JODIE
I throw my head back and laugh as sweat runs down my skin from the blistering heat from the hot stones in the corner of the sauna.
Turns out, Stella really had thought of everything. Waiting in the car for me was a bag with a bikini that fit me like it was made for me, a towel, cover up, and even a clean set of clothes for later that she’s already confessed to getting Mum involved with.
Leaving Toby behind might have not been a part of my plan for today, but I don’t think it could have turned out any more perfect. These women are… incredible. I’ve barely spent a few hours with them, but their strength, their passion, and above all, their love for their little family damn near takes my breath away. Oh, and also, they’re freaking insane.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard at their stories that my sides hurt. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you actually make my life look fairly normal.”
“Girl,” Stella says with a smirk, “there is nothing normal when it comes to us.”
“You’re all certifiable,” I blurt.
“Hey, now. I take offence to that,” Calli says, fighting a smile. “I was normal until these two hellions crashed into my life.”
“You weren’t normal, Cal,” Emmie argues. “You were just a good little princess all locked in her castle, waiting for her prince charming.”
“And look what I got instead,” she barks, gesturing to both Stella and Emmie. “Two violence-obsessed nymphos. You’re both basically the guys but with boobs.”
Both Stella and Emmie glance at each other before falling about laughing once more, the bucks fizz we’ve been drinking since we first got here clearly having as much effect on them as it is me.
“You wouldn’t have us any other way,” Emmie says, and Calli just shrugs.
I shake my head as I look at the three of them. I barely know them, but I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt like I fit in somewhere quite like this before. I feel weirdly at home. The only other times I’ve felt it is when I’m with Toby. It’s unnerving, but not unwelcome.
“Okay, I think I’m done,” Calli says, pushing from the wooden bench opposite me. “I need to cool off and eat.”
“Same. And despite sweating my arse off, I need a pee,” Emmie says, walking out after her.
I slide to the edge of the bench, more than ready to follow and get out of this dry heat when Stella’s voice stops me.
“You two go on. Jodie and I need to talk for a bit.”
The three of them have some kind of silent conversation that I’m not able to decipher before Calli and Emmie push through the door, allowing a rush of cool air to flow over me.
The second we’re shut back inside the sauna, a ripple of tension goes around the small room that wasn’t there before.
“W-what’s going on?” I ask suspiciously. The feeling of belonging I was revelling in not so long ago has just been completely ripped away, leaving me on edge and anxious for what Stella has to say to me. I want to say that it’s just a ‘don’t hurt my big brother’ warning, but something tells me it’s a hell of a lot more serious than that.
I hold her eyes as she pulls her silver hair back into a fresh ponytail, and I wait for her to gather her thoughts.
She looks like a freaking model sitting there in her aqua bikini, muscles and curves all slick from the intense heat. I have no doubt from what I’ve learned so far that if Seb were here, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her.
“There’s something Toby hasn’t told you yet, and it’s something that I think you need to hear from me,” she says, but despite the concern I can see in her blue eyes, her voice is steady, the set of her body confident.
“O-okay,” I breathe as my heart begins to pick up speed.
“I… um…” That first hesitation from her makes my entire body jolt. Her confidence about whatever this is isn’t as shatterproof as she might like it to seem. “I was the one who killed your brother, Jodie.”
All the air rushes out of my lungs as if she’s just shot me. Silence ensues, and the atmosphere between us becomes so thick it’s hard to even think about breathing.
My head spins, images of Joe and me as kids filling my mind. His goofy smile, his stupid fake laugh that used to drive me insane. His secret geekiness that he didn’t ever want to show anyone outside of our family. How much he cared. How he’d pull me into his arms when I was sad and just make everything that little bit better. His strength. His determination, even when it was to do something that none of us agreed with. Or at least that was what I thought. Now I have to wonder if Da— Jonas was behind the huge change in him that saw him joining the Royal Reapers and turning into a man I barely even recognised.
“Jodie?” I barely hear Stella’s soft voice or the extra heat of her body as she moves closer to me. “Jodie. It’s okay. Look at me.”
Her burning hands land on my cheeks, and I’m dragged back to reality as I stare into her eyes. Eyes that look so much like a pair I’d happily drown in forever.
That realisation brings me back as my tears free fall over her fingers and my body trembles.