Chapter Nineteen #2
Skye dug her fingers into the sand. She didn’t want to admit that she wanted Lucy. Not just the sex but the way Lucy looked at her, like she both saw her and wanted to see her.
Suddenly someone cleared their throat behind her, and Skye felt her stomach leap into her throat. “Alexis,” she said. “Please. Can you just give me five minutes before you start hounding me?”
But it wasn’t Alexis. Skye snapped her head back only to see Lucy standing a few feet away. She was barefoot, her dress was hitched just above her knees, and her hair was pulled back from her face in an exasperated-looking bun.
“Are you alright?” Lucy asked, still standing stiffly. She took one step back as if she thought it was a mistake to follow Skye and then shook her head, looking confused. “Why did you think I was Alexis?”
Skye didn’t know how to answer that. It should be simple. Alexis has been following me everywhere. She knows about us. She’s blackmailing me.
But for some reason, the words felt like a wedge had been stuffed down her throat. To utter them out loud, she’d basically have to admit she’d let herself get cornered, that she wasn’t in control of this game anymore.
“Why are you here, Lucy?” she asked instead, sounding sharper than she meant to. Her voice was almost brittle, like a glass she was daring Lucy to tap and watch shatter.
But if Lucy noticed a crack hiding in her voice, she didn’t say it. She simply pressed those lovely lips into a thin line. “I came to see if you were alright,” she said. “You looked upset when you ran away from Alexis. Did something happen?”
“Did I?”
“It kind of looked that way,” Lucy said, tilting her head.
Skye nodded slowly. “Do you think anyone else noticed?”
Lucy shook her head, and a small smile tugged at her lips. “No,” she said. “Everyone’s busy watching Nova and Amy playing flip cup at the bar. They’re both surprisingly good at it.”
Skye nodded but didn’t laugh. She didn’t even crack a smile. She just flicked her gaze back to the ocean and waited for Lucy to leave. But she didn’t. Instead, she closed the few steps between them and lowered herself to the sand. The hem of her dress spilled around her like a puddle.
“You’ve been ignoring me again,” Lucy said, looking ahead. “And I honestly don’t know why this time. But I can’t keep doing this, Skye. It’s like I’m on a rollercoaster. Every time I get to the top and I think I know what’s coming for me, the entire track shifts. You shift.”
Skye dragged a breath in through her nose. She hoped the extra oxygen could turn into courage if she got enough of it. “Alexis,” she said finally, the name burning hot on her tongue.
Lucy turned toward her and blinked. “What do you mean, Alexis?”
“She knows about us.”
“She does?”
Skye nodded. “She’s been holding it over my head.
It’s why I keep choosing her to go on dates.
It’s why I’ve been ignoring you, because I’m scared that if I choose you, that if I pay you any attention, she’ll blurt it all out.
If Marla finds out, if the other contestants—” She cut herself off and exhaled hard.
“I have no idea how much she actually knows, but it’s not worth the risk. ”
Lucy didn’t blink. She wasn’t even breathing as far as Skye could tell. And then, suddenly she was laughing so loud her body vibrated. It was so loud her laugh carried across to the ocean and back to the veranda, and Skye had to whip her head back in case Marla heard and came running at the noise.
“What the hell?” Skye snapped. She was surprised, and maybe even a bit terrified for Lucy’s sanity. Because surely, only insane people laughed like that.
“Sorry,” Lucy choked out, slapping a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean to laugh. I… I just thought you were sleeping with her.”
Skye’s mouth fell open in shock. “Why on earth would you think that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lucy said quickly, smiling now. “I just wish you had told me sooner about Alexis instead of keeping it to yourself.”
“I wasn’t sure how,” Skye replied truthfully.
She’d considered it twice before, once right after Alexis had confronted her and again the next day during the breakfast date when Alexis had practically force-fed her a croissant.
But she hadn’t because she had no idea how to formulate the words. Not until now at least.
Lucy reached over and interlocked their fingers. Her hand was warm and grainy from the sand. “It’s okay,” she said, squeezing tightly. “Forget about Alexis.”
“It isn’t that easy, Lucy.”
“Maybe it is,” Lucy said as she sprang up. “Maybe it’s time for you to start enjoying yourself. You’re taking this show way too seriously. We should both be more like Amy. We should let things go.” She started peeling off her dress as if it were made of fire.
“What does Amy have to do with this?” Skye asked, glancing up at her with a deep frown set on her forehead.
“And why are you taking your clothes off?” She whipped her head back to the veranda, half expecting the entire camera crew to be standing out there, filming them, but there was nothing and no one.
Lucy didn’t answer. She simply dropped her dress. The blue fabric hit the sand, and then she unhooked her bra. Skye found herself swallowing hard. Lucy’s breasts bounced freely, her nipples perked, and then before Skye could register what was happening, Lucy tugged off her lacy panties.
“You know there’s like a ton of production crew back there. They could decide to come out here at any time,” Skye said quickly, but Lucy was already sprinting toward the ocean. She spun around to face Skye and jogged backwards. “Stop thinking about that and come swim with me.”
Before Skye could say hell no, it was too risky, Lucy dove under a wave.