Three Words: A Novella Collection (46 page)

I wave a blasé
hand. “Go for it. Really. I’m glad you think he’s nice and you
should take some more time to get to know him. Totally.”

Emily frowns.
“You’re not upset?”

“
Not at all. We can spend the day together and then you can
see Alex tonight. I don’t mind a quiet night in.”

With my two
favourite men.

“
What’s up, Sadie?”

“
Nothing. Nothing at all.” I grip the doorknob tighter. I may
be about to dislodge it from the door I’m gripping so
tight.

“
Have you got someone in there?”

“
Don’t be silly.” I move, blocking Emily from entering. She
can’t find the boys in my room. She can’t.

Emily’s mouth
opens. Her eyes widen. She smiles. “You
so
have. Is it
Nicholas?” And before I can stop her, she sidesteps me and ducks
under my arm in a move worthy of a dance sport champion. She flings
the bedroom door open.

This. Is. The.
End. Of. My. Life. Like. Literally.

“
Well, hello there.”

I follow Emily
into the room. Every muscle in my body is taut. I’m biting my top
lip so hard I’ve drawn blood. There’s an awful metallic taste in my
mouth.

“
Hey, Emily. Good night?” Cradling his head in his hands as he
lounges back on the pillows is Nicholas. He’s naked, of course,
with a sheet covering his lower half. The muscles of his chest are
flexing slightly but he’s looking relaxed and sated, like someone
has just awarded him an Oscar for Best Performance in a Threesome
or Love Triangle.

Emily recovers
quickly. The shock of seeing him in my bed is clearly not what she
was expecting, even though I told her I liked him. Under any other
circumstances, this moment would not have been happening for weeks
yet and she knows it. “Um, yes, thanks. You?”

Nicholas
stares pointedly at me. A cheeky glint appears in his eye. “The
best. I’m hoping for a repeat performance.”

It’s then I
realise the bedroom window is open and Joel has disappeared.

Chapter 9

Later, after
Nicholas has gone home and lunchtime rolls around, Emily and I lay
on the front lawn eating left over pizza from the fridge and
sharing a bottle of Coke. I feel odd about what happened last night
what with the boys and I almost being discovered. I’m not sure I
can go through that again. Even if I’m more attracted to Nicholas
and Joel than I have been to any boys ever, lying and subterfuge
have never been my strong point. The need to see them, to be near
them, however, is so strong it’s like I’m addicted. If this is to
carry on, I can’t do the casual no-strings thing. It’s wrong. Very
wrong. But I can’t have them both at the same time because that’s
wrong too. It’s a lose/lose situation.

I glance to
where Emily is dozing beside me on the grass, recovering from being
up the entire night and seeing in the sunrise with Alex. Even with
her eyes closed she has a smile subtly gracing her face and I’m
glad that, this time, she may have met someone who isn’t a complete
loser. I wish I could talk to her about what’s happened. I need to
share so I can get things straight in my head. I give a sad sort of
sigh. I can’t. Emily might have had a million boyfriends but
there’s no way she’d approve of me carrying on with two guys… at
the same time… in the same bed. I’m stuck on my own on this
one.

After we’ve
been lying there for a couple of hours and the day is getting long,
I turn over on the rug to see Joel and Nicholas coming along the
front path of the house. They’re in shorts, t-shirts and joggers
and Joel has a small backpack slung over his shoulder.

“
Hi,” I beam up at them, refusing to chastise my heart that’s
doing a little flutter dance in my chest. I can’t help myself. I
can’t turn away. Looking at these two is enough to make a grumpy
bear smile. “What are you doing here?”

“
We’re gonna hike up to the lighthouse. We thought you might
like to come too. See the sunset.” Their faces are expectant and I
don’t know if this is some sort of code or if they really want me
to go for a walk. After last night, I’m lucky to know what day it
is. My head has been spinning in sexual circles all day and I
haven’t been able to even clean my teeth without thinking of
Nicholas and Joel and breaking into a stupid grin.

Emily, who has
woken from her nap, sits up on the rug, rubbing her eyes.
“Hey.”

