how I’d figured out he was a
musician. ‘It was,’ he said
with a light shrug. ‘I don’t
play anymore but they’re
good. You should go. Check
them out.’
I nodded. I could wear my
green dress.
Just then the door pinged
behind us. A girl with messy
blonde hair and heavy
eyeliner strolled in, her eyes
lighting up the moment she
saw the boy.
‘Hey, Jesse,’ she said in a
husky voice.
‘Hey, Nikki,’ the bike boy
said. He gave me an
apologetic smile and I smiled
back at him and wandered
over to Alex who was busy
filling in the rental form.
‘What’s up?’ I heard Jesse
ask the girl – Nikki.
‘Nothing. Was just passing
by and wanted to see if you
were coming tonight.’
‘Sure, yeah, wouldn’t miss
it,’ Jesse answered.
Nikki glanced over his
shoulder, then walked past
him and snatched up one of
the flyers from the counter.
‘We’re handing these out all
around town. It should be
busy.’ She paused. ‘You
bringing anyone?’
‘Yeah,’ Jesse mumbled
after a beat.
‘Who?’ Nikki asked and I
caught the inquisitive tone to
her voice. Jesse was looking
at the ground while the her
cheeks had started to flush.
‘This girl. She’s here on
holiday. Her name’s Ren.’
Nikki frowned. ‘Ren?’
‘Mmm,’ Jesse answered
looking her straight in the
eye now. ‘She’s nice. I think
you’d like her. She’s really
into music.’
Nikki nodded and smiled a
little sadly. ‘Oh, OK, cool.’
She pushed her hair behind
her ear and glanced over in
our direction, ‘Well, I better
leave you to it. I guess you’re
busy.’
Jesse gave her a brief
smile. ‘Yeah, I’ll catch you
later.’
Nikki walked over to the
door and froze just before she
reached it. ‘Who did this?’
she asked pointing at the
smashed-in door, her tone
unmistakably angry.
Jesse shrugged.
Nikki glared at him.
‘Jesse! Was it him?’
Jesse shot her a warning
glance and her gaze flitted to
Alex and I.
‘OK, fine, we’ll talk about
it later,’ she muttered and
with one last glance at the
door she strode out of the
store, shaking her head and
muttering something under
her breath.
Alex cleared his throat and
Jesse turned, forcing a smile.
He took the rental agreement
from Alex and moved around
the counter to ring it up.
It was then that I noticed
beneath the pile of flyers a
scrap of torn paper peeking
out. I tilted my head so I
could read the words
scrawled across it in angry
black marker pen:
Next time it’ll be the
whole store, Miller, not
just the door.
As soon as we spread out our
towels on the sand Alex was
off, jogging towards the sea.
A row of girls in bikinis all
raised themselves up onto
their elbows to watch him,
their jaws dropping open like
famished baby birds in a
nest. Once upon a time I
might have blown a
sandstorm in their direction,
but now I was older and
theoretically more mature I
decided to let it go. If they
decided to follow him into
the ocean and start flirting
with him I could always opt
for the tidal wave
manoeuvre.
Suddenly something
thunked into the sand by my
foot, diverting my attention.
It was a frisbee. I picked it up
and looked around. A group
of four boys were standing a
little way off, waving at me.
One started jogging in my
direction.
‘Sorry,’ he called as he got
nearer.
I jumped up and tossed it
back to him, directing it into
the wind with a little help
(because frankly my aim
sucked). ‘No worries.’
He caught it in his left
hand. ‘You want to play?’ he
asked. He had reddish brown
hair, freckles and an easy
grin but my experiences over
the last few months had made
me wary of strangers.
Sometimes the sweetest-
looking people turned out to
be the most untrustworthy,
two-faced bitches, and the
scariest-looking people
turned out to be the ones you
could trust with your life . . .
though not always (Carlos
the mafia boss had been just
as homicidally crazy as he’d
looked).
‘No thanks,’ I answered
the boy politely.
‘You sure?’ the boy said.
He was panting slightly and
squinting into the sun.
‘Yeah, I’m not much of a
player.’
Just then someone
appeared by the boy’s side.
‘Neither’s Parker,’ he said,
‘though he tries his hardest.’
