10. Roman

10

ROMAN

" W here's Knox?"

Tristan exchanged glances with Blaine and Lincoln across the beach house deck. "Gone."

"What do you mean, gone? He was supposed to be coming with me to meet up with my cousins."

Shaking his head, Tristan stepped closer. After giving Blaine and Lincoln another pointed glance and they took the hint, disappearing back inside, he leaned his elbows on the railing as he stared out to sea. "Mate, I don't really know how to say this."

"Just say it," I growled, yanking off my sunglasses so I could glare at him properly.The pounding in my head increased dramatically as I screwed my eyes up against the brightness of the late-afternoon sun. Shoving my sunglasses back on, I pointedly cleared my throat, and he sighed.

"Okay, okay. Fucking hell, what pissed you off today? Wait, don't answer that. I know what it was. The same thing that's been pissing you off ever since a certain brunette beauty made a reappearance in your life."

I gritted my teeth. I had the hangover from hell, and I didn't need to deal with Tristan's shit on top of everything else. " Tristan ."

"While you were still wasted from yesterday and sleeping it off, Knox left with Elena to drive Quinn back to Hatherley Hall. He won't be coming back."

"What?" My jaw dropped at the utter fucking betrayal from one of my best mates. "What the actual fuck?"

Tristan pounded his knuckles on the railing. "No. Look, I didn't say anything when you pulled that stunt at the lake, but what you did last night…leaving her on that boat…that's seriously fucking unhinged. Anything could have happened. Fuck, man, she could've died or something."

I reeled back, struck by his harsh tone, at the fact that, somehow, everyone seemed to have turned against me. "I thought you were on my side."

"I am, but when you make stupid decisions, I can't support them. I stood by you with the arson and all that shit—" He cut himself off, pacing up and down the deck while I stared at him in disbelief. Finally, he came to a stop in front of me. "That's all irrelevant, in this case. You know I'm down for fucking with people, and you know I've got your back, but you took it way too far this time. And as your friend, I'm here to tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not."

I couldn't listen to him. Not then. I needed to be alone, to cool down before I said something I'd regret. And I didn't know what the fuck had happened last night, so how was I supposed to defend myself? Ignoring the nausea that was rising inside me, the insistent feeling that everything was so wrong, that I'd fucked things up irreparably with Quinn, I slammed my fist down on the railing. "I'm going out," I muttered, pushing past him and stalking back into the house, ignoring his calls after me. Heading into the hallway, I didn't stop, pulling the front door open and letting it slam behind me as I stalked down the driveway. Passing the cars parked up against each other, it hit me that I'd come here in Knox's SUV, so I didn't even have a fucking car to drive anywhere.

As if the universe was fucking with me, my phone started vibrating in my pocket, and when I pulled it out, I saw my uncle's name on the screen.

"Roman. Caiden tells me you're in town. I know you're supposed to be meeting him and Weston while you're here, but I'd like to meet with you first to discuss a few things."

Fucking brilliant. Not only had my best mate decided to give me a lecture, but now I got to hear one from my uncle. All so he could delude himself into thinking he was doing his familial duty since my parents were out of the country and he was their de facto representation.

"Arlo." I never referred to him as "uncle." "I'm unfortunately without transportation."

"I'm in the car. I'll pick you up. Send me your location," he said, and then disconnected the call.

Well, fuck.

When I was seated inside my uncle's spacious SUV, I tipped my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes, steeling myself for his words.

"Roman. It's good to see you. I want to apologise."

My eyes flew open. "Huh?"

He laughed. "Not what you were expecting?"

"Uh, no. I was expecting our conversation to go the way it did last time. With you telling me I needed to get my shit together."

"Ah. Yes. Well, you have, haven't you? Being suspended from the swimming and diving teams seems to have done its job. But I shouldn't have been so hard on you before. I know your parents entrusted me to keep an eye on you in their absence, and that should mean supporting you, not just bailing you out of trouble. I've…well." Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, he rubbed the other across his jaw. "Suffice to say, I've learnt where my priorities lie. What's important is family, and that includes you. You'll have to bear with me because no doubt I'll make mistakes, but I want you to know that if you need anything—anything at all—I'm here for you. Your cousins are, too."

My hungover brain took much longer than usual to parse through his words, but when they eventually registered, I had no fucking clue how to respond. It had always been me looking out for myself, with everyone I was related to being so far away. The girlfriend of my cousin Caiden's best friend had attended Hatherley Hall, but we'd been in different school years and different houses, and she'd always kept to herself, so we'd never interacted. And I rarely saw my cousins as it was. Maybe a couple of times a year at the most.