“
Hi Emily. Joel and I stopped by to see if you girls want to
come for a hike up to the lighthouse. It’s only a couple of
kilometres and the view’s pretty spectacular from the
cliff.”

I guess they
do want to go for an actual
walk
then. I don’t know why but
I feel flattened by this news.

Emily looks at
me. “Are you going on this hike?”

I can see in
her eyes she’ll be astounded if I agree. Sure, I go to the gym and
try to keep fit but trekking along a bush track has never been my
idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon. But then I’ve never been
asked to trek through the bush by two gorgeous men.

“
Sure. Why not?” I get up from the grass. “Give me five
minutes to change into something more appropriate and I’m all
yours.”

In more ways
than one.

Emily stays
where she is. “I think I’ll pass. I’m knackered after last night
and I can catch a few more z’s while you’re gone. Have to look my
best for the big date later.”

“
No biggie,” Nicholas says, a smile playing on his lips. “We
should be back by eight or so. The path’s well lit so it’s safe to
walk back after dark.”

I study his
face. Secretly, I know he’s as happy as I am that Emily’s chosen to
stay behind and work on her tan. In our case, three is definitely
not a crowd but four would be.

*****

The walk to
the lighthouse is easy and on the way the three of us chat about
all sorts of things. I know we aren’t in a relationship and I’m
under no illusions that this will ever happen but I feel like I’m
on a date. There’s an anticipation hanging in the air that I find
hard to explain and I’m guilty of contributing to it as much as the
boys. In the few short minutes I had to get changed, I made damn
sure everything was smelling the way it should and my shorts showed
the right amount of leg while still being practical for walking. I
want to impress them, to know and like me for more than sex. Okay,
so I want them to think I’m hot as well, or I wouldn’t have chosen
these shorts but, hey, I’m not a complete idiot.

While we walk
the boys make cute comments about things that happened last night.
They don’t give anything away though and I’m still literally in the
dark about who did what and when. The inference that they want to
go to that place again is clear and my resolve to end this begins
to disintegrate. It’s pathetic that I’m fickle. So freakin’ fickle
it disgusts me.

As we tramp up
the track, Nicholas and Joel take turns holding my hand. They carry
the bag without a hint of jealousy when one tells the other to
swap. It’s weird that they’re behaving this way. I mean, who does
that? What person in Earth wouldn’t feel a twinge of jealousy when
the one they want is with someone else? Their remedy seems to be to
tease me about my ability to faint at nothing and the amount of
bruises and cuts I’ve amassed in the last few days for no good
reason. They move to my apparent lack of experience with men, which
is totally not true. I’ve been round the block a couple of times.
There just wasn’t enough there to make me want to stop and smell
the roses. I wonder if they’d be so jovial and flirty if we’d had
sex when I could see their faces? Would things be different? Surely
there’d have to be a touch of the green-eyed monster? And what
about me? Would I have developed a preference after one time with
them both? If I could have seen their faces as they came, felt the
emotion, would things be different for me?

After about
twenty minutes, we emerge from the bush track. The cliff top
sprawls in front of us and a gravel path winds its way through a
meadow of long grass to the lighthouse. I stop for a second to
catch my breath because, even though I’m fit and the hill wasn’t
steep, it was long and relentless.

“
Almost there,” Joel says, as he points to the huge stone
building towering over the cliff. The structure itself is massive,
stretching into the sky, and I look up taking the spectacle
in.

“
Wow. That’s amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a
lighthouse up close before. It’s enormous.”

“
Where’ve you been, Sadie?”

“
Possibly with my head in the sand.”

“
The view from the cliff is better,” Joel says. “Come
on.”

We sprint for
the last part of the path until we come to an abrupt stop at the
precipice of the cliff. I feel happy and alive despite the fact
that the waves are crashing against the rocks below us and gushes
of water are swirling in treacherous whirlpools around them.

“
I win!” I shout, dancing around like I’m in a
Rocky
movie and punching the air.

“
Who said it was a race?” Nicholas said. He’s panting, so
obviously it was.

