Seven Days: The Complete Story (12 page)

“You
okay?”

I think I’ve
had this conversation before. Joel seems to think so, too. He’s
smirking. I know I shouldn’t love it, but I do. He’s so
devilish.

“Yep.
You?”

“The best.”
Nicholas pecks my shoulder again. He shuffles closer so that the
length of his body is touching mine. I roll over, hooking my leg
over his hip. I feel rather naughty, like doing this is so wrong.
But it feels so right.

“The best,
huh?”

He nods
slowly. I can see the lust in his eyes but it goes deeper than
that. Way deeper. It’s the way I feel too.

“I’ll see your
‘best’ and raise you an ‘awesome.’” Forgetting that we agreed I
should never see who does what or how the boys look in daylight —
except when they’re clothed, of course, I slide my hands between
us, taking Nicholas’ erection in my fingers, rubbing it against me.
He doesn’t move but smiles, allowing me to control what’s
happening, feeling me pushing my suddenly needy body onto his.
Behind me, Joel plays around the crack of my bottom. His hard
length is thrusting slowly between my legs and his hands are
squeezing my breasts. Nicholas bites into my neck. Every nerve in
my body is on fire. My breathing elevates; my heart pounds out of
control. They’re going to tip me over the edge without even doing
it at this rate.

“Sadie?
Anybody home?” It’s Emily.

“Fuck.” Joel
sits bolt upright in the bed.

Well, not
literally, we were just getting to that.

“What’s she
doing here?” Nicholas asks.

“
Shhhh
!” I hiss. I hear Emily’s heels clicking down the
hall. Five more seconds and she’s going to be opening the door and
exposing me for the slutty thing I am.

Oh shit. Oh
shit, shitty, shit.

I scramble
from the bed, trying to untangle my foot that’s become twisted in a
sheet as I go and accidently punching Nicholas in the side of the
head in the process.

“Jesus, Sadie,
that hurt.”

“Shut. Up!” I
fall flat on my face on the floor, my naked bottom in full view,
and for some reason I feel very embarrassed. Why? I don’t know. I
mean, the boys saw every bit of me up close last night. It’s
nothing new.

“Sadie? Are
you okay?” Emily calls.

God, what is
with everyone and asking me if I’m freaking okay today?

“Yes, yes. I’m
coming. I just banged my knee on the chest of drawers, that’s all.”
I grab my robe from the chair and wrap it around my body before
rushing to the door. “Stay there,” I order the boys. “And don’t
move a muscle. Don’t even breathe. I’ll get rid of her
somehow.”

I slither out
the bedroom door, holding it closed behind me. I fluff my hair and
attempt to look un-bedded and less hung over. My smile is strained
and tight.

“Hey, how was
your night?” My voice cracks as I speak and I know Emily knows I’m
up to something. I cough and clear my throat. She’s looking at me
oddly, like I have two men in my bedroom or something.

Oh that’s
right. I do.

“Fabulous.
Alex is so nice, a real gentlemen. I told him I wasn’t up for some
holiday shag and he was perfectly fine with that. I’m meeting him
for dinner tonight. I hope you don’t mind. I came up here to spend
time with my bestie and I feel like I’m blowing you off.”

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.

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.”