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1
Jack
Ibring the bottle of Singha to my lips, taking a long sip as I stare out the hotel’s window at the distant view of waves crashing against the white sand of Chaweng beach. Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to be out on the water today instead of trussed up in this monkey suit preparing to endure my version of hell.
“Hope you’re not thinking about making another break for it,” I hear a wry voice say from behind me. “I definitely won’t be helping you this time, that’s for sure.”
I manage a soft chuckle and shake my head. “From the eleventh floor? I’m good, but I’m notthatgood.” Tearing my eyes from the beach, I turn to face my best friend.
Trent smooths his hands down the front of his tailored suit jacket— the one that hugs his lean, muscular body like a second skin. And I’m suddenly re-evaluating my decision not to make a break for it out the window. “How do I look?”
I lift the beer to my lips again in an effort to disguise my reaction. With a well-practiced cavalier shrug and a slight curve of my lips, I tell him, “You’ll do.”
He tosses his head back with a laugh. “There’s that vote of confidence I was looking for.”
“You’ve never needed me to stroke your ego,” I point out. “I’m not about to start now.” I finish the beer and set the bottle on the table by the window next to another empty from earlier. Then I stride over to the suite’s mini- fridge and retrieve another one. “Want one?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
I shrug and am gazing around the room trying to remember where I left the bottle opener when I catch sight of the expression on Trent’s face. It’s the same one he was wearing the day he first told me about him and Xavier getting together. Like he’s feeling guilty and uncomfortable.
“What?” I grumble. “Why are you looking like that?” He shrugs. “I don’t know. You just seem a little...off.”
I arch an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of my beer.
“Off?”
“Three beers in already? That’s not exactly like you...” I groan in annoyance. “Fine, if you must know, I’m
taking the opportunity to enjoy a few beers in peace before I’m forced to spend the day in close proximity to Alastor fucking King. Oh, and thanks for inviting my parents, by the way—I really need them breathing down my neck.” Deflect, deflect, deflect. I’m in complete survival mode now.
Trent looks somewhat placated, nodding thoughtfully. “Okay. So, it’s not about Xav?”
I stare at him in confusion. “Why the fuck would it be about Xav?”
Trent just rolls his eyes. “Well, less than two years agoyouwere the one set to marry him.”
“And I refer your attention back to the whole escaping out the window thing,” I say wryly. “Xav and I were never right for each other. You know that.”
Trent nods, offering me the smile that hits me in the heart every time. “Yeah. I guess I do.”
The truth is, I only ever proposed to Xavier Newbold because I was trying to convince myself I was over Trent. There are a lot of things I’ve done in my thirty-seven years that I’d love to take back; unfortunately, my habit of acting first and thinking later has gotten me into some dumb, and occasionally dangerous, situations. But nothing has been worse than asking the perfectly nice and unsuspecting guy I’d been dating for six months to marry me simply to prove a point. A point that turned out to be all bullshit anyway.
I’m not entirely sure I believe in Karma, but maybe I should, considering what happenedafterI escaped out a window from my would-be wedding. I still have no idea how it happened—I’ve never had much desire to find out —but Xavier and Trent ended up on holiday here in Thai- land together. The trip that was supposed to be for Xav’s and my honeymoon. And somewhere along the way, they fell for each other.
I can’t even begin to describe the pain that tore through me when they told me they were together. I’d spent twenty years harbouring this all-consuming unrequited love for my straight best friend, only to learn that he wasn’t so straight after allafterhe’d gone and fallen for someone else. It was absolutely gutting, and it’s led to many a sleepless night with me wondering what might have happened if I’d only had the guts to make a move sooner. I know the answer, of course. A big, fatnothingwould have happened. At least nothing good, anyway. Trent would never have wantedme.That’s why he fell for Xav.
“I’m happy for you,” I assure him. “You know that, right?” It’s not a total lie. Anything that makes Trent happy is a good thing in my book; and it would be impossible not to notice how happy Xav’s made him since they got together. I just wish I could get to the point where I don’t feel like my heart’s being sliced up in a blender every time I see them together.
There’s a tap at the hotel room door and I stride over to answer it, my face forming into an involuntary scowl when I see Alastor fucking King on the other side.
“Macey,” he says, glaring at me like I’m a bit of bird shit that’s just dropped on his precious V8.
It’s pretty much the same routine we’ve been running through for twenty years, ever since high school. We weren’t in the same year level but we both played on the footy team and took an instant disliking to each other. The only respite was during the time I was with Xavier, as though by some mutual, unspoken understanding we put our shit aside for his sake. But me ducking out of the wedding seemed to confirm Alastor’s suspicions that I am, in fact, the antichrist and since then the hostility’s been on overdrive.
“Alastor,” I grumble back, my eyes narrowed on his stupid face. I’ll admit he’s cleaned up pretty well for the wedding; his tailored suit fits his tall, lean body like a glove, and for once his wild red-brown hair has actually been styled. Even his eyes look bluer than usual.
But that’s as far as I’ll go. There is no dimension in which I’ll admit to thinking Alastor King is hot. At all.
