“Yeah. We should.” Sitting up, my back rests against the headboard. The memory of the last time Crew was in this room floods my mind. The sounds he made below me—desperate and needy. The way he writhed beautifully with my mouth around him.
“What is going on with you lately?”
“Uh, what do you mean?” Why I’m choosing to play dumb is beyond me.
“You’ve hardly spoken to me since summer started, and you clearly weren’t thrilled to have me come here.”
“Calina, I told you. I wish you had given me a bit of notice. I had plans and you trampled through them.”
Her eyes narrow on me once again as she huffs. “Oh, I’msorry, Anderson. Sorry for wanting to see my fucking boyfriend. How dare I?”
“It’s not always about you, Calina. There are other people to think about and now Crew’s feelings are hurt because I had to cancel on him.”
“Hisfeelingsare hurt? You act like he’s fucking in love with you. He’ll get over it.”
“Whatever, Calina. Can we just stop this and get along?” She’s here until Sunday. I can play nice until then. Break up with her before she leaves. It would be rude for me to make her leave as soon as she got here. Flying is stressful. So, really, I’d be helping her by waiting to dump her.
Yeah… that’s it. I’ll wait because it’ll be better for her. Not at all because I’m a coward.
***
The universe is out to get me for cheating on Calina. That much I’m sure of. Either that, or Knox and Aston got word of my situation with her and thought it’d be fun to make it as uncomfortable for me as possible. It’s honestly probably the latter… and more Knox than Aston, seeing as how Aston doesn’t have a fucking clue about me and Crew.
It’s a warm, sunny day, so we’re out on the boat with them and my parents. We have a cabin near the port on the Salish Sea, so summers on the water are a regular occurrence for us. This is Calina’s first time on a boat—apparently, there isn’t much boating done in Russia or in Montana. She’s beside herself with excitement, while I couldn’t be more unenthused to be here.
“So, Mrs. Walker,” Calina starts, and I internally grimace. “This is a lovely boat you guys have.”
My poor mother. To anyone on the outside, she looks fine. Polite. But I know her, and she’s uncomfortable as fuck being here with her, knowing we’re going to break up in a few days.
“Why thank you, dear. We sure love it.” She smiles before tossing back the rest of her spritzer. I guess Mom’s getting sloshed today to offset the awkward air surrounding the boat.
“Do you guys come out here for Labor Day? I was thinking about maybe coming back here to visit Anderson for Labor Day before we go back to school.”
I sputter, the Bud Light I just took a swig of going down the wrong pipe. Knox snickers, watching me from the other end of the boat. He’s getting way too much enjoyment out of my predicament.
“You okay,detka?” She rubs circles on my back as I continue to choke—hopefully to death, because that would be better than this.
“Yeah, fine,” I croak. “Swallowed wrong.”
Thatreallysends Knox into a fit. He can barely contain his fucking laughter. Glaring at him and flipping him off, I turn my attention back to Calina and my mom. “We don’t usually go out on the boat for Labor Day, Cal.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay. I can still come and see you.”
Thankfully, Aston butts in and starts talking about some art shit he’s working on. I check my phone, hoping to find a text from Crew… even if it’s one of him yelling at me. But of course, I don’t see anything. Why would I? He’s pissed at me, and he has every right to be. None of this is fair to him.
I’m too busy feeling sorry for myself, so I don’t hear Calina trying to get my attention until she whacks me on the arm. “Ouch. What the fuck?”
“I said I wanted to take a selfie with you, Anderson. Smile.” She holds her phone in front of my face as she leans into me. “Come on. Really smile.”
I force my lips to tug into a smile as she snaps the picture, quickly leaning up to kiss my cheek as she snaps another. A squeal sounds from her as she scoots back over, returning her attention to her phone.
“So, Calina.” My eyes fly to Knox across the boat, where he’s grinning like he’s so fucking pleased with himself. “Are you excited to be here visiting Anderson?”
“I am,” she squeals. “It’s beautiful over here. Nothing like where the university is. It’s so green!”
“You live in Montana, yes?”
“Yup! My family lives on a ranch. We have horses and cows and chickens. I was thinking of having Anderson come visit sometime soon.” She looks over at me, a coy smile playing on her lips. “Maybe meet my parents.”