It was another one of the
frisbee four. He held his hand
out to me. ‘Hi, I’m Tyler.’
He had dark hair, the
whitest teeth I’d ever seen
and looked like he’d just
stepped out of an advert for
Tommy Hilfiger swimwear. I
shook his hand tentatively.
‘Lila,’ I said, introducing
myself.
‘You here on holiday?’
Tyler asked. ‘I’ve not seen
you around before.’
‘Um, yeah,’ I said. ‘I’m
just here for a few days.’
‘Cool. We’re having a
party Sunday night at
Tyler’s,’ the first one –
Parker – said. ‘To celebrate
fourth of July. You should
come.’
‘Mmmm,’ I mumbled non-
committally.
Out of the corner of my
eye I noticed the row of girls
were all lying on their
stomachs now, as though
they’d been flipped over by a
short-order cook with a giant
spatula. They were all staring
in our direction. One of them,
a girl with long brown hair
and a perfect tan, stood up
and strolled towards us,
flicking her hair behind one
shoulder and adjusting her
bikini straps for maximum
boob exposure.
‘Hey, Tyl
er,’ she drawled
when she got nearer.
‘Hey, Eliza,’ Tyler
answered, taking her in with
an appreciative glance that
rested for an extra-long beat
at boob height.
‘You want to come for a
swim?’ she asked, placing a
hand on his sweaty bicep
before shooting me what I
guessed was an acid look,
though she was wearing
sunglasses the size of dinner
plates so it was hard to be
one hundred percent sure.
Tyler looked down at her
hand, then his gaze darted
over my shoulder and he took
a small step backwards. I
glanced behind me and saw
Alex walking towards us,
water running in rivulets
down his body. Tommy
Hilfiger could step aside.
Alex looked like he’d
stepped out of an Armani
aftershave ad. He stooped for
a towel and his hand come to
rest lightly on my hip. I
leaned into him
automatically.
‘Boys,’ Alex said, by way
of a greeting.
The girl’s lips parted as
she gazed up at Alex and her
hand slid off Tyler’s arm like
a dollop of wet putty.
Parker and Tyler shuffled
in the sand, uncomfortable in
Alex’s presence and looking
suddenly really young by
comparison. Alex had a few
years on them I supposed, as
well as a few inches in
height. He also had the hard-
muscled body of a Marine
and I saw them glance at the
tattoo of two crossed swords
on his arm and the Marine
Corps motto – Semper
Fidelis – and swallow
nervously.
‘Hi,’ Parker mumbled. He
held up the frisbee as though
it was a piece of evidence in
a trial, or a shield. ‘Frisbee,’
he said. ‘We were just
getting the frisbee.’ He
grabbed for Tyler’s arm and
started dragging him away,
all the while eyeing Alex’s
tattoo.
One of the many things
about Alex that I loved was
that, while he was protective
of me, he didn’t act like a
caveman about it. There was
nothing threatening or
possessive about his
demeanour. If Jack had been
there he would have probably
punched them just for
looking in my direction. But
Alex was cooler than that.
We watched Tyler and Parker
run off back to their frisbee
friends, Tyler shooting me a
curious look over his
shoulder as he went. Eliza
stood there for a second
longer admiring the view,
before throwing Alex a
mega-watt smile and
strutting back to her towel.
When I looked over at
Alex he was grinning at me.
His eyes – a striking
aquamarine colour – seemed
even clearer than usual in the
sunlight. ‘Can’t leave you
alone for five minutes,’ he
laughed, whipping the towel
at me.
‘I had it handled,’ I told
him, dancing out of its way.
Just then something
blurred in front of my face.
Alex’s reflexes were quicker
than mine. His hand shot up
and he snatched the frisbee
just before it smacked me in
the head. I saw Parker
standing in the distance
looking horror-struck and
then fearful for his life as
Alex turned towards him.
I prised the frisbee from
Alex’s grip. ‘Allow me,’ I
said, tossing it to the very far
end of the beach, giving it a
little extra throttle to help it
on its way. When I turned
back to Alex he was giving
me that look – the one that
made me feel like we were
the only ones on the beach
and that skinny-dipping was
totally allowable.
