Grand Lies by JC Hawke

33

Nina

They wereall in on it: Charlie, Elliot, Lance, Scarlet and the girls. Was I the only one who didn’t know? I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed. As much as I want to get away with everyone, what I wanted and needed was a girls’ trip.

Mase hasn’t stopped smirking at me the entire flight—and it’s a long one. Spain turned out to be a decoy and we are currently on our way to Bora Bora on the company’s private plane.

He thinks he’s hilarious, and he kind of is. He got me on my knees with his sulking, and it didn’t take a lot. I give myself a mental slap for being so stupid. As if he would be so chilled with me leaving him for a week.

“You’re glaring,” Elliot mutters in my ear.

He steps around me and drops into the empty seat next to me.

“Why does he have to look so smug? And why was I the only one who didn’t know? It’s Lucy’s birthday. She is the one who should have been surprised.” I’m moany and ungrateful, but I hate that they didn’t tell me.

“You would have come along if he asked?”

“Probably not, but still.”

“He’s trying to make it up to you; go with it.”

“Things would be so much easier if he didn’t have money.”

Elliot pops a brow at me. “Do you really believe that?”

I shrug, looking towards the girls who are standing at the bar. Lance is making them all cocktails.

“I don’t know. I just wish I didn’t feel like everything is in aid of something. He throws money at anything that doesn’t go his way.”

“Wouldn’t you? If you had enough money, would you not make sure the people around you were safe and secure?”

Is that how Mason sees it? Is that his only goal? Deep down in my gut I know he is a good person.

It’s why I’m still here.

“I suppose it depends who you have to step on to get that security.”

“You have to be ruthless in this game, Pix. You’d be surprised how many people only attach themselves to him for his money. I’ve had it my entire life, my parents, too.” His eyes move from Mason to the bar, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s Lucy who has drawn his attention.

She has her head thrown back, laughing freely. Her denim shorts sit high on her hips, and a black bralette scarlessly covers her chest. She looks hot.

“Why pink?” he remarks.

I drop my head back to the seat and laugh lightly. “She’s just trying something new. You don’t like it?”

He draws his head back to look at me. “It’s different.”

“I’m watching you, Montgomery.” I grin.

“Hey, you know nothing is going to happen there.”

“Why not? You’d be like… Barbie and Ken. You’re kinda perfect for each other.”

“Luce is the girl you marry. She’s not the type of girl you pick up on the weekend. I’m too young to get married, and she isn’t my type. At all.”

“Okay! There is so much wrong with what you just said. Firstly.” I hold up one finger. “You’re the same age as Mase, right? When is the right time to settle down?” I release a second finger. “Secondly, what is your type? If that’s not it.” I eye Lucy and her long, tanned legs. “Thirdly.” I snap my fingers, bringing his eyes back to me. Yeah, he likes what he sees. “The type of girl you pick up on the weekend? That was me, asshole. I was that girl. And because of you and your promise…”

He grins wide. “You’re not like the girls Mason used to pick up. Trust me. I didn’t even remember that promise until I met you.”

“Why did you pick me?” I ask, my fingernails digging into the armrest.

It’s not something I’ve ever thought about before, but now he’s mentioned it, I feel almost desperate to know why.

He starts checking off his fingers like I just had. “Hot. Not a psycho.” He shrugs, and we both laugh.

I don’t know why I expected anything else.

“Move it, Montgomery,” Mason demands, looking down at us curiously.

Elliot gives me a wink as he moves past me and over to the bar, where he throws his arm around Megan. I watch as Lucy’s eyes follow him. “Something is going on with those two.”

“Who?” Mason asks, draping his arm over my shoulder and bringing his lips to rest against my hair.

“Elliot and Luce.”

“No,” he says, sounding so sure. “Luce isn’t Elliot’s type.”

“Why?”

Elliot said the same thing, which is frustrating. Call it women’s intuition, but there’s definitely something there.

Mason sits square in his seat, stretching out his legs. “She just isn’t.”

“Is he gay?”

