by Dana Delamar
They gestured to Vanessa, who was snapping pics of our reunion. She waved at me. “It was Daniel’s idea. He wanted to do something nice for you.”
I guess at least Daniel had forgiven me. Hopefully Rod and Dev would too—whenever I had a chance to tell them.
Dad looked at Vanessa. “Tell me there’s food coming.” He rubbed his round belly. “I’m starving!”
Mom elbowed him. “Jerry, you ate on the plane.”
“You know how I get when I travel. I get nervous. And then I eat.”
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Their hair might be getting grayer, but my parents would never change. And I loved that about him. They were who they were, and they didn’t care what anyone else thought.
And though I knew they loved me, they wouldn’t love what I done. But they’d forgive me.
That I knew with every fiber of my being. Their love was constant, unwavering.
But was Rod and Dev’s love for me that way?
I wanted to spill my guts the moment I saw them, but now was not the time or the place, especially with my parents newly arrived. My confession was unfortunately going to have to wait a little longer.
I walked arm in arm with my parents to the bonfire, the voices of the band and the crew getting louder as we approached.
When we stepped into the firelight, a cheer went up, and Daniel cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, “Happy twenty-seventh, Sky!” which just increased the hooting and hollering as people held up bottles of beer and glasses of fancy mixed drinks in an impromptu toast.
Rod and Dev stepped forward. “These are your parents?” Dev asked. “Moon and Jerry?”
“Yes,” I said, ushering them forward. “Mom, Dad, meet Rod Taylor and Dev Stone of King’s Cross.” They all shook hands and exchanged hugs since my parents had never met a person they didn’t want to hug.
Ever the quick study, Mom glanced between the three of us and said, “So… you two are looking at my daughter like she’s your favorite thing in the world.”
Rod glanced at Dev, who nodded. “She is our favorite thing in the world.”
Mom turned an impressed grin on me. “Are they good to you?”
My cheeks blazed, and Vanessa snickered. I gave her a mock glare before answering. “They are.”
“They’d better be,” Dad said, giving them an assessing look. “Sky is very special.”
“We know,” Dev said. He and Rod both leaned in and kissed me on my cheeks. “Don’t you forget it,” Dev whispered.
Would he still feel that way once he knew the truth?
Dev brushed a strand of hair from my face. “Sky, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head and plastered on a smile. “Nothing. Just realizing I’m one year closer to thirty.”
Dad laughed. “You’re still a baby.”
“With age comes wisdom,” Mom said.
Dad sniffed the air. “I smelled something delicious.” He looked at Vanessa. “Where’s the food?”
She laughed and ushered him over to the earth oven that had been dug into the sand. “Roast pork and chicken coming up!”
Dad dug into the bowls of fruit and veggies laid out on a buffet table, and Mom put her arm around my waist. She shooed Rod and Dev away. “We need a moment,” she said.
They walked off, grinning at each other.
“Mom, that was rude.”
“I just want a minute.” She gazed at me, her pale blue eyes serious. “After what happened, I’m a bit surprised to see you with them.”
“I’m surprised too.”
She squeezed my hand. “Blue and Sunshine… they should have been upfront with you. That’s the only way this kind of relationship works.”
A lump crowded my throat. “I know.”
“Are the two of them”—she nodded in Rod and Dev’s direction—“together with each other too?”
“Yes. They’ve been friends since they were kids, but this part of their relationship is new.”
“Ah.” She gave me a long look. “You know you’re getting into? The need for honesty, openness?”
My cheeks started burning again. “I know.” God, did I know.
“Okay then, honey, I wish you all the best.” She wrapped her arms around me and chuckled. “Two men. I’m so proud of the strong woman I raised!”
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “I’m not sure ‘strong’ is the right word. ‘Greedy’ is probably more like it.”
She squeezed me harder. “A woman—a goddess—really does need more than one man to fulfill her needs. Your father knows this.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom!”
She patted my back and let me go. “For a woman with two men, you sure are shy sometimes.”
“I really don’t want to know any more about your sex life than I already do.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being a sexual person, Sky.”
I crossed my arms and smiled at her. “And there’s nothing wrong with having boundaries, either.”
Daniel broke in. “Having fun?” he asked, his eyes darting between us.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice getting a little thick, and I gave him a quick hug. “I didn’t know I needed them here.”
“Happy birthday,” he whispered before releasing me.
Rod came over and slung an arm around my shoulders. “Trying to nick our girl, eh?” he asked Daniel.
Daniel laughed. “She’s all yours.” He walked off and Dev joined us, slipping an arm around my waist and kissing my neck. I did my best to swallow down my nerves. I’d tell them after the party. And I’d pray they’d understand. In the meantime, I couldn’t let all of Daniel and Vanessa’s hard work go to waste.
The booze flowed freely, the food was superb, and it wasn’t long before someone grabbed a couple guitars. Soon Dev and Damon and Rod were treating us to acoustic versions of King’s Cross’s hits, Mick, Tommy, and Jules improvising with sticks and palm fronds and cracking us all up.
The hours flew by, but eventually it was just Mom and Dad, Daniel, and Damon and Vanessa sitting around the fire with me and my guys, Dev and Rod cuddling me from either side.
