Page 17 of Reckless Hearts

That’s right. Marcus and Saskia have been planning this trip for years. With both of them doing a five-year double degree, majoring in law and commerce, they’ve planned to do a road trip across America this summer vacation before their final year of uni, as a last blast. Because next summer they’ll be graduating and starting their real, grown-up lives.

“I still think doing an internship will be of more use to you,” Dad says.

“She works so hard. She deserves a reward,” Mum replies.

Saskia smiles. “Talking about rewards, did you remember to pay the deposit on Larnach Castle for my birthday?”

“Don’t worry, I remembered,” Mum says.

A castle. My sister might be one of the few people in New Zealand to have her twenty-first birthday party in a real castle.

“I’m thinking of making it a fairy-tale theme,” she says. “That will be so much fun.”

“I hope you aren’t expecting your parents to dress up,” Dad says indulgently. It’s part of the routine Saskia and Dad have going on, where Dad feigns resistance before inevitably caving to whatever Saskia wants.

Sure enough, Saskia plays her part to perfection. “You and Mum could come asBeauty and the Beast. Mum would make a perfect Belle, and you could be the Beast.”

My father pretends to be offended, clutching his chest as if he’s been wounded. “Are you suggesting I’m some sort of wild animal?”

Dad, Mum, and Saskia banter back and forward about who is really the beauty and the beast in the family, but I’m not paying attention to my sister and the dynamic playing out with my parents that’s as familiar to me as the periodic table.

Instead, my mind is back to my favorite topic, the one that’s currently occupying all the neurons in my brain.

Marcus.

Now I have a definite time and place where I’ll see him again.

Saskia’s party. My sister’s fairy tale-themed party seems like an appropriate setting, given how unrealistic my chances are of anything more happening with Marcus.

But it’s worth a try, right?

6

Marcus

I’m with Saskia, getting ready to party.

She sits at her vanity, applying her makeup with the same precision she tackles her law assignments, while I lounge on her bed, scrolling through my phone.

She puts down her mascara and stands, giving me a pointed look that means I’ve got to pay her attention.

“How do I look?”

I take in the sight of her as Princess Jasmine, the teal crop top and harem pants that hug her curves in all the right places.

“Fabulous,” I tell her.

She breaks into a self-satisfied smile as she leans forward to apply lipstick, turning her lips a violent shade of red.

Once she finishes, she turns to face me again. “You know, you’re the only one I can trust.”

I smirk. “Well, I do have an incredibly trustworthy face.”

“No. I mean it. All my other guy friends are just trying to get in my pants. And you know what girls can be like. I think most of them are secretly hoping for me to fail. You’re the only one I can trust to be completely honest.”

She meets my eyes in the mirror, her smile softening into something real rather than her usual dazzling grin.

Guilt squiggles in my gut at her words. Because I haven’t been completely honest with Saskia. For the past month, there has been a secret between us.