He seems to choke on air because the next moment, he is bent over trying to clear his airway and control his hysterics. I sit staring at him, unamused, waiting for him to calm himself.

“No, definitely not gay,” he tells me.

“Well, I can see it with them. I’m calling it.”

He sits up in his seat and pulls me onto his lap so I’m straddling him. “Let’s make this interesting.” I look around at our friends, but none of them are watching us. “How long?”

“How long what?” All I can think about is how long his cock is right now, pushed up against me.

“Get your head out the gutter. Lucy and Elliot.” He rearranges me on his lap, lining himself up perfectly. It’s just the right amount of friction.

“Mase,” I warn.

“How. Long?” He draws out the words as if he knows what they are doing to me.

“I don’t know.” I try to form a coherent thought. Luce told me she isn’t interested. It’s just a feeling I get with those two. “A year?”

“A year? Shit, I’ve got this in the bag.” He grins. “So, if in one year nothing has happened between them…” He eyes me warily, unsure. “You have to marry me.”

“What?” I go statue-still. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Completely.” He leans in, kissing my neck.

“No.”

“No?” He pulls away, putting distance between us.

“Absolutely not. Christ, I don’t even think I want to get married, let alone within the next decade.”

His eyes flick around my face, and then he swallows, his hands lingering on my thighs.

“Fuck,” he sniggers. “I should set you up with fucking Montgomery.” He lifts me and places me back in my seat, then turns to look out the window.

Is he sulking?

“Mase? Sorry, that came out wrong.”

“It’s fine. Forget I said anything.”

“You’re mad at me.”

He looks back at me, his eyes softening some before his arm lifts for me to slip under. “No, not at you. Forget I said anything, okay?”

I slide into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. If he isn’t mad at me, then who?

* * *

We landed an hour ago,and if I wasn’t sure before, I’m certain of it now.

Mason is sulking.

We pull up to the villa, and the girls bounce in the seat next to me in excitement. I should feel the same, and I do, but I’m also trying to figure out what to say to Mason to make him understand my reasons. Marriage isn’t something I’ve allowed myself to think about before now. It came out of the blue, and I can’t help my gut reaction. I mean, he sold my studio a little over a month ago. At this point in our relationship, marriage doesn’t feel like the goal.

Trust. That’s my goal.

The girls rush through the door and start squealing in excitement. I squint, shielding the sun from my eyes as I smile up at Mason. He has his arm thrown over my shoulder, and I push up onto my toes to give him a dusting kiss.

“Thank you,” I tell him.

I leave him with the boys and follow the girls into the house.

The villa is breathtaking. It’s set on a private island with only two other homes inhabiting it—one of them being the Montgomerys’. It sits on the edge of the cliff and looks out across the infinite ocean. It’s like something from Lucy’s Pinterest board, only real.

It’s like a shack, but around fifty thousand times bigger and made up of wood and glass panels.

Lucy and Megan are standing in the living room I’ve just walked into. Their faces are just as awestruck as I imagine my own to be.

Wooden beams line the room, which opens up into a state-of-the-art kitchen. Megan takes my hand and pulls me away just as I head in that direction.

“Let’s pick rooms!” she squeals.

“How many are there?” Lucy starts to count the doors as we walk down the corridor and up the steps. This part of the house is set on two levels, and I spin, looking back down the hall where the ceiling opens up, letting the sun beam through four glass panels. This place is insane.

“Six,” Scarlet states, walking up behind us from a different direction with the boys. “Some of us will have to share.”

I try to look around her to see where they came from.

“You’ll have to bunk with me, princess.” Elliot throws his arm over Lucy’s shoulder, but she shrugs him off.

“Uh, no.” She looks offended, and I scoff at her. No sane women would kick Elliot Montgomery out of bed. “Megs, Scar? Looks like we are rearranging rooms,” she tells them, arching a brow and giving them a look that says ‘go the fuck along with it’.

“Add ‘and drinking cocktails’ and I’m down for whatever,” Megan says, already in full relaxation mode.

“You got it, girl.” Lucy winks.

“What’s the plan?” Scar turns, looking at her brother to take charge. “Are we going out tonight or eating here?”

