Page 83 of Burn for You

“I don’t know where to start!” Marina shrugs.

“Okay, okay,” Isla starts. “We don’t need to go into detail, likereally, you can keeplotsof it out, but I would really like to know what ever happened.”

Marina lies back on the floor like I did and lets out a deep breath. “Your brother—Miles…I—I met him in Sorrento when I was bartending there. He came into my bar and as soon as I saw him, I just had this…feeling.” She puts her hands over her heart and closes her eyes, like it might be easier to say this into the darkness. “I was drawn to him immediately, and as soon as we started talking, we just clicked, in so many ways. He was doing constant flights around Europe at the time, so I’d see him every couple of weeks. It feels like a fever dream looking back on it, but we saw each other for months. I’ve never felt the way I felt with Miles before, and he told me he felt the same. I thought that we both wanted the same thing, that we were going to figure it all out together…” she shakes her head against the floor. “But then he left. Like he always did, but this time he never came back.”

My eyes move to see Isla sitting against the couch, tears running down her eyes. “Why did he do that?” She asks, her voice watery.

“No idea. I didn’t see him again until your birthday.”

“Oh, I am so sorry.”

Marina sits up. “No! It’s fine, he’s your brother, and besides, you didn’t know.”

Isla crawls across the floor to wrap Marina in her arms.

Leo smiles from his spot on the couch. “See, isn’t that better?”

They both let out watery chuckles, and I smile, happy that they finally got to talk about it. Nothing is resolved, but it’s all out in the open, at least what Marina knows.

“Your turn May.”

I pin my gaze on him. “I think it’s time girls’ night goes back to being just girls.”

He chuckles, and hands the wine bottle back to me. “I hope you figure it out.”

I take a gigantic gulp of wine. “Me too.”

I don’t want to hurt Rafael. I don’t know how to do serious—how to be dependable and someone he could rely on. How am I supposed to just change what I want? The idea that has been branded into my skin. It’s the only thing I’ve ever known.

Being unattached is the one thing that has steered me through my life, and after Owen, it was the only thing that kept me afloat. Knowing I’d never give myself over to someone else ever again is the only thing that kept my head above the water. I am trying to cling to that idea. I’m hanging on by a thread, but I have a feeling that it’ll only take one pull on that thread from Rafael, and I’ll give it all up.

chapter thirty

RAFAEL

“Oh shit!”

I turn around to see May staring at a gigantic blob of plaster on the wooden floors. “You are the worst.”

“I’m trying! Well, not trying to spill it. Tryingnotto, but I just…” she shrugs.

I smile, tossing her a rag to clean it up. After we get this plastering done, the only thing left to do is sand it down and redecorate, which feels like it might be the hardest part yet. The vision of how I want this place to look at the end is still kind of hazy in my mind.

May kneels down and cleans up the plaster before she chucks the rag back at me and sits back down to finish filling the nail holes at the bottom of the wall.

She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth in concentration. Her eyes must feel mine watching her, because her concentration breaks to glance at me.

I know I could hire someone to do this for me, but I don’t regret doing a single bit of this myself, not when it means getting to spend more time with May, even if I have no idea where we stand.

I dip my trowel back in the bucket, distracting myself, but Ican feel her attention still on me. I glance over to her as I slide the tool along the edge of the wall. “You good?”

“Can I ask you something?” She lays her own trowel down.

“Sure.”

“Can you talk to me about your family? About what happened?”

That’s not what I was expecting. I bring my focus back to the wall in front of me, dragging the plaster along the wall. I clear my throat. “What exactly do you want to know?”

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