Page 72 of Meet You in the Waves
“Believe me. There is zero chance I am forgetting what you just promised me,” I returned. Nick chuffed out another laugh but he didn’t let me go as I valiantly tried to finish off the dishes, both of us clearly anxious for the show to go on. But he’d made me wash the last of the dishes so I took my merry time making sure every last dish was spick and span while he snickered into my neck.
I drained the water from the sink before slowly turning in his arms, pulling the gloves down my hands as I did so.
“I believe it’smyturn to tease now,” I quipped, winding my arms around his neck. The evil smirk Nick sent me was pure sin, a promise in there that I was eager to extract.
“Let’s go to bed then, pretty boy,” he returned.
No sooner had I dropped my arms from around his neck than the unmistakable buzz of the garage roller door opening had us stopping in our tracks. Nick’s shoulders sagged as he knocked his head up to the sky.
“Why, Lord? Why?” he groaned.
I could only laugh, reaching down to have my turn to palm him. “You’ll just have to hold onto that thought,” I said.
“Oh, I will, baby,” he returned, deadly serious as he took a step away from me, adjusting himself as he did. “You’re not going anywhere.”
I was still smiling at him when the door to the garage opened and Dane stepped through, eyes swivelling between me and Nick where we stood facing each other in the kitchen.
“Hey,” he said, eyes avoiding mine as he dropped his keys on the hall bench and took a couple of steps towards us. I watched him the entire time, wondering why he had chosen now of all times to return. We only had a few days before summer break was over. I’d assumed he would be staying in Sydney.
“How’s Dee?” I asked. Nick had folded his arms over his chest at the arrival of his brother who suddenly felt like an intruder on our little idyl. Even though he had way more right to be here than I did.
“She’s good,” Dane returned a little distractedly. He held his phone in his hand, twisting it nervously between his fingers.
“Good,” I returned. I glanced at Nick, not quite sure of what to make of his brother suddenly turning up like this, unannounced and without his girlfriend in tow. Nick raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing as we both watched Dane.
“Can I talk to you?” Dane suddenly asked, the direction of his question unclear until his eyes landed on me. I tried not to bristle but there was something about the way Dane was looking at me that gave me pause. I heard Nick huff but he said nothing as I nodded at Dane and he let out a sigh of relief.
“Guess I’ll go take a walk then,” Nick sighed, instantly causing my gut to clench. He shouldn’t have to leave like this. Not in his own house.
“You can stay,” I said to him. Nick glanced across at his brother once before shaking his head.
“I’ll be out on the beach,” he told me and I could only stand and watch him leave.
Dane exhaled a long breath as I swivelled to face him, leaning my elbows up against the island bench. He took a step towards the kitchen before sitting down heavily on one of the island barstools, a heaviness to his shoulders.
“I owe you an apology,” he said, surprising the hell out of me. He glanced up at me then, a look of contrition in his eyes that made a small part of me feel just a tad smug.
“Why?” I asked, eyebrow raised.
Dane sighed again. “Because I’ve been a shitty friend to you,” he admitted. I nodded, not quite ready to let him off the hook before he pressed on. “I should have listened to you. About Kira. About Nick. About everything really.”
“Yeah. You should have, Dane.”
“I know. I was just … honestly, I was just being selfish and pigheaded about it all. About Nick especially. All I saw was you rushing to end what I thought had been a really great relationship with Kira, ending our little foursome which I had also thought had been really great. But I know now that what you had with Kira was never … well, you weren’t happy with her and I should have seen that and respected it.”
“Thank you,” I sighed, pleased to hear him admit what had seemed so obvious to me.
“And then I saw you … down here. How happy you seemed, so carefree and at ease with yourself. Happier than you ever were back home. I could tell. And I think Nick had a lot to do with that. But I’ve always had my issues with Nick. You know that. And it just seemed to me like he’d use any opportunity to get back at me, even getting in between our friendship and even your relationship with Kira.”
“That’s a little messed up, bro,” I said.
“Yeah. I know,” Dane agreed, hanging his head. “Kira finally confessed everything. Last night. She told me and Dee that she’d made the pass at Nick, not the other way around. And then she broke and told us about all the cheating all while trying to insist how much she loved you and wanting our help to get you back. You knew about the cheating, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I knew.”
“Okay. Well, I’m sorry, man,” Dane said sincerely. “Dee and I are both sorry. Kira is really not who we thought she was. I should have believed you. Without question. I really am sorry.”
I sighed. “I probably would have preferred the apology before you heard all that from Kira,” I told him. “But thank you for coming down here to tell me anyway. I appreciate the apology.”