“We can eat here tonight. Get settled, dinner is at eight.” His hand snakes around my waist, and I purse my lips as I look to Luce. “If you need anything. Any of you. Don’t come knocking.”

They all chuckle as he pulls me backwards and through a bedroom door.

“Ma—”

I squeal as he lifts me off my feet and chucks me onto the bed with ease. His top is pulled off over his head, and he is on me in a matter of seconds. “Don’t speak,” he tells me, hiking my legs up around his waist.

These moments with him are my favourite. We don’t need words because they only complicate the easiness that’s between us. The way we fit, it’s perfect. But the words we utter sometimes have a way of bending the corners, making us jagged pieces of the same puzzle.

I want to iron out the creases and make them fit. I just don’t want a marriage proposal, not yet, and maybe not a year from now either.

* * *

Mase

No.

That’s what she told me. No.

Marriage isn’t something I was interested in before Nina. It was never something I contemplated because I had never met someone who I wanted to share my life with.

Now I have, and she doesn’t want it.

I’ve had women throw themselves at me, giving anything for a date. Yet the woman I want to give my world to doesn’t want a part of it, or at least not yet.

She lies asleep in my arms, her head on my chest as her breath fans out over my heated skin. It’s ten to eight, and I know I need to wake her. I just don’t want to. Everything seems better with her locked tight in my arms.

“I’m coming in.” The door rattles and then a thud. “Guys, come on!” Megan, I think, shouts from the other side of the door.

Nina jolts awake, looking up at me and then to the door. “Time is it?”

“Almost eight,” I tell her, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Nina! You have my strappy sandals. I want my strappy sandals.”

She grins up at me then slides from the bed. I watch as she walks naked around our room, her skin smooth and taut. She is fucking perfect. Dropping down to her knees, she unzips her suitcase, and I pull myself up the bed to watch her, grabbing a pillow and covering my semi.

She opens the door, and a hand reaches in to snatch the shoes. “Thank you. Filthy whore.”

She slams the door and spins, leaning back against it with her eyes gently closed.

I love that she doesn’t hide from me.

“I need to shower. Do I have time?” she asks.

“No. But I need a shower too, and guess what?”

She cocks her head to the side. “We are having a shower?”

“Come here.”

“Nuh-huh.” She holds up a finger as I rise to my knees. “We are showering, but separate.”

“That’s stupid,” I protest, dropping the pillow.

“Is it? We know what will happen if we shower together.” She eyes my growing length. “We will never make it to dinner.”

“Well…” I launch the pillow at her. “Put some damn clothes on then.” I stand, my erection only getting harder the more wound up I get.

“Walking around naked expecting me not to want it,” I mutter under my breath as I stalk into the bathroom.

Leaning into the shower, I turn on the spray and wait for it to warm up. She follows in behind me, sliding past and into the heat.

“You’re such a child when you don’t get your way, you know that?”

I step into her, taking her chin between my thumb and finger. “I always get my way.” My free hand finds the back of her knee, and I lift it, wrapping it around my waist and sliding home in one deep thrust. “Always,” I whisper against her lips.

She may have told me no, but the look in her eye tells me she knows.

She will marry me.

Even if I have to drag her down the aisle myself.

* * *

“Better late than never!”Elliot shouts as we walk across the decking hand in hand.

We cross the small path to the outside seating area. It’s spread out on the patio, and the area is littered with lights that Scarlet insisted would set the mood.

Pulling out a chair, I nod for Nina to sit. “So polite, Mr Lowell. Shame you didn’t remember your manners a half hour ago.” She smirks and my cock twitches. That’s the fourth time today. It’s either the heat or there is something wrong with me.

I lean down and whisper into her ear. “Careful, Pix. You know what that smile gets you.”

“It will fall off if you’re not careful, Lowell,” Lance shouts, making everyone laugh.

Silly prick isn’t wrong; I’ve been hard on her today.

We settle in and devour our meal. The food is exquisite and I make a mental note to see Hank later this evening. He’s been with us since me and Scar were small, and I haven’t seen him since last year.

