Chapter 8
Noah
Sitting around the shack all weekend long reminded me why I had left Scotland in the first place.
It was lucky I had the memories of Lew’s and my shared breakfast, and the pictures and videos, to keep me busy on Saturday.
It pissed down all day, so staying inside was a given.
The shack was cold and damp, and I bundled up in multiple layers.
Wrapped in a fluffy blanket, I curled up on the couch with my laptop and worked all day.
I’d given up trying to light a fire in the grate after three or four failed attempts. It had been over nine years since I’d last needed that knowledge. My brain clearly hadn’t seen it as important enough to keep it somewhere I could access it again.
Fuck.
I didn’t want to call Lew. He’d already sacrificed two days to my antics this week.
Let him have a break.
It was mild enough on Sunday so I could actually go for a walk and not freeze.
That’s the spirit, Bright. Celebrating the small wins.
I’d hurried past the two cars parked in front of the main house. My parents hadn’t given me any details about the people who rented their home, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to meet them.
My heart rate slowed when I headed towards the hills. Damn. My brain had forgotten about another thing: Scotland’s wild, raw beauty. It was breathtaking.
I walked a trail that I had loved as a child, past the spot where we’d gone swimming all those years ago.
Before my mind’s eye, I could see Ollie dozing in the shade, and Lewis and me splashing in the shallow pool a little upstream from the small waterfall.
I entered the forest that lined the riverbanks and climbed up a small hill.
Damn, it had looked so much bigger to twelve-year-old me. This had been our entire world.
I could see myself lying on the flat rock next to the burn, drying in the sun.
I want to marry you, Noah.
I let out a little huff, sniffed, and turned away.
No need to get sentimental about the past.
My feet carried me to the McBride family farm. Damn, I hadn’t visited there since Mom and Dad had last taken us to the pumpkin patch. Their son Hunter was a couple years older than me. If I remembered correctly—and that was never a given with my brain—he’d been in Ollie and Lew’s year at school.
I wonder if the pumpkin patch is still a thing.
Cars lined the street leading to the farm, with more parked in a field. A happy family climbed out of a tiny car, all of them with curly hair. The woman was heavily pregnant.
“Edgar, wait for us! There could be more cars coming.” The man sprinted after the small child, snatching it off the ground and setting it on his shoulders.
What a cute family.
We greeted each other as all of us set off down the muddy path to the pumpkin patch. Childhood memories surfaced.
Little me stumbling over a pumpkin. Ollie helping me up and trying to get the mud off my clothes. My mum telling him off because I got myself dirty.
My heart squeezed in my chest. He’d been a kid, just like me. It wasn’t his fault that he always had to take responsibility.
No wonder he doesn’t like me anymore.
I turned away and crossed the patch to a small stall where they sold hot drinks and sweet treats.
The guy behind the counter turned around, and I didn’t have to see the long, thick snake’s tail curling behind him to recognise Hunter McBride.
“Hello, what can I get you?” he asked, then contemplated me. “Hey, I know you. You’re Ollie’s younger brother, right?”
“Yes, hi, Hunter. It’s good to see you again.”
Holy. Shit.
Hunter McBride had had a serious glow up. He was way taller than a human and quite handsome. He had a finely cut face with high cheekbones, and dark, almond shaped eyes. Sleek, shiny black hair fell into his brow with the casual elegance someone like me would never achieve.
He wore a blue and green kilt, and a thick knit jumper. And somehow that outfit really worked for him.
“Yeah, it’s good to see you. It’s Noah, isn’t it?” He gave me a half smile that unsettled me a little. I brushed my curls behind my ear and ran a hand over my nape.
Are you flustered, Bright?
“Yeah, it is.”
“Ollie told me you lived in Bali these days, is that right? Sorry, what did you want again?”
Red tinged Hunter’s cheekbones.
“I didn’t say. Can I get a coffee, no sugar, just milk? Yes, I live in Bali. I’m just in the area for a couple of months until my visa gets renewed.”
He slithered over to the coffee machine and pressed a button for a standard coffee.
“Milk is over there.” He pointed to a little tray on my left and placed the steaming cup in front of me.
I pulled my wallet out, but he waved me off.
“It’s on the house, for old times’ sake.”
“No, I can’t accept that.” I open my wallet, ready to pay him.
I can afford it. I’m not that poor.
“Yes, you can. It’s my treat.”
Is Hunter McBride flirting with me?
