Magnificent Ruin (Everlasting Series Book 2) (16 page)

I hide my face in my palms before I give her a big smile. My best friend has always been the most levelheaded person in the world.

Part of me immediately fantasizes Grace is going to slap that little Greek tart silly for messing with me. What am I thinking? I’m becoming more suited to the violent world of the man I love. Maybe I’m becoming more like Tomas, maybe he’s right and this whole danger thing appeals to me.

“It’s so great that you’re here, Grace. You make sense of everything.”

Chapter 19

T
he coffee shop at the village is busier than usual. A tourist bus has made a stop on the way to the Petrified Forest, a twenty-million-year-old natural, fossilized monument, courtesy of a prehistoric volcano eruption.

Sophia waits for us at a table with a shot of ouzo in front of her. That would be the second time I’m aware of that she consumes alcohol before noon—the first one being the day she supposedly had sex with Tomas although they both gave me completely different dates.

She gets up when she sees Grace and me, putting on a sweet smile.

“Taylor,” she says, “I was so happy when you called to meet. I really want to meet your friend.”

“Sophia, this is my friend Grace,” I say. “I’ve told you about her.”

“Nice to meet you,” Grace says, extending her hand.

“Oh, the pleasure is mine,” Sophia says, bypassing the hand and going for a friendly hand and double-cheek kiss.

Grace is startled by the unexpected expression of warmth but plays the part patiently.

“It’s customary to kiss on both cheeks,” I explain as we sit.

“Good to know,” Grace says. “Do guys do it, too?”

“You mean with girls or between them?” Sophia says.

“Well, do they do both?”

“Yes,” Sophia says. “Totally.”

“That would be a bit awkward if it happened to Nathan,” Grace says. “I’d better warn him.”

“Nathan is your boyfriend?”

“Yes, he is. Has Taylor told you about him?”

Sophia looks at me, unsure. “She must have. But not with details.”

She’s lying. She was very interested in Nathan when I brought him up and asked all sorts of questions. At least now I know she’s capable of lying. To some extent, we all are, but some lies go way deeper than others.

“He’s the closest friend Tomas has,” Grace says, ever so sweetly. “Maybe his only friend.”

Sophia shakes her head. “Tomas has many friends. More friends than any other person I know.”

“He also has enemies,” Grace says. “Have you come across any of them?”

Sophia takes on the most stunned expression. “Me? I don’t know much about his life.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Grace says, dead serious. I didn’t know she had it in her to play a cat and mouse game in such a coldblooded manner. “I thought you and Tomas were in a relationship.”

Sophia’s face blushes and then goes pale. “With Tomas? Oh, no. I wouldn’t call it a relationship.”

“My apologies,” Grace says. “I always jump to conclusions. Tomas doesn’t really talk about his personal life so we kind of have to piece the information together ourselves. It’s like a riddle.”

Oh, she’s good. Sophia relaxes after Grace makes her believe we’re in the dark about her alleged relationship to Tomas. “He doesn’t really talk much about himself ever,” she corroborates Grace’s statement. “Not even to Adrian and they’re good friends.”

“He’s a very private person,” Grace says, “but he’s also a friend you can rely on. Tomas would never let a friend down.”

Sophia’s eyes turn to me. “You once said Tomas saved both your lives,” she says. “But you didn’t say how.”

I have no idea if I should get into this conversation with Sophia. By now she must know we’re here to pressure her to come clean about what happened when those pictures were taken. Does she suspect I’m involved with him? Could it be jealousy that is driving her?

Grace jumps in. “Yes,” she says. “We might not be here today if it weren’t for Tomas and Nathan.”

“Oh, why is that?”

“You see, Taylor has an aromatherapy store in Los Angeles where we live that she inherited from her grandmother. One day, or rather one evening before Christmas, Taylor, myself and another girl that worked at the store were taken hostages by two thugs who were after Taylor’s father.”

Sophia turns to me. “Your father? Why?”

“That’s a long story and I don’t have all the details,” I say, unwilling to offer her information about my life but Grace has something else in mind.

