Changes

WESTLEY

THE SILENCE stretched between us. Bad idea. Now I completely regretted coming over, asking for his help because he must be damn mocking at me right now.

When the tingles swept at the back of my neck toward my face, I stood up. My shaky legs numbly stepped away from the still silent Clyve.

Fear of humiliation had already gotten into me. I swallowed hard as I gathered myself, ready to bolt out of this cabin. I was hoping not to see him again, but I knew it was impossible.

My eyes blurred with unshed tears, and my heart ached for Keene. I let him down one more time.

“Where are you going?” he asked, clearly confused.

My body stiffened for a moment. I couldn’t face him, afraid he would see the tears that were about to roll down my cheeks.

“I will do everything to help him,” he said softly.

But I could feel there was a but. Even so, I turned around quickly. My facial muscles tightened as I was already grinning like a fool. “Anything!”

“Good. Now come back here, Westley.”

In a millisecond I was already wrapping my arms around Clyve, hugging him tightly. Clyve’s body stiffened for a few seconds, then he patted my back gently.

“Thank you.” Closing my eyes, I inhaled his scents.

“Don’t thank me yet because you might not be able to give me what I want from you in return.” Of course, there’s a but.

My mouth fell open as I pulled away from him, staring at him for a good minute. His jaw was locked as he shifted and stared straight ahead—at the tv on the wall, but I was sure his mind was not focusing on that screen. It went beyond that thick wall.

“I said, I’ll do anything for Keene.” The wary in my voice made him look at me.

“Are you two romantically involve?”

What the—? His question shocked me. There was something special between me and Keene that he didn’t have to know. I didn’t want him to know.

My brows met together with a confused look. “No. God, no! I can’t even think of kissing my best friend, what more intimate.”

“I need your honest answer when I ask you questions. Even if I leave this place, I won’t cut anything that we have started. Do you understand me?” What’s that supposed to mean?

“Yes, I do,” I answered quickly. I was so stupid, or maybe I was too overwhelmed that he agreed to help Keene.

“There was something about you and Keene that I love about. You are something, as well, Westley. I don’t trust and befriended with anyone that easy besides my brother’s girlfriend, but with you and Keene, it was easy than you showing me how to open a beer. Maybe because we all have something in common. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I felt that our pasts brought us all here together to this place.”

I nodded subtly as if I understood what he said. There was something shifted inside me, and I would be a fool if I denied that my chest didn’t warm for him. 

And here I thought that I would not remember him once he left this place. Now, I realized it was all but bullcrap.

“My life is complicated, Linton.”

“Aren’t we all? Life is complicated, Westley. I started using drugs at sixteen, pissed my arse off until I couldn’t stand at my own feet and could barely remember what I did upon waking up in the morning. I had awful friends who only wanted my family name, had terrible relationships. I had intimacy with a woman who I thought shared the same feelings I had for her. Then I found out what she truly wanted—to scratch the itch the other man couldn’t give. Call me arse, but that’s the truth.” 

I blinked up as he continued talking, but my tears didn’t hold anymore. For a happy-go-lucky-guy like Clyve had actually been through a lot, had shocked me to the core. I could feel the goosebumps spreading all over my skin as I stared at him in shock.

“My dad died just a few months ago, and I felt the world was pulled off under my feet. I realized that the only thing that mattered to me was not the wealth he left for us despite all the sacrifices he made—it was what he taught me—that life was too short to hold on to your past. Dad chose his business over my mother. Mum made mistakes as well, for choosing her job over her family, which they both regretted it in the end. I have my brother who’s always here for me. I appreciate him so much more than the vile words I throw at him, because at the end of the day, I know I can’t find any Skip in this life. So I appreciate everything you do for Keene.”

I could say I was still lucky that I had Keene I considered my family, and that was why I was here—to do everything for him even I might not be able to hold at the end of the bargain. Anyhow, there was no turning back for as long as he would not ask me to kill someone.

“I’m sorry about your dad.” My voice rasped, trying had to ignore the emotional turmoil inside me. I knew there was a sheen of tears in my eyes that told me that Clyve just got through my walls.

“Thank you.”

“No. Thank you for telling me. I don’t deserve to know, but I really appreciate it.”

“I would be a blathering idiot if I won’t help you and Keene, Westley.” He looked to my wet face, his expressive blue eyes bored mine as he reluctantly raised his hand to wipe my tears with his thumb.

Something shifted in the air between us. Since I met him, I would be the stupidest woman in the world not to see the shaking volume of desires every time we stared at each other.

Then my heart raced as soon as I met his gaze again. The same thing I felt for a while now had just surpassed. God, my life had taken a wrong turn because I knew what he was going to ask next. It would complicate my life to a whole new level.