Page 39 of Trouble in Love
Evie’s shrill, “That’s that skank, Polly,”spelled the end of my scandal-free homecoming. A few members of Mum’s beloved CWA, the Country Women’s Association, were present for my name reveal, and the subsequent pile-on to stop Evie from slashing with a syrup-drenched butter knife. No one seemed phased by her outburst. It was all on me.
What in heavens was I thinking? What gave me the right, the gall to want a green smoothie from the cafe I’d loved since I was a teen when it was Evie Austen’s favorite?
Little did they know Evie discovered Glutton because I took her there on a day off from school. We had just returned from the beach where she’d busted Nate and Finn wagging. The latter was her younger brother. His truancy should have caused herconcern, but it was Nate’s behavior that fired her up. “Did you see the stupid smirk on his stupid face? Ugh. He’s so … stupid. And what was with the wink? He thinks he’s so hot with this tan and hot stomach. Ugh. What a dick. I pity the moron who ends up with him.”
How prophetic.
What I didn’t know was that that brunch would be our final one, that she would begin dating Luke a few days later, or that the pain that comes with betrayal in a female friendship could eclipse that when losing a lover and linger for years. Sometimes, late at night, the bitterness would fade away and I would allow myself to miss Evie Austen-Myers a slither more than I hated what she did to me.
Today was not one of those times.
Letting the icy water wash away my useless sentiments, I dipped beneath the waves. I held my breath beneath the waves until my lips tingled, then broke through surface into the sunshine, emerging as a new woman—one who was once again okay with being alone and who almost lost her bikini top. As I splashed through the water on my way back to shore, a rogue wave crashed onto the sandbank behind me, sweeping me off my feet and my ample boobs out of their triangular holdings.
“Oooweee!” A pathetic squeal turned to giggles, and I covered my nips with one arm and repositioned the scrap of fabric over them. The men surrounding had no such concerns, of course. Man nipples are perfectly, socially acceptable, but should I accidentally pop one of my spectacular set out, I could be arrested for public indecency.
Making it to my spread-out towel, I lay on my belly, twisted my arms around my back, and tied the knot.
“Is it true? Did you do all those things to Evie?”
“Luca?” Flipping onto my back, I gazed up at the man mountain looming over me. With such accusations at foot, it wasnot the time to think it, butholy fuck. He really was the most beautiful man. The way his dark hair curled and dangled into his ice blue eyes. The sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones. Defined pecs, shoulders, and arms were on full display. As were the thickest, most muscular legs I’d ever seen packed into criminally short shorts. I wanted to pull him down, take a bite, and never stop.
He could never know that, though.
Lost for words and desperate for something to do while I unjammed my brain, I reached into my bag, blindly fished around my hand, and pulled out one of the unwanted lollipops I’d brought for Piper. Staying silent, I unwrapped it with my teeth and slipped it between my lips.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked, shifting on his feet, his eyes locked on my tongue as I swirled and sucked. His hypnosis was the perfect antidote for my paralysis.
“What do you want me to say, Cowboy? Am I a bad girl? Did I seduce Nate to keep him away from Evie, a woman I’ve carried a useless vendetta against since school? Yup.”
“So … so …” His voice cracked, sending a wave of desire shooting between my legs. So, of course, I played to it, licking my lips and moaning just a little as I teased the head of my candy. “So … um … you cheated and lied? You don’t deny it?”
“How could I? Most of what happened is public record, although I resent the implications of cheating. I might have done some fucked up shit, but I’ve never cheated.”
“No, you just tried to get Nate to.”
“Ehh.” Pulling the lolly out with a pop, I sat upright, making sure I squeezed my biceps in against my ribs to push my glorious tits out. “That’s not true, either. Evie and Nate had broken up, so technically, he wouldn’t have been cheating.” I then deep-throated that lollipop like a true pro.
“Fuck, give me that fucking thing,” Luca whined snatching the white stick from my mouth. “How’s a man supposed to concentrate while you give a lollipop a head job?” My precious candy, which tasted like shit, was tossed in the sand. “It’s so easy to twist things into what you want, Polly. But I grew up that kind of chaos, and I can’t be around someone who would deliberately hurt—.”
“Hurt?” The image I could never erase, that I could still feel, the one of Luke pinning me down, tearing my underwear, and forcing himself inside me, blinded me ... choked me for the briefest of moments before unmitigated rage pushed it back to its dark corner of my brain. “Oh, okay. Well, by the sounds of it, you have already decided which side of the fence you’re going to sit your pretty little tush on, so I guess I am wasting my breath … but I will say this. Evie Austen and Nate Myers … this whole fucking town, are small-town hypocrites who seem to think it was okay for Evie and that prick Luke to rip my heart out and smash it to pieces but not for me to give Little Miss Sunshine a taste of her own medicine.”
Luca scoffed and shook his head. “Who the hell is Luke?”
“My point exactly. You know half the story, my muscly friend, and I am sick to fucking death of having no one listen without prejudice to mine.” Jumping to my feet, I grabbed and shook out my towel, flicking a beach load of sand into Luca’s face. “You want to be loyal to your nauseating hosts and their sweet-as-fuck precious family? Fine. You can go and get fucked … and not by me.” With that, I stormed away, knowing full well my ass was eating my bikini bottoms and hoping to hell Luca enjoyed the view of what he wished he could kiss.
Luca
Locked in my little hut that faced the ocean, smelled like dirty socks, and offered as much isolation as one can have when rooming with a loved-up couple like Teddy and Ash, I pushed all thoughts of women, and sex and anything other than hockey out of my brain. Sure, I still sulked, dodged teammates, Mom’s and Anabella’s calls, and ignored invitations for dinner and beach cricket, but I also meditated, stretched and worked out. Focusing on edgework for the first time, testing just how far I push my mobility. Three days passed just like that, but on the fourth day, when Ana called for the third time in twenty minutes, and I had run out of clean underwear, I knew the season of moping was over and I picked up.
“How you feeling, baby bro?” she asked after chastising me for ten minutes of our call. “How’s the foot?”
“Foot’s good. I’ve followed the trainer’s instructions to the T, and it’s paid off. I feel strong. Good…”
“But… I can hear a but coming, Luca.”
I rolled my eyes, hating that she knew me so well.
“But mentally… I dunno. I’m too soft, Ana. Like really, why do we need to have emotions? I would rather feel nothing.”
