"She slapped you so hard, you had a red mark on your cheek for three days," Lux says trying to control her laughing as she wipes under her eyes. "Well at least it ended well," Austin says chuckling when he pushes his tongue into his cheek and gesturing with his hand for the head she had given him back in her apartment. "Fuck off," she says throwing a slice of uneaten cucumber at him when she starts laughing again. Their laughing dies down and Austin sighs. "Was a good time, traumatic, but good," Austin says.
"We had a few of those."
"Yeah...wasn't all bad."
Lux's smile fades but Austin is not wrong. He had her laughing till her stomach hurt - but that's the thing. When it was good it was fucking good, when it was bad it was fucking bad - there was no in-between and the bad outweighed the good in the end.
Lux watches as her uncle Frank floats by their table on his back. "Come on in girl, the water is fine," he says then floats away. "Come on," Austin says standing and taking off his hat then pulling his shirt off over his head, Lux turns her head so she can't see his muscles flex. She hates them, his muscles are disgusting. "I am not coming in," she says. "Either you come in on your own accord or I drag you in kicking and screaming," Austin says. Lux sighs heavily then stands and takes off her stetson too along with her sarong, grabbing one of Austin's bottles from the table she wades behind him to deeper waters.
They join the group consisting of Demi, Shawn, all the groomsmen, and bridesmaids including Chance and Austin's cousin. They all have bottles of Austin's wine that they sip on and talk shit. Eventually, though, they all drift off into dark corners leaving Lux alone with Austin. "I would have thought you would have drifted off with the three bridesmaids by now," Lux says.
"I told you I am not interested."
"So? You had them huddled under the tree earlier."
"You jealous, Lux?"
"Hardly. Don't flatter yourself."
"I was telling them how I felt. Making sure there is no miscommunication," Austin says floating closer to her, his hand accidentally brushing against her thigh. It gives her goosebumps. They stay quiet, floating around each other and passing the wine between them. Lux feels like her body gets pulled towards his naturally and before long they are constantly bumping into each other accidentally. It's not on purpose. "You look pretty in the moonlight," Lux says then snorts when Austin looks at her with a cocked eyebrow. "I think someone likes my wine...from my vineyard...in the south of France," Austin says then laughs. "South of France," Lux repeats in a posh Engish accent then snorts again bumping into Austin who wraps his arm around her waist. She does not try to move back.
"Hey," Shawn says as he and Demi float back toward them. "The hotel staff are making a bonfire on the beach for us. Are you guys keen to join us?" Demi asks. "Fuck yeah," Lux says slinging her arm over Austin's shoulder. "I am drunk, you will need to take over from here," Lux says taking another sip from the wine bottle. "How much wine have you had?" Austin asks. "Between one and two bottles...so, fourish," Lux says. "Ok, let's just hand this to Harry to keep safe," Austin says taking the wine bottle and handing it to Harry. "He is drunk too," Lux says. "We all are," Austin says chuckling then moving with her slowly through the water.
"I will never admit it out loud but you did good with your wine," Lux whispers.
"And I will never say thank you."
"You just did."
Austin helps her back to the beach and keeps his hand around her waist as they both wobble slightly up the sand toward the huge bonfire. He keeps her steady while he takes two oversized towels from the resort staff and wraps her up in one then wraps the other around himself. They sit in the sand near the fire and then Lux leans on him as Shawn hands him a beer. She keeps quiet, her eyes growing heavy while Austin laughs and talks with his friends, she could almost be forgiven for feeling like she is nineteen again and sitting on her couch in their apartment while Austin plays video games with her pressed against his side.
Just as she drifts off she feels Austin shift his body, slinging his arm around her and keeping her pulled up tight against his warm body as he throws his head back and laughs at Pete's stupid story about ping pong balls and prostitutes.
Day 3
Lux blinks her eyes open. Her face is smashed into Austin's chest, she is slightly damp, sea salt splattered on her skin, wrapped up in oversized towels and his arms, and beach sand fucking everywhere. Her hair is also sticky with dried seawater, so that's great. She had makeup on last night so she knows her mascara has wandered down under her eyes and possibly to her cheeks too, fuck knows where her lipstick is now sitting. She lifts her head and looks up to see Austin already awake with a soft smile on his lips and hooded eyes, he breaks into a soft chuckle and then runs his thumb between her eyebrows. "Unibrow," he mumbles.
Fucking mother nature, honestly.
"Your wine is the devil's ass," she croaks out and watches Austin's eyes glaze over, it's her morning voice. He had been waiting for it. She clenches her jaw when she feels him - hard as fuck, straining against his swim trunks. But she ignores it, well tries to at least. She needs to derail this moment and quickly.
"What time is it?"
"5 am."
"Why?"
"I...what?"
"Why the fuck are we lying on the beach at 5 am?"
"You fell asleep then everyone started falling asleep so I did what everyone else did and wrapped us up."
Lux lifts her head and looks around, she can see pairs of people huddled together still asleep around the now ash-only bonfire. She sits up and pushes Austin away, he sighs and goes easily - their soft bubble evaporating.
