by Ruby Vincent
“I did,” he said, matter of fact. “Huge. She saw my heart-shaped, moon eyes and naturally didn’t think it was a good idea for us to get snuggly under the covers watching movies and eating marshmallows.”
I gaped at him. “But you always went on about Brinley Dylan. You two started going out after we stopped being friends.”
“I went on about Brinley to stop myself going on about you,” he said. “Every time I brought her up, I was saying her name out loud but replacing it with yours in my head. You didn’t see me that way, did you?”
Lowering my eyes, I forked egg into my mouth to delay my response. I truly didn’t know then that Carter felt more than friendship toward me, and after that day in the woods, he didn’t feel even that much.
Me, on the other hand, crushed on him so hard, I wanted to put Brinley Dylan’s head through a wall whenever he said her name. I told him I did what I did that day because I loved him. I wished he understood how true that was.
Not that it makes up for what I did. Nothing ever will.
“I wouldn’t say that,” I whispered.
Surprise slackened his jaw. “What? Really?”
“I’ll give it to her. Mom was right to say no to those sleepovers.” I laughed. “But we were twelve. We wouldn’t have gotten up to much.”
“I’d have thought of something to get up to. Trust me.”
Heat licked at my cheeks. What did I say to that?
“I guess it all worked out, then,” Carter continued. “We’ll pick up where we left off as husband and wife.”
My smile dimmed. “Carter, please, don’t. We’re having a good moment for the first time in seven years. You’re not obligated to ruin it.”
His smile changed too, morphing into a sight cruel around the edges, and my heart sank.
“I am obligated because it wouldn’t be right to lead you on. Let you think we can go back to how we were. Because we can’t.” Carter bore into me, leaning forward as I moved back. “Not until you admit what you did.”
I pressed my lips together, holding his gaze though shame tried to tug my eyes down.
“This is happening, Belle. I’ve told your parents and mine. Mom’s gushing about you staying with her over winter break. Gotta put in time with the future in-laws.”
“This is the last time I’ll say this,” I said. “Take it all back, Carter, and find someone else to get you a bigger inheritance. I don’t take well to people forcing me to live by their terms. I’m certainly not trading a bully ex-friend for a bullying husband.”
If anything, his smirk widened. “My days of bullying you are over, Belle.” He flicked to my forehead. “Turns out, I no longer have the stomach to see you hurt. If the dame doesn’t handle Finn, I’ll have to do it myself.”
My chest fluttered traitorously.
“After we’re married, I’ll give you any and everything you want. A design studio filled with every fabric known to man. A house in the country like you used to talk about. Kids if you want them. Even if you don’t want them with me. It goes without saying that I wouldn’t touch you unless you asked for it.”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
“I’ve tried everything else with you, Adler.” Carter pushed back from the table. “Bullying, blackmail, and friendship weren’t enough, so maybe loving me is. That’s what it’ll take for you to care enough to end this for me.”
A lump built in my throat. “I do care.”
“No, you don’t.” He didn’t for a second believe I could be telling the truth. “We wouldn’t be here if you did. I’ll never understand what I did to deserve it, Belle. Afterward, sure. But before when you were supposedly crushing on me?” Carter smiled wryly. “Guess I talked about Brinley Dylan too much.”
“Carter...”
“See you around, Belle.” Carter headed inside. “Stay away from single-celled morons.”
I let him get as far as the door.
“Don’t make me do this, Carter.”
“It’s already done.”
I stared at the door long after he left. That he felt my silence as unending torture ripped my soul to ribbons. A thousand confessions to a thousand priests and I’d never be washed clean of what I’d done to the first boy I fell for.
But we can’t get married.
Especially not in sweet bliss where Carter showers me in my every heart’s desire.
The marriage I would’ve proposed to Nathan had us on opposite ends of the world living separate lives. A husband only in name and I the sole focus of Mal’s obsession. But to see me happy with another man?
He wouldn’t stop until he destroyed us.
I abandoned my now ice-cold food and picked my phone off the nightstand.
“Hello. Thank you for calling Knight Petroleum Corp. How may I direct your call?”
“Hi, I’d like to speak to Mr. Eric Knight. Tell him it’s his future daughter-in-law, Belle Lewis-Adler.”
“Certainly, Miss Lewis-Adler. Would you allow me to put you on a brief hold?”
“Sure. I’ve got all day.”
CARTER
“You’re not going to throw the board if I win again, are you?”
“How many times do I have to plead drunk?” I asked. “Nothing I say or do when I’m drunk can be held against me.”
Hazel giggled. “You’re hilarious drunk, but you’re even funnier sober. Not that anyone knows that. Why don’t you let people see there’s another side to you?”
Another day. Another “date.”
Rosalie paired us up, stuffed board games in our hands, and sent us off to play. We found a shady spot under a tree and brought cookies and lemonade to the party. Scrabble couldn’t compete with snorkeling, sailing, or trips to the cove’s museum, but it accomplished its purpose of alone time talking with my current date, Hazel.
“You’re lucky you saw it.” Four years of Hazel as my lab partner, I’d let too many sarcastic comments loose under my breath that made her laugh until our balding, pockmarked professor shushed us. “I don’t let my parents see how interesting I am either. Can’t have them threatening to spend more time with me.”
