I wipe the sleep from my eyes, fighting off the sunlight, and get up. At the foot of my bed I find a note.
Lace
Had to get home early to get ready for school. We’ll talk wooing tomorrow
Q x
Well isn’t that just the cutest thing ever.
Charlie sniffs around the room like crazy. “He’s gone home,” I tell him.
He sits at my feet, staring at me with sad eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, boy. If anyone should be moping, it’s me, thanks to you gate-crashing the first sexy-time opportunity in years I’ve wanted to be a part of. Come on, out you go.” I let him outside and retreat back to my bed. I roll onto the side Quade slept on, breathing in the traces of his aftershave which have been ingrained into my pillow.
Sigh. I’m never washing it.
I grab my phone from my bedside table and punch out a text.
Me: Miss you already. So does Charlie apparently x
I fluff up the Quade-scented pillow, tuck my phone beneath it, and pull the sheet over my head to block out the intruding sunlight. As I try to get back to sleep I picture his bare chest, the way his body-weight felt pressed on top of me, and the orgasm that has outrun all others as the Best Orgasm Known to Lacey.
I want more. I want him back in my bed. First I’ll send Charlie off to a boarding kennel for the night. I don’t care what it costs.
My phone buzzes beneath my head. I scramble to pull it out and smile when I see the response.
Quade: Damn, you’re in bed thinking about me? I was just thinking about you … Don’t worry Lace, the best is yet to come.
I guide my hand down my stomach, over my underwear, resting my fingers between my legs where I’m hot and sensitive to the touch. I could take a few minutes for myself, a quick O before I start the day, but I decide not to. If the best is yet to come, I’m putting my pleasure in Q’s hands.
Ay, those hands.
Now that’s definitely ruined sleep for me. Time for a cold shower.
---
“What did you get up to last night?” Mum asks.
I don’t make a habit out of lying to Mum, so I decide to tell her, but not the juicy details. “Um, went to dinner at the Royal and then kind of got stranded on Sanders Beach.”
Mum’s coffee cup clangs when it connects with the bench. Her jaw goes slack.
I hold up my hand, squashing any more questions, because the moment I think about the windows in Quade’s truck fogging up I’ll blush like a beetroot. “Don’t ask.”
“Fine, I won’t. On another note, what was Charlie fussing about? Your father said he was on the warpath last night.”
Quade and I getting busy.
“I dunno.” I say with a shrug. “Must’ve been a possum or something.”
Her smile grows wide. “Hmm. And what time did Quade leave this morning? I saw him leave.” She bats her eyelashes as if she has something stuck in her eye. “Hmm?”
“Mum!” I cry out a with a stamp of my foot, because I’m mature like that.
“It’s a simple question, young lady.”
“Mum, I’m not talking about this. Conversation over.”
She grins. “Fine then, tell me what you’re up to today.”
“Um, I guess first I’ll finish proofreading my assignment and then Lily and I will be working in the shop together at lunchtime. Then later I’ll go for a walk.” And by walk, Mum knows I mean visit Faith. It’s about time I talked to my best friend and admitted my feelings for her big brother. Let’s just see how crazy the wind gets up on the hill.
“Well done, darling,” Mum says pulling me into a hug. “You really set your mind to this diploma, and we couldn’t be prouder.”
Heat rises to my cheeks. It means the world getting the tick of approval from my parents. I guess the hard part comes next in trying to get a real job. Hopefully Lily is capable of more shifts soon and Dad is a bit more settled with the new arrangement. Then I can start looking around for work. It’s happening, Faith. Adulthood, here I come.
“Thanks, Mum.”
“I’ll finish this coffee and then I’ll head into the shop until you and Lily get in. Are you planning on being on time today?” Her eyes widen, a smile curling at the side of her glossy lips.
“Yes, Mum,” I drawl.
“Your father tells me Lily’s a real go-getter,” she says, and takes a bite of her bagel smothered in cream cheese.
“Who says go-getter, Mum?” I tease, bumping my shoulder against hers. She offers me her bagel and I take a bite.
