I was happy here alone. I thought I was content, that this would be enough for me. But now I think about it, I don’t know if I was happy at all. I think I was just glad to still be alive, even though alive was a painful state of being for a while. Jade coming into my life has awakened something more in me. Everything seems brighter. There’s a sense of clarity I haven’t felt in so long. I feel like myself again. Almost.
But there are still splinters of damage, deep inside. I don’t know if I’m ready to bring them all up to the light yet.
I realise Jade is looking at me, her green eyes wide. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Thinking too much.”
“About anything in particular?”
“Well, I haven’t made us any coffee yet. And I do need to check on Nimue.”
“Nimue?”
“My cat. I’m surprised she hasn’t jumped on us yet.”
Jade smiles, but her green gaze is thoughtful. “What weren’t you telling me, last night? About the land. I know there was something.”
I sigh. “I know you did.”
“It was only because I wanted to jump your bones that I didn’t press it.”
I huff out a small laugh. “Did you now?”
“Don’t change the subject.” She pokes me in the ribs. “Spill.”
I press a kiss to her brow, partly because I need the space to collect my thoughts. “Okay. So, here it is.” I stop, clearing my throat.
Jade sits up, clutching the sheet to her, a little line between her brows. “Axel, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
I sit up as well, pulling her to me so she nestles in the crook of my arm. I like her there, like how she feels. I don’t like what I have to tell her, though. It feels like another wall coming down, another piece of myself brought into the open. I choose to let it fall. Besides, it’s not like it isn’t common knowledge with the council. And if I want Jade to help me, I need her to have all the information. God, though, I wish I didn’t have to tell her. I clear my throat again.
“The developer. So. The reason I know about what they want to do, is because… er, it’s my family.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Jade
His family? I have about a million questions. But I wait.
Axel looks down, his mouth twisting. “My family are big property developers. In New York, and elsewhere. Hotels and stuff. They used to own the peninsula, but I bought it from them, a few years ago. Now they want back in. But I won’t sell.” He pauses, his grey gaze on me. “So when the land came up next door, they put in a bid. Used my name, as though I somehow gave them my blessing.”
Holy shit. This is not what I imagined. “I’m so sorry.”
What a betrayal. I understand how it feels, to be let down and used like that. You don’t get to choose your family, but you still have to put up with their shit, or leave. I get more of an idea now why Axel might have chosen to live here.
“Yeah. I’ve had to do a lot of distancing myself from their bid with the council. I’ve made my position very clear. I’ve also tried to approach them directly about it.”
“And?”
He sighs, sagging against the headboard. “And… they like making money. This is a great opportunity for them to do that.”
I wrap my arms around Axel’s warm chest, dropping a kiss on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I say again.
“They didn’t want me to be a surfboard shaper.” Axel sounds reflective. “They wanted me to follow them into the family business. Hated telling people what I was doing, treated it like it was some sort of rich-boy hobby, something I was doing until I was ready to step into a ‘proper job’. Then, when I got good at it, they suddenly wanted to tell everyone. They loved all the celebrity around it, people like Myles Brandon, all that crew. I think they were even trying to get him to invest here at one point, build a hotel with them.”
“Myles? I know him, and his wife. They’re lovely people, though, so I don’t… Um… sorry. I don’t mean your family aren’t lovely. I don’t know them.”
“They don’t sound that great, do they?” His arms tighten around me. “And they’re not bad. I can understand them, in a way. But they don’t understand what it means to me to live here, or how the island works, what makes it so special. They still don’t even understand why I don’t make surfboards anymore. Not when it made me so much money. Or why I won’t come home.”
