Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Owen
“Owen,” Cassandra says when we’re back at the cottage. “A hand, please.”
She’s the last one on the boat and I’m on the dock, looking around for anyone else to help her. Amber and Edward are arguing by the house and Faye is chatting with Tristan as he ties up the boat.
I’m forced to give her my hand, although I suspect she doesn’t fully need the assistance.
“Thank you,” she says as she steps onto the dock, looking me up and down. Her other hand goes to my arm and she slides it up my bicep. “What strong arms you have. Very hard. You must work out.”
I look down at the dock and nod.
“I work out religiously,” she says in a throaty voice she wasn’t using all night. I don’t know the reason for the change of speech pattern or why she’s suddenly talking like someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. “Check out these glutes. Pure muscle.”
She turns on her toes and flexes her leg. “Want to touch?”
My eyes widen. She glances over her shoulder at Edward and then grins at me. “We better not. I might get in trouble again. You can feel them later.”
I swallow hard.
Why isn’t Faye seeing any of this and coming to my rescue? I doubt anything that Tristan is saying is interesting enough to captivate her attention for more than thirty seconds.
“We should work out together this weekend,” she says, running her finger down my chest. “What do you say? Want to work up a sweat with me?”
“I typically train alone,” I say. “The presence of another person significantly disrupts my focus.”
“You haven’t seen my workout outfit yet,” she says with a grin. “I can be very distracting.”
“I’m glad you understand,” I say, thankful I got out of that one.
She leans in close, grabbing a fistful of my shirt as she hovers her lips over my ear. “The thing is… I don’t mind if you watch.”
Faye finally sees what’s going on and hurries over. She steps right up beside me and slides her hand into mine, holding it tightly. Normally, I am averse to touching other people’s hands, but it feels rather pleasant and comforting.
“What’s going on here?” she asks, fixated on Cassandra with a challenging stare.
“We’re just making plans to work out tomorrow morning,” she says with an innocent shrug. “We’re both gym rats.”
She turns and walks to the house, but Faye still clings to my hand.
“She’s a rat alright,” she mutters. “I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I show up to her little ‘gym’ session.”
“You work out?” I ask.
Her cheeks go red. I have no idea why.
“Yeah,” she says with a shy shrug of her shoulders. “Sometimes. Yeah. I mean I’m… going to start.”
“It’s a perfect night for a campfire,” Tristan says, walking over.
Now, I’m the one holding onto Faye’s hand. I don’t think I like this guy very much.
“You should head in and change first,” he says. “We don’t want the mosquitoes ruining your nice legs.”
“Okay,” Faye says with a little laugh. Was there something funny there?
We all head inside and Faye and I escape to our room.
“I think that went satisfactorily,” I say as I open the closet and pull out my jeans and a sweater. We have a huge walk-in closet, but Faye’s clothes are still in an unfolded mess in her suitcase. It’s giving me anxiety.
“That was a shitshow is what that was,” she says, shaking her head as she pulls out a pink sweater. “This family is crazy.”
“All families are a little crazy,” I say, thinking of mine. Although, I think my parents and brothers would be pretty normal without me. They would say I’m the one who brings the crazy.
“That’s true,” she says, pulling out jeans. “But I don’t usually have ringside seats to it.”
“Other than that,” I say, grabbing socks and a T-shirt. “It went well. I don’t think anyone suspects we’re not actually married.”
“You’re doing great,” she says and that little bit of approval from her makes me feel all giddy inside. “You’re a pretty good husband. Sweet and attentive. A killer combination.”
“I’m glad you approve. I wasn’t sure if it was coming off as forced.”
“No, it was—”
I take off my shirt and she suddenly stops talking mid-sentence. She just stares at me as I put on a fresh T-shirt and then my sweater.
“It was what?” I ask, eager to hear her thoughts.
She swallows hard. “It was… good.”
“Excellent,” I say as I sit on the bed and put on my socks. “My brothers will be pleased.”
“They’ll have nothing to complain about,” she says as she brings her clothes to the bathroom. “We’ll put an extra bow on it tonight. They won’t suspect a thing.”
Pretending I’m in love with Faye is proving easier than I thought, which is a nice surprise.
She makes it so easy.
“I love that campfire smell,” Faye whispers as we walk to the beach. It was her idea to hold hands. Normally I’d be counting the seconds until I could reclaim my hand, but with Faye, I find myself hoping she doesn’t let go. It must be some lingering effect of Edward’s scotch.
“Say what you want about this family,” she says as we head to the bonfire roaring by the water. “They know how to vacation.”