After our food, the girls start working their way through Lance’s famous cocktails. They are all light on their feet and giggling loud before long, and I watch them—Nina specifically—as she looks at something on Megan’s phone.

They have congregated around her and have their heads smashed together as they laugh at something on the screen.

“Give it back.” Nina laughs, leaning in to take the phone.

Lucy grabs it. “Holy shit, Nina.”

“Let me see.” Scar giggles. “Wow, you look incredible,” she tells Nina with wide eyes.

“Guys!” Nina blushes, and I frown.

I want what’s on that phone.

I stand. “Pass it to me.”

Megan looks at me as if I’ve grown two heads. “Fuck off, asshole.” She laughs and carries on.

“Sit down, Lowell,” Lance calls from the other side of the table, a smirk on his face.

“Nina.” I jerk my head for her to come to me. She sticks her tongue in her cheek, holding the phone to her chest. “Come here.”

She shakes her head, grinning wide. “You come here,” she mouths.

I walk to her, needing to see what has caused her to blush. “I want to see,” I tell her, stepping up in front of her.

She passes me the phone, and I look down at the screen. My chest constricts as I take in the image. She is breathtaking. It’s a photo of her, the one she told me about. She is reaching for the camera, but it feels like she is reaching for me. Her dimple is gracing the side of her cheek, and her eyes are locked on the lens.

I look up at her, that same blush from before colouring her face.

“You’re beautiful, angel. You know that, don’t you?”

She looks past me at the boys behind. “Give me that.” She snatches the phone from my hand as I take her into my arms.

“When do you get the photos?” I ask, knowing they are important to her.

“I was supposed to get them this week. I should probably call Joey.”

“Well when you do, I will come with you. I’d like to buy some copies.”

She beams at me, and I give her a soft wink.

I will do anything to keep that smile on her face. It will be my life’s mission.

“Guys, group photo!” Scarlet calls, passing the camera to Lamona, who is one of our staff.

I lean in and give Nina a deep but short kiss, then pull her over to the group. We always have photos by the rocks. Normally as a family or me and the boys. I’ve not been out here with Scar for years, not since we were kids. I never asked if she wanted to get away, and I feel shitty for it.

Looking around at the friends we have now, the girls who both fit perfectly with us and include Scar like she has been a friend for life, and then Nina, who I never expected to bring here. She is the most unexpected—the way she makes me feel.

It’s like this is how it always should have been.

“Get your hand off my ass, Elliot!” Lucy shouts, making us all chuckle.

“Not me,” he says, lifting his hands.

The flash goes off, and the girls all complain. An array of complaints ranging from their eyes being closed, and they weren’t ready. We try five more times before me, and the guys get fed up.

We leave it to the professionals and head for the beach.

* * *

Nina

We siton the smooth sand watching Lance, Elliot, Charlie, and Mase play a variation of volleyball in the sea. I didn’t know what to expect when it came to a holiday away with them all, but this wasn’t it. It’s chilled and relaxing, and I’m having the most amazing time.

“Mase told me he wants to marry me,” I tell the girls.

“What?!” Lucy stammers.

All three of them whip their heads to me, completely speechless. “I told him that I thought you and Elliot would get it on, and he said that if nothing happens between the two of you by next year, then I had to marry him.”

“Wow. Hit us with it bareback and no lube,” Megan exclaims.

I giggle as I lean back on my elbows. They are all still watching me with a surprised look on their face. “I told him no.”

“You did?” Scarlet says, sounding dejected.

“I’m not ready for marriage. I’m twenty-eight years old. I pictured myself being a lot older before all that, if at all.”

“You haven’t been together long, babe. Just think, this time next year you might feel completely different.” Lucy shrugs. “It might be exactly what you want.”

“Am I a bitch for telling him no?”

“Yes,” Megan says at the same time Lucy and Scar say, “No.”

“Helpful, girls, thanks.”

“Sorry,” Lucy mutters. “I think it’s lovely that Mason is already so sure. He’s a smart bloke.” She gives me a wink.

