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CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Isaac
We pickour way around the edge of the northeast wall, Aurelia’s hand gripping mine as I lead the way. It’s completely dark—even the stars don’t cast a great deal of light this evening. And, surprisingly, there is total quiet as we make our way to the staff beach. It’s Aurelia’s last night on Starling Key and this is the only place I haven’t yet taken her to.
We round the corner and while I’m pretty sure Aurelia is totally oblivious, I can see the shadows of around eighty bodies crouching behind beer kegs, chairs, palm trees and sand dunes.
“SURPRISE!”
Lights switch on all around us, and every single person jumps to their feet, cheering and shouting Happy Birthday to Aurelia, who I’m pretty sure has just died of shock behind me. Even I, who knew this was going to happen, feel a little shell-shocked. Seconds later, loud hip hop kicks in, bottles are opened, drinks are poured, and people crowd us to give their best birthday wishes to my girlfriend, and unbeknown to anyone else just yet, my new boss. I stay by her side as she returns hugs and good wishes and good-naturedly poses for selfies with the team. Then, almost as quickly as they descended upon her, they filter away, shaking their asses to the music and smashing beer bottles together. It’s the end of the season and this is our traditional staff beach party. A few of the team had the idea of using it to honor and thank Aurelia. That was before her dramatic announcement. Following it, they were insistent. They wanted to celebrate her, show her respect for making such a bold move. They wanted her to know family didn’t have to be like that; it could be like this.
I look around at everyone as they finally kick back after a long, hot, busy season, and feel my heart swell. These guys were here when I needed a family. When I divorced myself from my CIA brothers and sisters and came looking for others to embrace me. I might have been thirty years old but I hadn’t had family since my grandmother died. Starling Key gave that to me, and more. Right on cue, Connor comes up behind us and slaps me on the back before wrapping me in a bear hug.
“How’d it go?”
“Great,” I reply. “Better than great, actually. I got to bury a few demons.”
“That’s fantastic man, I’m happy for you.”
“It also made me think about the future,” I add. I feel strangely emotional, knowing now is the time. I’m handing in my notice.
“I’ll come find you,” I say to Aurelia who nods, knowingly, and heads in the direction of Tawny and Seleste, not before gripping my hand tightly, which gives me more courage than she’ll ever know. “Connor, I need to talk to you.”
“Uh oh, not you too,” he frowns. “Bit early for a proposal, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Well, the last time one of us said that, we were looking for proposal advice.”
“Oh, yeah, right. No. It’s not that.” I steer him to a dune away from the crowd and sit him down. Before I can open my mouth, Carter and Luca are beside us too. Hell, they’re going to find out anyway. “Guys,” I start. “Connor, I’m leaving Starling Key.” I grit my teeth and wait for the verbal clobbering, but it doesn’t come.
“We guessed,” Connor says, after an unnerving stretch of silence.
“You did?”
“Yeah,” Luca adds. “You came back from your mom’s, went straight to Aurelia and didn’t resurface until, well, this morning. We knew something was cooking.”
“You were spotted waiting outside the interview room for Talent Managers,” Carter says, blinking his long eyelashes, innocently.
“So you guys have had your suspicions about this for three whole days and you haven’t said anything?”
“You were clearly enjoying your moment,” Connor says, kindly. “You know, that time between when you make a life-changing decision and the time when the whole damn world knows. I would say that figuratively, but in your case, the whole damn world will actually know, sooner or later.”
“Yeah,” I nod.
“Are you ready for the kind of attention and scrutiny you’re going to get being in Aurelia’s life in the public eye?” Carter cocks his head.
I let out a long breath. “I don’t care what people are going to say about me, and if they have an issue with the age gap, they can go freaking jump. But I care what is said about Aurelia. She’s thick-skinned though, and she has some great ideas about creative direction and trying new things. She’s prepared to lose fans along the way if she has to.”
“So, you’re really leaving?” Luca asks, quietly.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I can’t believe I’m saying it, but yeah. I’m really gonna fucking miss this place.”
Connor slaps me on the knee. “This place is really gonna fucking miss you.”
“Nah,” I laugh. “You have the child prodigy now—Axel.”
“It won’t be the same,” Luca says, sadly.