I’d calmed down. I could do this. I could tell them, and it would be okay. The love in their eyes was so strong, so clear. I would tell them as soon as we got back to my bungalow.
Dad leaned over Mom to talk to Daniel. “So, you’re really going to take our Sky away and make her a partner in Total Indulgence?”
Ice slid down my spine. Oh no. No, no, no! I looked frantically at Rod and Dev. I should be telling them.
Daniel glanced at me and nodded. “She earned it, just like she earned her half of the bonus. If it wasn’t for her, King’s Cross wouldn’t be together.”
Dev’s eyes bored into mine. “What bonus?” His voice was sharp as broken glass.
“What partnership?” Rod asked.
My stomach wanted to turn inside out. Fuck. This was not how this was supposed to go. “I can explain,” I said, the words coming out in a croak.
I looked at Mom, and she put a hand to her mouth, her eyes so full of pity I could’ve died.
Dad looked between us and said, “What? I thought everybody knew.”
“No. We didn’t,” Dev said.
“Well, I did know about the bonus,” Rod said. “Since I put it up.”
“What fucking bonus?” Dev asked.
“A million pounds,” Rod said. “I wanted to be sure she’d come.”
“So, this is what?” Dev asked. “A job to you? ‘All in a day’s work,’ isn’t that what you said?” He directed those words at me, and I wanted to crawl into a hole.
Dev would never understand. And the looks Rod was giving were a bit dark as well. I should have at least told him already. He’d understand better than Dev.
After all, Rod had hired me, more or less. And he’d agree to use me to get what he wanted.
And now he had it.
“I fucking told you I loved you,” Dev said, his face darkening
, his tone harsher than I’d ever heard it. “Didn’t that mean anything to you?” He smacked Rod on the arm. “Tell her. Tell her how you feel.”
Rod started to open his mouth, but I didn’t want to hear it. He hadn’t told me he loved me for a reason.
He hadn’t told me, and I knew why.
I cut off anything Rod was going to say. “Rod let me know me a long time ago where I stand.”
“That’s not fair, love. A lot has changed since then.”
Dev looked between us. “What are you two talking about?”
I rose. “I did this for the two of you. There isn’t room for me here.”
“Bollocks,” Dev spat. “There was plenty of room for you last night.”
I looked at Rod. “I think you and Dev need to have a talk so he’ll understand.”
“So, this really was about the money?” Rod asked.
I crossed my arms and shook my head, my heart breaking. I couldn’t even answer, and before I knew where I was going, I was running back to my bungalow, tears streaming down my cheeks.
I’d ruined everything. But better to know now than to learn later.
Right?
ROD
A giant hole opened up in my chest, and the longer I watched Sky merge into the shifting shadows on the other side of the bonfire, the larger it grew. Beside me, waves of hurt and anger rolled off Dev, nearly swamping me with their weight. With my own guilt.
What a bloody cock-up.
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. Dev shifted. I looked at him.
“I’m going to—” He vaguely indicated our bungalow with his thumb. What wasn’t vague was the clenching of his jaw and the way his eyes avoided mine. “Dev…” I began.
He kept his face turned away from me, but at least he hadn’t walked away. I stepped in front of him, crowded him so our chests touched and my face was in his neck. Dev stiffened. I took courage from the fact that he didn’t move. “Please, Dev. I’ll tell you everything. Just, please, don’t give up on me,” I whispered.
His shoulders slumped, and when I felt Dev’s hands on my waist, fear gripped me and I held my breath. Would he pull me in or shove me away?
When Dev’s arms slid around me, one hand at the small of my back, the other hand at my nape, the air in my lungs came out in such a rush, I felt dizzy.
He trembled against me. “It’s too late, Rod,” he said.
My heart tripped. “No, Dev, no.”
He tightened his arms around me. “I can’t ever give you up now.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did, I clutched his arms and stared into his beautiful wrecked eyes. “You sodding plonker! I just about had a heart attack.”
Then I pulled him against me, my arms locking behind his head, and I kissed him in front of anyone and everyone who might be looking. It was sweet and possessive, and rough and tender, and desperate. I’d experienced a virtual roller coaster in the past ten minutes, and my heart was pounding out of my chest.
Dev moaned, arching his neck to deepen the kiss. He pressed into me, and his hard cock rubbed against mine. I shuddered under his assault, and my head spun. Not only was he letting me touch him like this in public, but he was touching me back, kissing me back.
I released his mouth, my hand cupping his cheek, and pulled back to look at him, to see the passion that tightened his jaw and softened his eyes. His pupils were blown so wide they looked almost black, and he was lost in a haze of lust, a sloppy grin on his face.
“Hi,” I said, laughing softly.
He tilted his head, his eyes on mine. Then he blinked a few times and looked around us. His eyes widened as though seeing everyone for the first time, just now realizing we weren’t alone.
When his gaze returned to my face, he nuzzled my palm and smiled. Christ, I’d missed him smiling at me like that. It made my insides quiver and my legs shake. No one had ever had that effect on me. No one except Dev.
