Page 60 of Wild Hearts

“I mean it,” I say with a little more assertion. “Hecannotfind out about this. I need you to promise you won’t tell him. Or Jordan,” I add as an afterthought. If Brady’s best mate finds out, there’s no way Brady won’t.

“Brady would never judge you,” Ivy says with a shake of her head. “Why don’t you want him to... Oh...” Understanding flashes through her glassy sea-green eyes that remind me so much of her brother’s, followed by pain and resignation. “Something happened between you and Brady?”

I nod.

She pulls her hand from mine and moves back to her boyfriend who wraps his arm around her shoulders. “When?” she finally asks.

“Last summer.”

“So, you hooked up with my brother.”

I shake my head. “It was more than that.”

She stares at me in disbelief. “You dated my brother and you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m so sorry. He wanted to tell you, but I wanted to make sure it was going to last before we said anything. In the end, that’s what caused us to break up. He didn’t like keeping it a secret.”

I wince at the memory of him telling me he didn’t want to be my ‘dirty little secret’, that it was too much like his dad and Tarshia.

“I ruined everything. If I hadn’t been so scared, if I just believed in what we had, I never would have gone to the formal with Drew. It would have been Brady there with me.”

Ivy stares at the ground, avoiding my eyes. “Is that why you rushed off from my eighteenth birthday? There wasn’t really a family emergency with your dad, was there?”

I shake my head.

A heavy silence falls over us as Harley and Lachy wait for Ivy to process everything. Brady has clearly said something to them about us. I should be mad at him, but I can’t be. They’re his mates. Everything that has happened is all my fault. All he’s guilty of is wanting to be with me.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to you.” Ivy’s voice is thick with emotion. She shrugs out of Lachy’s embrace and gets to her feet. “I really am. I can only imagine how terrible it is to go through something like that. But I just... I don’t understand how you could keep so many secrets from someone who’s supposed to be your best friend.”

“I–I didn’t want...” I squeeze my eyes shut and lean into Harley for support. “I should have told you. I know that. But I was scared.”

“It’s not even that you were with my brother.” A tear slides down her cheek, but she makes no move to wipe it away. “I would have been so happy for you. But you both know that secrets tore my family apart and I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that. How am I supposed to trust you or my brother when you’re both keeping things from me?”

“Ivy, I–”

She puts her hand up to silence me. “I... need some time to process... I just need...” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this right now.” Ivy turns and runs back toward the car park. Lachy calls after her.

“Go,” I tell him. “It’s okay. Go with her. Just please tell her, I never meant to hurt her.”

He glances between me and Harley who nods a silent ‘I’ve got her’. Lachy sighs and shakes his head before jogging after my friend. At least, I hope she’s still my friend after all of this.

I pick up the bottle of tequila. This time I relish the burn as it slides down my throat.

“Wren...” Harley starts, but whatever he was going to say doesn’t come out. Instead, he just shakes his head.

I pass him the bottle and rest my head on his shoulder. He takes a swig and wraps his arm around my waist as we stare out over the water.

“So much for forgetting our troubles, huh?” I say with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’ve just made things worse.”

“Don’t say that.” Harley glances over where our friends had disappeared. “She’s just hurt that you didn’t tell her. She’ll get over it.”

“Over what I told her, or over me and Brady?”

Harley snorts. “I’m surprised she didn’t already know.” I peek up at him and he scoffs. “Oh please. The way you two were always secretly pining over one another, we all saw it coming. We were taking bets on how long it would take you to hook up.”

“So, you knew?”

Harley shakes his head. “Not confirmed, but I had my suspicions. You were always awkward around Brady.” He nudges me and my face heats up. “I just assumed the two of you hooked up and he blew you off or something. I had no idea what you were really going through.” He sighs. “I’m so sorry, Wren. If you ever want us to sort this guy out, just say the word.”

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