Hearts Entwined
The cool afternoon breeze blew through my hair, drying the sweat that dotted my brow. A shiver flashed down my spine, but I didn’t think it was from the weather.
Flashes of Reid flirting with the girls on the beach kept popping up in my mind, no matter how hard I tried to push them down. As I turned onto Palm Grove Drive, a tear escaped, rolling down my cheek before I could wipe it away.
Had I left because of overwhelming jealousy? Yes.
Was there anything I could do about it? Not really.
I had no claim on Reid anymore. Though my friends would never, it didn’t mean other girls couldn’t go for him. He was free to flirt and date and do whatever he wanted, just like I had been when I thought Declan Storms was interested in me.
Except, I had fallen into his foolish games and came out on the other side broken spirited and broken-hearted.
Reid was smarter than that, though. He was smarter than me. His strength of character was also stronger than mine. While I messed up my life by entangling with a Baysider jerk, he still stuck around.
I didn’t think I could do the same. If Reid brought another girl back to his house, if he started dating someone else, no amount of money from the Bennetts could make me stay.
Because I was still in love with Reid Bennett. Even if he didn’t love me, or love me as more than a friend, at least I wasn’t lying to myself about my own feelings anymore.
Another tear escaped, thinking about Reid not loving me. The knife in my heart twisted so hard, a physical pain erupted in my chest, causing me to wobble on the tourike. I righted myself before I fell off and into the street, which was lucky, as a car passed by at the same moment.
“Marlowe?” a familiar voice called from the car.
I whipped my head toward the sound, as it slowed down enough to keep pace with me on the bike. Though I only had a glance, I didn’t need it to tell me who sat in the driver’s seat.
Reid.
Pressing on the brake handles, I rolled to a stop and put my feet on the ground. The last thing I needed was to fall off in front of Reid. The scabs on my knees from the last time I fell off a bike had just healed.
“What are you doing?” Reid asked, leaning over the center console, and looking straight at me with confusion on his face.
My blank stare must not have given him much to go on. I also couldn’t come up with a good lie on the spot, so I told him the truth. “Biking back?”
Reid nodded, then drove away. I stood there, frozen and confused. He pulled over to the curb and got out of the car, walking back the few feet until we stood face to face.
“What happened?” he said softly. “Why did you leave without me?” The sadness in his voice broke me. He took my departure personally, as if I had purposefully left him.
Which I had. Just not in the way he was thinking.
My brows crinkled. I absolutely was not going to tell him I left out of jealousy. And I couldn’t bring myself to tell him my true feelings. It wouldn’t be fair to him. He broke up with me last summer, making it clear where his feelings laid. Just because I couldn’t get over him now didn’t mean he deserved to be burdened with it.
“It’s not what you think,” was all I could mutter.
“Then what happened, Mars? One second you were there, then the next you were gone. It took a full two minutes for me to get the girls to spill on where you went.”
I shook my head, brushing my hand behind my neck to unstick the sweaty curls from it. “I just… um, I wanted to head back and work on the new clue. You were having fun, so I didn’t want to bother you.”
Reid blinked, as if I said the stupidest thing he ever heard. “Okay,” he started, drawing it out a little, like he was still thinking. “So let’s go back and figure—”
“No!” I stated, a little louder than I should have. Reid flinched and frowned. “No, I mean, I don’t want to ruin your day with your friends. You and the guys were having a lot of, um, fun on the beach. Playing volleyball and stuff.”
I was pathetic. I couldn’t lie to save my life, and there was no way Reid didn’t know that right now.
But all he did was shake his head, still staring at me with a look in his eyes I couldn’t identify. He reached out and took my hand in his and stepped closer.
I stared at the ground, unable to meet his eyes now. Whatever he was going to say most likely would break my heart in the most Earth-shattering way possible. I couldn’t handle that again.
All I wanted was for him to be happy. He didn’t need to deal with my drama anymore. He tried to warn me, and I didn’t listen. I learned my lesson. Even though he said he wanted to lay low for the summer, I saw how much fun he was having on the beach. How excited he had been when the text from Liam first came though. The way his face lit up when he and Caleb got the volleyball net together and started playing.
It’s what he needed. What his soul needed. If anyone could understand what it was like to be left behind, to be rejected by those you thought were your friends and family, it was me. I would be the last person to let Reid down, and if that meant stepping aside while he moved on, then so be it. I wouldn’t get in the way of his happiness, even if it meant sacrificing my own.
