Against All Odds

Chapter 5

I would never admit it, and nor would he, but I had a feeling we both knew it.

And now, as I caught a fleeting glimpse of his achingly handsome face, my stomach twisted with something I didn't want to identify.

He tracked me as I walked with Sadie, arm in arm, and I thought I saw a muscle working in his unshaven jaw, but then his lips pulled tight, the tiniest of smiles lifting one corner into his cheek.

Perhaps, I realised- hoped- there was some civility left in us yet, and I rather construed that miniscule, devastating smile as a tentative peace offering.

I whipped around, stumbling over the uppermost step while Sadie continued to natter my ear off, and picked up the final bits of her conversation as she led me inside. Entering the house, I was met with high double-vaulted ceilings that offered plenty of light and space. The foyer was tastefully decorated, Sadie's mum being an interior designer, and immediately swept into a floating staircase. The house was three storeys, and her parents had the money and the foresight to install a damn elevator of all things – for when Sadie's ageing grandparents visited.

Not that I wouldn't put the thing to good use.

I don't think a place like this was attainable for any of us presently- if ever, for me. It had been astoundingly generous of her parents to grant the wedding party the house for the week considering the shenanigans we had gotten up to in our youth in this very place.

"Where are the others?" I asked, my voice echoing against the high ceilings and the empty foyer. I would have thought with more of us about, normally a rambunctious lot, there would be more... chaos and noise.

"Mia will arrive tomorrow afternoon," Sadie explained, urging me towards the stairs and I gave the glass doors of the elevator a longing look. We began to ascend slowly, the floor to ceiling glass allowing the vista to dominate the view. Aloes and a coastal shrub rolled over the short expanse of dunes, leading to a clear and uninhibited coastline and the cerulean waters of the ocean, a constant murmur from the waves crashing upon the shore muted by the interior of the house. "She got caught up in a project that couldn't wait, and Braylee will be down soon after that. Dom is landing in the next few days."

"Dom is coming?" I grinned as the last I had heard was that Dom's work hadn't approved his leave to attend a destination wedding. "That means... seven of us in the house."

"The couches are big enough." Sadie shrugged. "Besides, it's not like we haven't had loads of people in this place before and found places to crash."

"True story."

There were two bedrooms on the second floor, two on the first, and two on the ground. The two top floors had the best rooms, with sweeping wrap around balconies and stained wicker furniture to match the coastal feel of the building. All the bedrooms were equipped with a double bed, at least, and slatted wooden blinds to cover the expansive windows and sliding doors.

I loved staying at the house as it always reminded me of a luxury beachside holiday- emphasis on the luxury. Normally, staying at a resort or hotel that compared to this place would set me back a couple of months' earnings, therefore it was an expenditure I rarely could afford unless someone actually paid me to do it.

Which did not happen often.

Sadie led me to a bedroom on the topmost floor and I threw myself upon the mattress, the smell of crisp clean linen making me sigh in pleasure. "God, I love this house," I muttered into a pillow, feeling the mattress dip beside me as my friend joined me on the bed. "I don't see a romantic turn down though," I added dryly, lifting my head to cock an eyebrow at her.

Sadie grinned, playfully rolling her eyes. "I bought roses, but they were so pretty I didn't want to pull out their petals to toss atop a duvet you're only going to kick off in the middle of the night anyway," she explained, then pointed at the air conditioning unit attached to the opposite wall. "One small problem- it isn't working."

"You're joking."

"You live in the desert, why are you giving me that face?"

"Because I am spoiled!" Petulantly, I tossed a pillow at her. "Fine, fine! I can forgive the lack of roses and the lack of air conditioning-"

"You can use the ceiling fan-"

"But I was promised something else for my troubles." I gave her my best puppy dog eyes and Sadie laughed.

She reached under the pillow she was leaning against and procured a bottle of tequila that she shook in front of my nose. "I hope you intend sharing," she admonished me when I made a grab for it.

From downstairs, the two men could be heard grunting and complaining about hauling luggage inside. The gentle whir of the elevator being activated met our ears.

Lucky bastards.

"Pfft," I said, my ears and skin pricking at Killian's sonorously accented baritone, "I need all the Dutch courage I can get."

"Then you're drinking the wrong thing," Sadie remarked while I grappled at the stopper of the potent alcohol, settling on scraping it open with my teeth when my fingers couldn't find leverage. "Speaking of, how was the drive?"

I knew exactly what she was getting at, but right then I couldn't truthfully say how it was because I was hardly sure of where exactly I stood with Killian. So I shrugged, the bottle opening with a pop, and I took a hefty swig before passing it over to the other woman. "He's not fond of me, which is to be expected, but we have managed a level of civility, which is saying something," I explained cautiously, unwilling to allow introspection about my and Killian's relationship to take precedence when my friend's big day loomed. It was, after all, a week to celebrate the love between two very special people in all our lives. "There is nothing to say, Sades, now you have to fill me in on all the wedding drama. When do I get to see the dress?"

There was nothing a bride liked doing more than gushing about her upcoming nuptials, and I listened with rapt attention as Sadie indulged me of all the things that had gone wrong, and all the things that had gone right, in preparation for the wedding.

During her explanation, Sipho came inside to deposit my bags and then promptly showed Killian to his room, which I discerned from their echoing conversation was one level below mine. I tried not to let that knowledge unnerve me... but it did something.

I wondered if this massive six bedroomed house was big enough, after all.