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Strange that there was no one even looking out the windows. The helicopter landing hadn’t been a silent affair, and I’d at least expected the noise to draw out my girl.
“Hello?” Zander called as he opened the door. “Where is everyone?”
“Here,” someone called from the kitchen. We wandered over, finding Viv, Ryan, Gia, Daniel, and Cheryl sitting at the table, playing cards. Notably missing? Sophie, Aaron, and Diego.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Viv sat at the head of the table and pointed toward the door to the gym. “Sophie, Aaron, and Diego are waiting for you in there. Zander, you and I should have a talk.”
Cheryl stood and took Nicoletta’s hand, leading her onto the patio. No doubt to discuss the date night. Zander and Viv wandered toward the living room, and I headed to the gym.
“Julie, you’ll want to join them,” Gia offered. Her voice was soft but firm, and I looked curiously at those remaining at the table.
What the bloody hell was going on?
I ushered Julie ahead of me, and we opened the door to the gym. The lights were on, and I heard the murmur of whispers before I rounded the corner. They were sitting in a half-circle, Aaron and Diego each holding one of Sophie’s hands.
When they heard us coming, the whispers cut off, and they lifted their gazes to us as we approached.
“Hey…” I said uneasily.
Diego tensed, the veins in his arms standing out against his skin.
“Relax,” Sophie whispered. “Talk first. Even if you’re unhappy with the answers, I won’t condone violence.”
He looked like he wanted to punch me, then throw me into the ocean and say good riddance. “He made you cry,” was the only thing Diego said in response, watching me approach like a predator watching his prey.
What the bloody fuck was he talking about?
“Have a seat,” Sophie invited. Julie and I lowered to the ground and sat across from them on the floor, completing the circle of discomfort. My girl cleared her throat and raised her red-rimmed eyes to mine. I swallowed around the lump in my throat. I wanted to go comfort her. It wasn’t in my nature to sit here and watch her suffer. “Tell us about the date last night.”
Sophie’s usually cheerful voice was subdued. The rasp I loved had grown into something I no longer recognized.
Julie shifted beside me, taking in the room’s mood and launching into her recounting of the previous night. “We flew over to Haiti and were driven to a little restaurant. They set our tables on opposite sides of the restaurant, so we couldn’t see Zander and Nicoletta, and vice versa. We ate some seafood platter for two and talked.”
“What did you talk about?” Aaron asked. His gaze bounced between us as if he could pluck the answer out of the air. There was no need. I was willing to share.
“We talked about our relationship, actually.” I waved my hand between the four people I was growing close to. “Julie has been a friend far longer than she’s been an ex, so we discussed the logistics of making this all work.”
Julie knew I was moving to San Diego for work and that Sophie and Diego lived in Los Angeles. Aaron lived up north, and his location was proving the most difficult to work around unless he would change jobs to be closer.
“Then what?” Sophie asked.
I looked into her eyes and wanted to push that lock of hair kissing her cheek behind her ear. Sitting here in what amounted to an inquisition was torturous. Not that I wouldn’t be curious or upset if she went on a date with someone else, but this seemed… intense.
“After dinner, they drove us to a private dance lesson. Neither of us is good at dancing, so we tripped over our feet for about half an hour before the instructor gave up. The next stop was a club downtown. I had a couple pints, and Julie hit it off with a tourist there for vacation.”
“Ah, Liam…” Julie sighed wistfully. “He kissed like my college boyfriend.”
“Liam?” Diego asked, a brow cocked and disbelief on his face. Sophie and Aaron had similar looks on their faces, and this whole situation wasn’t sitting right.
“What’s going on here?” I asked.
It was Aaron who answered. “They showed snippets of your date last night; they lied to you when they said there were no cameras. We saw a clip of you laughing at dinner, then we saw the back of Julie’s head with a hand gripping her hair like someone was playing tonsil hockey with her. And since you were with her…”
“You thought I kissed Julie,” I finished for him.
My words weren’t an accusation. If the producers had framed things that way and I’d been the one watching the screen, I would’ve had the same thoughts. I reached across the circle and took Sophie’s hands from Diego and Aaron, and thankfully, they let me.