“I do,” she protests. “So you like her?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a good feeling about Lily.”
---
I reach Faith’s resting place and find a wilted yellow rose on top of the engraved stone. The anniversary is fast approaching. It bugs me that I’m never around to find out who leaves them here. It must be Mrs Kelly. She avoids me like the plague. After all, anyone else and I’d see them here.
I arrange some freshly picked wildflowers in the vase and top up the water with liquid from my drink bottle.
“Hey, sister,” I say on an exhale.
Hey, biatch.
“So, um, I kissed your brother,” I tell the ghost of my friend the moment my butt lands on the grass.
I brace myself for the crazy whirlwind. It doesn’t materialise as I expected. Instead, a cool, calm breeze whistles amongst the trees and fingers the ends of my hair. The wind takes away some of the anxiety I carried here with me.
“I mean, I did more than kiss him. I know that might be strange for you. Us together. Your bestie and your brother. I get that it might seem weird, but I love him—in a way, I always have.”
I outstretch my fingers amongst the groomed grass, closing my eyes, imagining her sitting opposite me, her long blonde locks swaying with the breeze, her blue eyes giving me their full attention.
“He makes me happy, Faith. Like really happy.”
I take a look around the cemetery, to make sure Quade or anyone else isn’t about to pop out of nowhere. Time for girl-talk.
“I haven’t been with anyone since—fuck, since I royally screwed up after your wake and handed in my V-card with no memory of it.”
I scratch the back of my neck and let out a heavy breath. “So, pretend I’m not talking about Q for a minute. I know you and Byron never got to do it, but I’m kind of scared of having sex again. I mean, what if I really suck? What if I’m so bad Q changes his mind? I’ve read enough magazines for advice, but putting theory into practice has me nervous as hell.”
I open my eyes, met only by the grim reality of a headstone with my bestie’s name on it. A tear rolls down my cheek. Another day without you.
“I just wish you were here. Every fucking day I wish that. I wish Mack would talk to me—shit, I don’t even know what she’s up to. She went off-grid. I’ve tried stalking her on Facebook, just like we used to do with the kids at school, but her account has been disabled since she left town. It’s like she couldn’t deal … at all.”
From the corner of my eye I spot Mr Moore pulling a green wheelie bin behind him as he slowly walks along the cracked path. He nods and stares at me. Get your shit together, girl.
I wipe the wetness from my cheeks and nod back, my way of letting him know I’m okay. He carries on down the path and out of sight. Seeing him, and wondering what his day-to-day life must be like after losing the love of his life, has me kicking my own arse for being so pathetic. Quade is very much alive and well, and we have decades ahead of us. Poor Mr Moore’s wife ran out of time.
“Enough sniffling from me, anyhow. Getting back to your brother for a sec. Apparently he’s going to woo me.” And I haven’t been able to keep the smile from my face since he said it. I can’t get him off my mind either.
“I mean, I know he’s almost three years older than me, than us, but who actually says woo?” I chuckle softly to myself. “Anyway, don’t worry. I gave him a bit of shit over it.”
I kiss the tips
of my fingers and place them on the ground in front me. “I hope you’ll be happy for me—for us. Anyway …” I stand and brush the grass from my clothes. “Love ya, Faith.”
I leave the cemetery with a lighter feeling in my heart and a spring in my step as I approach the primary school. As I walk the streets of Runaway, I can’t stop thinking about Quade. I must look like an idiot strolling around wearing a stupid-arse grin. I’m dying to see him in action at work.
When I reach the tall black gates of the schoolyard, the sweet sounds of kids playing fills my ears. On the oval beside the school hall, twenty-or-so kids are split into two groups with rows of orange witches hats strategically set up between them. Rather than let myself in and risk the wrath of the principal, I walk along the fence towards the playing field.
The class of kids kicking a soccer ball to each other look barely old enough to be in school. So frickin’ tiny! The hems of the sports shorts on some of them sit halfway down their shins. Some of their small bodies swim inside their giant-sized white polo shirts.
