EIGHT KIERAN

The welcoming party is in full swing, with lively music and chatter filling the warm tropical air. It kind of sucks, honestly, because Kieran isn"t really in the best of moods.

The day just hasn"t gone as planned. Miles spent the entire boat ride on the opposite side of the boat as him, and the second they landed, Octavia had called him away from where he was very subtly waiting for Miles to bump into him at the end of the dock. Even his attempts to get his mind off Miles failed. He called Blackwood"s assistant earlier; told her that he"d like to introduce himself and thank the man for so generously allowing them to film there. She"d very curtly told him Blackwood was busy and she"d take a message. He"d even walked all the way up to the gates of the mansion with the same excuse on his tongue just to get turned away by security.

He"s starting to question how the hell he"s going to get himself and Miles into the mansion. He can"t even manage to get Miles" attention, much less the billionaire"s.

Miles should be much easier, especially considering he"s standing less than fifty feet away, sipping at a beer and talking to a group of people. But, of course, fucking Ethan is here, which isn"t helping at all. He"s half draped across Miles" shoulders, and he keeps shooting Kieran smug grins.

Kieran is doing his best to ignore the both of them along with the rest of his anxieties. He really is trying to pay attention to the story his assistant, Dakota, is entertaining everyone with, but he can"t focus. Hell, he doesn"t even remember when he wound up surrounded by a group of half-drunk women. He breathes a sigh of relief when someone calls Dakota"s name, cutting her off mid-story.

She bounces off, and the rest of the girls follow her. He makes a few half-hearted promises to chat with them later, desperate to just be alone for a second.

As soon as the air around him is empty, Kieran takes a long drink from his beer, hoping intoxication will make some of the tension drain from his spine. He finds himself once again locking eyes with Ethan, glaring hatefully at the man as he rests his arms over Miles" shoulders from behind. Kieran knows exactly what Miles feels like in his own arms like that, and irrational jealousy raises its ugly head.

He"s jolted out of his thoughts by an elbow digging into his arm lightly as Isabella slides into a seat next to him.

"Look alive, Kiers," she teases. "You"re about to burn a hole through the guy with that glare."

Kieran blinks rapidly, turning to face her. He hates how much he doesn"t want to take his eyes off Miles, how much worse his imagination can be than reality.

"What?"

Isabella laughs at him, but it"s gentle. It doesn"t help him feel more like a person, but he takes a sip of his beer when she raises her own cocktail to her lips.

"Nothing," she says breezily. "The puzzle is finally starting to click together, that"s all."

"I have no idea what you"re talking about," Kieran says.

It"s incredibly unconvincing, if the way Isabella looks not at all subtly in Miles" direction with a raised brow says anything.

Kieran ignores the unspoken question and busies himself with his beer.

"The girls have been talking," she finally says. "The guys, too."

Kieran just shrugs and rolls his eyes.

"People do little else," he says wearily.

He sounds bitter, even to himself.

Isabella gives him about thirty seconds to wallow in self-pity before she turns to fully face him, pinning him in place with a look. Oh, he"s really in trouble now.

"Alright, kid, let"s drop the pretense," she sighs. "Have you actually decided on a life of celibacy, or is something else going on?" She glances at Miles again. "Or someone?"

Kieran doesn"t respond, which is plenty of a response for Isabella. She"s known him long enough to know exactly what the tension in his shoulders means, the way he hunches in on himself and drains the last of his beer.

His anxiety spikes then, the thought of being so obvious—of being so obvious and still not being wanted—making him sick to his stomach.

"Want to talk about it?" she asks, her voice soft.

"I really, really don"t," Kieran answers.

"Want to listen to me talk about it instead?"

Kieran groans, shooting Isabella a look. He doesn"t say no, though, just reaches down to grab another beer from the cooler by his feet.

"Maybe you really like someone," she muses, "let"s call him…Kilometers."

Kieran scoffs out a dry laugh at that and glares at her. He cracks his beer, taking a deep swig of it. He already feels like shit, and he"s not really in the mood to get ribbed by a close friend on top of it all. Isabella is like Chloe, though. She doesn"t push unless she thinks he needs it, and she"s right an annoying amount of the time, so he stays silent, letting her talk.

"So, let"s say, hypothetically, you like Kilometers so much that you stop seeing anyone else at all," she continues as Kieran glares at Ethan. "It would be kind of ridiculous not to approach Kilometers and tell him how you feel, right?"

Kieran doesn"t answer. He continues nursing his beer, feeling sorry for himself. He doesn"t want to admit out loud that one of the only people he"s ever really had genuine feelings for obviously couldn"t care less about him.

"And you may be an idiot, but you"re not stupid," Isabella prods, "so we"re going to assume that you did approach him."

Kieran finally pulls his gaze away from Miles, refusing to watch Ethan paw at him any longer. He puts his beer down on the table beside him and sighs heavily, tilting his head back to look at the stars.

"Right?"

He hesitates for a long moment. It"s not because he doesn"t trust Isabella, they"ve known each other for long enough that he trusts her with damn near everything. He just doesn"t want to hear himself say it out loud.

"Hypothetically speaking?" he asks, his voice quiet.

"Purely."

Kieran sighs heavily and grimaces.

"Yeah. I did."