“Take a walk with me?” I asked. There were things I needed to tell him. Things he needed to hear.
Dev waggled his eyebrows. “Is this your way of asking me back to our room, Hot Rod?”
I grinned and bumped my groin against his. “No denying I want that. But we should talk first.”
His smile fell and the playful light in his eyes dimmed. “You’re right. I have some things to say too.”
Dev’s stride matched mine as we left the party and followed a path that took us to the other side of the resort where we wandered through the botanical garden. It was illuminated by small solar-powered lights that cast a romantic glow onto the indigenous plants.
“It’s beautiful here,” Dev said in a hushed, almost reverent voice.
“The garden or the island?”
He shrugged. “Both? If magic exists at all, it exists here.”
I stopped walking and tugged on his arm. “I don’t want the magic between us to end tonight, or once we head back to London.”
“Does it even still exist without Sky?” He pushed his hands into the pockets of his shorts and started to walk again.
And there it was: the big elephant in the middle of paradise.
I hurried to catch up and fell in beside him. “So… about Sky. I suppose I have a few things to explain.”
“You do.”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “I hurt her.”
Dev turned his head sharply and frowned.
“Not physically,” I clarified. “Although I’m not certain that makes it any better.” I exhaled loudly. “In Palm Springs, I invited her to join us, not so much because I wanted her, although I did, but because I thought she could help me get closer to you.”
“How so?”
I raked a hand through my hair. “I’ve always wanted you, Dev, since I discovered what a cock is for anyway.” I chuckled dryly. “But you knew that. I’ve never tried to hide it.”
Dev’s frown deepened. “So, you orchestrated our week together in Palm Springs to get me in bed?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but—”
“But I hurt Sky, and I almost lost you entirely.”
We continued to stroll in silence for a few minutes. I cleared my throat. “The thing is, I might have started out using her, but by the end of that week, I realized I liked who I was when we were all together.”
Dev playfully jabbed his elbow in my ribs. “I liked who you were too.”
My eyes swung to his face. “Not at the end.”
Dev’s cheeks reddened and he looked away. “If we’re being honest, I… I lied to you that last morning in Palm Springs.” He paused and kicked at the gravel that made up the path. “I knew it was you I was hugging.”
“So, you…” My jaw dropped.
He touched my chin with his finger. “I’ve known I was in love with you for a long time.”
“I’m…” There were no words to explain the rush of emotion filling my body in that moment. I felt light enough to float in the air like a balloon.
“Gobsmacked?”
Now there was a word. I nodded. But I couldn’t let us get side-tracked. “Anyway. That’s why I insisted that Sky be brought here. I offered a million-pound bonus through the label to ensure it. And I told them if they couldn’t make it happen, I was walking. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to do something. I’m not proud of my actions.” I remembered Sky’s face when she’d said I told her exactly where she stood with me. I groaned. “I never intended to hurt her again, but I did. I used her to get to you, again. I made a deal with her, here on the island. I’d cooperate, as long as she helped me get you into bed.” This time Dev’s mouth dropped open. “I wanted us to get to that place again, to how we’d been in Palm Springs. And somehow along the way, I…” I shook my head. There were only two people in the world I felt so strongly about, and I’d hurt them both. Horribly.
I searched his expression, trying to gauge his reaction. Was Dev angry? Jealous? Over the course of our nearly
two decades as best mates, I’d learn to read Dev fairly well, but the man had quite the poker face when he so chose, and this was one of those times. I firmed up my spine and my courage.
The moment stretched between us, my words hanging in the warm night air.
He crossed his arms. “You bleeding wanker! It’s no wonder she doesn’t believe anything we say. You’ve made such a fucking hash of everything! At this point, I’m not even sure I believe you love me.”
“I do, Dev. I love you with my whole heart.”
“And manipulating me, playing sodding games, that’s love to you?”
“No, I—”
“Fuck you.”
He paced away and I followed him. “Dev—”
“You think I should just forgive this? That I should trust you?”
“I’ve changed, mate. I have. I know it was wrong. All of it. But I didn’t know what else to do. You were so bloody stubborn.”
He looked at me for several seconds, then he nodded. “That’s true.” Then he looked away. “How could you use her like that though?”
“I was at a loss. It was either make the deal, or walk away entirely.”
He closed his eyes. “You could have let me walk away.”
I put my hands on his biceps. “Music is your life, Dev. It’s what you were born to do. I couldn’t let you give that up.” He paused. “I couldn’t give you up without a fight.”
“But you could give up Sky. That was the deal you made, right?”
“That’s what I thought at first. But I got to know her during this trip. I got to spend time with her, build a relationship with her. And that’s when things changed.”
“Changed how?”
I took a deep breath. It was time to say the words I’d hesitated over for so long. The words that were in and of themselves a promise. “I fell in love with her.” A grin I couldn’t control curved my lips. “I can’t fucking believe it, never thought this would happen, but I love her.”
Dev cuffed me on the back of the head. “I thought so, you bleeding idiot! I’ve never seen you so happy with anyone, the way you are with her.”
“The way I am with both of you. I fell for us, Dev. I love the three of us together.”