“No one thinks of you as trash, trust me. This has more to do with me than with you.”
I left Luc at the door, falling onto the queen-sized bed and slipping my shoes on. Five minutes later, we were outside, hailing a taxi and heading downtown. Lucas was not someone you’d recognize. He was the drummer for a solo artist, not a part of a well-known band. But he still looked every bit the rock star, with his deep blue eyes, sculpted face, distressed denim, and pea-soup green blazer. His red-brown hair was messy to a fault—not as tousled as Alex’s, but still rocking the I-just-finished-a-threesome vibe—and I wanted to ask him how they did that. How they always looked like a walking, talking PocketRocket commercial.
Despite the foul weather, downtown Melbourne was bustling with tourists and cyclists. Carriages with couples and packs of teenagers roamed the streets, flaunting their youth. We grabbed Spanish donuts from a food truck and people-watched, sitting on a bench. Lucas inhaled the food like it was the first time he’d been introduced to the concept of eating. I took my time, mulling over the last few days in my head and mostly feeling guilty about being there. Knowing that thousands of miles away, my brother and sister-in-law were still struggling to make ends meet and counting their discounted pasta packs. But all that would change in just a week and a half, when I was due to get my first paycheck.
“How are you liking your new job so far?” Lucas asked, tossing our paper plates into a nearby trashcan.
I shrugged, following the movement of a teenage couple in beanies kissing under a lamppost in the drizzle. I longed to be in their story, not mine. Mine sucked. Plus, I wanted to sleep with my villain while my prince—Lucas—looked at me so platonically, he made me feel as sexy as a tablecloth.
“I don’t really do all that much. Just pester Alex, basically.” I was about to bite my lower lip but managed to stop myself from doing so.
Lucas shook his head, staring at me, not the crowd, like he was trying to assess something.
“Trust me, you’re not. I mean, maybe you are, but he needs this. I’ve known Alex ever since he was a little lad living in a council house in Watford with his parents and sister. He’s always had a flare for addiction. Don’t mistake the lack of drug and alcohol in his system for sobriety. He’s still very much an addict, consumed by resentment and driven by fury. Just look at the way he talks and reacts to Fallon’s name.”
Every time I heard her name, my heart slowed a little.
“Bad breakup?” I asked. I was sniffing around. Why was I sniffing around? The less I knew about him the better.
Luc shifted on the bench, his velvet tongue peeking out to wet his lips. “You’re not interested in him, are you, Indie?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Answer me with words,” he said.
I stood up, wanting to do something with my legs. With my body. At this point, Googling the hell out of Fallon’s name and finding out what had happened between them was a violent impulse, but my phone screen was cracked, and the new one Jenna gave me was blocked. Besides, how was it smart to nurture whatever fixation I had with the biggest train wreck to walk on earth? One I had to save from himself, by the freaking way.
“Absolutely not,” I snorted out.
“Then why are you asking?” Lucas’ voice was so calm, it was easy to let my wall of defense roll back down.
“Because,” I said, the drummer falling in step with me. We started walking toward the hotel, which turned out to be very close to where we were. “I can’t believe you’re keeping him in the dark about her engagement.”
“It’s for the best, trust me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets again, his signature good-boy posture.
“I don’t think he’d agree.” I shivered slightly. I’d bought a jacket in Sydney, but Melbourne was even colder.
“It’s complicated.”
“What’s complicated?”
“The subject of Fallon. And I do mean the Middle East type of complicated. I shouldn’t even be talking to you about it, because, frankly, I don’t think there’s one person in the world Alex doesn’t blame for their breakup. Other than himself, of course.”
I swiveled to Lucas, still light-jogging to raise my body temperature. “He blames you for their breakup?”
“And he’s partly right.”
“Why?”
“Why do people do stupid things?” Lucas sighed, shaking his head. “Never mind.”
The rest of the walk back to the hotel was silent. My heart was in knots. Rusty wires coiled into themselves around it, making it hard to breathe. Alex had a hidden vulnerability. He was like Halloween. Scary on the outside, but when you looked within, there were good intentions there.