One of the Girls(77)

Sam Maine.

She’d liked him. Teased him.

And then …

She’d killed him.

Bella pulled the wrap tighter around her shoulders, the torch on her phone swerving haphazardly as she stumbled on.

She’d not told any of her friends the truth about why she’d left nursing. Instead, she’d repackaged it as a lifestyle change: ‘Swapping bedpans for diamonds,’ delivered with a beaming grin. What bullshit! She’d loved being a nurse. It was more than a job – it was part of who she was, how she felt about herself.

Ahead, she caught the distant lilt of a voice. She peered along the path as it ascended towards the highest point of the clifftop. She climbed further, a sharp stone pressing into the base of her heel.

As she emerged at the top, she could see Robyn sitting on a boulder near the cliff edge.

Little Robyn.

Even now her heart did something complicated when she saw her – part flutter, part sinking.

Robyn was looking away and, as she moved, Bella saw she was sitting with someone else.

Fen.

In the darkness, neither of them had seen her approach. Bella turned off the torch on her phone. Watched.

They were sitting close to one another, their heads dipped low as if in urgent, private dialogue.

She wondered if they were speaking about her. She hated that feeling of entering a room and voices being lowered, a flick of eyes in her direction. She would join them, she thought, make her apologies. If Bella was good at one thing, it was saying sorry. Quick to fire, but quick to cool, that was her saving grace. She’d always seen the value of a good apology. She’d start right now with Fen – try at least to salvage a strand of friendship.

She walked towards them, beginning to feel a little more optimistic, when she noticed something about the way they were sitting. Their hands were linked.

Why would they be holding hands?

Her gaze rose to Robyn’s profile. Her chin was tilted, gaze locked on Fen’s.

An icicle of dread pierced between her shoulder blades.

No …

She was frozen to the spot, watching. Waiting.

They leaned towards each other – and kissed.





70

Robyn

Robyn was so deep in her body that she was flesh and sinew and blood and heat and movement.

No thinking.

Just feeling.

Being.

A low exhale of pleasure slipped through her lips. She pulled back for a beat – only enough so that she could look at Fen.

Fen was smiling, moonlight catching in her eyes. ‘Wow.’

Robyn grinned, heart soaring.

The moment stretched and widened, the two of them held by the night, something expansive opening in her chest.

She couldn’t stop grinning.

Somewhere behind Robyn’s shoulder, there was the slide of earth beneath a foot. She was pinned so firmly in the moment with Fen that she didn’t notice. Didn’t register the shape of someone else on the clifftop, watching them.

‘How could you?’

Robyn’s head whipped around, smile sliced from her face.

Bella was standing there barefoot, a blood-red wrap cloaking her shoulders. Her face looked pale, lips dark and wide. Sand and dirt streaked her shins.

Robyn shot to her feet at the same time as Fen. ‘Bella!’ they both said, with stinging synchronicity.

Then silence.

The sea licked coolly at the foot of the cliffs. Silver stars knifed from the sky.

Three women standing on a clifftop in the dead of night.

‘How could you?’ The quiet disbelief in Bella’s question sent a chill through Robyn.

Bella’s wide, shocked gaze slid to Fen. ‘This morning … We only broke up this morning!’

Fen said, ‘I know. Shit. I’m sorry.’

‘I’m in love with you. How could you?’

‘Bella … I’m so sorry. I’ve hurt you.’

Bella looked unsteady, as if her legs were threatening to buckle. The edge, Robyn thought. She’s too near. ‘Bella—’ she began.

Bella’s attention cut to Robyn. ‘You!’ Her lips pulled back in contempt, her entire posture shifting, drawing up. ‘You fucking bitch!’

She deserved it. She knew she did. She shouldn’t have kissed Fen – yet every cell in her body had been driving her on. She opened her mouth to say something, to apologise, to try to explain, but Bella was speaking: ‘Straight little Robyn. That’s what you’ve always wanted people to think, isn’t it? But I knew! I fucking knew!’

‘I didn’t—’ Robyn tried.

But Bella was already finished with her, turning towards Fen. ‘Is little Robyn here pretending she’s never kissed a woman before? Do you think she’s fallen for you? Because it isn’t the first time – is it, Robyn?’

Heat burned in her cheeks. She could feel Fen’s focus turning towards her.

‘Robyn and I have history. She told you about that?’ Bella demanded. ‘Has she?’

Into the silence, Fen said, ‘No.’

Bella looked square at Robyn as she said, ‘Robyn is the first woman I slept with.’

Robyn’s eyes startled wide. First? No, that couldn’t be true. Bella had always been so open, so bold about her sexuality. Robyn had thought there’d been numerous others before her. ‘I … I had no idea …’ she whispered, her voice wavering.