“They beat Taylor up pretty bad,” she says. “They weren’t just criminals, they were psychopaths. Something in their eyes told me they’d have no problem killing or torturing us or who knows what else. I wouldn’t put anything past those cowards.”

Sophia looks pretty astonished. “So what happened?”

“Tomas and Nathan broke through the glass window like super heroes and beat the hell out of them,” Grace concludes with a smile.

“Oh, wow, your own personal avengers,” Sophia says and I’m not sure if she’s being sincere or sarcastic or a little bit of both.

“And Taylor here,” Grace begins, taking my hand, “she was severely traumatized, physically and emotionally. It took her months to recover and to be able to stand on her feet again.”

As Grace talks, I grow more and more uncomfortable with all that she’s revealing. I’d like nothing more than to stop her but I don’t know how to do it without coming off as whiny and vulnerable.

“Taylor, how horrible. I had no idea,” Sophia says.

“Of course not. How could you?”

“Tomas acted like a lifeline when he offered to take her to Greece so she could put all that ugliness behind her and learn to look ahead again,” Grace goes on.

I start to feel bad for Sophia. The problem is, I tell everyone they should be guilt-free when I wallow in it like a piglet in a mud bath.

Sophia nods, unable to take her eyes off me. “It’s good to have a good friend,” she says. A sudden worry overtakes her features. “I hope you don’t mind I slept with him. You’re just friends, right?”

Oh fuck, how did we get to this point? Do I really have to discuss my relationship with her? What if she’s telling the truth about sleeping with him? Who would be the other woman then?

Grace puts on a face that means she’s up to something. I’ve seen that expression before when she was trying to wean me off Cody, my high school crush who got engaged to someone else. “Are you sure you slept with him?” she asks Sophia as innocently as possible.

Sophia loses her cool altogether. Her lower lip trembles as she blinks her eyes several times before she speaks. Watching her come apart like that isn’t fun. “Of course, I’m sure. What sort of question is that?”

Grace shrugs. “Maybe you were both drunk and confused. It happens.”

Sophia shakes her head. “I don’t like this,” she says. “Why would you call me a liar? You don’t know me. And why would you care if I sleep with Tomas or anyone else? Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

I’m about to say that we did ask him and he denied it when Grace puts her hand on mine to stop me. Since I have no clue what I’m doing and she seems to be in control, I decide to follow her lead and do as she says.

“I’m sorry, Sophia,” Grace says. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m just curious because Tomas is such a close friend to us and yet a mystery. We barely know anything about his love life and it’s not like we can ask him right now. He’s taken off again to write his script.”

“That’s okay,” Sophia says, opening her purse to take out a five euro bill.

“No, no,” Grace says, taking Sophia’s hand. “Our treat. The least we can do since we upset you needlessly.”

“Thank you,” Sophia says. “I’m meeting my sister at the beach. Maybe you can join us?”

“We’re not prepared,” I say. “What about tomorrow?”

“Give me a call,” she says and walks.

I can’t quite figure out what we accomplished by meeting her today. “What did you make of that?” I ask Grace.

“Honestly? She’s either completely naïve or lying through her teeth.”

“And how are we going to figure out which one is true?”

Grace bends her face. “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain.”

“Um, what?”

“Just follow me,” Grace says, rolling her eyes at me. “It’s, you know, a saying. It’s a thing. Never mind.”

“I’ve heard the saying,” I say.

“Forget Muhammad,” she says. “I’ll explain on the way.”

***

“Just the man I was looking for,” Grace says as we run into Tomas on the twenty-minute walk back to the house. He’s shirtless and wears a baseball cap and sunglasses as he’s out jogging under the shade of the pine trees on either side of the dirt street.

Tomas comes to a halt to greet us both with a kiss on our cheeks.

“There you are,” Nathan says, lifting Grace up from behind. “Do you mind if I join you?” He’s also shirtless and delicious.

“Where did you spring from?” Grace says, smiling as he spins her.

“I veered into the trees to take a piss.”

“That’s romantic,” I tease him, punching his shoulder. “Next time make something up, like you were searching for a flower for Grace.”

