Page 16 of Free Fall

Luca grinned and grabbed me, tugging me close again. “My favorite. Tastes like us.”

We swam in the dark sea, coating ourselves in the salty water, letting it soak into our skin and hair and clothes. And almost two hours after dipping from the room, I slunk back in to change, braced for questions.

“Where the hell have you been!” Jules shrieked as soon as she saw me, not even waiting for the door to shut before she was on me. “You’re all wet.”

“Went for a swim,” I responded, trying not to cringe.

Jules frowned. “In all your clothes?” She looked me up and down. “Phone Mom. She’s out looking for you with the others.”

“I was with Luca. It’s fine.” We'd decided the best lies were those closest to the truth. It wasn't unheard of for us to hang out. Being caught sneaking around would be worse.

Jules’ frown dropped a little. “With Luca?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, walking to my bed to slip out of my sodden sundress. I thought better of doing it in front of Jules, though, and stopped — I didn’t know if Luca had marked me up. He was never gentle.

Jules stood beside me, crossing her arms. “Why?”

I pulled a face at her, grabbing my wash bag from my luggage and stepping around her. Our room was large, comfortable, but she was right in my space at the moment, her eyes roaming up and down my body like she was searching for something.

“We both wanted to swim. What’s the big deal?” I said, trying to keep my voice breezy. Our families were always in mixed up groups, especially on vacation, so it wasn't too weird. “We couldn’t take our phones out into the water. It’s beautiful, by the way, you should check it out.” I nodded my head in the vaguest direction of the beach. “Luca phoned Dad when we realized you all were missing us. It’s no biggie.”

Jules didn't let up though, following me as I headed to the bathroom. “Zel, you’d tell me if something was going on, wouldn’t you?”

“No,” I scoffed. “You’re my little sister. But I will tell younothingis going on.” I threw my hands out toward the window, the illuminated hotel grounds, with the pools and sunbeds and beautiful decorations shimmering and enticing us. “Look at where we are — why wouldn’t I want to swim? To soak it up?”

“Fine. Go and wash off the ocean. We’re late for dinner now.”

I rolled my eyes and slipped into the bathroom. Crisis barely averted. As the warm water rushed over my skin, I couldn’t help but think it wasn’t averted at all. What did I want in all this? It was clear I enjoyed my time with Luca, he wrecked my body like no other, but it could never be more. I needed to close him off from my brain. Give him my body but not my heart.

I tried to imagine being domestic with him, waking up on lazy Sundays or going on dates to the cinema, schlepping around IKEA looking at bed frames… I frowned. It didn't work. Me and him were a fucked up mess of horny lack of control, that was all.

Dinner wasn’t going well. Luca and Alison were all over each other. Holding hands, whispering in each other’s ears, giggling like sugar-fueled kids at private jokes no one else could hear. Mom kept teasing them, making sweet digs about romance being in the air and telling them to get a room.

It made me sick.

I could still feel him in my pussy, my throat. Still taste his cum on my tongue if I thought about it hard enough. I thought something had changed between us in that cabana, but looking at him now, sinking right back into loving on his wife, that familiar anger bubbled. What a load of shit this was. Luca Diaz, family man. His soft touches and quiet demands weren’t because of me, they were just what he did. The look in his eye wasn’t what I’d let myself think. A sense of smallness sunk over me, foolishness even. He was a manipulator, an ass who I bet had done to dozens of women what he’d done to me.

Alison’s head tilted toward him and I saw his tongue in her ear, watched her shiver and her eyelashes flutter. Disgusted, I turned, my eyes landing on Cole, who was already leering at me. He glanced at his parents then pretended to shoot himself, two fingers pointed at his temple, then a slump back in his chair.

A laugh burst from me. I tried to hide it with a swig of my lychee martini, but it made me cough and splutter and when I was all in the clear, everyone was staring at me.

“What’s so funny?” Jesse asked. He was across the circular table from me. A large table of eight, I was between my sister and mother, with Luca and Alison right opposite. Jesse, beside his dad, leaned forward on his elbows while everyone waited for my response. Cole sat his ass back up with a smirk, and I was grateful he’d broken my funk.

“Nothing,” I murmured, still flustered by the near choking. “Need another drink.” I shoved myself to my feet, almost knocking the chair down behind me, before racing from the table, away from the judging eyes. I may have been on my way to order my fourth lychee martini, but we were on vacation. It was none of their damn business. It wasn’t the business of the swaying room, either. Fuck it all. No, all of their judgy looks — apart from Cole’s, who remained amused — could fuck off.

The barman said nothing as he started on my drink, his head dipped down as he got through his shift. I watched him mixing all the ingredients in the shaker and tried to keep my mind steady. I couldn’t go back to the table and witness Luca pawing at his wife. Or have Cole watch me lose my cool.

It looked like they’d just fucked, like they were giggling teenagers still running on the high of clumsy orgasms. Did he fuck her like he did me? Did he call her special names and eat his cum from her pussy? Maybe she enjoyed it rough like me. Once again, the rage of jealousy heated my blood. Luca like that, as master, was for me only. If he… I snorted a laugh and slapped myself on the forehead. Yikes.

I never could have predicted his behavior, his deviance. The Luca I’d known before Halloween night was a funny guy, mischievous but a bit of a grump. Solid. Helpful. He’d always been there for Jules and me if we needed him, a true extension of our family. And now? He was something different, polar opposite. It was impossible to mesh the two Lucas in my brain, to make them one. There was the man at the table who’d always been in my life, and there was the puppet master, the sexual devil who was a stranger, brand new.

“How did I get myself into this mess?” I murmured below my breath, running my hands over my face while the barman plucked a lychee from the garnish dish, adding it with no flourish to my drink.

“What mess?” a deep, unfamiliar voice said, making me jump and tilt my face up to take this new person in.

The stranger was handsome. Black hair, brown skin, charisma for days as he flashed me a dimpled smile. Wasn’t much older than me. Looked a little shaggy, like he spent too much time in the water to bother getting a haircut.

“Don’t worry about my mess — what kind can you get me into?” I let the obnoxious part of myself shine, flirting with the wings of alcohol bolstering me. It was a poor attempt, but I didn’t give a shit. He seemed surprised for a moment, his cheeky grin spreading further, like he didn’t expect it to be so easy. He looked like someone I could get lost in. Should get lost in. If Luca could jump between his wife and side piece obsession with such apparent ease, I could fuck whoever I wanted to as well. I didn’t just want Luca. He was a means to an end. A good fuck. We had chemistry there. That’s all.

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