It truly is a spectacular night. The stars are out and all of the nocturnal animals are filling the air with mating and territorial calls.
Fireflies are illuminating the dark forest with their bioluminescent signals.
Faye is looking at it all, probably thinking it’s magic when it’s only more chemistry.
However, the resulting effect is quite delightful.
You don’t get nights like this in Toronto with all of the light pollution and the sounds of humans drowning out the sounds of nature. I make a note to myself to try and get out of the city more. This is nice.
“There they are,” Edward says, standing up from his Adirondack chair with open arms. “Our distinguished guests. Come on over, I hope you like marshmallows because we have a ton of them.”
“Marshmallows I can handle,” I say as we arrive in the circle where Edward, Cassandra, and Tristan are sitting. Amber is not here. “Just please, no more scotch.”
Edward laughs heartily. “More for me then. There’s cold beer in the cooler if you’re thirsty.”
Tristan opens the cooler and pulls out two bottles, handing one to Faye and one to me. His eyes never leave Faye, even as he hands me a bottle.
I take a long sip and stare into the fire. Something tightens in my chest.
Tristan Baines bothers me in a way I’m not familiar with.
It goes beyond the usual annoyance that other people elicit and is extra confusing since he’s been nothing but helpful.
He hasn’t done anything that would warrant me punching him in the face, but that’s all I can think about right now—punching that pretty face of his.
The seating is… inconvenient.
Five Adirondack chairs are placed in a crescent moon, facing the fire with the lake behind it.
Edward is on the end, then Cassandra, then two empty chairs, and then Tristan on the other end.
I think about rushing into the seat beside Tristan, but Faye sits there and I’m forced to sit beside Cassandra. Blast.
“Scarlett,” Cassandra says, handing her a stick, “you look like you love marshmallows.”
“I do,” Faye says as she takes the stick. Edward tosses her a marshmallow and she catches it with a laugh. “Although, they have to be flaming. Crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside is the only way to eat marshmallows as far as I’m concerned.”
Faye is smiling as she places the marshmallow on the end of the stick and proceeds to roast it over the fire. It is quickly engulfed in flames and she tilts her head back and laughs. I watch her the whole time, liking the way her nose crinkles up when she giggles.
I watch her lips as she blows out the flaming marshmallow and my gaze lingers on her mouth for a long moment after. She devours the whole thing in one bite, smiling while she chews.
“How do you guys like to roast yours?” she asks.
“Oh, I don’t eat marshmallows,” Cassandra says with her face twisted up in disgust. “Way too chemically for me. I like to keep a natural diet.”
Faye’s smile slowly fades into annoyance as she chews.
“I looked you up on Instagram,” Cassandra says to Faye. Faye’s eyes slowly widen as she swallows the last of the marshmallow.
“Oh yeah?” Faye asks, still not blinking.
“Yeah,” Cassandra continues, tilting her head. “And on TikTok, Facebook, even on LinkedIn. I couldn’t find a single Scarlett Montgomery who looked like you.”
“I’m not really into social media,” she says with a tight laugh. “My eyebrows always look weird in photographs. Don’t want that on the internet.”
Cassandra leans in with a scrutinizing gaze. “I see.”
“Plenty of people prefer not having an online presence,” I say, trying to get the attention off Faye. “It’s actually quite responsible from a privacy standpoint. Most people share far too much personal information online.”
“I think it’s smart,” Edward says with a nod.
“Thank you,” Faye says, smiling at him.
“Yeah, you definitely don’t want photos of weird-looking eyebrows online,” Tristan says.
Cassandra snickers.
“Tristan,” Edward says, looking at his son across the fire. “Did you know that Owen here has started three successful companies? Maybe you can learn something from him.”
Tristan shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
“Tristan has aspirations to become an entrepreneur,” Cassandra clarifies.
“They’re not aspirations,” Tristan says with aggravation in his tone. “The business has started.”
“That’s news to me,” Edward says.
“Wow,” Faye says, smiling at him. “That’s great. What kind of business is it?”
He swallows hard and moves in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s a crypto betting platform that uses the blockchain to make predictive bets on all sorts of things.”
It’s all a jumble of words he probably picked up from some pathetic manosphere podcast.
“Sounds cool,” Faye says, nodding.
“How does it make money?” Edward asks bluntly.
“It makes money,” Tristan snaps. “It makes a lot of money.”
“I guess that means I can cut off your allowance then,” Edward says with a laugh.
Tristan rolls his eyes. “Well… We’re reinvesting the profits. Growing it exponentially.”