“Hmm, maybe.” I hum, silence falling over us as we lie back and watch the guys in the water.

“What’s it been like at the house, Scar? You doing okay?” Megan asks.

She shrugs, not giving us her eyes and focusing on the horizon. “It’s fine.” She pauses. “It’s a big old house for just me.”

“I can imagine,” I muse, hating the idea of her out at the house on her own.

“I won’t ever leave, though. It’s home, you know.”

“I get it,” Lucy tells her. “Mum and Dad could easily go out and buy a bigger, better house, but it’s home. It’s where they brought us up, and it’s what they’ve made it now.”

The way she says ‘us’ makes my chest warm.

“Yeah, exactly that.” Scarlet smiles sadly, burying her feet deeper into the sand.

“Right, who’s coming for a dip?” Megan jumps up, clearly trying to lighten the mood. Scarlet is rarely anything other than happy and excitable. It’s hard to see her anything less than her vibrant self.

“Heck, yes!” she says, pulling her lavender hair up into a bun as she stands, then jogs off with Megan to the sea.

I sit with Lucy as we watch them in the water together.

“Easy view, huh?” She nudges my arm, smiling out at the gods before us. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen four men so physically fit—playing with their balls out in the ocean. Didn’t know I needed it.” She waggles her brows at me.

“I’m just watching the sunset.” I defend myself, and she giggles.

We fall quiet again as we watch Megan trying to climb onto Scarlet’s shoulders. They stumble, almost making it, but then fall, splashing back into the water with a screech.

“I wasn’t surprised, you know,” Lucy mutters.

I turn my head and catch her frown, her eyes still on the water. “You think that you’re a certain way. That you always leave.”

“Well, I have run out on Mase at every opportunity so far,” I remind her.

“And you always go back. Like how you’d come to mine when your mum was working. You’d have no trouble leaving, getting the space you needed because it was what felt right for you. But you always went back, willing and hopeful for it to be better when you got home.” She looks at me, her lip turning up on one side. “It’s why I knew you’d go back to him. You shouldn’t feel bad about it. And you shouldn’t let it hold you back. Marrying Mason Lowell would be…” I raise an arched brow at her. “Scary. Hot as hell, but petrifying. I mean, he isn’t your typical husband.” She laughs. “But you have to make shitty mistakes to learn. We both know that. And for the record, I don’t think marriage would be a mistake. No matter what he did, you decided to put it in the past.”

I haven’t told the girls about the studio and why Mason sold it. They know he did and that Erin isn’t who she says she is, but I agreed that no one else should be involved beyond that, and the girls never asked questions once I explained it was all I could say.

I run my fingers through the sand beneath me. “It’s the trust thing. It will come in time I’m sure. Or I hope it will. But right now. it’s not there—not fully.”

“Because he sold the studio?” I look at her. “Because of the things that he kept from you, that you have to keep from me?”

“Exactly that.” I chuckle.

“It will come, Nina. I think he’s a really special guy. It’s obvious he adores you.”

I drop my head back and look up at the sky. Soft pink hues painting it a mesmerising shade as the night draws in. The air is warm, and I feel completely relaxed.

“Twenty-nine tomorrow, Luce.” I grin, feeling her lie down next to me.

“Ugh, don’t. I’m getting old.”

“You are not old! You’re in your prime. Embrace it.”

“Remember when we were young, and twenty-eight-year-olds seemed so mature and put together.”

“Uh-huh.” I nod, reminiscing.

“Well, I don’t feel like that. Put together or mature. In my head, I am twenty-one still. I consider going back to uni on the daily, yet I love my job. I can’t hold down a relationship because what I want isn’t real.” She blows out a harsh breath. “I applied for an internship in New York.”

“What? When?”

“Three months ago, I got it. They gave me four months to respond.”

I sit up in a rush, turning to look down at her. “Luce! That’s huge.”

“I turned it down.”

“What?!”

I see her throat bob as she swallows the lump there.

She regrets it.

“I didn’t think I could do it on my own. I’m twenty-nine tomorrow,” she sniggers. “and I don’t feel independent. I don’t feel like I’m my own person.”

