying the edge of my words, catching the attention of everyone in the room.
I’ve known since the second night I ever saw him that Miles finds comfort in a boxing ring. But fighting in a tournament? That sounds intense.
I try my best to sink back into my chair before Miles responds. “Maybe, if I can find this guy. And if I can find a sparring partner to practice with.”
I just nod, looking down at my hands and fiddling with the ring on my finger, hoping the others will find someone else to look at. Hoping Miles will find someone else to look at because I can feel his gaze searing into me.
“I’ll spar with you.” My head lifts to see Leo looking at Miles. Everyone’s attention jumps to him.
“Really?” Miles asks.
“Sure, I need to stay in shape, it’s a good way to relieve tension. Plus, any chance to meet someone with the name of a rock is one I’ll take up. ”
“Since when have you been a prize-fighter?” May asks from her perch on Rafael’s lap, where he has a possessive arm wrapped around her waist.
“I do personal security, remember? It would be odd if I weren’t doing some sort of combat sport.”
“Oh, you do personal security, do you?” Her tone is accusatory, and I feel everyone’s energy switch.
May is the only one who is brave enough to challenge Leo on his current career situation.
I’ve tried talking to him, so has Caio, but he won’t open up to anyone, won’t tell any of us what made him come back to Ruby Cove nine months ago, and why he hasn’t gone back to his work since.
My eyes catch on Miles, who is looking around the group like he’s missing something, which he is. My heart aches for him just knowing he isn’t filled in on everything going on, but how could he be?
Part of me wonders if he would be if he had stayed all those years ago, if he would’ve been a part of this group for years now. Maybe it was all meant to go this way.
Because if he were, we wouldn’t have met Isla the way we did. I would’ve met her as Miles’s sister, and I don’t know if I would’ve connected with her like I did.
Caio wouldn’t have found her and May on that road into town that day, he would’ve already known her too.
But somehow I think they would still end up exactly as they are now, I can’t imagine a universe where those two don’t find each other.
“I’d love the company,” Miles says, as if he can feel the tension in the room, as if he knew May was about to serve up some heat to Leo.
Leo’s attention jumps to him and he nods. “Anytime.”