AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry.” I groaned. “I’m not sure I’m up for anything.”
“Who said anything about sex?” Flynn asked, sliding off me to lie opposite Ez and Tris. “We’re talking ice cream.”
“A manicure,” Ez supplied, bringing my fingers to his lips, nipping the pads of my fingers affectionately.
“A romcom,” Ry added, and I snorted out a laugh. I couldn’t see any of them, except Flynn, wanting to sit through that.
“Or we could make ourselves scarce and you could ask Cara over. Have a girl’s night,” Tris suggested.
“You’d do that for me?” I asked. “Any of it, all of it?”
“Baby girl, we’d do anything for you.”
“Without hesitation,” Ez added. “Call Cara, sweetheart. She’s your friend—let her help you get through this.” I nodded. I loved my guys. I wanted to be with them, but a little girl time with Cara sounded perfect. She was a ray of sunshine, and I needed that desperately.
*****
Barely an hour had passed, and Ry had pulled together a mountain of snacks, Tris had come back to the yacht with enough Baileys and butterscotch schnapps to sink it, and Ezra and Flynn had gone to pick up Cara. I was sitting on the couch in the sun, looking out over the crowded marina, yearning for quiet.
We’d looked at the house online, and it seemed perfect. I wanted to see it. My yacht was my safe space. It was a retreat as well as my home, but we needed something different now. I wouldn’t ask Tris to give up his career, especially not now, so that meant he needed to be able to commute to the university each day. Flynn was there too, finishing his degree, and Ez and I had a charity to set up. Ry would need a lot of physio in the short term, and moving forward, I wanted him to be able to choose whether he would stay on, doing the things he did, or move on to something else. All of that meant we’d constantly needed to be moored, and frankly, there were too many people around. The threat was gone, but I didn’t want to be around anyone I didn’t have to.
And we needed a bigger bed.
Movement caught my eye, and I jumped up, rushing across the gangway and hugging my friend. “Thank you for coming,” I whispered, my voice wobbling as she squeezed me tight. I hated being an emotional wreck, but today had been hard. Good too. But also hard.
“I can’t wait to have a sleepover.” She giggled, the messy bun on top of her head jiggling with her movement. She was effortlessly happy, and my mood lifted, a smile instantly pulling my lips up as Cara handed me a bag and hooked her arm through mine.
“Up here.” I gestured to the gangway and added, “Hold on as you’re crossing.”
“This is gorgeous,” she gushed. “Wow.”
“What have you brought?” I asked, surprised at the weight of the bag I’d taken off her.
She grinned and knocked my hip with hers. “You needed cheering up.”
Ez set down the plastic tub that was the size of a box of A4 paper and asked, “Where should I put this?”
Cara blushed, suddenly shy, and bit her lip. “Um, somewhere inside? Do you have a kitchen table we can sit at? Maybe in a loungeroom if there’s no carpet.”
I asked him to pop it on the coffee table, and when Flynn asked about what he was carrying, Cara told him it was all for the freezer.
“It’s all the essentials,” she explained. “Ice-cream, cupcakes, and my pampering box—mani-pedis, facials, and a movie.”
“I’ve never done this before,” I admitted. “Obviously I’ve gone to day spas and that sort of thing, but I’ve never had a girlfriend to do it with.”
“Neither have I,” she admitted. "Mum and I do it though.”
“I wish I knew what that was like.” I sighed. It was one of the things I’d thought about a lot over the years. I’d wished I had my mum around so that we could do the girly things together, but it was never meant to be. I was angry that she’d robbed me of that, but grateful I managed to escape from her when she’d left.
“Turns out my mum was a piece of work. She stole a shit ton of money, faked her own death, kidnapped my brother, and murdered him.” My anger bubbled over, and tears stung my eyes. I was so fucking sick of crying. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, shaking my head as my voice wobbled. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
I didn’t want to take my anger or heartbreak out on Cara. She was my friend. She didn’t deserve my ire, especially not when she’d defended Rosa in class, thinking she was doing the right thing. I exhaled and forced a smile, hating the way she’d paled. “You’d better sit down,” I added. “I have a few things to tell you.”
I laid it all bare, told her everything except the truth of how Rosa died. Cara didn’t interrupt. She didn’t ask questions. But she held my hand, and she hugged me tight when I cried for Ash. She did too.
The emptiness inside me grew, everything draining out of me. I slumped against the seat and sighed. “It’s all completely fucked up.”
“I’ll say. Are you okay? It’s a lot to get your head around.”