Hazel laid out the letters for arena, collecting an impressive double word score.
“There you go again,” she said. “Pretending you don’t love your mommy and daddy like a four-year-old clinging to their legs on the way to preschool.”
“My dad is an ass.”
“Everyone’s dad is an ass. After the announcement of our birth, they light a cigar and proudly take on the mantle. But you love your dad anyway and you want him to be proud of you.”
I shook the tile bag harder than necessary. “You’ve sealed our fate. I definitely can’t marry someone who knows me as well as you do.”
“Can’t you?” Hazel placed a hand on my knee.
I gently put it back on her lap. “No, Haze, I can’t.”
“So, you’re really going to do it? Marry Belle Adler.”
“Yes.”
She looked away, but not quick enough for me to miss the hurt flicker in her eyes.
I liked Hazel. More than the majority of people in my life. But I saw her as a friend. Unlike Belle whose confession of old feelings for me knocked me sideways, I’d always known Hazel had a thing for me. I never encouraged her because despite what people thought of me, I wasn’t a complete bastard. And that’s exactly what I’d be if I married her knowing she wanted more and had to see that look on her face every time I couldn’t give it.
“She was pretty vocal about not getting married,” Hazel said. “How do you know she’ll go through with it? You might be left standing at the altar.”
I shrugged. “She can run but she wouldn’t get far.”
“Ominous thing to say. What do you know that I don’t?” She smiled, making the effort to sound friendly and interested.
“Just that this marriage will benefit us both.”
“Benefit? Doesn’t sound like a loving couple planning their future together.”
I pictured her—whole, beautiful, and somehow still sad as she hid a smile at discovering she was once my obsession. Belle Adler hit me with the power of an oncoming truck. So gorgeous.
And so cruel.
“Belle doesn’t love me.”
“Oh?” And now her eyes crinkled to match, showing her smile as real. “Why are you marrying someone who doesn’t love you?”
“If I have to marry someone for money, it wouldn’t be right to pick someone who does.”
“I don’t know.” Hazel placed an l, o, v on top of the e in arena. “You can grow to love someone who cares about you. I don’t know if it’s the same if both people in the relationship marry for the wrong reasons. There’s no respect, warmth, or affection on either side to build a foundation on.”
I ran a hand over my scar. “I don’t know if anyone can build something like that with me. We’re not all wired the same way.”
Hazel smacked my forehead. “Don’t say that. Hiding how much you care about people isn’t the same as not caring about them at all. You’re pissed at your dad because he cheated on your mom. Only someone who looked up to their father would be angry that he let him down. And only someone who loved their mother and couldn’t stand to see her hurting, would go home every weekend from school to be with her.”
“You’re going to keep digging this hole? Proving I’ve let you know too much about me.”
“Don’t get yourself another smack,” she said with a laugh. “I mean it, Carter. You’re a good guy, and a good friend. It’s why you keep trying to let me down easy.” She winked. “And not to sound too self-serving, but you should marry someone who loves you, Carter. You deserve no less.”
“What do you deserve, Haze?”
“The man I want.”
My phone went off in my pocket.
“Saved by the ring.” Hazel stood and dusted herself off. “I’m not wasting another minute playing Scrabble when I could be swimming. Hey, tonight let’s go skinny-dipping. It’s secluded at the other end of the property. Meet me after dinner. I’ll get the rest of the crew to join us so you don’t have an excuse.”
I mumbled something that might’ve been a yes. My dad’s name was flashing on the screen. What in the world did he want with me?
“Dad?”
“Ah, Carter, my boy. How are you?”
The deep, booming voice of Eric Knight was too distinctive to mistake. Still I scrunched up my face wondering who the hell learned to mimic him. “You’re calling to ask how I am? When did we start doing that?”
“Since I got a call from the lovely Miss Lewis-Adler.”
“Cecilia Lewis-Adler is a Mrs. and she’s happily married. Don’t bother asking me to put in a word for you.”
His roaring laugh pounded my eardrum. “Come now, Carter. You know I’m speaking of Belle. It’s when I spoke to her today that I made the connection to the little girl you used to run around with.”
Alarm bells started ringing.
“Well done, son. You’ve chosen quite a woman.”
“You spoke to Belle today,” I said slowly, “and you’re congratulating me? What did you talk about?”
“Everything you both discussed for your future.”
“A design studio and sperm donor babies?”
Dad chuckled. “You’re a laugh riot, my boy, but let’s be serious. Belle’s told me that you’ve discussed the life you two want and you’ve decided it’d be one that you build with your own two hands. She said you don’t want any money from your mother or me.”
“She said what?” I pushed through gritted teeth.
“I admire that, son. I truly do. You know your grandfather built Knight Corp up from nothing. To see you striking out on your own and becoming your own man makes me prouder than I can say. You’ve really grown up, Carter.”
I bit hard on my tongue, filling my mouth with a metallic taste. What did I care for the pride and approval of the man who cheated on his wife of fifteen years and mother of his four sons? Like he could pass judgment that was worth a damn.