"I want to show you how serious I am," my uncle continued. "I'd planned to come up to visit you to do this, but since you're here…" The SUV slowed down to a crawl and then came to a stop. My jaw dropped as I stared out of the windscreen, taking in our surroundings.

We were in supercar heaven. Everywhere I looked, gleaming machines were parked up outside a glass-fronted showroom with even more luxury vehicles inside.

"What is this?"

My uncle grinned at me. "It's both your belated eighteenth birthday present and bribery to ease my guilty conscience for not taking better care of you. Take your time, and let me know when you've made a decision."

"A car? For me? Seriously?" Fucking hell. Suddenly, my hangover was gone—or not gone, but banished to the back of my mind.

"Yes."

Two hours later, and I was the proud owner of a Jaguar F-Type, and my uncle had arranged for a custom matte-black paint job and delivery to Hatherley Hall the following week. He dropped me off at Alstone's pier, where I'd arranged to meet my cousins, and I couldn't stop my grin as I headed down to the seafront, stepping onto the wooden boardwalk. Seagulls cawed loudly, diving and swooping for food, and the waves crashed against the shore, the smell of saltwater heavy in the air. It had been so long since I'd been here.

"I didn't know you could smile."

Lost in thoughts of my shiny new car, I jumped a mile at the sound of Caiden's voice close to my ear. He held out his fist, and I bumped it with his, then Weston's.

"I could say the same to you," I said, taking in his grinning face. We looked alike, with the same jet-black hair and similar build. While Weston's hair was the tiniest bit lighter, there was no mistaking that the three of us were related.

We spent a while catching up as we walked down the pier, stopping for greasy, salty chips and drinks. When we headed off the pier and onto the beach, I followed my cousins underneath the pier, where we collapsed onto the bigger rocks that were scattered across the sand.

"How was the lighthouse? We had a fucking epic party there once," Weston said around a mouthful of chips. "Remember that, Cade?"

"I remember Dad giving me shit because I let you drink when you were underage."

"Yeah, he conveniently forgot you were also underage at the time."

"I wasn't the one who threw up on his favourite chesterfield, was I, West?"

They grinned at each other, and then both turned to me at the same time. "So?" Weston prompted when I remained silent. "How was it?"

Memories I'd been suppressing rose to the front of my mind, followed by a wave of guilt that choked me, and all I could do was inhale hard in an attempt to get air into my lungs.

Quinn . The boat. My fucking desperation to get us to safety. Black, black depths, so cold and so unknown, but at the same time, unthreatening. Clambering ashore, pebbles biting into the palms of my hands. Rain lashing at me and then dying away. The chill hitting me all at once, my entire body shaking. Staggering up to the lighthouse. Light and noise, too much after what I'd been through. Unquenchable thirst. Myself, almost delirious, mumbling something incomprehensible. A drink thrust into my hand. Then…nothing.

"I can't remember," I said slowly. "I remember part of the night. Then there was a point where I think someone gave me a drink, although that part's a blur. After that…it's like there's a gap in my memory. I had the worst fucking hangover of my life afterwards. Still do, although this is helping." I tapped the side of the box of chips.

"Blackout drunk. Good job Dad didn't know about this. He might've had second thoughts about giving you a car." West smirked, but Cade frowned.

"You can't remember anything at all? How much did you drink?"

I shrugged. "No idea. Must've been a lot because I don't remember anything after a certain point. And I have the hangover to prove that I must've been wasted."

Caiden placed his box of chips down on the beach, not even seeming to notice the cluster of shrieking seagulls that immediately swooped on it. "Something about this doesn't sound right. You said you thought someone gave you a drink, and then there was a gap in your memory. Do you think that maybe someone could've spiked your drink?"

"Cade. We've all been that drunk—" West began but snapped his mouth shut when Caiden shot him a warning look.

"Yeah. We've all been wasted, but I dunno… Talk us through what you remember."

When I'd gone through the events of the night that I actually remembered, minus the parts that included Quinn, Caiden shook his head.

"I can't put my finger on it. It's more of a gut feeling, but something about all this doesn't seem right." His voice lowered. "Keep your eyes open, Ro."

A shiver went through me despite the warmth of the sun's rays piercing through the cracks in the boardwalk above us.

"Yeah. I will."