“Oh, we’re back to putting conditions on our relationship, are we?”
“Definitely this one.”
“And what is it?”
“You have to go down to the kitchens and get us some food. I amnotmissing Carlos’s huevos rancheros again because of you.”
He rolls away, laughing so hard it shakes the bed and me and it seems, in my eyes, the whole world. Because he is the world. All my hope and happiness are wrapped up in him.
It isn’t smart. It isn’t safe.
I can’t help it.
SID MANAGES TOgo downstairs and get food without drawing too much attention. The kitchens aren’t close to his bedroom, so no one heard us—small mercy—and since the boys are used to deferring to Sid, no one asks questions. When he turns up with our shares of the meal, he does note that James gave him a few eyebrow waggles, but for now, we’re still in that honeymoon bliss of no one else knowing.
It doesn’t last long. We share one, glorious, private night together eating eggs, indulging in each other when we like, and fall asleep curled into one another’s arms. And then in the morning, it’s over.
April bangs on Sid’s door at the crack of dawn. I groan and lean deeper into his chest.
“Kayla?” April’s voice is frantic on the other side. “Are you in there?”
Sid starts to stand, but I pull him back into bed.
“No, let me.” I don’t particularly want to deal with her, but this is also more my responsibility than his. I grab a shirt from the floor and throw it on before opening the door.
Even though I’m sure she’s expecting it, April gasps when she sees me standing in the doorframe, wearing nothing but one of Sid’s shirts that swoops across me like a dress.
“Morning.” I give her a wry smile.
“You havegotto be joking!” April stamps her foot. “I send him out to talk to you about Astolia and you end up like this? What is wrong with you?”
I shut the door behind me before Sid can be subjected to more of her sniping. “Why do you even care? You got what you wanted. We’re not going anywhere.”
“You’re joking.Please, tell me you’re joking.” She pulls my shoulder, but I only grunt and push past her toward our shared room. She’s on my heel, still bleating like a wounded goat. “You’re supposed to divorce him in two years!”
“Well, if he knocks me up, I’ll lose a demerit, and then we can be out of here in one.”
“What?!”
“Calm down! I’m kidding.” I glower at her as I grab my bag, still fully packed from my half-hearted escape attempt last night. “Well… sort of. Iwouldlose the demerit if we had a kid, but we’re obviously not going to do that yet.”
“Yet?!”
“I don’t know, April! I married him, okay? I married him for you and I slept with him for me. Is that so hard to wrap your head around?”
“So when it goes to shit, whose fault is it going to be? Mine or yours?” Tears brim in her eyes.
I would feel bad for her if she weren’t being a total asshole right now. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I shoulder past her.
“Where are you going?” she demands.
“Back to him. Congratulations. You’ve got your own room.”
“I never asked for this, Kayla! I never asked for any of this.”
She has a right to be upset. I spent a lot of time blaming myself for my parents’ choices, and I hate that I’m putting her through this, no matter the reason. It would have been smart if we’d waited so April wouldn’t associate our relationship with my earlier breakdown. But I’ve had so many since moving to this damn island. I’m not waiting for some distant day when I’m emotionally stable enough to deserve a relationship. April can prise whatever shreds of happiness I still feel out of my cold, dead hands.
I slam the door on her and come face to face with Sid, whose eyebrows shoot up. He’s half dressed, and my cheeks flush, as if I haven’t just spent a night tangled up with him in far less. He buttons up his shirt, watching my reaction carefully. “Everything okay?”
