Page 44 of Settling the Score

‘What?’ he asked, rounding on them. ‘Are you some kind of expert in cricketology or something?’

Paige smiled serenely. ‘That’s me, chief cricketologist at your disposal.’

He smiled curtly, realising they all thought it was freaking hilarious, and set about attacking his plate, instead of his companions.

‘There are other rooms, bro,’ Blake said, once they’d finished eating and everything was being cleared away by the staff, and it was just the two of them. ‘You can swap.’

‘Nah, what are the chances it’ll be there again tonight?’

Blake looked sceptical. ‘Okay, well, it’s up to you. But I’m pretty sure the end room on that floor is free. The one with the door on the right.’

‘Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.’

* * *

‘A cricket, you guys?’ Sienna’s big blue eyes roamed from Bella to Astrid to Paige, before settling back on Bella, who looked the guiltiest of them all.

‘No, never,’ Paige swore, crossing a finger over her chest.

‘Definitely not,’ Bella promised, but her smile gave her away.

‘You guys,’ Sienna laughed softly, pulling them further out onto the terrace where they could be sure they were completely alone. ‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing.’ Paige blinked with mock innocence. ‘We definitely didn’t put a noisy little thing in his mattress.’

‘His mattress!’ Sienna squawked. ‘That’s animal cruelty, for one thing.’

‘It’s not a real cricket,’ Paige responded quickly, as if that was super reassuring.

‘It’s not?’

Bella shook her head. ‘It’s just a toy. It’s remote controlled. It was only meant to go off a few times, but I guess it might have broken or something.’ She grimaced, but could barely hold back the smile. ‘Poor baby looked pretty wrecked this morning.’

‘Yeah, he really did,’ Sienna agreed, though in truth, she’d found it hard to look beyond those ridiculously broad shoulders and chiselled cheekbones to notice the bags under his eyes.

The three women were staring back at her with such a combination of emotions that she burst out laughing.

‘You’re okay with it?’ Bella asked in a rush.

‘Astrid told us you wanted to call the whole thing off,’ Paige added. ‘But we didn’t think that was really fair.’

Bella nodded. ‘He deserves a little bit of messing with.’

Sienna held up her hands. ‘I havenoproblem with you guys messing with him a bit. Harmless pranks. That’s fine. I just don’t want… I don’t feel right pretending I’m okay with what happened back then, when the truth is, I’m just not.’ She turned to Astrid. ‘I know he’s about to become your brother-in-law, and I know you see a whole other side to him, but I just want to get through your beautiful wedding, focusing on you, and Blake, and then move on with my life. With him completely removed from it.’

Astrid nodded sympathetically.

‘Has it been at all cathartic to see him again?’ Bella asked.

‘Well, no. Not really. I mean, I wish I could say that he’s not as hot as I remember, or that seeing him again has made me realise it was all just a teenage crush, but that’s definitely not true.’ She lifted one shoulder. ‘I do know it never would have worked out between us, but I think I knew that even before we got to the island.’

‘Why do you say that, love?’ Astrid asked gently.

‘He just didn’t want me enough.’ She said the words that had been swirling around in her mind for a long, long time. ‘And that’s okay. He was entitled to make that choice. He was entitled to walk away from me.’ She breathed out a long, slow breath. Nowthatfelt like an exorcism. ‘Come on,’ she said, linking an arm through Astrid’s. ‘I saw on the itinerary that this is a free day. Why don’t we go do something together, just us girls?’

11

Aiden waited at the gate of the airport, and saw the moment his mom came off the flight. Slim and tall, she walked with squared shoulders and a relaxed gait. She was a totally different person to the woman who’d been in that godawful marriage in shithole Ashbury Falls.