Page 102 of Green Flag
Alcohol always made me a bit hornier, but he could burp the alphabet right now and I would still be turned on.
I spun around in my seat to face a tight-lipped Hollie. “Hollie, I did not—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Luca laughed and then started singing along to another of my songs.
It should have made the marrow of my bones cringe until they weakened and splintered, but this man blew me away. He was the most awful singer, but he knew every single word.
Of the song that had been on my first EP that came out five years ago. An EP that was known to very, very few.
My heart swelled and, before I knew it, I had to look out the window to blink the tears away.
I adored this man.
I was scared of how much.
Even with his ex-hookup in the car, I’d half expected him to try and act cool and sexy and go to town with the falseness of our relationship, but he was unapologetically himself.
And this was just us as we always were.
“You’ve got to turn it off,” I laughed when his voice nearly broke on the bridge.
He turned it up and cupped his ear. “Sorry? Can’t hear you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Turn me off.”
His head shook and his eyes widened, appalled. “Everyone who steps into this car is an Everly Bacque fan, including you,” he half-scolded, shouting over the music. “Best start loving yourself and singing along.”
My throat couldn’t swallow as I sat staring at the dashboard.Best start loving yourself. My swollen heart was thundering and my eyes were pinching again.
I was too drunk.
I didn’t even realise I’d drunk so much.
Luca lowered the music as he pulled up outside the hotel and offered for Hollie to get out while we parked. She thanked him for the lift and ran barefoot up the steps to the hotel.
“This is a very old song,” I told him. “The last three you’ve played are all really old.” And across different EPs.
He shrugged as we pulled away again and into the parking garage. “They’re some of my favourites. Proper belters, as Saliha calls them.”
“You know every word.”
“Can’t belt them if I don’t.”
I wanted him to be mine. I wanted Luca Mendes. I wanted to hold him and cry into his shoulder, I wanted to laugh with him. I wanted to feel forever free, like I did whenever I was at his side.
With him, I felt so overwhelmingly seen. And almost… loved.
Like there really was good in me.
Listening to my song about my own insecurities while I had the realisation felt completely and utterly surreal—like an out-of-body experience as my body tingled.
One day, I might be lovable.
I wished this wasn’t all fake.
As he parked, I tried to pull myself together, realising I was just drunk and needed to get over myself.
Luca rounded the car and opened the door in no more than four strides and offered me his hand to help me out of the car. He sighed as he looked down at my shoes. “They cannot be comfortable. Want me to carry you?”
