Page 6 of Settling the Score (The Karma Club #4)

‘You good?’

Aiden felt his brother’s eyes on him, their twin connection making it almost impossible to hide any damned thing from Blake. But that didn’t mean he’d stop trying. Especially now.

Because this was Blake and Astrid’s wedding week – yes, a whole freaking week to celebrate the love of two people who hadn’t even been fussed about a big white wedding a few months ago – and Aiden wasn’t going to let it be about him. And Sienna.

God, even thinking of her name made his gut churn like he was about to lace up for the playoffs.

He stared straight ahead as the golf cart cut away from the luxurious mansion the owner of their team had insisted Blake use as a wedding venue, and down towards the sparkling Mediterranean.

It was a picture-perfect summer’s day. The sky was a crystal blue, the palm trees that were abundant on this island huge and green, offering spiky patches of shade.

But Aiden’s focus was almost entirely on the sleek white sports boat that was bobbing beside the jetty.

He could just make it out in the distance, as well as the people – as small as match sticks from here – who were disembarking.

But she was one of them.

Sienna.

His ex.

Could it be called an ‘ex’ if it had just been a teenage crush? A distant romance, that had ended so badly he’d sworn off ever thinking about it? Because to think about it, to even let his mind go there, was to feel almost on fire with shame at his behaviour.

He knew why he’d broken up with her, what had been at stake, why it had been the right decision for himself, but also for Sienna.

He knew that the criminal charges against Blake meant he’d had no choice.

But he’d been an asshole, how he’d gone about the whole thing, no doubt about it.

He’d purposefully acted as though she was nothing to him. Nothing.

After a year of spending every afternoon together.

Sharing secrets, getting to know Sienna better than anyone, and for her to know him, to really know him.

Sharing each other. The way they’d made love that first time, and he’d felt like the stars were about to burst out of the sky.

How they’d fallen together after that, every moment they could.

They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. And God, they’d laughed, so much.

For Aiden, who was uneasy at home, and felt the weight of the world on his shoulders out of his need to keep his mom safe from their father, and to get Blake out of the group of lousy friends he’d chosen to waste time with, having someone to simply laugh with had been like a revelation.

An addiction.

Yeah, he’d been addicted to her, all right. Addicted enough that he would have given up everything, if she’d asked it of him. And then what? Risk becoming like his father? Worse, turning Sienna into their mother?

A muscle hammered in his jaw as he tried to make out which one of the women was her.

Impossible, at this distance. Except… his eyes narrowed.

A blonde lifted her hand and did something to her hair, and there was just something in the gesture, the grace of her movements, that had his heart kicking up a notch in instant, soul-deep recognition.

Sienna.

Here.

On the island.

‘Bro. You look like you’re about to pass out. Or barf. Please don’t barf.’

Fuck.

He turned to Blake and forced a grin. Tried to remember that he’d been nicknamed Ice on the hockey circuit from his first college game, because nothing – and no one – could rile him. He was cold. Untouchable. He’d had to be.

Except with Sienna, who’d been the one person on earth who’d been able to turn ice to fire – the kind that could burn a guy half to death if he wasn’t careful.

He modulated his voice, forcing his large frame to relax.

He was only a few minutes older than Blake but Aiden had always played that part to perfection.

He was the big brother. The guy in charge.

The one who kept it all together. He wasn’t about to stop now.

‘You’re the one who’s getting married. Aren’t pre-wedding jitters meant to be your bag? ’

‘No jitters here, man.’ Blake returned his attention to the path. ‘I’ve never been more sure about a damned thing in my life.’

Aiden expelled a breath. That’s how he’d felt then, too. He’d acted like a shit and he was pretty sure Sienna hated him for it, but that didn’t mean it had been wrong. All his reasons still stacked up. He’d had to leave. Not just town, but Sienna.

He followed a mantra of absolute control. It was how he lived, how he played, and how he dated. Not once, since Sienna, had he been with a woman that he had anything more than lukewarm feelings for. No one that threatened his equilibrium. No one he would find it hard to walk away from.

‘Listen.’ Blake’s tone was serious. ‘I never really knew what happened between you and Sienna when we left, why you stopped seeing her. I was wrapped up in my own stuff at the time, you know? But I remember what you were like afterwards.’

