Page 32 of A Light in the Darkness
“How was your flight?” Austin asks, though I don’t know who he is asking. He’s grinning at all of us collectively, as if we aren’t all confused to see him in the beach house we were supposed to have rented.
“It was great!” Rhea chirps, slinging her bag on the ground. “But long, so we need to freshen up. And a drink would help.”
“Say no more!” Austin turns to get her something. “You know where your rooms are, right?”
Rhea assures him that she does, and Austin disappears around a corner. “What the hell?” I snap.
“It’s a group trip.” She explains with a shrug. “Half of our freshman dorm is here. One last week of being young, dumb college kids before we graduate and have to be proper adults.”
A group trip.
The idea sounds like torture. I don’t like anyone well enough to spend a week living with them, much less a week of constant partying. I groan at the same time Moose curses her under his breath.
“Come on, Claire.” Rhea chuckles. “These people are our friends. They’ve been with us for the last three and a half years. Is it really so weird to you that they want to have one last hurrah?”
I’m starting to tell her I don’t have friends when a girl comes down the stairs adjacent to where we stand. Like us, she stops talking when she spots us. “Rhea! Claire! You guys made it!”
Lucy jogs down the rest of the steps, her strawberry blonde hair swaying in a ponytail as she takes them fast in an effort to throw herself at us. And she does just that, spreading her arms and pulling us both into a hug at the same time. “Oh my god, I’ve missed you guys!”
“I’ve missed you too, Luce!” Rhea says genuinely, pulling away to get a good look at our former roommate. I haven’t seen her since before we left Darrington last summer to go back to Cove Harbor. She moved in with her boyfriend while we were gone, and we haven’t had any classes together this year. And I’ve been a terrible friend. That is clear when I see the diamond glittering on her ring finger.
“Claire!” Lucy beams. “You look amazing!”
I look jet-lagged and confused, probably, but Lucy is sweet. She literally sees the best in everyone. “You’re glowing.” I tell her, taking in her suntanned glow and brilliant smile. “Between that rock on your hand and your smile, you may actually blind me.”
There’s a hint of jealousy in my tone that I don’t even understand. I hate it, considering I have zero interest in Lucy’s boyfriend—fiancée. “It’s beautiful.” I smile, hoping she doesn’t notice the falter in my previous statement. It’s not like I’m seeing anyone, so the jealousy is unfounded.
Lucy giggles sheepishly, raising her hand to let the ring glitter in the light. Rhea snatches her hand from the air after a second, bringing it down so she can let the piece glitter under different angles. “It’s gorgeous!” Rhea croons.
“He picked it himself.” Lucy grins. “He did a good job, huh?”
“He sure did.” I smile, and it takes me a moment to realize I didn’t have to force it. Lucy’s energy is hard to deny. She’s a happy person by nature, but something about seeing her so excited for the future makes her look radiant. And I realize, I’m happyforher.
Next to me, Moose makes a sound like he’s suffering a slow death, and Lucy’s eyes flit to him before they round a little. “Oh, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m Lucy.” She puts her hand out for him to shake, which he does with only the briefest hesitation.
“Moose.” He says, before she takes Eli’s hand and does the same.
“Are you guys…?” Lucy’s eyes flit between me and Moose.
“No.” I rush out. “Moose is my stepbrother. He has no social skills, and our dad was worried about him, so I was nice enough to bring him on vacation with us.”
The lie comes so easily that I don’t even stop to think about why I’m saying it. Lucy is sweet, but we had a surface level friendship. We’re the type who gather in groups, watch movies together and comment on the bad acting, and make plans we never intend to keep. We care about each other, sure, but she doesn’t know the first thing about me. Therefore, she has no idea that I don’t have parents, much less a stepbrother.
Rhea chuckles at the look on Moose’s face, but I don’t bother to turn to take it in because Austin walks back into the foyer at that momentwith a cup in each hand.
You’d think after being poisoned, I may exercise caution in taking a drink from someone I don’t know super well. Especially someone who let my bodyguard drug me and locked me up for him. But if we’re going to be here, we may as well try to enjoy it.
Rhea and I take the drinks he offered and tap them together before we toss them back.
I ignore Moose’s judgement, used to it by this point.
He’s had a stick up his ass from the moment we met. I think it may have been there from the moment he was born. Poor guy.
If anyone needs laid, it’s him.
And I’m going to make that happen for him.
Chapter twenty
