Page 14 of Paradise Ties

Drew recoiled and his expression closed. “No, she’s just friendly.”

Lauren knocked him on the head with her knuckles. “Are you crazy, that girl has it bad.”

Drew rolled his eyes, but Lauren caught the interest he couldn’t hide. “No, she doesn’t, she’s just nice.”

“Who’s the hot chick all over Drew?” Jace asked, settling into the seat beside Lucy.

“Mara. She’s a physio at the rehab centre. But Drew thinks she’s just being nice and it’s not like that.”

Jace barked out a laugh. “Trust me, dude, it’s definitely like that.”

“Well it doesn’t matter, she has a boyfriend,” Drew said with finality.

“Shit, she’s the one you were talking about, isn’t she?”

“What, who?” Lauren asked.

Drew cast her a ‘mind your own business’ look. “Doesn’t matter, she’s off-limits.”

Lauren let it go and so did Jace, sensing Drew wasn’t ready to hear it. She watched as he stood and walked back to the bar where Kanan and Roz had just sat with their girls. Maybe she’d have a little word with Mara. Invite her to the wedding, perhaps.

“What’re you plotting?” Dane sat down on Drew’s sunbed and regarded her with suspicion.

“Who, me?” she asked innocently.

“Yeah, you, Little Miss Naughty.”

“Why, I don’t know what you mean.”

Dane laughed and rolled his eyes. “Poor sap has no clue you’re about to poke your nose in, does he?”

“I’m merely helping love on its way.”

She knew he didn’t agree with her, but he didn’t say anything. Dane was man enough to know when to back off and when she was on a tear about something. With Drew, it was time for her to step up and be the sister he needed, even if he didn’t know it yet.

Chapter 7

“Look, all I’m saying is if the manager was serious about winning the league this season, he’d be looking to sign a striker,” Daniel repeated as he handed Dane another glass of beer causing Jace to roll his eyes.

They’d decided at the last minute not to go into town and instead all went to Kanan’s beach shack for a barbecue and a few beers. They’d invited the girls, but Lauren and Lucy wanted to have a hen’s party of their own. Kanan had organised two barrels of beer and a boatload of meat for the grill.

“Yes, but not everyone has the budget you assholes do,” Dane complained.

Jace laughed at them. From the minute he’d met Dane and Daniel, their passion for their preferred football teams and equal dislike of the other’s had been a given discussion point. Jace found it somewhat comforting, if a little annoying. He was a rugby man himself but could appreciate a good game of footie. He let discussion roll over him as he gazed at the vast expanse of calm sea from where he sat on the beach, knees bent, arms relaxed as they leaned on his knees. The water was smooth, the sunset almost blinding in its beauty and he wished he was here with Lucy. He loved his friends, but a view like this was wasted on them. It was meant for lovers to share.

“Nate, you in charge of the grill?” Smithy called, jogging toward the group.

Jace was starting to see Smithy come back to them, in little flashes of the man he’d been. He’d never be the man he was, but it was comforting to know there were still recognisable parts of him. The things done to him during his time with Rhea Winslow had changed him, damaged him. The guilt of knowing he’d kidnapped and murdered people, innocent people, hung around his neck like a loose garrotte ready to tighten and cut his oxygen at any given memory.

He was only just getting to the point where he could look Dane in the eye. He couldn’t forgive himself for kidnapping Lizzie and guarding her while she was horrifically injured and at the mercy of Rhea Winslow.

Jace understood it, they all did. They knew it was very likely they’d have felt the same in his position, even though they didn’t agree with it. Smithy had been drugged with mind-altering and mind-control drugs but even then, he’d fought back, something deep in the recess of his mind reminding him who he was. The fact that Lizzie would’ve died without him meant nothing because he blamed himself for her being there in the first place even though Lizzie didn’t blame him. He’d need to deal with that in his own time, but the fact he’d taken this trip to watch him and Dane marry their women was a good sign.

Megan had helped a lot with the residual effects of the drugs. Jace adored his future sister-in-law, seeing so much of Lucy in her. The fact that she and Daniel had found love together was the icing on the cake. Both deserved to be happy after what they had been through.

He looked up as his cousin Jack sauntered towards him.

“You ready to tie the knot?” he asked as he sat down beside him on the white sand.