The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(102)

“My point was, I’m allowed to have friends, as do you. I feel like it’s been a problem recently.”

He rolls his eyes and turns away from me. “You’re being dramatic. I didn’t even say anything about Charlie.”

My shoulders drop, and I sigh, not knowing why I brought the conversation up. “It was written all over your face, Max.”

“All of this over a look,” his tone bites, eating away at my fire.

A fire that’s not been there for a long time.

“I said I didn’t want an argument. I don’t want to do this on the first night.”

“Unbelievable.”

“I’m sorry, okay. It doesn’t even matter.” And it doesn’t. It hasn’t ever concerned me that Maxwell messes around with other women. Our relationship, if you can even call it that, is just that.

A relationship.

It’s two people connected by a level of trust. I know what he trusts me to know, and he knows what I allow him to. It’s not love, or lust or anything to cry over when it ends—which it will. I plan to come home after my internship finishes.

He’ll remain a friend.

It’s probably the most emotionless relationship I’ve ever been in.

He helps me by being a pillar, and I help him by being there at the end of a day. Takeouts, and nights with our friends, it was good.

It got me through.

There have been times when I would’ve crumbled in the last three months, but he never let me. Between him and Ralph and the odd call from Mum or Nina, I’ve managed to live this wild dream.

“You need this break too, Max. I want you to enjoy it.”

He nods his head and pulls me into a hug. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just enjoy it here. It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth.”

“I’m going to shower before dinner. What time do we need to be down there?”

“Six.”





29





Lucy





My feet hit the uneven sand as I jog from one side of the beach to the other. With the sun on my face and the warm air seeping in and out of my lungs with each breath, I feel the weight of the world slip away. I feel relaxed and sated on the island, and a million miles away from New York, my job, and even my home.

This was exactly what I needed, and if Nina hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have come. I’d have stayed home all because I didn’t want to bring Maxwell.

I meant what I told him last night. He really does need a break away from home.

I come to a stop at the shoreline, my chest heaving as the waves roll against my ankles. I watch as my feet get eaten by the wet sand.

My mind drifts to dinner the night before, and the reason I wanted to clear my head this morning.

Mason was as cold as he was when we first arrived, not paying Maxwell or me any mind as if we weren’t even there. I wish I could brush it off and give his mood right back, but I can’t. I feel sick to my stomach to think he might be disappointed or mad at me. It only makes me wonder how Elliot is. He hasn’t answered his phone or texted me back in over a week, and with Mason’s frosty demeanour and everything Nina’s told me, it’s clear to me that he isn’t okay.

My gaze dances along the cliffs and up to the lodge that sits close to the edge. It seems so small from down here, and I can just about make out two people on the terrace.

It’s Nina and Mase. I can see Mason’s tall frame towering over Nina’s small body. He’s hugging her, his hands slipping around and holding her stomach.

If I can have what they have one day, that level of love…

I laugh under my breath and continue my run up the beach. I always hoped Miller would be something more, like I did with all my exes. It never worked out for me.

That happiness I see between the lovers around me…It seems unattainable.

Or maybe I’m just trying too hard.





“Alright, spill it, bitch! We want to know everything.”

To my surprise, Charlie, Mason, and Maxwell all went into the town this afternoon. Mason took Ellis and Waverly to get ice cream, and Charlie needed to see an old friend. Maxwell said he would catch a ride with them and then have a nose around the town.

My jaw almost hit the floor when Mason came to let him know they were leaving, and there’s no doubt that it had something to do with the woman sitting opposite me.

“It’s been so long since we have all been together and alone. Childless too!” Megan grins, sitting forward in her seat and picking up her cocktail. “This is just perfect, right? Talk, please.” She gestures toward me, and it has me smiling right along with her.

“Where do I even start?”

“Maxwell,” Scarlet interjects, nodding her head as she sips through her straw. “Start there.”

“Maxwell kinda showed up right when I needed him.”

“When?”

I look around at the girls, finding them all hanging on the next word out of my mouth. “Maybe I should start with Elliot.”

“I’m a little nervous to hear that part,” Scarlet tells me honestly.

And I’m terrified to tell them. “We started something, you knew that. It was right before I left.” I rush out the words, but none of them look surprised. It makes me a little more comfortable talking about it. “We did things at the showcase, that’s when all this started. He told me to go to New York. He was in my ear, telling me it was the best thing for me and that I’d regret not going. All the while, he had control of those balls.” I take a large gulp of my cocktail to calm myself down.