Page 74 of Meet You in the Waves
“Yeah, I guess,” Dane reluctantly conceded.
“I always knew academics was not for me,” Nick continued. “But I was always so jealous of how talented you were with music. Like everything you touched you were just automatically good at.”
Dane huffed a soft laugh. “Yeah, well I was jealous of how you made friends so easily. Like everyone in town knows me asNick’s brother. I could never make friends like you do.”
“You just make friends differently. Deeper connections with just a small group of friends,” Nick pointed out. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s true too,” Dane conceded. I could see the thoughts ticking in his head, hoping we were coming close to some kind of détente. “Truth is, I’m actually happy that you seem to be doing so well down here. I guess I always turned my nose up at small town life but I can see this place is home to you.”
“It’s your home town too,” Nick pointed out.
“I know. I’ve just never felt like I fit in here,” Dane admitted.
“I guess we both just needed to find our place in the world,” Nick said, squeezing me tightly.
The silence was easy and companionable and I felt like a whole heap of long-held barriers had just fallen around us.
“See? I knew there was some common ground to be found,” I said, holding in my smile.
“That’s you, baby,” Nick returned, nuzzling my neck. “You’re the common ground.”
“Nope. Still weird,” Dane commented but there was a genuine smile on his face this time as he watched me with his brother. “Have you told your mum about you and Nick?”
“Not in so many words,” I admitted. “But I’ve been sending her photos of me and Nick the past couple of weeks, enough that she finally started asking who he was.”
“How about we send her another photo that clears up any remaining confusion,” Nick cut in, reaching into my pocket to pull out my phone. “If that’s what you want,” he added as a quick afterthought, holding my eye.
I smiled at him, absolute certainty about what I wanted. “Yeah, that’s what I want.” He smiled at me so genuinely I felt it all the way to my toes.
He unlocked my phone and held it out in front of us, me sitting between his legs, his arms wrapped around me and me holding him. He pressed a kiss to my temple as he took the photo and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.
He held the phone out and we both looked down at the picture on the screen. The sky was awash in smudges of apricot and pinks behind us as a couple of evening stars twinkled in the dying light. We looked good together too, him with his long, golden brown locks and sparkling eyes, me with a happinessand contentment that had been missing for a long while, at least since I’d been living in Sydney.
I captioned the photoGolden hourand then sent it to my mum before I could think about it. My phone pinged with her response a moment later.
And then before I could overthink it I added -
I angled the screen up to Nick, letting him read my exchange with my mum. His arms clutched tighter around me and I felt him suck in a shaky breath.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, a smile tugging at his lips. “I’d love to meet your mum.”
I grinned before shooting off a last text to my mum.
CHAPTER 25
nick
Ajay had fallen asleep a while ago after we’d thoroughly exhausted each other. He was lying on his stomach, one arm bent on his pillow, the other a gentle weight over my stomach. We’d lost the sheets at some point so my view of him was unobstructed as I eyed the smooth curves of his ass.
I was looking at the photo we’d taken earlier on the beach, the one of the two of us looking so cute and cosy and just like a normal couple. Ajay had his big, brown eyes on the camera and a soft smile on his face, his hands clasped around my arm like he owned me as he leant against my chest. He looked like a dream. Just as he always did.
Ajay had sent the photo to his mum. Just like that. It would have left her in no doubt about who I was to her son.
It was hitting me in ways I hadn’t expected, the way he had so casually claimed me as his. I hadn’t expected it of him, to be so open about who we were to each other. But then maybe I should have. Maybe it was right to expect that whoever I was with would not be ashamed to claim me right back.
Maybe I’d become accustomed to being someone’s dirty little secret and that was why I was feeling such a tight squeeze to my chest right now with only the crickets keeping me company.
All I knew was that thisthingwith Ajay wasn’t going anywhere. We weren’t going to end just because he was going back to Sydney in a few days. Hell, he wanted me to meet his mum. That did not saysummer flingto me.
