Safe in Clua

TWENTY-SIX

Laia

“How is little Miss nurse today?” Kenzi grins up from behind the reception the moment I’m within hearing distance.

My teeth sink into my lip, heat rising up my cheeks like some sort of confession lava before I’ve even made it around to the business side of our workstation. “Fine. Good. Great.” I think I manage to pull off some sort of smile. I’ve showered. I’ve washed my hair. I’m wearing my freshly laundered uniform, but still, Felix’s smell lingers. I think it's stuck up my nose. All fresh air and ocean and peppermint and sex. If I’ve any hope of getting through this day without floating off into lalala-I-got-laid-and-it-was-spectacular land, I need to learn how to breathe through my mouth.

“How’s Fee?” Kenzi’s frown lowers her brows, but a knowing smirk is still hanging out there on her pretty face.

The heat creeps up into my hairline. I might as well have a sign reading, I fucked Felix on my forehead.

“He’s fine.” I rummage in my purse to avoid Kenzi’s interest.

“I called this morning. Both of your cells were switched off…”

I glance at her and sink down into my chair. “How’s Mylo this morning?”

“Grumpy.” Her sigh is long and tired as she presses her fingers into her temples.

I spin my chair around to face her. “Grumpy?”

With another deep sigh she leans back, her chair creaking as it swings around. “Grumpy.” Her smile is small, forced. “I’ll tell you what. I won’t push for details of your night if you don’t push for details of mine.”

“Understood.” I nod, then press my lips into a line. I’ve never seen Kenzi anything other than cheery, or hungover … but even hungover she always keeps her cheeriness. “If you need to talk, you know I’m here, right?”

“Thanks, Laia.” She throws her phone into her purse and stands, her shoulders drooping with the weight of whatever happened last night. “I’m cool. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

I tilt my head. “You want me to come to yours after work? We can have a girls’ night. I’ll pick up ice-cream. Or alcohol? Or both?” I pick up my pen and grab a sticky note. “What’s your poison?”

“I love you for offering, but honestly, I’m fine. Besides, it’s Saturday, I’m working in the bar.” She yawns, covering her mouth. “And right now, I’m looking forward to a lazy afternoon in my pajamas after last night’s drama.”

“Okay, but if you need me, I’m here.” I reach up to squeeze her fingers in a gesture that couldn’t be further from likeme if it tried.

We catch it at the same time. I curl my fingers back. It’s too late. Kenzi’s face has morphed from drained to down-right intrigued. “What have you done with my prickly little Laia?”

I roll my eyes but can’t help but laugh. “If you need me, I’m just a phone call away.” I press the button to power up my computer and swing my chair until my knees are beneath my desk.

“I know you are.” Kenzi’s nose wrinkles before she snorts and walks around to the front of our desks, shrugging the strap of her purse into place. “Oh. Yeah. It’s my mom and dad’s anniversary next week. They always do a big barbeque. You’re coming.”

“Sure, that would be great. What day? I’ll see if I can make it my day off.”

“Already sorted it with Pete.” She grins wide.

“Sounds amazing.” Something warm and, dare I say it, happy spreads through my chest and I am powerless to stop it from showing on my face.

“Whatever you guys got up to last night looks good on you, Laia.” Her eyebrows wiggle. And just like that she’s back to her normal self. “My parents still live in the house me and my brother grew up in. It’s about time you saw a little more of the island. You’ll love it.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” I smile at the unexpected information. I don’t know why I assumed she was an only child. Probably because this is the first I’ve heard of him.

“Yeah, Ollie. He’s been the pain in my ass for twenty-one years.” Her chuckle is pained but it’s clear in the sparkle behind her eyes that there’s a whole lot of love there. “He’s studying in New York. He’s a big city boy now.” Her lips pinch as if she isn’t entirely happy with the situation.

“Will he be home for the party?” I rest my elbows on the polished wood of my desk.

“Not this year, I’m afraid.” She glances at her watch. “I’ll tell you all about him another day. My pajamas are calling me.”

I watch her go. That warmth spreading until I’m grinning like a fool.

Clua is beginning to feel a whole lot like home.

Felix

“Felix?” Mylo’s voice shouts through from the bar.

“In the office.” I recline in my high back, leather desk chair, my feet on the desk, a pack of crushed ice balanced on my head and my cell pressed against my ear.

“Yes, mom, I’m fine.” I hold my finger up when Mylo sticks his head around the office door. “No. No, you don’t have to come. I’ll see you at the party next week.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and listen to my mom’s near-hysterical quick-fire questions. Someone that wasn’t me filled her in on the accident. I should have called her last night, before the Clua gossip machine got to her. “Mom. Mom, it’s okay, I told you, I’m fine. Unpack your bags. You live fifteen minutes away. I’ll call if I need you.” I hold the phone away from my ear. The woman can talk. “Okay. Mom, I have to go. I’ll see you next week. I love you. Okay. Bye.”

The down point of living on a tiny island. News travels? … fast.

“How’s the head, man?” Mylo nods towards the pack of ice when I throw my cell onto my paper-strewn desk.

“Will be fine as soon as the meds kick in again,” I grumble, leaning further back into my chair, holding the pack in place. “How are you feeling?”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” He folds his arms across his massive chest, the bandages on his hands, stark white against the black and gray of the tattoos on his forearms.

I sit up and throw the ice pack into the bin under my desk at his uncharacteristically miserable tone.

“Wanna talk about it?” I frown up at him, the ache in my head pulsing with the movement. “You and Zi get home alright?”

“Nothing to talk about.” He shakes his head, a strained smile tipping his lips. “Just having one of those days.” He sits down on the chair in front of my desk, his huge frame dwarfing the matching low back version of mine. “So, you and Laia?”

“Me and Laia.” I nod, unable to keep a grin from splitting my face as I link my fingers behind my head and lift my feet back onto my desk.

I haven’t been able to think of anything else all day. The way she felt wrapped around me. Her face when she came apart beneath me. Fuck, it felt incredible.

“The look on your face tells me everything I never wanted to know.” He shakes his head.

I shrug, neither confirming nor denying. We haven’t discussed what to tell people yet. But man, just thinking her name fills my mind with all kinds of vanilla scented visions. I’d thought she was going to hightail it home the second we got up. Exactly what I usually do the morning after.

She didn’t though. She stayed for coffee and toast when I asked her to. Her shyness and awkwardness were there, but the flinching didn’t make a single appearance. She even kissed me goodbye.

A kiss that almost had me dragging her right back to bed.

I force my mouth from the grin I can’t seem to control and drag my hand over my jaw, meeting Mylo’s amused stare and clearing my throat. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I’m going to see a man about a van this afternoon.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “And seeing as you too are now in need of transportation, I figured you might wanna come?”