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She stirs and I duck down to brush my lips over the top of her head. A smile tugs at her mouth as she blinks up at me through her lashes. “Hi,” she says with a stretch.
“Hi.”
She rolls over to her stomach, resting her chin on her hands. “How are you feeling?”
I close my eyes, mulling over the answer. HowamI feeling? “Confused. Hurt. Angry.”Terrified you’re going to decide I’m not worth it–like everyone else in my life.
“That’s… a lot.”
Yeah. It is.
“What do you want to do?”
I roll onto my side, cupping Ivy’s cheek and bringing her in for a kiss. “Stay here with you forever,” I suggest.
She laughs. “As much as I would love to, you have to face everything back home.”
I groan.Home. Do I even have a fucking home anymore? I can’t go back to my par–Mum’s home, and I can’t live at Dave’s indefinitely. I’ll have to give up footy so I can get a job and an apartment.
Ivy kisses me again, but before I have the chance to lean in for more, she’s standing up and pulling her shorts on. She buttons them up, tucking my t-shirt into the front. She looks so damn perfect with my number on her back.
“I need to talk to Ellie,” I say, running a hand over my face.
“Is she okay?”
“After finding out she’s dating her half-brother’s half-brother you mean?” I ask wryly.
She pulls a face. “Christ, it’s like a storyline out ofHome and Away.”
“You’re telling me,” I mutter. With another groan, I pull myself up and head for the door of the tent. I squint against the glare of the sun, and it takes me a moment to realise that Jordan’s Kombi is gone, along with Sophie’s tent and Tom’s swag.
Dave’s sitting on a camp chair playing on his phone. He looks up and raises a brow at me. “What the hell happened last night, man? Everyone was tense as shit this morning. Ellie and Sophie left with Brady and Wren.”
I let out a weighted sigh as Ivy calls my name. I turn to see her stepping out of the tent, phone in hand and a hurt expression on her face.
“They’re gone,” I tell her, stating the obvious.
She nods, wrapping her hands around her stomach. “Wren texted me while we were sleeping.”
Dave whistles. “I knew Brady would be pissed at you, but I didn’t expect it to clear a fucking camp.”
I look over at Ivy and she simply shrugs. I push my hair out of my face and tug on my baseball cap. “Yeah, man. Uh, do you think we could maybe leave today?” I know the festival finishes tomorrow, but Ivy’s right: I need to go home and deal with everything.
Dave sighs. “Yeah, sure. We’ll leave when Kody wakes up. I’m not waking him because I amnotpoking that bear. Dude is one hundred per cent not a morning person– especially hungover.”
* * *
TWO HOURS LATER, Dave pulls into Ivy’s driveway. I climb out of the car and grab her things from the boot before walking her to her front door.
“Will you call me later?” she asks, biting her bottom lip. I hate the look of uncertainty that plagues those beautiful sea-green eyes. She has no idea how much I need her right now. I couldn’t shut her out if I wanted to.
“Yeah, of course.” I rest my forehead against hers and close my eyes. “Are you sure you still want this? Even with all the crazy?”
She tips her head up to find my lips. “I do.”
“Are you going to check on Harley?” She’d been texting with Wren the whole car ride home. She and Brady had dropped the girls off and gone around to the Breeds’, but Harley and Tom hadn’t been there and no one was answering their phones.
She nods. “I’m going to have a shower and head to Brady and Wren’s.”
