Page 21 of The Stolen Moments Trilogy

Emilia pushes me away and ties the strings of her bikini top in record time. She looks at me, panicked.

“Oh god. Kate. Oh, my god, what were we even thinking? Shit. We can’t do this,” she says, her voice trembling. I look at her with wide eyes, my heart dropping.

“No, it’s fine. It’s okay.” I say. I know Kate warned me away from Emilia, but when it comes down to it, she’ll eventually get over it. So long as Emilia wants me, there’s nothing and no one that I’ll allow to stand in our way. Kate loves Emilia to bits. There’s no way that she won’t want us to be happy together.

Emilia shakes her head and pushes me away. “Shit. What’s wrong with us? This can’t happen again, Carter. Kate is my best friend — I cannot mess around with her brother. That’s so against the girl code. She’d never forgive me! I love your mother so much and they’d both be horrified if they found out. They’d feel like I betrayed their trust.”

She starts to panic and even though my heart is shattering, I grab her shoulders and try my best to ground her. “Hey, breathe, baby. It’s alright. We don’t need to tell them if you don’t want them to know.”

Emilia shakes her head. “No. Let’s just pretend nothing ever happened. It was just some making out, anyway. It’s not like we actually dated or anything. Please, Carter.”

I stare at her in disbelief and then look away, unable to face her. The last twenty-four hours have meant the world to me. I thought we were on the same page. Was this just a fling to her? Was she just trying to figure out what she’s been missing out on?

“I understand,” I murmur, smiling tightly. I don’t understand, but for Emilia I’ll pretend.

Chapter 19

Emilia

Kate looks worried when I make it back to the embankment. “Hey, where were you?” she asks. Helen looks me over and narrows her eyes before looking away.

“Oh, Carter and I went for a swim.” I reply. “I guess maybe we went a bit too far out?”

Kate nods and sits back down, her eyes studying me carefully.

“Your bikini isn’t wet. Your hair isn’t either,” she remarks.

I look at her with wide eyes. “I... I... uh, I put my hair up so it wouldn’t get wet, and my bikini dried on the walk back,” I stammer. I’m being so suspicious but I can’t help it. I’ve never had to lie to Kate before. I can’t even look her in the eye. She’d be so disappointed if she knew what Carter and I were getting up to.

Carter walks up to us, looking annoyed as hell. William glances at him and grins. “Had a good swim, son?” he asks. Carter looks startled for a second and then nods, keeping his eyes to the floor. He brushes past me and sinks down on his chair. Kate looks from me to him and frowns.

“You guys argued again, didn’t you?”

I bite down on my lip and shake my head. “No. I guess, maybe a little.”

Kate rolls her eyes. “You two were literally together for an hour or so. How the hell did you manage to fall out again in that time? Don’t go around ignoring each other again, because it’s awkward as hell.”

I nod, feeling immense guilt. Whatever happens between Carter and me will definitely impact my friendship with Kate. I can’t risk it, no matter how much I want to. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. She looks surprised and Carter sits up to glare at both of us.

“I don’t ever fucking complain when you two are arguing or refuse to speak to each other. Last year you didn’t speak to each other for a whole goddamn week because one of you watched the series finale of some dumb show without the other. Did I fucking complain? No, I didn’t. So why the hell are you now concerned with whether Emilia and I are arguing? It’s not like that’s new to you.”

Helen looks like she might intervene but then decides to stay out of it, much to my surprise. Kate jumps out of her seat and stares Carter down. “Emilia is my best friend, Carter. Of course I’m concerned about it. I hate it when you two put me in a difficult position. I hate it when I have to choose a side to be on.”

Carter grits his teeth and storms off while I bury my face in my hands. I’m racked with guilt. What was I thinking, getting with Carter like that? Things got out of hand so quickly too. Kate is right, of course. I can’t put her in a position where she’d ever have to choose between me and Carter.

“Ugh,” she yells, storming off in the other direction. I stare at the woods that Carter disappeared into and bite down on my lip as I make my mind up. I want to follow him so badly, but I can’t. I need to put Kate first. I inhale deeply and run after her.

“Hey, wait up,” I shout. Kate pauses and turns. She wipes away her tears and my heart starts to hurt. I’m feeling beyond guilty. I stopped thinking when I was alone with Carter. I didn’t think about Kate at all. All I could think about in the moment was that I wanted Carter — that I’ve wanted him for months now.

I open my arms and she crashes into them. I pet her back as tears stream down her face. “I… I hate arguing with him,” she says.

“I know, Kate.” She might act all tough, but I know better than anyone that she adores Carter. He’s the one person she’s always looked up to. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “It’s such a minor argument. It’s fine.”

Kate pulls back and shakes her head. “It’s not. You don’t understand, I — ” She inhales deeply and shakes her head. “It’s nothing,” she whispers. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs and she looks up at me gratefully. It hurts to see her so upset. It hurts even more to know that I’m the root cause of it.

“I’m so mad,” she whispers.

I laugh and throw my arm around her. “Yeah, Carter tends to have that effect on people. Welcome to my world, girl.”

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