The embodiment of male perfection stands to the side, legs set shoulder-width apart, muscular forearms pointing this way and that. Quade sports a wide smile. It’s beautiful.
A squeal has Quade jumping into action and crouching down beside a young girl with long auburn pigtails. He kneels beside her and helps her to her feet.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Melissa. Next time just remember to always keep an eye on the ball.”
She rubs her bum with both hands and then throws her arms around him, her pigtails swishing around her shoulders. “You’re da best teacher, Mr Kelly,” she says in a sweeter-than-sweet voice.
He lets her hug him but it looks all kinds of awkward with his tight smile, his rigid shoulders, and the placement of his arms that maintain a distance from her.
Reaching the part of the fence closest to him, I call out, “Mr Kelly” in a sing-song voice, drawing his gaze and every small person who is now looking at me rather than practising their ball skills.
Hmm. Maybe not so subtle.
“Why don’t you go practice with Cadence, a little slower this time, okay?” he tells the injured girl, unwrapping her petite arms from his shoulders. She rushes off towards another child. Quade stands and walks towards me, his shoulders squared and a cheeky-as-anything grin on his face.
“Bit young, don’t you think?” I say, and then chew on my lower lip.
“I do like them younger, but twenty going on twenty-one is more my style. There’s one in particular that I’ve been thinking about. Hearing her scream last night was something else.”
“Shh!” I press my finger on his lips through the fence.
He smiles, gifting me with a beautiful dimple.
“I should kiss that smile clean off your face,” I bravely tell him.
“If I kiss you here right now, I’ll be breaking the hearts of about fifteen first-graders. They won’t be so keen on taking instruction after that.”
I laugh softly, reaching out and slipping my hand into his. He looks towards the front of the school where I know all too well that the principal’s office window faces the main playground. He turns back to me, letting out a loud breath.
Shit, I don’t want him to get into trouble. I probably should have gone into the office first and let Ms Riley know I was dropping by. I doubt she’d be impressed to find out I’ve coaxed her sexy Phys Ed teacher to the fence-line in the middle of a lesson.
“Ms Riley still busting balls, huh?”
He nods, his smile meeting his eyes. “Tell you what I will do, Ms Marone, is that I’ll give you a raincheck. I’ll kiss the eff out of you later.”
It’s almost hotter him saying ‘eff’ than if he’d said fuck. I take a step back, my eyes still trained on him. “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll cash it in.”
“Deal,” he says. “It could be before you know it.” He winks and then heads back to his students, flashing me his tanned, toned calves with each step.
“’Kay. Guess I’d better get to work.”
“Later,” he says.
When I walk down the street towards The Strip, I smile and greet everyone who passes. I’m desperately in love with a beautiful man, and it’s a spectacular morning in the most beautiful place in the world. I’ve always loved Runaway Beach, but today it feels more alive than ever. Quade Kelly has done that.
Can this day get any better?
---
I walk down The Strip past the real estate that specialises in holiday rentals, the grocery store, the bakery and Willow’s, the café that has been in business only a year. The locals and tourists rave about the coffee and gourmet food using organic ingredients, a lot of them sourced locally. I have to admit the coffee is to die for.
A squawk and a series of giggles comes from behind me.
“Well, if it isn’t Lacey Nosy-Fucker Marone,” a familiar bitch of a voice taunts.
The sound of her chewing a mouthful of gum has my hackles up within a split second. Pia. My day’s about to take a nosedive.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Play it cool. She’s just doing it to get a rise out of you. You’re better than this.
“Yeah, Nosy-Fucker,” Mindy mumbles behind her. Mindy and Rachel can barely hold my death stare. I guarantee they wouldn’t have the guts to even approach me if they didn’t have their head bitch with them. I’d hoped that one if not both of them would have got out of this stupid bitch triangle by now.
“You quit playing namby-pamby wannabe detective yet and finally woken up to yourself?” Pia says, chomping down on a giant ball of pink gum, the colour matching her painted pink lips that have grown in size since I saw her last. She looks like a thousand bees have descended on her mouth, but I know better.