‘I was fine,’ he insisted flatly.

‘You couldn’t even hear her name.’

‘Because she was my ex.’

Blake expelled a breath. ‘Okay. But you’re both going to be here, all week. She’s really important to Astrid. I just want?—’

Aiden ground his jaw. ‘If you’re worrying about me, don’t. Sienna Mastrangelo is someone I haven’t thought about in years. As far as I’m concerned, she’s just a friend of your fiancé’s – which is fucking weird, I’ll admit. For those two to have met, to have become friends…’

Blake grunted. What more could he say? Aiden knew that Sienna and Astrid had met at an airport, but that Astrid hadn’t realised Sienna’s connection to the twins until she’d gone back to Ashbury Falls to interview their dropkick dad and Sienna had been there, all protective and throwing herself in harm’s way to keep Astrid safe.

They’d been inseparable ever since. Despite the fact he and Sienna had history.

So what? Astrid didn’t have to avoid Aiden’s one-time girlfriend on his account.

‘I’ll be as nice to her as I would any other wedding guest.’

‘I’m not worried about you being nice,’ Blake said. ‘I’m worried about you being okay.’

‘I dumped her. It was my choice.’

Blake’s brows furrowed. ‘It’s just?—’

‘Bro!’ Aiden’s laugh was forced to his own ears, but he reckoned Blake would buy it.

‘Chill. This is all good. I swear to you, there’s nothing you need to worry about.

I mean, it’ll be interesting to see her again, you know, in the same way it would be anyone you knew from a different part of your life, but other than that, Sienna is nothing to me.

There’s nothing there. Can we drop it now? ’

* * *

Getting married on a tiny, out-of-the-way island in the middle of the sparkling Mediterranean was both romantic and exciting, Sienna supposed, but it also involved a gruelling day of travel, even with the private charter flights and luxury speedboats.

By the time they disembarked on l’Isola Antica , with its stunning white sand, coves lined with palm trees and the incredible, huge mansion – more like a five-star hotel – she could see just down the beach a little way, Sienna felt a lot less like the wannabe beauty queen the other girls had morphed her into and more like a creased, frazzled version of her original self.

It wasn’t their fault.

It definitely wasn’t.

The fact Sienna was scared witless of flying was something only she could control – something she always thought she’d grow out of, but didn’t seem able to shake, no matter how many meditations she listened to.

Then, there’d been the jetboat ride, across choppy waters, with the sun beating down hard on them the whole time.

Which might have been bearable, except her hat had blown into the sea almost the minute they’d set off.

She felt more Jack Sparrow than Jackie Onassis, and wild, windswept and woozy.

‘Okay, you ready?’ Bella asked, leaning closer, nodding towards the mansion.

Sienna pulled a face. ‘I need a stiff drink, a hairbrush with the power to undo this’ – she gestured to her bird’s nest – ‘and possibly a vomit bag.’

‘You’re not a boat person, either?’ Paige cooed sympathetically, and when Sienna blinked across at the other woman, she caught sight of Astrid looking ever so slightly stricken.

With sympathy for the fact Aiden was somewhere on the island, or because Sienna looked like she’d been dragged backwards through a bush? Or both?

Even though Sienna had warmed to the idea of getting her revenge on Aiden after all this time – and heartbreak – she hadn’t forgotten what this week was really about: Astrid’s wedding.

Having known that the other woman had sworn off marriage, and how much this whole thing meant to her, Sienna definitely wasn’t going to tank any part of the experience for her.

She glued a smile to her face. ‘I’m fine,’ she lied.

‘Let’s go.’ She linked her arm with Bella’s, noting that somehow she made it look easier than anything to stroll across the uneven timber jetty in heels.

Not a single one of Bella’s hairs were out of place, either, Sienna noted with genuine amusement.

It was just so like Bella. Even given the million knots they’d travelled at, Bella’s hair still wouldn’t let her down.

Unlike Sienna’s.

But that was fine. She’d have a chance to get her game face on before seeing Aiden. Time to prepare, and feel amazing, so the first time he saw her after all these years, would be like a kick in his guts.

She’d have time?—

‘Oh, bloody bollocks,’ Astrid groaned, turning to face Sienna, eyes running over her face with something like panic.

‘What?’

‘It’s them.’

‘Them, who?’