“What makes you think you aren’t independent? You’re one of the most grounded people I know, Luce.”

She shrugs, looking for the right words. “I guess it’s me holding myself back, and I feel like I should be loyal to Jean. I don’t know what she’d do without me.”

“The fact you worry about being loyal says everything about your loyalty. Jean wouldn’t let you stay if she knew. You know that.”

“I know, which is why it’s a rubbish excuse.”

“You don’t want to go,” I state.

She shrugs, smiling softly. “My gut told me no.”

“Then you did the right thing,” I affirm. “Don’t ever think you need to be more than you are right now, Luce. You may be feeling a little lost, but I know exactly who you are. So do you, deep down.”

“Thanks, Nina.”

“Always.” I stand and take her hands, urging her to get up. “And don’t worry, there’s always Botox.”

“Piss off, you cheeky bitch.” She laughs, standing and slipping her arm in mine as we head for the shoreline.

* * *

It’s late afternoon,and the girls are all holed up in Mason’s and my room. The boys are sat below us on the patio, their chatter drifting up and into the room.

We have been here for four days and have to go home soon, and I don’t want to leave. Mason is happy here, and I mean really happy, which is remarkable given what he and Scar have endured recently.

I wish we could hide away here forever.

Me and my Mase. The happy version, where there isn’t work and money and responsibility.

I pull open the shower door and frown. Megan is in the bathroom pulling on a floral two-piece.

“I’m pretty sure that’s mine,” I tell her.

“But look how good it looks on me.” She pouts.

“I know, it’s super cute. That’s why I bought it.” I smile, checking her out as I slip on my underwear. “It does wonders for your tits mind.”

“Right!” She sulks as she starts taking it off. Lucy and Scarlet are already dressed and are lying on the bed, looking at something on Lucy’s phone. I drop my towel and start to dress.

I can feel Megan watching me as I pull on the shorts. “Fuck off. It’s my outfit; get your own.” I chuckle.

“I wasn’t looking at that.” She nods to my stomach and frowns.

I look down, running my hand across my belly defensively. “What?”

“Turn to the side.”

I spin and look down in the mirror, noticing Lucy and Scarlet’s eyes now on me also. “I’m really bloated,” I say in annoyance, slumping my shoulders and pulling the shorts higher over my hips. “I’m due on, I think.”

“That’s quite the bloat.”

“Alright! I haven’t been dancing as much. I’m back to it now, though. It won’t take long to lose the few pounds I’ve put on.”

“Oh, please! You look phenomenal. That’s not what I meant, silly.” Megan tries to assure me, but I feel crappy. “You have… a… a little… bump.” Her brows shoot up as she says it.

“Nina?” Lucy questions.

“I’m due on, and I’m bloated. Stop being a dick, Megs!” I tut. “I’m on the pill.”

“Nobody actually said that word,” Megan says.

“But you implied. With your judgey eyes.” I glare, pulling the top over my head.

“Nina.” Megan steps up to me. She isn’t a serious person, but the look she gives me fills me with worry, and my gut twists. “Babe, it doesn’t look like bloat. I’m not being mean. When are you due on?”

Panic fills me as I run my hand over my stomach, trying to think.

Fuck, when am I due on?

“I can’t think.”

“Don’t panic,” Lucy coos, jumping up from the bed and coming to me.

“Do you track your periods?” Scarlet asks.

“Yes, always.” I run my hand through my hair and notice I’m shaking.

I’m on the pill. This is ridiculous. I’ve not been dancing, and they are working me up over nothing. I’ve been in a bikini the whole holiday, if it were anything other than bloat they would have noticed before. I would have noticed.

“Where is your phone?” Lucy starts moving around the room in search of it.

I rack my brain, thinking back to the last time I had a period.

And then it comes to me. “The day I crashed Mase’s car. I came on that night. He almost called an ambulance.”

“When was that?” Megan snaps.

I stare at her. “I don’t know.” Fuck! “I can’t think.”

Lucy takes my hand, her face panicked. “Nina, are you pregnant?”