“Nice to see you’re putting something else in your mouth these days, or is that just to mask the taste of c—”
“Everyone from our year hates you, you know?” she blurts out.
“Yeah,” the other girls pitch in symphony.
“At least I’m doing something worthwhile with my time. The only thing you look like you’ve been doing is getting more practiced with peroxide and lip filler. Oh, and I hear you’re doing awesome in the whole leg-spreading field.”
“Yeah, well at least I won’t die a virgin,” Pia says, and swings her jaw as she chews down on the gum ferociously.
I’m glad she doesn’t know the truth.
“At least I won’t die from an STD.” Take that.
She tilts her head to the side, and blinks and bats her fake lashes, her vacant stare revealing the obvious. She really is that dumb. “A what?”
“You don’t even know what it’s called? Wow. Here I was thinking you knew all about sexually transmitted diseases.”
“Well good luck even catching one, because you have no hope getting any boy in this town to touch you.”
Why don’t you tell me what you really think, bleach-head? “You really should stop talking. I fear you’re growing dumber by the second. It’s pitiful to watch.” At this rate, she’ll forget where she lives.
Pia’s attention shifts to a figure that stands beside me.
“I didn’t think it’d take me too long to work out who the scrags were in town. You girls stand out like a fluoro sign in Kings Cross,” Lily says as she stands with her hands on her hips. She’s all attitude with a black cap backwards on her head and her long hair pulled into a side pony. Lily wears a black T-shirt with “Cereal killer” on the front with a skull formed out of milk and a bowl of cereal in the middle. Man, I love it so hard.
“Who the fuck are you?” Pia says with such disdain, looking Lily up and down and screwing up her face as if she’s covered head to toe in shit.
Lily takes a large step towards Pia. Bleach-head holds her ground in spite of Lily invading her personal space.
“A friend of Lacey’s, so watch your mouth,” Lily barks.
“Oh, yeah? Nice scar, bitch,” Pia taunts, tossing her hair back with a c
ackle.
She did not just go there.
Lily closes the gap between them so their feet are toe to toe, nose almost touching nose.
“Yeah, it is nice,” Lily says in a slow, controlled voice as she trails her index finger in a line down Pia’s cheek, mirroring her own scar. The intensity in her blue eyes is a little scary. “You should see the other chick. Not so pretty. Kind of like you?”
Tension prickles in the air and goosebumps ravage my skin. If there wasn’t a caked layer of foundation and blush on Pia’s skin, I guarantee we’d see the colour drained from her painted face.
Pia slaps Lily’s hand away from her. “Don’t touch me with your filthy hands,” she says, circling her fingers over her cheek as if she’s trying to rid herself of germs.
“Don’t talk shit to my friend—don’t so much as walk on the same side of the street as her. I’ll drop you and your plastic crew to the ground before you get a chance to blink those fucked up lashes.” Lily pushes her chest out and widens her eyes. “Well?” she spits out.
Pia pulls her drawn on brows together and wipes her cheek.
“You gettin’ the fuck out of here or what?” Lily says with a wave of one hand, close enough to Pia’s face that her hair moves with the breeze.
Pia takes a step back, bumping into her crew. Rachel yelps as Pia tramples her toes. The pack retreats, whining as they rush off down The Strip.
What the hell just happened here? Have I got myself a wingwoman now?
I turn to Lily who still watches their retreating forms. I place my hand on her shoulder, drawing her gaze.
“Oh my God, I think I love you,” I tell her as a giggle bubbles up my throat.
She wraps her arm around my shoulders and we walk towards the Palace. “I fuckin’ hate bullies. I’ve got no time or patience for them. Don’t even get me started on pretenders like them either. They would’ve been eaten alive on the inside.”
What a minute… “Inside?” I squeak.
“Inside school. ’Cause it’s like a jail, right?” She nods as if she’s willing me to agree with her. I’m not sure I buy it.
Losing Faith (Surfers Way) Page 12