Page 142 of Whirlwind

“I will. Again, thank you, Lars.”

“You bet. We’ll be in touch.”

Stone and I shook hands and hugged. “Laters, girl. It was fun.”

“Thanks for everything, Stone. I learned a lot from you.”

“You did good.”

Tag’s brilliant gaze fell on me. “Hope you had a blast with us, Violet. I know I did.”

I ground my jaw to not allow the words “thanks for everything” or the like to escape my mouth. Saying thank you to Tag after our orgy moment would be silly and awkward and we didn’t have to go there. It was done. Over. “I had a total blast, Tag. And the skydiving was fantastic. I’ll never forget it. You were a trip up there.”

His lips pressed into my forehead, the silky coils of his hair brushing the side of my face. A metallic coconut scent filled my senses. I pulled out of Tag’s embrace, and he slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, leading me toward the minivan that would take him, Lars, and Stone to the Athens airport. They had to leave, but Beck and I had one more night in Athens.

“I hope you and Beck keep at it. My boy always needed a shove when it came to women. He’s a go with the flow type in most things, but he’s different with you. It’s good. It’s real.”

“A shove, huh?”

He winked at me. “Sometimes we all need a shove.”

“Like a shove out of the plane?”

“See how that worked out?” He let out a hoarse laugh. “Good luck with whatever is next for you, Violet.”

“Thanks, Tag. You too.”

In a blur of hand slapping, hugging, chattering, and laughing, Lars, Tag, and Stone were gone.

Beck leaned into me, the side of his body playfully shoving mine. “Hey,” he said softly.

“Hey.”

“All alone.”

“At last.”

53

Violet

Our last night.

In Greece.

Together.

Our last night.

After the exuberance of skydiving and Tag and Co.’s final hours, the sudden quiet was relaxing.

And tense.

We would be leaving tomorrow. Leaving meant separating. My heart was heavy in my chest. A silk-wrapped stone. How would the actual goodbye go? What would we say? Would it be gut-wrenching? Upsetting?

Yes.

Yes.

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