He stood with Niko, the women from the table pressed into a tight circle around them, doe-eyed and shoving hips and breasts into noticeable positions. One of the women grabbed his bicep and stood on her toes to whisper. He leaned down to meet her, offering his ear. After a moment, his eyes went wide, and he threw his head back in laughter. He wound his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She rested a palm on his chest, and he placed his hand over hers. Then he winked at her, and the spell of Elias’s voice shattered with my heart.
I reeled from the visual slap in the face and averted my eyes. I looked past the crowd only to have my gaze land on my ex-husband grabbing his tennis girlfriend’s ass.
The world spun, my past and present colliding in a dizzying hurricane of betrayal. I lost my balance and careened into the body next to me.
“Excuse me,” I muttered to no one.
My attention gravitated back to where my biggest life mistake was playing out on repeat and found Niko staring at me, concern and disappointment evident in the wrinkle of his forehead and hard set of his jaw.
I blinked hard, spun away, and mindlessly pushed through the crowd into the parking lot. I stumbled to my car, moving my body parts like a robot set to automatic. Headlights streamed past me as I drove, blurred streaks through unshed tears.
I got out of my car, walked into the house, and fell into bed still fully clothed. I didn’t care. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the emptiness surrounding me and willed sleep to rescue me from my waking nightmare.
Chapter Twelve
LENA
I blocked his number after the tenth missed call. I’d lost count of how many unread text messages I’d deleted, no doubt variations of the first.
Lena. Please pick up. I’m so sorry. Give me a chance to explain.
There was nothing to explain. We weren’t in a relationship. We hooked up once. He didn’t owe me anything, and I didn’t owe him a chance.
I didn’t want or need that kind of drama in my life. Especially not now. Better to end this before it started for real and move on. I’d learned my lesson the hard way with Rob, and I wasn’t about to ignore the signs and pretend like Elias was anything other than what he was—a smooth-talking playboy with wandering eyes and no sense of commitment.
Despite my mature, adult reasoning, my heart ached with disappointment, a fresh pang of loss reminding me of how far I’d come over the past month and how far I would fall if I didn’t cut this off.
I liked Elias. Really liked him. I had trusted him. I had thought his interest was genuine. Everything about our friendship and the feelings I’d developed rang true. What I’d witnessed the night before seemed like an anomaly, a big misunderstanding. But that was wishful thinking. That was romantic Lena talking, and I refused to let her explain away his behavior. I refused to fall into another trap.
I rode my beach cruiser to Harbour Town determined to resume my routine and ignore the painful splinter of disappointment wedged in my chest. It didn’t matter. Elias’s fuckery didn’t change my plans.
I locked my bike to the rack in front of the breakfast café and waved at Sonia as I walked in, standing behind the counter and taking orders. A line had already formed, even this early in the morning, and I patiently waited my turn.
“The one with the dark hair. His voice and his muscles and those eyes...” A woman’s bubbly voice carried over the din of the café.
I glanced over my shoulder at two young women sitting at a table near the door.
“No way. The blond. The way he looks at you when he sings…” The other woman’s voice had a daydreamy quality, and I could imagine her staring off into space with doe eyes. She let out an over-exaggerated sigh. “I felt like one of those teenagers from the fifties ready to fling my panties at Elvis.”
Her friend’s shrill laughter pierced the peaceful sounds of the coffee shop. “Oh my god, Sadie! Yes! I wanted to throw myself at that dark-haired Greek god. Those two were unreal.”
“Unreal is right. Do you think those old island legends are true? That there are sirens on Hilton Head? Maybe those two sexy singers are demons luring us in with their voices.” The two women burst into a fit of giggles, and I rolled my eyes so hard I thought my retinas might detach.
Despite their cringey fangirling over the man who’d stomped on my heart, my brain caught on the island legend comment, the stories from my childhood reemerging into the forefront of my thoughts.
I’d dismissed the idea in the past as ridiculous, but this time my gut latched onto the possibility and wouldn’t let go. Grandma had always said the island had magic, and she’d raised me with an appreciation for the supernatural. Until now, mythological creatures walked the line of being too out there, even with my spiritual upbringing. But now?
I stepped up to the counter. “Hi, Sonia.”
“Good morning, hun. Triple latte and a raspberry scone?”
I’d been coming back to the café regularly since that first visit, relishing the routine and Sonia’s company. “You got it.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone else was waiting. Nope. Just customers enjoying their breakfasts.
“Remember those old stories Grandma used to tell about sirens on the island?”
She quirked a wry grin, and her eyes sparkled with amusement. “You know your grandma and I never saw eye-to-eye on that sort of thing. A lot of mystical mumbo-jumbo, if you ask me. But yes, I remember the stories.”
