All three of them whip their heads to me, completely speechless. “I told him that I thought you and Elliot would get it on, and he said that if nothing happens between the two of you by next year, then I had to marry him.”
“Wow. Hit us with it bareback and no lube,” Megan exclaims.
I giggle as I lean back on my elbows. They are all still watching me with a surprised look on their face. “I told him no.”
“You did?” Scarlet says, sounding dejected.
“I’m not ready for marriage. I’m twenty-eight years old. I pictured myself being a lot older before all that, if at all.”
“You haven’t been together long, babe. Just think, this time next year you might feel completely different.” Lucy shrugs. “It might be exactly what you want.”
“Am I a bitch for telling him no?”
“Yes,” Megan says at the same time Lucy and Scar say, “No.”
“Helpful, girls, thanks.”
“Sorry,” Lucy mutters. “I think it’s lovely that Mason is already so sure. He’s a smart bloke.” She gives me a wink.
“Hmm, maybe.” I hum, silence falling over us as we lie back and watch the guys in the water.
“What’s it been like at the house, Scar? You doing okay?” Megan asks.
She shrugs, not giving us her eyes and focusing on the horizon. “It’s fine.” She pauses. “It’s a big old house for just me.”
“I can imagine,” I muse, hating the idea of her out at the house on her own.
“I won’t ever leave, though. It’s home, you know.”
“I get it,” Lucy tells her. “Mum and Dad could easily go out and buy a bigger, better house, but it’shome. It’s where they brought us up, and it’s what they’ve made it now.”
The way she says ‘us’ makes my chest warm.
“Yeah, exactly that.” Scarlet smiles sadly, burying her feet deeper into the sand.
“Right, who’s coming for a dip?” Megan jumps up, clearly trying to lighten the mood. Scarlet is rarely anything other than happy and excitable. It’s hard to see her anything less than her vibrant self.
“Heck, yes!” she says, pulling her lavender hair up into a bun as she stands, then jogs off with Megan to the sea.
I sit with Lucy as we watch them in the water together.
“Easy view, huh?” She nudges my arm, smiling out at the gods before us. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen four men so physically fit—playing with their balls out in the ocean. Didn’t know I needed it.” She waggles her brows at me.
“I’m just watching the sunset.” I defend myself, and she giggles.
We fall quiet again as we watch Megan trying to climb onto Scarlet’s shoulders. They stumble, almost making it, but then fall, splashing back into the water with a screech.
“I wasn’t surprised, you know,” Lucy mutters.
I turn my head and catch her frown, her eyes still on the water. “You think that you’re a certain way. That you always leave.”
“Well, I have run out on Mase at every opportunity so far,” I remind her.
“And you always go back. Like how you’d come to mine when your mum was working. You’d have no trouble leaving, getting the space you needed because it was what felt right foryou. But you always went back, willing and hopeful for it to be better when you got home.” She looks at me, her lip turning up on one side. “It’s why I knew you’d go back to him. You shouldn’t feel bad about it. And you shouldn’t let it hold you back. Marrying Mason Lowell would be…” I raise an arched brow at her. “Scary. Hot as hell, but petrifying. I mean, he isn’t your typical husband.” She laughs. “But you have to make shitty mistakes to learn. We both know that. And for the record, I don’t think marriage would be a mistake. No matter what he did, you decided to put it in the past.”
I haven’t told the girls about the studio and why Mason sold it. They know he did and that Erin isn’t who she says she is, but I agreed that no one else should be involved beyond that, and the girls never asked questions once I explained it was all I could say.
I run my fingers through the sand beneath me. “It’s the trust thing. It will come in time I’m sure. Or I hope it will. But right now, it’s not there—not fully.”
