AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That’s where River and Jax find us. I hear the door open and swivel to find them coming through the door. Both of them are dressed in sweatpants and hoodies. River has a knit beanie on but his long hair falls in waves around his shoulders. Jax’s hair is sleep mussed and his eyes still shine with satisfaction. I give him a half smile, my eyes dipping briefly to his lips.
“I didn’t realize we called a meeting,” I say dryly, scooting down the railing to make room for River as he comes up next to me, leaning against it casually.
He watches me warily for a second, that night down by the water flashing through both of our memories. I briefly wonder if Casey ever found out what happened between us. Bitterness swirls in my belly at the thought of the two of them together in any way. Does he love her the way he claimed to love me? I get nauseous just thinking about it.
“We heard yelling and finally came to rescue you,” River says teasingly. His eyes connect with Luca’s over my head and something passes between the two of them before he looks down at me.
Jax sighs, tossing a narrowed look at River. “He means he spent the last half hour convincing me to intervene before you inevitably threw his ass over the railing.” He nodded to Luca who raised a single brow.
I frown up at River. “I didn’t know you were staying the night.”
He shrugs. “I didn’t think I needed to ask your permission.”
Nudging him with my elbow, I shake my head. “We weren’t yelling, just having a conversation and things got heated.” River wiggles his brows as a smirk tugs at his lips and I groan. “Ugh, not that kind of heated.”
There I go lying again.
Luca leaves the railing, taking a seat on the lounge chair again and picks up his acoustic guitar. He strums a few chords and tunes it before idly playing a soothing, nameless song that complements the sound of the waves.
“Does this thing work?” Jax asks. We all turn to find him looking at a clay chiminea. Luca tosses him a lighter, and Jax promptly starts a tiny fire inside of it, instantly warming up the balcony.
I scurry over to the opening, pulling my freezing hands out of the confines of the sweater and holding them against the wall of heat as Jax comes to stand behind me. He wraps his arms around my waist and leans his chin on my shoulder. My eyes flicker to Luca, who’s watching us as he strums, a contemplative frown on his face. I won't pull away from Jax. Luca doesn't have that kind of power over me.
I've made my feelings perfectly clear to each of them, and any one of them has the free will to walk away forever. And yet here the three of them are, hanging out on this freezing-ass balcony in the early hours of the morning for no apparent reason.
I feel like this moment is pivotal. The three of us are so at odds in the things we thought we want, biding our time until something eventually snaps.
River
Ican't stop staring at the way the moonlight catches the paleness of her long hair as it blows in the ocean breeze. She’s so fucking beautiful that sometimes it hurts to stare at her for too long without reaching out.
The light of the fire dances across her face, lighting her golden eyes like fiery gems from across the fire pit. I stand here with my hands in my pocket, letting the heat lick my cheeks, just watching her sway from side to side with Jax holding her from behind.
The pang of jealousy I feel has nothing to do with Jax. I actually like the fucker and I hate myself for that. How could I possibly dislike a man who treats my Nora like a fucking queen? But it eats away at me. He’s had her for years while Luca and I got left behind. What makes him so much more special than us?
Nora and I never crossed that line when we were younger. We were friends on the outside, but inside, I was a pining teenage boy fixated on the one girl I never thought I could really have. When Luca told me about that night with her…the last night she spent on this beach, I was jealous. I wanted it to be me that held her for the first time. I wanted to be the one to teach her all the ways a man could make a woman blush.
But I was happy for my best friend. He’d been a virgin whereas I wasn't, and the guys at school always gave him shit for it. But I knew Luca was holding out for Nora. The first time we laid eyes on the pretty, blonde, tourist girl, Luca told me he was going to marry her someday. The very second he saw her he was a goner. It was instant. But for me, it took a little longer.
Back in the day I was wild, and I wasn't interested in locking myself down with a girlfriend. I was more interested in surfing and fucking around. But that didn’t mean I was blind. I had my sights on Nora the second I figured out what liking girls meant. She was pretty, hilarious, adventurous, and she could dance like nobody’s business.
We’re twenty-three now and I’m tired of playing these games. If I don't make a move for real this time, she’ll be lost to me. Jax Pembroke will sweep her off her feet and right back to New York, and that can’t happen. If it does…I'll just follow her.
We spend the next few hours hanging out in front of the fire while Luca takes song requests. Jax and Nora dance a little while Luca and I reluctantly eye each other, trying not to smile because watching her smile like this, and hearing her laugh after seven long years is intoxicating.
As the night goes on, I'm content with watching and waiting. I'm biding my time until the moment is right. Until I can tell her that she has it all wrong about Casey. I've told Casey my heart belongs to another woman. There’s never been anything more than sex between us, and she knows that, and even that stopped the very second I laid eyes on Nora again.
This time, I’m done fucking around. She’s ours, and it’s only a matter of time before she figures that out.
Nora
Raising my face to the sky, I take in deep lungfuls of fresh ocean air, enjoying the feel of my body rising up and down as each wave passes beneath my surfboard.
I asked Kennedy if she wanted to be my surfing buddy before I needed to be down at Landy’s, but she’d scoffed and acted like Satan himself was asking her to wake up before dawn. My lazy friend is missing out, though. Surfing at dawn is the best way to catch the crispness of the morning. Watching the sun rise up from behind that dark swath of endless abyss is something that no other feeling in the world can replicate. Of course, I hate dark water, so I wait for the sky to turn shades of pink and orange before I paddle out into deeper water.
The waves are relatively calm today, but given the amount of chill in the air, another end-of-summer storm may be on its way, welcoming fall with open arms. Once I reach the break in the water, I pull up on my board, sitting straight up while I watch the sun ascend higher and higher, bringing warmth to my cheeks and a smile to my lips.
For the past week, I’ve been pretty much a recluse. I haven’t seen much of Luca after that night out on the balcony when the four of us seemed to have reached some kind of truce. My feelings are so jumbled and confused. It’s as if every time I find myself in the room with one of the guys, all logic just flies right out of the fucking window.