“I’ll keep it in mind next time I need to take a piss outdoors,” he says, putting Grace down.

“Nate, come on bro,” Tomas says, “don’t be a fucking brute around beautiful, delicate creatures.”

Nathan bows humbly. “My apologies, ladies. The beauty of this exotic place has turned me a bit savage.”

Tomas pulls his sunglasses down to lock his eyes on mine. “Didn’t Grace say you were looking for me?”

Quick, Taylor. Give him a smooth answer. “Well…”

“I was the one looking for you actually,” Grace says. “There’s something I need you to do for me.”

“Nathan can hear you,” Tomas says with a wink, taking his water bottle from the clip holder on his waist. “Such an obvious flirtation could hurt his feelings. He’s more sensitive than he looks.”

“Cute,” Grace says. “However only big, bad you can do this particular thing I have in mind.”

I keep my eyes on Grace, wondering what the hell she’s doing and why I’m turning into a damned coward, worried about everything. Why can’t everything be simple again?

“This should be good,” Tomas says, an amused look on his face.

Grace steals a glance at me before she responds. “We need you to come to the beach with us tomorrow and ask Sophia why she insists she had sex with you. The best way to get her to admit the truth is for you to confront her.”

There’s no amusement on his face anymore. He throws a deadly glance at me before he returns his attention to Grace. “I have more important things to deal with than the delusions of a local girl.”

Does he feel betrayed that I confided in Grace? What did he expect? I need a friend to talk to or I’ll go crazy.

“It would be the right thing to do, Tomas,” Grace says, pouting.

“Hey, what’s this all about?” Nathan says. “Who’s Sophia?”

“A village girl,” I say, feeling more and more distressed. “Actually, she’s from Athens but she spends the summers here.”

“That’s not what I was asking,” Nathan says. He punches Tomas right on his left biceps. “Hey, dipshit, did you have sex with this local girl who’s really from Athens?”

“I’m past this,” Tomas says before he jogs away.

“I pissed him off, didn’t I?” Grace says as if to herself. “Not the first time either.”

“Grace,” Nathan says, taking her elbow. “Do you get some special pleasure out of provoking Tomas?”

It’s not fair for Grace to be in that position. This is my mess and I’m the one who needs to clean it up. “Grace is trying to help, Nate. There’s this girl who claims she slept with Tomas, but he denies it, sort of. He says he can’t be sure because he was drunk. I should let it go but I can’t because I’ve lost my usual mojo.”

“Okay, but you know that mojo thing doesn’t exist.”

“Mojos exist,” Grace says defiantly. “I was totally all over my mojo with that Sophia girl today.”

I nod. “It’s true. She was kind of fierce.”

“I get it now,” Nathan says as something dawns on him. “You two are both losing your shit big time.”

Grace grabs his hand like he’s a schoolboy. “Listen to me, big shot, you’re going to get this information out of Tomas.”

“Me?” Nathan says, caught off guard.

“If not you, then who?” Grace says, with a stern, scolding gaze fixed on his helpless eyes. This is a total beauty and the beast moment.

Nathan rubs back his hair with a sigh. “The jackass has gotten himself knee deep into some dangerous shit,” he says. “Where he puts his fucking meat stick when he’s wasted should be the least of your concerns.”

“You have the mouth of a dirty pirate hooker,” Grace says, reluctantly amused. “You need to behave and be of some use.”

I look at them both without speaking, completely still and listening to the little secrets of the woods: tweeting, chirping, fluttering and crunching sounds are all around us, calling us to join in the beauty of summer. “Nathan’s right,” I say at last. “We have to support him, not make him feel cornered. What did he tell you exactly, Nate?”

Nathan shakes his head. “He didn’t have to. I asked Tomas what he was into these days, he acted like everything was all good and nothing was in the works.”

“This is your inside information?” Grace says, disappointed.

“You amateurs,” he says. “When a confidence man like Tomas says nothing is going on, then you know something big is about to break. It’s like the quiet before the storm. Only I’m the one he never lies to and for him to play that line on me is not good. Understand?”