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“She’s not.” I crossed my arms. “Not old enough to drink or do whatever else you’re planning on doing here.”
“Aslan,” Neri snapped. “You’re not my father. Shut up.”
I glowered at her. “I’m here because of your father. And thank fuck I am, seeing as you lied about how this trip would go.”
“I didn’t lie.” Neri hunched. “I just...fibbed that parents were coming.”
“Parents are most definitely not coming.” Rita chuckled, dropping her eyes and looking me up and down. “We’re here for fun. Everyone is free to be who they want and do whoever they want.” Before I could growl that those sort of rules weren’t gonna fly with me, she asked, “How old are you, Aslan?”
Doing my best to keep my temper in check, I replied, “Nineteen.”
“So you finished school? Which one did you go to? Do you work, or are you at uni? If I’d known Nerida had a hot older brother, I would’ve popped by.”
“You didn’t even know Nerida until today,” Zara quipped, placing a pan on the small flame coming from the camping stove.
“But I do now.” Rita wriggled her fingers at Neri. “Hi, Neri. Do you think you could hook me up with your brother?”
“Not my brother,” Neri muttered, her face stern and any sign of a smile gone.
“Oh?” Rita crossed her legs and leaned forward, flashing me the crotch of her bikini, revealing the tiniest scrap of material that hid everything between her legs.
Despite myself, I hardened a little.
Taking a swig of luke-warm beer, I said, “I’m a friend of the family’s. Been staying with the Taylors to learn the family trade.”
The well-rehearsed line I’d heard Jack say so many times spilled effortlessly.
“Oh? What trade is that?” Molly asked, her eyes just as hungry as Rita’s as she studied me.
“Marine biology,” I replied, my voice husky and harsh.
“That’s so cool. So you, like, swim with whales and sharks all day?”
“I—”
“He flatly refuses to go in the ocean.” Neri stood upright, planting her hands on her indecently curved hips. “Don’t you, Aslan?”
My nostrils flared as I glowered at her across the small space. “If you’re trying to shame me, it won’t work.”
“Shame you?” Neri placed a hand over her heart. “I’d never dream of doing such a nasty thing. I’m merely trying to save you the horror of being asked to go skinny-dipping later.”
Rita laughed loudly. “Ooo, you’re gonna be fun.” She patted the blanket next to her. “Come sit by me, Nerida, and tell me all about your family friend’s secrets.”
My heart almost broke through my ribs.
She wouldn’t.
Would she?
I subtly shook my head as Neri brushed away leaves stuck to her knees.
All it would take was for her to tell them what I truly was.
In a single drunken whisper, she could sign my death warrant.
“Neri...” I murmured, never taking my eyes off hers. I couldn’t say the word, but I shouted it as loudly as I could with my stare.
Don’t.
With a shiver and a strange look in her stunning ice-blue eyes, Neri abandoned the camping stove and sat next to Rita.
She didn’t speak to me and jumped a little as Molly passed her a bottle full of heinously pink liquid. “Watermelon vodka. I think it’s time we got this party started, don’t you?”
With a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, Neri nodded. “Right. Let’s have some fun.”
She stressed the word fun.
She made my heart patter the same way it had last night when Jack had told me to enjoy his daughter.
My skin had tightened.
My body had hardened.
And I’d cursed myself the moment Neri had stormed to her bedroom because as much as Jack had meant it innocently—as much as Jack trusted me to keep Neri safe and had given me his ultimate faith the moment I saved her from drowning—he had to be absolutely blind not to sense the hum of electricity between his daughter and me.
A hum that only grew louder as Neri grew older.
When she was twelve, it’d been ignorable.
When she was thirteen, it’d been a gentle burn.
When she was fourteen, it’d been an itch I couldn’t scratch.
But now she was fifteen?
Fuck me, it was agonising.
I’d done my best to fight it.
I’d told myself again and again that it was nothing.
Each year, I hoped the unexplainable connection to her would fade.
Each year, it only grew worse.
And now?
I honestly didn’t know how much longer I could withstand the pain.
Chapter Twenty
*
Aslan
*
(Moon in Croatian: Mjesec)
GRABBING THE BOX I’D HIDDEN IN MY borrowed sleeping bag, I cracked it open.
I struggled to see anything in the dark tent, but smiled a little, knowing what was nestled in the royal-blue velvet.
The sun had well and truly gone to bed.
Most of the campground had joined it, and we’d already received one warning from other campers to keep it down as Joel and his mates steadily drank more and more, becoming less and less inhibited.