‘Did I ever tell you how
sexy you are when you’re
doing your thing?’ he asked,
reaching over and pulling me
towards him.
Freshly-showered I pulled on
my green dress and turned
my back to Alex. ‘Do me
up?’ I asked.
Alex crossed the room in
one stride and stood behind
me in front of the mirror. I
smiled at him as he lifted my
hair – growing out now,
almost to my shoulders and
bleached white in places
from the sun – and did the
buttons up on the dress. He
stooped and kissed the back
of my neck and I shuddered
as his hands slid slowly down
to my hips.
I laced my fingers through
his, feeling light-headed and
suddenly nervous. Maybe
Suki had been right – maybe
this dress would be the key
that unlocked the bunker, so
to speak. Alex gripped my
waist and spun me around,
his lips finding mine
instantly. He kissed me softly
at first, but after a few
seconds my pulse was flying
and his kisses became harder.
His hands moved to cup my
face, to draw me nearer even
as I edged us backwards
towards the bed. Alex lifted
me and lay me down,
pressing me into the
mattress, resting his weight
on his arms. Maybe we
wouldn’t be waiting until I
was eighteen after all. Hell, I
thought, if I’d known the
green dress was the key all
along I would have worn it
every day, whatever the
weather, never mind the
occasion. I didn’t even care if
Nate was in the room
watching us right now.
Thoughts were becoming
incoherent, my brain
disintegrating as thousands
of pleasure signals tangled up
my synapses.
Alex’s fingers were
wrestling with the buttons on
my dress and I was fumbling
with his T-shirt, trying to tug
it over his head when there
was a loud thud on the door.
At first I thought it was my
heart, which was drumming
loud enough in my ears to
deafen me, but then came
another thud, and the door
rattled on its hinges.
We both sat bolt upright
on the bed.
‘Did you order room
service?’ Alex asked, pulling
away from me.
‘No.’
Another knock shook the
door frame. Alex jumped off
the bed, grabbed his gun
from the dressing table and
stepped between me and the
&n
bsp; door. A surge of adrenaline
flooded my system and I
started scanning the room for
objects I could hurl before
the synapses in my brain
untangled themselves and
reason kicked in, telling me
to relax. There was no more
Unit. We were safe. It was
probably just the bell boy.
Two months ago Alex and
I had been on the run, barely
sleeping, living out of a bag,
desperately trying to stay one
step ahead of the Unit and,
although I had thought I’d
dealt with it, clearly the
memories weren’t too far
beneath the surface, because
a knock at the door was all it
took to pitch me right back
into fight and flight mode.
Another bang. My eyes
settled on the minibar sitting
squatly beneath the writing
desk on the other side of the
room.
At the same time, Alex
was edging towards the door.
He glanced through the spy
hole, and I watched his
shoulders sink. Holstering his
gun, he drew a deep breath
and before I could ask him
who it was, he had yanked
open the door. It took me a
second to process that it
wasn’t the bell boy standing
in the hallway. In the next
second, the minibar was
hurtling across the room, the
lead snapping out of the wall
and tearing after it like a
comet’s tail.
Alex let out a yell and I
brought the minibar to a
flying halt an inch from
Jack’s nose, the cacophony of
bottles and cans smashing
into each other as they
bounced around inside
having drowned out Alex’s
warning yell.
‘Good to see you too, sis,’
my brother said, ducking and
grinning up at me from
beneath the levitating mini-
bar.
‘If you’re not careful, this
mini bar is the last thing
you’ll ever see,’ I growled in
answer.
‘Bring it on. The white
goods are no match for me.’
I clamped my lips together
and with as much dignity as I
could muster sent the
minibar gliding back into
place beneath the desk,
making a mental note not to
open any of the cans inside it
any time soon. I turned back
and glared at Jack who was
still standing there grinning
at me like an idiot who’d just
lost his spare brain cell.
It was one of life’s many
injustices that Jack was not
only older than me and
believed therefore that this
put him in charge, but that
his power indisputably beat
mine (though I’d sooner die a
virgin than admit that to
him). Jack could heal from
any injury . . . as far as we
knew. We hadn’t gone as far