My thoughts strayed back to Lewis. It had barely been forty-eight hours since we started fake dating for social media, and here I was shamelessly flirting with someone else.
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Hunter gave me that half smile again. He had a little dimple in his cheek.
“How long are you staying in the area? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is a pub night coming up at Lone Fox Distillery.
Oh.” He blushed fiercely, the smattering of scales on his face glowing like the setting sun.
“I completely forgot that Ollie works at LFD, of course you know about the pub night. Sorry, I was just wondering if I’d see you there. ”
Okay, Hunter was definitely flirting with me. And usually I wouldn’t be too opposed. He was gorgeous, but there was Lewis, and our pact.
“Yeah, I’ll probably be there with Lew, I don’t know if you remember him, Lewis Sinclair?”
His face fell a little.
“Yes, of course I remember him. Are you two dating?” He tried for an offhand voice.
“Well, to tell you the truth I don’t really know.” Somehow I found it difficult to lie to Hunter. “We only just reconnected and ….“
“I understand.” His smile was genuine.
Do you? Because I’m not sure if I understand a single thing.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you there.”
“Yeah, you will. Thanks again for the coffee. I’ll go have a look around. I haven’t been to your farm in ages.”
“You’re welcome. It was good to see you.”
He gave me a slightly wistful little grin and raised his hand goodbye.
“Yes, it was good to see you too. Bye.”
“Bye, Noah.”
I wandered around the pumpkin patch, past a chicken enclosure, and visited black-and-white cattle in a field, all the while wondering if I should have flirted back.
Hunter would’ve been the safe option. Just some pressure relief, and a gorgeous winter husband.
He was nice and my feelings for him weren’t messy and confusing like whatever I still harboured for Lewis.
And, what was more, Hunter wasn’t my brother’s best friend.
I doubted that Ollie cared at all if I fucked Hunter McBride.
I knew that he would care if I fucked Lewis.
What am I supposed to do?
Calling things off with Lewis might have been the most sensible option, but I was already in too deep.
Not just because he agreed to be your fake boyfriend.
Out here, far away from the shack and all the memories that centred around it, I could admit my feelings for Lew.
I had always been in love with him, and I still felt exactly the same.
What the hell are you getting yourself into, Bright?
Back at the shack I squeezed in a quick yoga flow that I ended with a round of squats.
Best work on that butt if I want to entice Lew to plough my snow.
That evening I made a close friends list on my ArgoS and put exactly one person on it. He wouldn’t know it was just him, but I had an idea how to use it.
The pictures we’d taken so far were harmless, but I was sure things between us would …
escalate. And a stubborn part of me didn’t want to share those with the world.
It was dumb, of course. That was why he’d agreed to fake date me in the first place.
But listening to my gut feeling had hardly ever betrayed me before. I chose to trust myself.
Lewis and my upcoming first fake date made me more nervous than I dared to admit even to myself. So I did what any reasonable person with ADHD did and rearranged the furniture in the shack. And to make sure I’d be too exhausted to think at the end of the day, I decided to throw in a deep clean.
The shack—as old as it might be—was my home for the next five months.
Might as well make the most of it.
It took me most of the morning to empty out, sort through, and clean the cupboard under the stairs.
I found a few useful things: more towels and sheets and washing powder.
It surprised me that my parents kept their old Primestone washer-and-dryer combo in the cottage, and even more that it still worked.
That’s one problem solved at least.
I posted a story of what I was up to on my ArgoS, one of the piles of rubbish I’d unearthed and another one of a dresser I wanted to move from the living room into the bedroom. I was fairly sure it was too heavy for me alone, but just watch me.
Nobody was stronger and more stubborn than a person with ADHD moving furniture on their own.
Twenty minutes later a knock on my door pulled me out of my hyperfocus.
“Fuck!” I cursed under my breath when I got up from the floor and my knees and back protested. And, oh my God, I desperately needed a wee.
A sheepish looking Lewis smiled at me when I opened the door.
“Lew? What …?” I broke off. “Come in. I’ll be right back. Bathroom.”
Hyperfocus was the weirdest thing ever. You sort of forgot you were human until something pulled you out of it and you noticed your full bladder or that you were starving. On cue, my stomach gave a huge rumble.
“Hey.” I went back into the living room where Lew stood by the door. He wore his usual ripped jeans and another APEX T-shirt. It was heather grey with a little stitched logo on his pec. It had no business looking so hot on him.