Page 81 of Trusting the Fall

“Good morning, bestie.” She squints through one eye, then halts as she takes me in, eyes bouncing between Leif and me. “I guess you guys need a formal introduction now, huh?” I pull out of Leif’s arms and drag him around the island bench.

“Leif, this is my best friend Lex. Lex, this is, um—” I stumble over the wordboyfriend. Do we jump right into that now? How the fuck does this work?

Leif holds an open palm out to Lex. “Lee. I’m the boyfriend.”

A tittering of schoolgirl glee bubbles out of my lips. He called himself my boyfriend.

I bury my flaming cheeks into his bare chest to muffle the sound, but when he puts his hand behind my head and kisses my forehead, it only amplifies them, ending with a mortifying snort.

“My friend looks thrilled right now, but I’ll be more equipped to deal with this after a coffee,” Lex says, escaping around us to the kitchen while I wrap my arms around Leif.

“What time did your friend leave?” I ask her.

“What friend?”

“Caleb Heart,” Leif says. “How did you manage that connection, by the way?”

“We met him at The Wayside,” I say.

“And then you got to talking about the salon and he decided to invest?”

I tilt my head, arching a brow. “Invest? He’s not an investor.”

“Excuse me, are you saying Caleb was here last night?” Lex asks in the background.

“Then why did he pay for the damage at the salon?”

“What? Trevor said the building owners covered all the costs,” I say. “And our building is owned by the Callahans.”

The Callahans own the most luxurious hotel chains in Australia. My mum works at the Heart City one, the same one she met my father at. The only Callahan daughter, however, has been in the media of late for trying to repair the reputation of her two older brothers. One of her endeavours was investing in some of the city’s entertainment districts, like older buildings on Main Street, restaurants along the city foreshore, and a huge extension to the aquarium.

“No. I met Trevor when we were doing the cleanup, and he handed me the business card for Heart Assets. Told me to send the full bill there. Knowing Caleb Heart, I figured it was because he was investing.”

“How do you know Caleb?”

“Excuse me!” Lex yells, forcing Leif and me apart. “Was Caleb here?”

Leif looks down at me before answering my friend. “I was sitting on your porch for maybe an hour after Claire was texting me. Caleb rocked up a few minutes before you guys got home.”

“W-What did he say?” she asks, eyes wide, the bun on her head now resting askew at her frazzled state.

“He carried your drunk arse inside when he saw me struggling with you up the stairs,” I say.

Leif clears his throat, and I’m reminded of her alcohol-fuelled admissions. “Oh. Um, you may have also told us he has a pretty dick.”

The colour drains from my best friend’s face as mortification seeps in.

“I think you may also be wearing his shirt.” She looks down at the oversized shirt covering her before throwing a palm over her mouth. An ‘excuse me’ is muttered before she runs past us, followed by the slamming of what sounds like the bathroom door.

“I’m guessing there’s a story there?” Leif asks.

“Sure is, Lover Boy.”

35

Forawholeweek,I’ve been sharing my bed with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend.

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