“’Kay,” she says happily, flopping against his chest. I watch as he holds her, jealousy building in me.
This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have slept with her. I genuinely didn’t mean to when I came in to fix her rug. It’s like I can’t control myself around her.
I have to get out of here. I roll out of bed and yank my clothes back on.
“Mate…” Fraser starts.
“’M fine.” I head to the door, leaving without looking back. As I step back into the lounge, Alec looks up from where he’s working on the sofa. He obviously heard everything.
“Mistake. Won’t happen again,” I tell him, marching to my bedroom before he can speak. In my room, I sink onto the bed. Slowly, like it always does when I’m alone, my head starts to clear.
I’ve always preferred being alone. I can’t think when I’m around other people. Alec and Fraser are all I have, and honestly, sometimes even they’re too much.
And now there’s this girl. This beautiful, irritating girl who smiles too much and has some sort of odd sway over me. I feel hot.
I don’t know what came over me tonight. I don’t do romance. Dating is pointless. As a kid, I saw my mum go through husband after husband, desperate for love. Never worked out.
It was my mum’s bad taste in men that got me sent up to the Highlands in the first place. When I was ten, she married a man who didn’t want kids, so I was shipped up here to live with my nan. Nan didn’t want a kid around and mostly ignored me, so I spent most of my time walking the hills alone. If it weren’t for Alec and Fraser, I might’ve gone through school without making any friends at all.
I get up and start pacing my room as the memories rise.
I was eleven when we became friends. We were at school when a storm warning was issued. Parents were called to collect their kids, but I knew my nan wouldn’t bother coming while her shows were on, so I snuck away from the teachers to walk home. It only took about ten minutes before I realised I was screwed. I wasn’t used to Highland storms, and I was struggling to even stay upright. I was considering sleeping in a bush all night whena truck pulled up by the side of the road, and Alec stuck his head out.
I barely knew him at the time. All I knew was he was smart and rich, and he was best friends with a loud redheaded kid called Fraser. We’d never spoken, but his face was kind as he called out to me.
“Get in,” he called.
I just stared at him, dripping wet. “What?”
“We just had an apple harvest,” he said. “We’ll get apple pie for tea.”
I shivered. “Okay. So?”
“Want some?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t need your help.”
“No,” Alec said. “I need yours. We’ll probably have too much pie, and my dad hates waste.”
I snorted. “Is that the best you can come up with? Y-you need me to help you eat pie, or your dad will be mad? Leave me alone.” I stepped away, my teeth chattering violently.
A gust of wind suddenly hit a nearby tree, and a branch snapped and slammed to the ground. I jumped a few feet back, narrowly missing getting hit.
Fraser leant over Alec in the back seat. “Oh my God, get in the truck before you die!” he yelled cheerfully through the window. “Lochview’s cool, you can play with the sheep. I’m teaching them to do tricks.”
“They can’t do tricks,” Alec said.
“I made that lamb do a poo on command the other day. I said ‘shit,’ and she did.”
Alec’s eyes were still on me. “Get in,” he told me calmly.
I didn’t have much choice, so I did as he said.
After that first time at Lochview, Alec kept inviting me over, and that was that. I had friends.
And now things are changing.
Pain flares through my knee. I drop onto the bed, massaging it through my jeans. The ache just gets worse, spreading through my leg until I want to cut the damn thing off completely. I grit my teeth, grinding my palm hard against the prickling scar tissue, trying to get at the tugging, burning muscle below.
