Page 76 of Forbidden

“How the hell would she know about that?” Aldo asks. “It was only the four of us there.”

“Exactly.” I shut the flask and toss it back into the cooler, pulling out the bottle of rum. “Why the hell did you bring rum? Are we pirates now?”

“Wait. You don’t think it was one of us, do you?” Joy asks, her dark brown eyes wide. “Seriously?”

I shake my head, sneering at the liquor. “I did for a little bit. But no. I don’t think it was one of you.”

“Good,” Masters says. “Because it wasn’t.”

“I’m so sorry,” Joy says, reaching across the blanket and placing her hand on mine. “You really didn’t need to go through that on top of everything else.”

I shrug because it doesn’t matter. It happened. Now I just have to try not to punch anyone else and hopefully my job will be safe.

“Thank you for being bothered enough for this.” I unscrew the rum and take a swig. “You really didn’t have to, and it means a lot to me. Even if I am a miserable bastard.”

Masters laughs and takes the bottle from me. “You’re welcome.”

“My nan loved the beach,” I say. “The beaches nearest us were nothing like this though. Just gray sea, rocks, and dog shit.”

“Wow,” Joy deadpans. “Sounds delightful.”

I notice a tremble in her voice and frown when I find her shivering. Everyone’s finished their soup, the flasks back in the cooler, so I shift into the middle of the blanket and wrap an arm around Joy’s shoulders, pulling her into my side. She gives me a grateful smile as I rub her shoulder and Masters shifts to sit on my other side.

“For warmth,” he says, winking at me as he presses close.

Aldo shuffles back until he’s next to Joy, and soon the cold feels a little more bearable. Joy leans her head on my shoulder and as Masters places his hand over the top of my hand between our legs, it occurs to me that this is weird as hell. The problem is, it’s also really nice.

Which is why I open my mouth and ruin it.

“I know I’m renowned for being a whore,” I say, glancing up and down the empty sand. “But it’s not often I can say I’ve shagged everyone on the beach.”

The atmosphere thickens immediately, and I’m torn between mentally kicking myself and applauding myself for fucking everything up so brilliantly. I mean, I’m really bloody good at it.

“What are you talking about?” Joy asks, shrugging out from under my arm, her eyebrows vanishing beneath the wooly brim of her hat.

Masters swears softly under his breath and Joy’s eyes widen almost comically.

“Joy,” he starts. “I—”

“You had sex with Doug?” she chokes out. “But you can barely stand each other.”

“To be fair,” I offer, “it was more of a hate fuck.”

Joy stares at me, then turns her attention back to Masters. “When the hell did that happen?”

He grimaces. “Last week.”

“Last week?” she echoes.

Aldo huffs, the tension returned in full force to his features. “Are we just going to ignore the fact that this means Joy’s had sex with Doug, too?”

Masters laughs, but it’s as cold as the winter wind. “Wow. You’ve really been busy, McMann.”

A small part of me curls up and dies. I honestly can’t help it. I felt happiness—real happiness—and I had to step on it immediately, extinguishing it before it could ignite. It’s exhausting.

Before I can say anything to make things worse, or even try to make them better, Aldo stands and stalks off down the beach. Joy gives me a look and goes to get to her feet, but I place a hand on her knee, holding her down.

“Let me,” I plead. “Please?”

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