Chapter 24

It wasn"t until we were about to board our plane that I saw Cole. He carried a long duffel bag over his shoulder and regret on his face.

He looked at me, but didn"t say anything or try to approach as we made our way to the boarding gate.

"I"m going to guess his presence isn"t a coincidence," Eden remarked. "For the record, I didn"t tell him when we were going."

"Neither did I," I said. I gave him a warning look before turning away and following the rest of the passengers onto the plane.

"Is he on the same flight?" I didn"t want to look back.

"It looks like it," she said. "I get the distinct impression he"s not going to listen if you tell him to go away."

I sighed. "Short of trying to convince the airline he shouldn"t be here, I guess there"s nothing we can do about it."

I"d have to ignore him and pretend I had no idea who he was. Having him so close, yet so far made my heart hurt. Of all three of the guys, he seemed the least convinced that what they did to me was a good idea. Did that mean I"d forgive him? Fuck no. He admitted to being as much a part of it as the others were.

When he took me from my room, out into the bush, he knew what he was doing. When he tore off my clothes and rammed into me, he knew there was a chance he"d get me pregnant. Did he get off on it? Did that add to his enjoyment? His feeling of control?

My stomach turned and I had to swallow to keep from being sick.

"I"ll do what I can to make sure he stays away from you," Eden said. "If nothing else, we can lose him when we get to Queensland. It"s a big place, we should be able to lose ourselves."

"Right now, I"m feeling lost enough as it is," I said.

She put her arm around me and gave me a sideways hug before we had to step into the plane single file.

I let her go first, in case I needed to hurry to the toilet. Just as I was getting settled into my seat and adjusting the seat belt, Cole slipped into the seat behind us. He gave me a tentative look on the way past and a faint but apologetic smile.

I responded with a cold stare before I looked away. I reminded myself what he did and that I shouldn"t let my guard down for a moment. I couldn"t let him get to me. He betrayed my trust and used me. He and the others treated me like I was a piece of meat.

Where did Oliver get off saying I belonged to them? He was fucking delusional.

"We could ask to switch seats?" Eden suggested.

I considered for a moment before shaking my head. "It"s nothing I can"t handle. I"m going to ignore him and enjoy the flight."

And hope like hell he didn"t try anything mid-flight. All the other passengers on the plane would be pissed off if he caused a scene and the plane had to be turned back around to Opal Springs.

In spite of that, I turned back and peered through the gap in the seats. Cole was sitting with his head against the backrest, eyes closed, earbuds in his ears. As if he knew I was looking, he opened his eyes a crack and looked at me.

I immediately whipped my head around to face the front. I fastened my seatbelt and focused on looking past Eden, out the window as we taxied down the runway and took off.

"We should have done this a long time ago," Eden said. "Just jump on a plane and go."

"Will your shop be okay?" I should have thought of that before now, but my brain was preoccupied by too much other shit.

They should just hand the Worst Friend of the Year award to me and be done with it.

"My assistant will cover for me," she said. "It"s a quiet time of year anyway. Not too many weddings or anything like that. The perfect time of year to slip away for a break with one of the best people I know."

"Instead, you"re stuck with me," I said bitterly.

She laughed and bumped her shoulder against mine. "I meant you, silly. You"re one of the kindest, sweetest people I"ve ever met." She raised her finger at me. "Don"t tell me I need to get out more."

"I mean, if the hat fits." I swatted her hand away. "I know you"re trying to be sweet, I just feel crappy right now. When I woke up this morning, everything was fine. There was room for improvement, but I was more or less happy. Now I feel like everything has been tipped upside down."

I resisted the urge to look back at Cole again. If he had no music coming through his earbuds, he could hear what we were saying. Nothing he didn"t already know or deserve to hear.

"It"ll get easier," she said. "We can spend the next few days having fun and taking your mind off everything. I have a few ideas for things we can do."

"It sucks that none of those things can include getting drunk," I said sourly. That was a surefire way to forget my troubles for a few hours. My baby was going to have a rough enough start in life without me doing that to them.

"We can have fun without drinking," she said. "Trust me."

I winced, then immediately regretted doing that. "I know I can trust you," I said quickly. "I just…"

"You"ve had your trust betrayed," she said loudly, her face tilted in Cole"s direction. "It"s totally normal to feel on edge for a while. Whatever happens, I"ve got your back. Even if I have to kick a few balls for you." She tucked some of her purple hair behind her ear and grinned.