It hurts to admit, but he keeps his eyes pointed up at the stars. Trying to count them is enough of a distraction to prevent himself from spiraling.

"And?" Isabella prompts after a long moment.

Kieran snorts in disdain, but can"t stop himself from glancing back at Miles. He aches when he sees Ethan laughing and pushing a hair out of Miles" face. His hair has gotten longer, and Kieran wishes he could twist his fingers through it and feel how soft it is now. He nods his head in their direction and waits until Isabella looks. He thinks that"s an answer on its own, but she doesn"t say anything, so he glances around to make sure no one else is in earshot.

"He"s obviously not interested," he huffs.

Isabella pauses a moment, then sighs at him. It almost sounds disappointed, like he"s missing something.

"What did you say?" she asks.

"Nothing," Kieran sighs, shaking his head. "I kissed him. Multiple times. We were at his ex"s engagement party—Ethan"s engagement party," he adds scornfully.

We all know how well that went.

Kieran frowns as memories wash over him. Miles felt so good in his arms, he had melted into Kieran"s chest so willingly. His hands had been so warm, and Kieran remembers the flecks of gold he could see in Miles" eyes when he was that close.

"And?"

Kieran shakes his head again before scoffing and taking a long drink.

"And nothing."

Isabella arches her brow at him, glancing back to where Miles is. Kieran tilts his head back and returns to his star gazing. He doesn"t want to see Ethan hanging off Miles any more often than he has to.

"So this all happened when you two were pretending to date, right?" she asks, and Kieran hums listlessly in agreement. "Did he kiss you back?"

"Yeah, every time," Kieran sighs wistfully. "Even when we weren"t around anyone. He never initiated anything, though. I just felt like I was forcing myself on him."

Isabella is silent for a long moment, and when Kieran finally glances at her, she"s staring at him, thoroughly unimpressed.

"So he kissed you back even when no one was around to see it while you were pretending to be boyfriends, and you think that"s a rejection? Jesus, you need to talk to him." She holds up a hand to cut Kieran off before he can argue. "Talk, Kiers. With words."

Kieran is suddenly exhausted, far too tired to continue thinking about it all, and he just shakes his head. It all just hurts at this point. He"s spent so long pining after Miles. He doesn"t think he could bear hearing him say no.

"There"s nothing to talk about, Izzy," he sighs, dejected. "If he was interested, I would"ve known."

"Right," Isabella scoffs, "because you"re the only person in the world who can act."

Kieran startles at the annoyance in her tone, but before he can respond, Isabella is waving at someone.

"Miles!" she calls. "Get your butt over here!"

Kieran groans, glaring at Isabella as Miles starts over. Ethan, of course, follows right after him.

Isabella gets up to hug Miles when he joins them, but Kieran stays firmly in his seat, saluting Miles with his half-empty beer. He completely ignores Ethan.

"Sorry to pull you away from everyone over there," Isabella says, grinning as she pulls Miles down into a seat. "I want to get to know my co-star a little better."

Kieran grins for a second at the way she purposefully leaves Ethan out of the conversation, but his grin slips at her next words.

"How about we play Never Have I Ever?"

Ethan is immediately nodding in excitement, and Kieran thinks back distastefully to the memory of Ethan drunk on a dance floor the night before his engagement party.

"Sure, might be fun," Miles agrees.

His smile is a bit lopsided, and Kieran can tell he"s more than a bit drunk. He groans and leans toward the cooler, grabbing another beer. He"s not done with his current drink, but he needs to be a lot more drunk to survive this.

It starts off with the usual questions, giggles, and teasing barbs as everyone goes around the circle, drinking or refusing.

Never Have I Ever been in love—everyone drinks, what a shock. Been hungover—same outcome. Gotten arrested—Ethan is the only one to drink. Kieran isn"t surprised. Done drugs—everyone but Kieran, who laughs as he gets ribbed for being a goody-two-shoes. Regretted something—Kieran drops his gaze to his beer and drinks deeply. He doesn"t look to see who else drinks. Pretended not to have feelings for someone—Miles and Kieran lock eyes as they both drink this time. Kieran tells himself firmly not to read into it, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. Ghosted someone—Ethan and Isabella.

Kieran doesn"t drink at that, too busy thinking about how Miles looked at him, but Miles is drunk enough that his tongue is loose, and he surprises them all.

"Nuh uh, Kieran," Miles hiccups. "You totally ghosted me after everything with Dr. Grace."

Ethan stiffens at the statement, but neither Kieran nor Miles pays him any attention. Kieran is too busy trying to remember how to breathe when Miles lets out a quiet whisper.

"I missed you."

Kieran feels like the entire world tilts on its axis at that, and he opens and closes his mouth several times, but nothing comes out. His heart stumbles in his chest at the way Ethan"s cheeks go pink with a blush, but before he manages to get any words out, there"s a hand on his arm.

He almost tears his arm out of Dakota"s grip, but she"s drunk, staring at him with glassy eyes and a wide smile.

"Mr. Callahan," she slurs, "you"ve got to—there"s rumors, the island"s haunted. We"re playing beer pong and then are going to try to find the ghosts in the forests. You should come with us."

Miles is up and walking back toward the bar before Kieran can say anything.

He kind of wants to scream.