The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(99)

And yet right now, I wish I could tell him that I don’t want him to come away with me.

I wish I could tell him about Elliot but living in a different country and sitting opposite someone I’m not sure I truly know anymore, I’m scared.

What sort of person does that make me? The type to pick someone up and drop them the minute another man shows up?

That’s not me.

Maxwell can’t come to Bora Bora.

Elliot doesn’t deserve that.

Which means I don’t go to Bora Bora.





28





Elliot





The Lowell household is up in arms when we arrive on Friday morning. I look behind me at Charlie and Megan as Mason’s voice bellows through the hall.

“No, you’ve done this on purpose! Why wouldn’t you say something yesterday?”

“You know what would happen if I did. I want us all together, Mase. We need it.” Nina’s voice is pleading, and we walk towards the voices.

“You don’t know what you’re fucking around in, angel. It won’t end well.”

“What won’t,” I ask, stepping into the kitchen.

Mason stands with his hands on his hips, his face grim and his lips flat. “Tell him,” he snaps at his wife.

“Mase!” Nina hisses.

“I’m not blindsiding him. Tell him.”

I frown and look between them. “What is it?”

Nina grits her teeth, looking to the floor before rolling on the heel of her trainers.

Mason huffs and shakes his head. “Lucy’s coming to Bora Bora. She’s bringing Maxwell.”

I hear Charlie tut behind me, and Megan snaps, “What?”

Fuck. I roll my lips and nod. “Alright.” I blow out a breath, my heart hammering against my rib cage.

If only I could control that shit.

“I didn’t want to tell you and you not come,” Nina says, her head still dipped. She won’t meet my eyes. “Luce said she wouldn’t come, but I told her she had to. I’m worried about her, and I just want to see her. She was adamant she wasn’t going to come because of Maxwell, but I knew she had to.”

“So she knows I’m coming, and she’s happy to come. With him.”

Mason looks down at his wife, then back to me. “She thinks you already pulled out when she agreed to come by herself. Nina lied to her.”

My brows rise in surprise. “So, she changed her mind. Once she knew I wouldn’t be there.”

That hurts a bit.

“No, she fought me on it. I made her come, Elliot. I did anything I had to to get her on that plane.”

I nod, laughing under my breath as I feel all the eyes in the room glued to me. “Well, let me make that easy for you. I won’t go. You can see Luce, and I can avoid an absolute fuckfest of a week.”

“No! Please, Ell, you have to come.”

Mason shakes his head and rolls his eyes at her. “I’ll sort the flight details, don’t stress changing anything,” he tells me, stepping past me and walking down the hall.

“Mase!” Nina storms after him, leaving Charlie, Megan, and me in the kitchen.

“You’re really not going to come?” Megan asks, her features heavy with disappointment.

“Would you go?” I reply.

She shrugs and pulls herself up onto the kitchen island. “This is shit.”

“You didn’t know she was coming with Maxwell?” Charlie asks Megan.

She shakes her head. “We’ve barely spoken in weeks.”

“Nina isn’t wrong,” My nostrils flare, and I stand up straight. “Lucy should go. I think you all need to see her.”

Silence falls over us, and I welcome it. I was looking forward to getting away with my friends. I needed it. But I can’t go if Lucy will be there with him.

I’d kill him.

I’d kill her.

Nina steps back into the kitchen after a few minutes. “Can I talk to you, please?” she asks me.

I walk with her from the kitchen and out onto the terrace. She links our arms and hugs my side. “I’m sorry.”

Nothing can stop my smile as I look down at her.

“I know you won’t come with us, but can I tell you some things?”

“You can talk until I tell you to shut up.”

“Deal.” She grins.

“I really want Maxwell to come this weekend. I was actually glad when Lucy said he wanted to come.”

I try to keep my face free of emotions.

“She’s a clinger—we know this. Always searching for her happy ever after and not letting them go when she should. But from what she’s told me, I don’t get why she’s with him at all. Miller was nice. Hugh wasn’t great, but she didn’t live with him….”

“You want to meet him,” I say in understanding.

“I want to know who he is. I want to see how she is.”

I nod. “It’s okay. I get it.”

“I thought the two of you could talk it out. I didn’t think it through, and I’m sorry for that. I was being selfish.”

“Stop apologising.”

“What will you do? We’ll be gone for a week. I don’t want to go without you, and Mase is pissed with me.”