Page 10 of Midnight Mooring

Like now.

Like I was something special.

And also like he wanted to devour me whole.

“Hi, Forde,” Sue interrupted. “What can I get you?”

“I’m just here to help Cameron with the drinks.”

I caught sight of Kenan out of my peripheral as he passed us, shooting me a look that could kill.

I was also very much used to that, though mostly from the women who were desperate for Forde’s cock and pissed off at me because we’d always had this flirty vibe between us. If I was in the vicinity, Forde gravitated toward me. It was an undeniable pull that had only gotten stronger after his twenty-first birthday.

Then around three years ago, our relationship started to sour. We’d tried to get it back on track but failed.

That thought hurt so much that I felt this overwhelming, suffocating need to get away from him. “I’ll take these to the table if you can get the others.” I didn’t give him a chance to reply, already hurrying away.

I’d come home with grand plans to reinvent my friendship with Forde. To put him in a clear-cut box of boundaries where he was more of an acquaintance than a friend. All so I could finally make the choices I needed to begin living the rest of my life.

Now I realized how naive that was.

There were so many years between us. So many emotions. So many memories. How would I escape that kind of history?

6. Cameron

Twenty-five years ago

As soon as I arrived home from school, Mum wanted me to go back out again to run errands—she wanted a certain cheese from the deli for this pasta sauce she was making to impress her fiancé, Greg. She’d already gotten him to propose, so I didn’t understand why she was still giving him all her time and attention. The thought of Greg and Mum always made my chest burn in this weird way. I kind of thought it was crappy how Mum was hardly around because she had to work so much because my real dad left us and then Greg came along and suddenly, she could make time for him that she’d never made for me and Quinn.

Weird that.

Anyway, I whined about needing to do my homework and she said she’d ask Quinn. Quinn took longer to get home from school because he had a girlfriend. Taran. I really liked Taran. But they were always holding hands and kissing, and I didn’t want to see that. I’d made a deal with Quinn that I’d leave them alone to walk home from school so they could do all that stuff, and in return, he’d take me quad biking with him and Forde.

So far, he had not held up his end of the deal.

Quinn finally got in and Mum immediately sent him back out again for the stuff. My brother didn’t seem to have a problem with Mum the way I did, so he said aye easily. Mum gave an annoyed huff when I said I’d go with him. I just wanted to get out of the house, and I liked spending time with my big brother. He used to make more time for me, but first Forde Dallas came to the island to live with his aunt and uncle, and Quinn started hanging out with him, and then he started going out with Taran. It wasn’t like I didn’t have friends of my own, but to be honest, my friends at school made me feel like rubbish. They said I was annoying. I always said what I was thinking and sometimes they didn’t like that. I was more comfortable hanging around Quinn, Taran, and Forde than any of the kids at school because I didn’t seem to annoy them.

Not long after I’d followed Quinn to the deli, we were heading back uphill from Main Street when I heard someone yell Quinn’s name.

Forde was up on the hill outside the old Victorian guest house that tourists stayed in at their peril.

And he was on a quad bike! It was Forde’s uncle’s bike, but he was always nickin’ it when his uncle was offshore with his fishing crew.

“Let’s go!”

“Cammie, we have to get back …” Quinn’s voice trailed off because I was already running up the hill toward Forde.

As soon as I began primary school, the girls in my class started mooning over the boys they liked. I kind of thought maybe there was something wrong with me because I didn’t fancy anyone. Two years ago, I’d told Taran that and asked if I should be worried. She said I was too young and that one day I’d just suddenly fancy someone. I wondered if that’s how she’d felt about Quinn. At thirteen, Taran was two years older than me and a year younger than Quinn and Forde.

It turned out she was right because the first day Quinn brought Forde Dallas to our house, I’d felt this weird fluttering in my belly every time he smiled. I decided this is what it felt like to fancy a boy.

He was shorter than Quinn, but most everyone their age was. Forde didn’t ignore me like Quinn’s other friends or talk down to me like I was a baby. He was also a big daredevil, and I was eager to impress him by showing him I could be one too.

“Awright, Cameron?” Forde grinned as I scooted to a halt next to him.

“I want to come!”

He chuckled, his dark eyes all glittery in the afternoon sunlight. “Well, that’s up to Quinn.”