Page 108 of Wild Hearts

I’m still pissed that Wren had to go through that experience, but I get it. If he’d actually walked in on it happening, I can only hope that he would have done anything he could to stop it. He’s right: the guilt of knowing that he saw what he did is enough to eat anyone up inside.

“Why didn’t you say anything after?”

He sighs. “I was an asshole. I was so messed up with the thoughts that I could have stopped him that I just chose to ignore it. I tried to tell myself it didn’t really happen, that she was mistaken.” He holds his hands up as I glare at him. “Not my finest moment, I know. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t sleep for a month. After graduation, I distanced myself from all the guys on the team. I decided to quit rugby and focus on my studies instead.”

My mouth drops open at that, making him laugh.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he says with a shrug. “It didn’t really help ease the guilt. When Wren moved away, I tried to tell myself I could forget. She was moving on with her life and so should I, but when I saw her at Theo’s Baptism... Well, I knew I had to do something or it was going to keep haunting me. That’s why I went and saw Airlie.”

I don’t miss the way his face goes soft when he talks about Wren’s best friend. “You really like her, huh?”

He grins. “She’s amazing. We didn’t really know each other at school, but she’s loyal and brave and fucking gorgeous.” We both laugh but then his face sobers up. “I don’t know why she chose to forgive me for not doing anything to help Wren that night, but she did. She’s helping me work on forgiving myself.”

His words sink into the heavy silence between us and I’m about to tell him not to be so hard on himself when Airlie and Wren return from their walk with milkshakes.

Wren presses her lips to mine, tasting like strawberries, as she hands me my chocolate shake.

“Glad to see my apartment didn’t turn into a UFC ring while we were gone,” she jokes.

I roll my eyes. “We’re not complete Neanderthals.”

Flynn lets out a snort of laughter, earning a punch in the arm from Airlie.

We catch up with Ivy, Lachy and Jordan at Patty’s for lunch. Harley’s MIA and not answering his phone which is weird, but I don’t think too much about it. It’s nice to see Wren laughing and having fun with her friend, and Flynn’s actually not a bad guy. The girls have planned a girl’s night, so I ask Flynn if he wants to hang out, but he declines.

“Nah, I’m driving back to Byron to spend some time with my nephew,” he says awkwardly as he climbs to his feet and kisses the top of Airlie’s head. He gives us all a wave before walking away and that’s when it hits me. Through marriage, this guy is technically my uncle.

“Fuck, my life is messed up,” I mutter.

Jordan nearly falls off his chair laughing. “This shit show actually can’t get any funnier.”

I throw a balled-up napkin his way. “Shut up.”

UNI BREAK IS SPENThanging out with my mates, surfing, and late nights losing myself in Wren. Although, Harley is harder to lock down these days and things are still strained between Lachy and Ivy.

Wren still has the occasional panic attack in the middle of the night, but they’re getting few and far between, and the trust she has in me has helped her a lot.

We’re lying in her bed naked the week after school goes back when my phone rings. Felicity’s face lights up my screen. I let it go to voicemail, but as soon as the screen goes dark, it lights up again. Letting out a groan, I swipe my finger across the screen and my ear is assaulted by loud music thumping from the other end. I can barely hear Felicity when she starts to speak.

“What?” I shout into the phone, sitting up and plugging my other ear with my finger.

Wren bursts into a fit of giggles as my brow narrows in concentration, covering her mouth with her hand. I poke my tongue out at her.

“We’re at... Jordan and Harley... Conrad... as a kite... trouble,” is all I get over the noise on Felicity’s end.

“What? Can you go somewhere quieter? I can’t hear you.” There’s now indistinguishable shouting coming through the line. “Flick, I can’t hear you. Can you go–” the line goes dead. I pull my phone away from my ear and stare at the dark screen. “Fuck.”

“What is it?” Wren asks, as I climb out of bed and start locating my clothes.

I groan. “All I got was that Jordan, Harley and Conrad are there. There was some shouting going on in the background.” I pull on my jeans and search for my shirt which was thrown somewhere when we were ripping each other’s clothes off earlier.

A text pops up on my screen and I glance at it. Felicity has sent me the address of the party, followed by “get your ass here ASAP.”

“I’ll come with you,” Wren says, pulling the sheet away. My mouth goes dry at the sight of her perfect body, and I lean in and plunge my tongue into her mouth, wishing I could climb back into bed and go round two.

“Stay,” I tell her, pulling away reluctantly. “I won’t be long.”

She runs her tongue over her kiss-swollen lips and my cock throbs in protest. Letting out a sigh, I grab my keys, kiss her once more, and rush down to my car. Conrad Foster is becoming a real problem.

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