Page 30 of Bound to You

A flash of dark curls catches my eye down the dock as Marina walks towards us in a green bathing suit that makes her olive skin pop.

“Fancy seeing you two here,” she says approaching us. “What are you guys doing right now?”

“We were just gonna head back?— “

“Already? The day’s just getting started,” she gestures towards the water. “Come out with us. We are headed out to one of my favorite spots, come on.”

She reaches her hands out for us to take. It’s not like we had anything else planned, so we follow her as she leads us down the dock. She slows in front of the most ostentatious yacht I have ever seen before jumping on board and disappearing inside, leaving May and I on the dock staring at the thing.

This is some next level shit.

A minute later, Caio emerges, and my breath catches at the sight of him in just a pair of striped blue and white board shorts. God, I knew he would be ripped under those button ups, especially after the ease with which he hoisted me over his shoulder the other day, butfuck.

He caught me off guard when he threw me over his shoulder after the fair. I wasn’t expecting it one bit.

I struggle to keep my gaze at eye level. He smiles as he leans over the edge offering his hand. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I take his hand and step onto the boat. He helps May on as well before we follow him around to the front of the boat where Marina is seated with Rafael and an unfamiliar guy with a small smile lighting up the harsh lines of his face as he takes us in. His green eyes stand out against his tan skin as they roam over us. Tattoos are scattered across his skin, his arms and legs painted with pictures.

Caio automatically rests his hand on my lower back, and my skin tingles at the contact as he moves us further into the space. Why does it keep doing that? “Guys, this is Heath, Heath this is Isla and May.”

“Ah, the infamous new duo. How are ya?”

Is that anAustralianaccent?

May bolts forward, moving to sit on the bench seat beside him before casually stealing the beer from out of his hand. “Better now that I’ve got this.” She takes a big gulp, making me thirsty as I watch her.

“Yeah, no worries,” Heath says, waving a dismissing hand. “You go for it. I didn’t want to finish that anyway.” He runs a hand over his buzzed brown hair.

“You want a drink?” Caio asks with a laugh. He always seems to know what I’m thinking before I’ve even thought it.

“Maybe just a water?”

“Sure.” He walks over to a bin on the floor, and I can’t stop my eyes from ogling him as his abs contract as he bends down to get me a bottle. I’m not usually so affected by a man’s body, but I can’t seem to stop perving at him.

“Thanks,” I say when he comes back and hands me a bottle of cold water. I take a big sip, quenching the dying thirst I hadn’t realized I’d built up since leaving the hotel this morning.

Caio goes to the helm to get us out on the water, so I join the group nestling between Marina and May who have quickly settled into a deep conversation with Heath about goats?

“They’re gorgeous little creatures and good companions at that,” he says. “Wait till you see ‘em, they’ll win you over.” May cackles a laugh while Marina rolls her eyes as if this isn’t a new topic of conversation. I can’t say it’s a conversation I expected to come out of this guy’s mouth. He’s got the whole tattooed, serious, brooding guy look, but then he starts talking.

“They’d make for a good stew too.” Rafael lets a smirk slip before taking another sip of his beer from where he sits on the other bench.

“Rafael Deo!” Marina lobs a cushion at his head which pulls a genuine smile from him as he dodges the attack. It might be the first I’ve seen from him.

“Come on, Raf, we all know that you have a sweet spot for Betty, you don’t need to pretend.” Heath shoots a wink in his direction, earning a laugh from all of us as the boat pulls away from the dock and we start off towards the horizon.

My phone has been buzzingin my pocket on and off for the last half hour, I excuse myself from the game of UNO we were playing on the deck to go inside and check it out, resulting in substantial booing from both May and Marina. Those two are like little kids together.

I plonk myself down on the couch before pulling out my phone. There is message after message from Brandon, venturing between kind concerns, and then progressively getting more frustrated. Capital letters and exclamation marks accentuatinghis demands for me to come home. I don’t know why he wants me to come home so badly, we broke up, it’s not like we were happy together.

We used to be. When we first met, I remember thinking he was the perfect guy, with that blond hair swished perfectly into place and his perfect smile. He made me feel special at the start, sending me huge, gorgeous bouquets of flowers to me at school. He’d take me out to fancy dinners and kiss me in front of all of his friends.

At first, I felt so valued. I felt good. Until those things would only happen when other people were around to witness them, and I realized it was all just for show.Iwas just for show, and he was only using me for what he could gain from our relationship.

I lied. I know exactly why he wants me to come back. In his mind me leaving ruins the perfect little image he had going on, but I was sick of being an accessory to that image. The image he so desperately needs to be in place if he wants a job offer from my father. Which is what he’s been pining for throughout our whole relationship. It’s sick. Even worse that I was so blind to it for so long, I couldn’t see the red flags through my heart eyes.

It was his top priority, and he’d do anything to reach his goal, including steamrolling me by siding with my father in suggesting I need to find a “proper career” and personally, I don’t want to be in a relationship with a man who doesn’t believe in me, and who makes me not believe in myself. Once that seed of doubt was planted in my head, it took root, and now I’m struggling to dig it out. I want to be with someone who uplifts me, someone who doesn’t measure my worth by my success, and Brandon obviously wasn’t that guy.

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