"You"re the best," I said. "What about you and Cat? I don"t want to get between you."

"You won"t," Eden assured me. "I can be there for both of you and not take sides. I"ve had some practice at that lately."

"Your mother and stepfather?" I guessed.

"Yeah." She scratched a spot right above her eyebrow. "They were only together for a handful of years, but Brock and I got on so well. We"re more like friends than father and daughter. He never tried to tell me what to do or anything like that. We used to hang out and drink beer and watch hockey or football. When things started to go bad between them, Mum wanted me to take her side in everything. Brock kept telling her to stop trying to put me in a difficult position. In the end, it was easier not to get in the middle."

"You seemed to enjoy getting in the middle of Mitch and Jagger," I teased lightly.

"That"s a middle position I can definitely enjoy," she said. "Those boys know what they"re doing with me and with each other."

"I"m happy for you," I said honestly. "They both seem to like you."

"It"s nothing serious, but we enjoy spending time together," she said. "Friends with benefits, you know?"

"That sounds perfect," I said. And a lot less complicated than my love life.

"It is," she said. "No offence, but seeing you upset and seeing what my mother is going through, I"m not sure I want it any other way. Love seems like a big hassle."

I leaned back against the headrest and exhaled softly. "Maybe it isn"t if you do it right."

"Marley-Jane Hammond," she said sternly. "You didn"t do love wrong."

"I just have crappy taste in men?" I suggested.

Once again, I resisted the urge to look back at Cole. Was he a bad person or a good person who made a mistake? I didn"t know and I wasn"t sure thinking about it for too long was such a good idea right now. Eden was right, I should try to put it all out of my head for a few days and get myself together. Even if I didn"t deserve it, the baby did.

"I"m not sure that"s the case either," she said. "I don"t think any of them are necessarily bad people. They just lack judgement." Again she addressed the remark to Cole as well.

"Maybe, but what else do they lack judgement about?" I asked. "If they could do what they did, what else are they capable of?" If I could bring myself to forgive them, could I trust that they wouldn"t fuck up like that again? Maybe they had and I just didn"t know.

We were interrupted by the flight attendant rolling her trolley past and offering a snack and something to eat.

Armed with a cup of coffee and a tiny bag of nuts, I peeked back at Cole. He was sitting with a drink of water, his eyes on the gap between the seats. He offered me a faint smile, his eyes full of apology.

I wanted to ask why the hell he was here, on this flight. When we landed, I should tell him to get lost and take the first flight back to Opal Springs. Both of those would require talking to him and I wasn"t ready to do that yet. Besides which, I had a feeling if I told him to go home, he"d ignore me. Whatever he was here for, he"d return when he was ready and not before.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Eden asked. "I don"t mind telling him where to go."

I considered for a moment, but shook my head before taking a sip of coffee. "I don"t want you in the middle of that either. Not if I can help it."

"I don"t mind," she said. "This is different to Mum and Brock or you and Cat. I"m not close to any of those guys."

"You"ve known Oliver as long as I have," I pointed out. "Yelling at him would cause trouble for you and Cat."

As much as I would enjoy seeing that, it wasn"t fair to ask her to get involved in that way. Besides, knowing him, he"d take every word calmly before eviscerating her with a handful of words. It took a lot to make him angry, but when he did, he was eloquent.

"I"m a big girl," she said. "I can take care of myself."

"So am I," I said. "Kind of." I was going to have to deal with all three of the guys at some point, and I would. With or without Eden.

She grimaced. "When did we become responsible adults?"

I managed a tight laugh. "I"m not sure I"d call us responsible, but I don"t know when we became adults. I don"t remember agreeing to grow up."

"Neither do I," she agreed. "Let"s pretend, for the next few days, that we"re kids again. Kids with credit cards."

"That sounds perfect," I said. "Does it have to be pretend? I wouldn"t mind going back to being a kid for a while." Everything seemed so much simpler then. My biggest problem was wondering if the fridge would topple over under the weight of all the artwork my mother stuck to it. She assured me that the fridge wasn"t going anywhere, but I used to tiptoe past it anyway. When she wasn"t looking, I"d peel off older paintings and tucked them away, just in case.

In retrospect, it was pretty dumb, but if I could go back to those days for a bit, I"d do it. They"d have to drag me, kicking and screaming back into adulthood.

"It can be whatever we want it to be," Eden said. "Let"s just have some fun."

I raised my coffee. "I"ll drink to that." We tapped our paper cups together and laughed.