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“Thalia….”
“Okay, you ready?” Liam said, reappearing out of the blue.
I pulled my arm away and stepped back. “She’s all fastened in.” I moved my eyes away from Thalia to glare at my brother. “You better take it easy out there. Just remember your passenger can’t swim.”
“Fuck, what the hell is wrong with you? I’m not stupid. She’ll be okay with me. We’re just going on a gentle sail on the SMOOTH LAKE, nothing rocky. Stop worrying ‘mom’.”
Fucking hell, he was going to be meeting my fist before long.
“Thalia, come on. Ignore Jack, everyone else does.”
All I wanted to do was strangle my brother, but instead I shoved my hands into the back pocket of my jeans.
“That’s not nice, he’s done nothing but help me, which is more than I can say for you. You know I’m frightened of going out there,” Thalia told Liam, after hitting him in the chest.
How the hell I didn’t burst out laughing, I’d never know. I glanced over to her and noticed her pissed expression, which was directed at my brother.
She then turned to me. “Thank you, Jack.”
She’s the first person that I could remember to ever get pissed on my behalf. I needed to get out of there.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” I said and caught the look on Thalia’s face. Panic.
Keep walking. Keep walking.
Without glancing back, I walked to my car and climbed in, but couldn’t bring myself to put the key into the ignition. I’d promised Thalia that I would stay around. Fuck. I climbed back out of the car and went up into the café so I could keep watch without Liam or Thalia noticing.
Chapter 16
Thalia
As Liam led me towards the boat all I wanted was for it to be Jack. Why was Jack more worried about my safety than my so called ‘boyfriend’? Since we’d eaten breakfast, Liam had been in a snit about something. What it was, I had no idea. He was annoying the hell out of me, and knew good and well that I was nervous about going out on the water, but he’d still disappeared to the car to retrieve his cell phone. His respo
nse had been that if something happened out there, we’d be stuck without a cell. I’d pointed out that I had mine with me, but oh no, he still had to leave me alone and go fetch his.
If Jack hadn’t appeared when he did, I’d have thrown my preserve off and gone into the café to wait for Liam. Yeah, it would have looked like I was acting like a five year old, but inside I was freaking out. There was a lot of water in the lake.
Jack had realized how freaked I was, but not Liam. As I climbed into the boat I looked around for Jack, he’d said he would hang around and for some reason that gave me the extra boost of confidence that I needed. I couldn’t see him, but his car was still in the lot.
“Thalia, who you looking for?”
“No one.”
He grinned. “I’m not blind, or contrary to what my brother thinks, an idiot.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Could I have been any more obvious? Ugh!
“Yeah right.” He pushed us off from the small pier and started to row.
“Do you want me to help?” I honestly didn’t fancy moving, but I felt a bit mean just sitting and letting him do all the work.
“No, I’m fine. He’s in the café making sure I don’t drown you.” Liam looked worried. “Thalia, um, you haven’t forgotten Jack’s getting married, right? Nothing or no one will change that.”
“Liam...”
“Don’t say anything. I know we aren’t going anywhere. I like you Thalia, but there’s no spark between us… Do you mind carrying on pretending to be my girlfriend; it kind of saves me from my mom?”
I watched him closely trying to work out his body language. Something wasn’t right. Liam was handsome, which was what first attracted me. As I got to know him, I liked him more, but didn’t want to take it further. There were plenty of girls out there who would like nothing more than to have him as a boyfriend.