"Lux-"
"You made me cry."
"What?"
"When we were together. You made me cry every day. You never asked me how my apprenticeship was going, you never asked to see any of my work, you never showed me any support, you never took interest in any of my interests, you never told me I looked nice when I made an effort, you never phoned me just because you missed me, you never did anything nice to to see me smile. You also always put me second, dropping me for your friends in a heartbeat. You also-"
"I know, Lux."
"No. You don't. You made me feel worthless, Austin. What did you expect me to do?"
Austin's face darkens suddenly and he sits up, glaring at her. "Are you blaming me for cheating? Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me you fucking another man was my fault? You had a fucking choice, Lux, and you made the wrong fucking one - that's on you not me," he spits out then stands up and storms off. Lux watches him go, biting back her tears. That is not what she had meant. She had not cheated. He always brings it back to her cheating as if anything he did can be excused because she cheated. She had just wanted him to understand how she felt - he never fucking will because he is selfish. Only his feelings mattered back then and nothing has changed now. He is selfish and blames everything on her.
Lux stands and gathers her things then walks up the beach and across the lawn toward her bedroom. Louis meets her halfway up the lawn, jogging up to her in a sweaty mess from his morning run. "If I didn't care about you and saw you cuddled up to Austin on the beach earlier I would say you are a fuckng idiot, a moron and pathetic. But I care so I won't. Instead, I am going to walk with you quietly back to our rooms and have coffee ready on the patio when you come out after your shower so we can look at the itinerary," Louis says slowing to a walk next to Lux. "Thank you, it's much appreciated," Lix says.
The hot shower does wonders and Lux almost feels human again but those deep feelings of pain that she had once masked with an unhealthy amount of anger have surfaced and she can't push them down. Austin had been horrible to her but make no mistake about it - she had been no angel. She had played on Austin's insecurities and used them to win at a game she had no idea why she started playing in the first place. She had always known he was worried about her cheating. Worried that she was too good for him and it was only a matter of time until someone better came along. But, that was not true, she had loved him so fucking much it hurt. She had been stupid and pathetic - instead of alleviating his worries, she used them to pump up her ego. It had been evil and toxic.
"You have got to be the sexiest woman I have ever seen," Lux hears from behind her at the bar. She pulls her mouth in disgust but slaps a smile on her face when she turns around. Austin is on his way so this jerks timing is perfect. He is a massive tank top-wearing, bald weightlifter who has a sleazy egocentric grin - women hate that, but men think women melt for this type of man so that will only add to Austin's anger. Lux bites her bottom lip and bats her eyes at the man in front of her who has started to sweat. "Can I buy you a drink?" he asks looking slightly nervous with Lux's bright emerald eyes trained on him. "I have a drink," Lux says. She sees Austin enter the club out of the corner of her eye and so she flashes the muscle guy a smile.
"Mind helping me off this bar chair? It's so high and with these thigh-high leather boots, I don't trust jumping down. I run the risk of breaking a heal or worse, my breasts popping out of this tight leather corset when I stumble," she says, her voice sultry. Muscle guy grins then places both hands on her hips and lifts her, she giggles and gasps for added effect. "Wow," she breaths out placing her hands on his disgusting arms to steady herself. Just as he places her on her feet Lux sees Austin's fisted hand come flying straight into the muscle guy's jaw. The muscle guy goes flying but Austin follows him, quick to throw another punch. The muscle guy finally gets his wits about him and punches back. Lux had not meant it to go that far so she grabs Austin but he pushes her back into Harry's waiting hands then turns and punches muscle guy again.
They throw a few more punches before Lux gets free from Harry's grasp and pushes her way between Austin and the muscle guy. She pushes the muscle guy away then grabs Austin's arm and drags him out while he continues to throw profanities at a now bloody-faced muscle guy, Austin's face is no better. "What the fuck was that!" Austin shouts ripping his arm away from Lux when they get outside. She cringes at his face, she had gone too far. "You are a fucking hot head!" Lux shouts back.
"I am a fucking hot head? Luxie! That guy's hands were all over you!"
"He was just helping me down from my chair!"
"What are you? A fucking toddler?! Fuck!" he shouts his fingers going to his split lip. "Aww, baby, you are hurt," Lux coos reaching out for Austin, he bats her hands away at first but when she tries again he lets her pull him into her arms. She feels like shit, she had not expected him to go as far as getting into a physical fight. "He had fucking rings on," Austin groans. "It was hot how you flew in there though," she says batting her lashes at him. "You think so? You liked that?" Austin says grinning then hissing at his painful lip.
"Come on, let's go home. I will fix you up and give you head. Will that make you feel better?"
"Yes. That will help. But, Luxie I see the way guys look at you, you are fucking beautiful. Don't let guys touch you like that again, I mean it," he says. "Ok, I promise," Lux says pulling Austin in even closer.
She didn't do it again, but it was not the last time Austin landed up in a punch-up over a guy that Lux did not reject fast enough. She sniffs back her cry and wipes angrily at the tears that had slipped out. She was such a bitch to him, he never deserved half the things she did to him.