“Marlowe Mitchell,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear him. I lifted my eyes to meet his, finding them soft, his lips slightly upturned. My heart pounded, my palms becoming clammy again. My face had to be on fire, but he didn’t say anything. “You don’t get it. Where you are, I am. There is no me on this island without you.”
By the time I rode the tourike back to the nearest docking station a block away, and Reid drove us back to his house, I was covered in sweat and sand. All I wanted to do was take a shower and down a large glass of lemonade.
Reid took our bags from the backseat and followed me inside.
“I’m going to shower off really quick,” I said, my face still flushed with a bit of embarrassment.
What he said back on Palm Grove Drive had not left my mind since. I repeated it over and over, which wasn’t helping my mental status. I was in love with Reid Bennett. Madly in love. Deeply in love. Truly, head over heels in love, again.
By the way he had been acting up until now, I assumed he thought of me only as a friend.
For Reid, the island and I went hand in hand. For me, this was my home. A home made better by Reid.
In a week or so, his parents would come back, and I would be leaving.
At the end of the summer, he would fly back home for the year.
And I would be left in the same position I had been last summer.
I couldn’t do that again. My heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“Before you do, why don’t we hang out by the pool for a while? It’s pretty warm out. We can look over the next clue out there?” He tugged on his ear before rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at me from beneath his long, dark eyelashes I envied so much, a hint of hope in his onyx eyes.
I really did want to see what the clue said. We figured out the second one in only a day or so. Maybe this one could go just as fast. I still had no clue how many clues there would be total, so right now, the faster the better.
“Sure,” I said, grabbing the envelope out of my bag and following him outside.
I took no more than two steps past the sliding door before Marshmallow darted out from behind me, crossing right in front of me making a beeline for Noodle.
I tripped over her, flailing my arms as my legs twisted up underneath me. Flashbacks to all the other times I had fallen this summer raced through my mind. I wouldn’t have called myself a clumsy person, but my track record was about to disprove that.
It was like I was in slow motion, careening toward the ground, sure to land directly on my face.
But I didn’t. Somehow, I was suspended in midair, halfway to the patio.
With a muscular pair of arms encircling my waist.
My lashes fluttered as I inhaled a sharp breath.
Without a word, Reid lifted me to my feet easily. He kept one hand on my back, the other now snaking up my arm.
Reid’s forehead was inches from mine. My breath grew shallow as he locked eyes on me.
“Marlowe,” he breathed, barely loud enough for me to hear it.
I couldn’t answer.
I didn’t need to.
In the next moment, his hand reached the side of my neck, grasping forcefully until my chin tilted up.
His lips brushed against mine, so gently, so soft, so cautious.
I gasped the tiniest of gasps, but didn’t back down.
Reid must have taken that as a sign, because in one motion, he used the hand on my back to draw me flush against him, his other hand firm on my throat as he kissed me. His lips pressed against mine desperately, like he had been searching for me his entire life.
My hands rested cautiously on his waist, dancing along his waistband until my fingers scraped against his skin.
He groaned and tightened his hold, trying to get closer, even though there was no room between us. His thumb stroked my throat, my jawline, his fingers digging into my hair. His whole hand fit around my neck, pulling me toward him in so he could kiss me harder.
A thousand sparks flew through my body as he kissed me, igniting every last nerve ending and lighting me up. My fingers clutched at his waist, trying to hold on to him and root myself in this spot forever.
It was past and present, dancing together in a whirlwind of emotions. His kiss was like coming home on a warm summer day.
I stood there, my head spinning, completely lost in time and space. After what seemed like a moment and a year later, a jingling sound broke out, and the next second, Reid and I were wet.
Noodle had jumped into the pool, then stood next to us and shook himself dry, leaving the two of us dripping.
I jumped out of Reid’s arms, instantly feeling cold and distant. All I wanted was him wrapped around me again.
I lifted a hand to my lips, still tingling from his kiss. He stared at me like he was trying to figure out what had just happened, and what to do now. His tanned cheeks paled as he blinked and looked away, a frown replacing the sly grin that had been there a moment ago.
We needed to talk. We needed to figure out what this meant and what to do from here.
But before I could say anything, Reid turned to the wicker chest behind him on the patio and grabbed a towel, offering it to me.
“Ready to work on that clue?”