Page 19 of His Angel

The way the water slicked over the slopes of Leo’s ass as he climbed out of the pool, Nick’s huge hands holding me safely on his shoulders, or the devilish twinkle in Wyatt’s eyes as he emerged silently from the water beside us. Fuck, these guys are something else, and they’ve got me all tangled up.

Maybe there’s another option…

“It’s okay to want what you want, it doesn’t need to fit into anyone else’s box of propriety, just remember that.”

Leos’ words come back to haunt me.

A proposition, but not.

A seed he’s planted, that I’m apparently growing.

Aimee grabs a glass and joins us, breaking me from my reverie with a start as she tops up the glass in my hand, but she’s barely taken her first sip when the door goes. And I don’t mean that someone knocks or rings the bell, oh no, it bangs back against the wall, the sound of people laughing and talking filling the room before they even enter the space.

Liselle and Amy are unsurprisingly the first ones through the entranceway, their animated conversation stopping to thank us all for the ‘delightful invitation’.

“And you started without us,” Liselle comments, gesturing to the wine glasses. “I’ll take a vodka tonic if someone’s mixing.”

I didn’t even notice her security in the mass of bodies hustling through the doorway until one of them steps through the throng, heading straight to the kitchen and making himself at home. He doesn’t spare a thought for anyone else, no offer of a top-up here before he strides towards Liselle and hands it over with a nod.

“Perfect,” she declares, dropping into one of the armchairs as Amy pulls a dining chair over to join her, Tamsin moving to make space for Ruby as she shuffles our way. I watch her and Mercedes tumble onto the other sofa, hugging and smiling.Yes, I’m totally jealous.

The nerves kick back in as Ruby joins me, throwing an oversized heather grey sweater over the back of the sofa before turning to face me, her legs tucked together as she cuddles into the soft fabric. Her arms cross over her chest, a contradiction to her open body language.

“So, hey, Ruby, nice to see you,” I start nervously.

Her gaze flicks to Liselle and Amy over my shoulder, her eyes narrowing before she plasters a fake smile on her face and nods over-enthusiastically.

“So, this is our place. I share a room with Tamsin,” I explain, awkwardly pointing at my best friend. “And it happens to be just in there. Can I give you the tour?”

I don’t know why, but the way she looks over my shoulder once again solidifies the strange need to get her out of that room. She’s almost as nervous as I am, a change to the disinterested way she acted while we were out in public.

She shrugs, flicking another look at Amy as I stand, grabbing the glass of wine and heading to the bedroom as she follows sullenly behind me. Ruby closes the door behind us, her gaze flicking over everything as I head straight to the chairs by the window, the sunshine finally warming the room through nicely.

“So, I take it this is your friend’s side,” she comments, gesturing to Tamsin’s organised but overflowing makeup collection. “No offence, but you don’t seem like the fifteen lipstick options kinda girl.”

“No offence taken,” I reply, taking a sip as she sits. “You’re right, my stuff is over there. And Tamsin just likes to have options, that’s all. She always has.”

It’s one of the reasons I have concerns over her and Taylor and their longevity, although Nick confirming that Taylor is in this with her properly went a long way to ease that. I’m still conscious that she gets bored easily and this thing that we’re in has life-changing consequences, both positive and negative.

Cold.

Empty.

Vacuous.

The rain frizzles against the umbrella, not strong enough to hammer it, nothing more than a gentle tip-tap, tap-tip against the fabric. The sky is a grey blanket covering as far as the eye can see. The old church building looms ominously, the memory of masked men and confusing expectations causing a shiver to ripple across my body.

“So, you’ve been friends for a while then, huh?” she asks, snapping me out of the memory.

“With Tamsin?”

She nods, pulling her phone from her pocket before checking it and holding it in her lap. I purposefully wait until she looks at me before I answer.

“Yes, since we were six years old. Do you have any friends you’ve known a long time?” I ask.

She’s in high school, chances are she’ll have friends from the last five or six years there. It’s not quite the same, but it’s a start, some kind of common ground we can meet on.

Reluctantly, she nods. “Yeah, but it’s not like with you guys.”

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