Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I don’t want to fight with her, but that’s what’s going to happen if we continue any further down this road. "You know what? We should spend the day at the beach today. I’m not needed here until later. It’s really beautiful."
Her pretty chocolate colored eyes search my face, but I stand quickly before she can make any assessment. "Okay. Sure. That sounds good."
"Drag your suitcases in here. You can stay with me."
"Lachlan offered me a room in the hostel," she says quickly. "I don’t want to disrupt your time here…you know…be the world's biggest cock-block."
I snort, shocked at her quick turnaround to humor, and grateful too. "I’m sure if I need some cock, I can go to someone else's room."
"As long as it’s not right next to this one, that’ll be fine with me."
"You don’t want to hear the grunting and groaning of more than ten orgasms?" I ask.
"Believe me, I have that shit ringing in my ears already."
We both double over with laughter, but even though I can have this happy moment with my friend, it does nothing but paper over the burden I’m currently carrying.
Spending the day at the beach with Kyla is so much fun. We sunbathe in bikinis, gossiping and eating chips and candy. I get a chance to forget about my worries, forget about what’s happening with Cloud 9 and Barrow, and just be a lucky woman on holiday with a friend.
"Who’s the brooding one?" Kyla asks me.
"You mean, who’s most like Carl?"
"Yeah."
"That would be Lachlan."
"The Scottish one?" She lets the white sand trickle through her fingers, staring into space as though she’s thinking about Carl back home and missing him.
"Yeah. He actually reminds me of Carl a lot."
"Does he spank you?" Kyla asks, blushing when she realizes she’s revealed a little more about her relationship with Carl than she intended.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"The bossy controlling ones seem to like a little spanking."
We giggle and I roll onto my front, resting up on my elbows so I can scan the beach. "Mitchell reminds me of Noah."
"Do you have a matching man for each of mine?"
"Probably." I poke the sand with my finger, making a hole, before smoothing it over, wishing that real life troubles could be so easily mended. In the distance, I spot Jared and Joshua, heading down the beach with their boards. "Oh, and I have one spare."
"Oooo…A different one. Which one’s that?"
I swat my friend's arm, watching as she follows my gaze. "I don’t know. I haven’t compared our boyfriends one for one. Is it just me who’s finding this conversation weird?"
"Lex has a thing for food. Does Bradley?"
"And Bryce. Jared and Joshua have a hard-on for surfing."
"Yeah, I don’t have any men like that. Mine have a hard-on for tattoos and me!"
We laugh as I watch Jared and Joshua jog into the water with their boards under their arms. In their wetsuits, their muscular bodies are perfectly outlined, leaving nothing to the imagination.
"Did you manifest all this?" Kyla asks me, frowning at the horizon where more surfers gather waiting for the perfect wave.
"Manifest?"
"Yeah. You know…the huge trend for positive thinking. You imagine yourself getting everything you want, and the universe sends it to you. Like a magnet attracting pins and nails."
"You think I jetted halfway across the world and imagined gathering a harem of nine men and a bar?"
"I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. It seems like a huge coincidence that this would happen to you too. An amazing coincidence," she adds quickly. "Although, a home-grown harem might have been better for the long term, you know, for when you come back."
"I wish life was so easy," I say, sitting up and hugging my sun-warmed legs. I find Jared, or maybe Joshua, standing on his board as a wave pushes him toward the shore. It’s as though he’s floating over the water, a master over nature. His brother follows almost exactly mimicking his movements, and I remember how they were with me the first time we were together. Like two sides of the same coin, always in sync with each other.
"You wish you could manifest the things you want?" Kyla moves to sit like me, her gaze following mine.
"The things I want seem to come easy to me," I say. "It’s me who isn’t easy."
Kyla’s silent for a while and I know she’s working hard to find the right words. She’s cautious where I’m forthright, kind when I’m no nonsense. "They’re really good at that, aren’t they?" she says, eventually.
"They’re really good at a lot of things."
"I’m happy for you," Kyla says softly. "Maybe you didn’t manifest them. Maybe the universe sent you exactly what you needed."
"If the universe thinks I need a fuck ton of great sex, I’m happy to leave myself in the universe's hands." I grab two big handfuls of sand and toss them towards the lapping ocean, and Kyla does the same.