“
Anyway, we let you win.” Joel tackles me and the three of us
fall to the grass. As Nicholas keeps hold of my hand, Joel tumbles
me into the grass and kisses me fully on the mouth. So fully, that
my stomach goes woozy and parts of my anatomy that I thought had
been well and truly serviced last night begin to beg for
more.

At last, Joel
becomes still, his body shifting slightly away from mine. He props
his head in his hand, his other tracing patterns along the bare
skin of my arm. He smiles, a slow sensual smile and stares deep
into my eyes. “You’re a cool chick, Sadie.”

“
You’re not so bad yourself.”

“
I like you. A lot.”

I blink back
at him. Please don’t do this, I think. I can cope — possibly — if
this thing is about sex but if Joel starts getting deep and
meaningful, with Nicholas here, holding my hand, it’s weird.
Especially when I know Joel’s not the deep and meaningful type. I
push them both aside and sit up. I take one hand from each into my
lap. I caress them, feeling their similarities and differences. I
turn their palms and examine them.

“
Uh, uh.” Joel pulls his hand away. “No cheating.”

“
But you’re hurt.”

The skin on
the underside of his hand is red and angry. It’s been bleeding.

“
I scratched it out on the reef earlier.”

“
It looks sore.”

“
I’m a big boy. Anyway, it’s no worse than the scratches you
carved into my back last night.”

“
And mine.” Nicholas adds.

Okay. That’s a
little too much information.

We leave the
cliff top and approach the large stone tower. Nicholas opens the
timber door and stands aside so I can step inside before him. I
pause, taking it in — the thickness of the walls, the circular
nature of the building. The sheer size of the staircase as it winds
around the walls is daunting. “Are we going up?”

“
Sort of the point,” Joel says.

“
Are we allowed?” It looks like a private home to
me.

“
Yep. Nick knows the caretaker. It’s cool.”

I stare up
into empty space above. There’s a few levels, obviously with some
type of rooms, but the void is expansive. It’s a long way up. A
long way to fall back down and land SPLAT on the flagstone floor.
“I don’t think I’ll bother, but you go. I’ll wait here.” I plop
onto the bottom step as if to signal my decision.

Joel quirks an
eyebrow. “Are you scared?”

“
Petrified. I hate heights. Enclosed spaces are fine, you know
like with windows all around but any place where I might fall
literally freaks me out. Those stairs are giving me the creeps just
looking at them.”

“
Do you think we’d let anything hurt you? After last
night?”

There he goes
getting all deep again. “No, but that doesn’t make it any less
scary.”

“
Would it make it easier if we told you there’s a surprise at
the top?” Nicholas says.

“
Not if it’s a naked man. I’ve seen enough of those in the
last twenty-four hours.”

The boys
laugh.

“
It’s better than that,” Nicholas says.

What could be
better than that?

Nicholas sits
on the step beside me and takes my face gently in his hands. “It’ll
be okay, Sadie. I won’t let you fall, I promise.” The touch of his
lips on mine is tender and instantly I know — just like last night
— I’m going to do it. I’ll climb that staircase right to the top,
even if I have to do it with my eyes closed because I’d follow
Nicholas into space if he asked me. I’d go BASE jumping if he asked
me. Without a parachute. Okay, well, maybe not that but you get the
idea.

I give a
feeble nod and we begin the long climb to the top of the
stairs.

By the time we
make it to the first level, which is still a long way from our
goal, we’ve settled into a rhythm. I’m walking closest to the wall
and farthest from the stair rail because it opens onto nothing but
air. Nicholas is on the side closest to the rail, shielding me and
holding my hand while Joel brings up the rear only one stair
behind. His hand is on my arse, which is kind of bizarre, but it
makes me feel cosseted between them and very safe. I don’t mind
that they’re helping me either. In fact, I like that they are. It’s
an emotion that’s completely at odds with anything I’ve felt
before. Normally, I’m independent and self-sufficient. I like to do
everything for myself and take pride in the fact that I can. But
the boys bring out something softer in me, a more feminine urge to
be protected and nurtured. It’s nice.