There’s a time to curse the old lech out and it’s not when my inheritance is on the line.
“Thank you, Dad,” I said. “Belle and I do want to build our own life, but I hope she didn’t give you the idea that we’re to be kicked out in only the clothes on our backs.”
“That’s why I called. Belle said you two don’t want a cent, but you are my son. I couldn’t let you start your life with nothing. There’s also the fact that your mother simply wouldn’t allow her youngest to work a minimum-wage job and live above a Chinese restaurant. Has that truly been your dream?”
Belle freakin’ Adler. Her name was a curse unto itself.
“You know I like my pork dumplings,” I replied.
“Of course. Well, I think two— maybe, three million should be enough to get you both started. You can build that house in the country you want one day. Possibly start your own business.”
My eyes flared. Three million? That was twelve million less than Dad would’ve given me for not getting married at all.
“Why don’t we talk about it later, Dad? Catch a few rounds at the club and make sure I’m making the best choice for my future.”
“Right you are, young man. Right you are.”
I released an inaudible sigh of relief. No way was I agreeing to three million. I had to sit him down in person and undo whatever Belle did to him.
“We’ll get something on the books for after you get back from the cove,” he said. “You, me, and Belle. I like her, Carter. She’s good for you.”
“Sure, Dad. We’ll talk later.”
Belle’s promise that day in the yard came back to me.
“I’m going to be an unending nightmare. The boogeyman beneath your bed. The harpy that drags you to hell. By the time I’m done, you’d sooner toss Gam-Gam’s ring down the drain than put it on my finger.”
“Well played, Adler.” The bubbling pot of rage forever simmering below my surface foamed over. “Very well played.”
BELLE
“Why would I want to go skinny-dipping?”
Zion didn’t pause in eating my lunch. “We’re all going.”
“All?”
“Me, Kelli, Hazel, Mila, Nora, Owen, Asher, Ivy, Carter, Nathan, Preston, and Delilah.” He pointed at me. “And you.”
“It’s way less sexy when there’re that many naked wangs in the water.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, cracking up.
The two of us were chilling in my room. Zion had volunteered to bring my food up and hung around to eat half of it. I was sitting up in bed sketching a new line of swimsuits and making final preparations for the dance that weekend. I didn’t mind the interruption.
“Come on,” he said. “We’re going out tonight after dinner. We’ll hang out. Have fun.”
“Did you forget I’m recovering from a concussion?”
“Don’t try that. I looked it up and you can lie on a beach as easily as you lie on a bed. No one is going to make you go in.”
I heaved a sigh. “All right, fine. I’ll come. I can’t let you be the only one staring at Owen’s ass. We’ll trade off.”
My half-chewed butter chicken dangled from his open mouth.
“Yeah,” I said, giving him a knowing look. “I know.”
My fork clattered to the plate. “You— I— You don’t know!”
“Yes, I do,” I sang.
“How?”
“I noticed a while ago that when we were watching the guys play volleyball, we were both watching the guys play volleyball.”
The poor boy looked like he witnessed me shape-shift into a chimera. He was shocked through to his core.
“Come on.” I opened my arms. “Come snuggle with Auntie Belle.”
Zion climbed in and rested his head on my lap. “Is it obvious?”
“Is it a secret?”
“It’s not to the guys I’ve been with. And it’s not to Owen,” he muttered. “But with ever
yone else, yeah.”
“What about your parents?”
“Why do you think they sent me here?”
I smoothed his hair from his forehead. “I’m sorry, Z.”
“Don’t be. It’s not so bad. Owen and I just sneak down the hall now instead of into each other’s houses.”
“How long have you guys been together?”
“We started going out at the beginning of senior year. We didn’t think it would last because we got into different colleges. I was going to end it months ago. But you know what it’s like when you have that guy you just can’t quit.”
“Oh boy, do I.”
“I don’t know what my parents expected by making me come here,” he continued. “They didn’t give me an ultimatum. It wasn’t like ‘find a wife or don’t come home.’ But I assume they’re hoping I discover my budding bisexuality.”
“Have they met Owen? I liked him right away and I came to this island determined to make everyone with a penis public enemy number one. He’s smart. Funny. Kind and cute.”
“Is this the part where I tell you not to get any ideas?”
I laughed. “No, definitely not. I’m just saying that if they got to know him, your parents would see he’s a top-shelf son-in-law.”
“There is still the long-distance-relationship issue to work out.”
“How long a distance we talking?”
“Penn and Stanford.”
“Yikes.”
“Very encouraging,” he deadpanned.
“How badly do you guys want to go to these schools?”
“Belle!”
“I’m kidding,” I said, laughing. “Everyone says long-distance relationships don’t work, but I held out for a whole year, waiting for a certain boy to come back for the summer. They work when both of you refuse to give up. The real question is, how badly do you want Owen Newman?”
“Pretty bad,” he whispered.
“Then go get him.” I fell against the headboard, looking up to the lazily whirling fan. “A life controlled by other people isn’t worth living. Take it from someone who knows.”
“I’m sorry your parents forced this on you.”
“I am too,” I replied. “But I’ll make a few other people sorry before I’m done.”