Just Between Us Page 4

  I didn’t say anything to him as it was never worth it. He also remained silent, and so we both sat on our balconies not saying a word.

  The days passed and Kyle made friends with some of the hospitality staff. Mum, Mick, and I stayed around the pool, but Kyle often did his own thing except at meal times when we all sat together. After a couple of days, Kyle waited until Mum and Mick had gone for a cool down in the pool, and then approached me.

  “Soph,” I heard him murmur, but couldn’t believe he would be talking to me, so I continued to read my book. “Soph,” he whispered again more loudly.

  “What?” I hissed in a harsh whisper, he was probably going to ask me to get him a drink or something ridiculous.

  “Meet me at the bar. I need to ask you something.” He smiled at me with that mega-watt grin. I had seen it before, directed at my Mum if he needed something or at school when conversing with friends, but never to his father or me.

  “What?” I groaned, a little louder. “You can’t just say it here?” I pulled my sunglasses up that I had been wearing over my eyes to make eye contact, so he would see I was serious. He ignored me, stood up in just his swimming shorts, and made his way into the bar. I glanced to our parents who were canoodling in the pool, grabbed my sarong, and positioned it over my bikini so that I wasn’t revealing anything and made my way to the bar. By the time I reached the bar I saw Kyle in the corner, away from anyone else, brooding with two beers. He didn’t look up as I approached, and he looked amazing, all tan and taut in just his shorts, the gloominess was his only downside from where I was looking.

  I took a seat, and he slid one of the beers over to me. I took a sip.

  “So?” I asked, perhaps harsher than I meant to sound, but we weren’t friends, and this was weird.

  “So,” he sighed, “I sort of want you to do something with me.”

  “What?” I asked, taken aback. We rarely spoke and so this was unusual. Panic rose in my stomach as my mind conjured up what it could be.

  “I want you to sneak out with me.”

  “What?” I spat, “what the fuck, Kyle? Are you on drugs? Sneak where and do what?”

  He smiled to himself. “God, Soph, you’re safe with me, Jesus. I just want you to sneak out tonight and come with me on the hotel shuttle to Coco Bongo.”

  “What?” I laughed, his request suddenly sounded so pathetic. Coco Bongo was the local club, we were eighteen, and perfectly able to go clubbing. It wasn’t as if we were twelve, and he certainly didn’t need me to party. I took a sip of my beer. “Kyle you don’t need me to go out clubbing with you, you’ve made enough friends of these reps, and I bet our parents would be fine with you going. You are eighteen and so don’t need to sneak anywhere.”

  “Well that’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart,” he said sourly through gritted teeth. “No way I’m giving my Dad the satisfaction of seeing me enjoying this place, and you have to come because I need a wingman and ...” he swallowed. “I haven’t got anyone else around here.”

  “What about the staff?”

  “They’re all wankers and work till four am.”

  “So? Go alone.”

  “Look Soph, trust me, I wouldn’t be asking you if there was another option, Okay? I’m not up for going alone, and I need to get out of this place and enjoy myself, so if you come, I’ll make sure you have a good time.” He winked at me.

  “Exactly what are you saying here?”

  “What do you want? A hot guy? Some coke? A hundred bucks?”

  I shook my head. “Kyle you are seriously fucked up. We’re not friends, in fact, we’re nothing, and you expect me to trust you and go to a club with you where you plan on doing coke? You’ll probably forget I’m there and end up back here without me, and I’ll get kidnapped by some cartel and sold into prostitution.”

  At that he threw his head back and laughed, something I hadn’t seen him do in my company before, “Look Okay, no guys, drugs, or money, and I won’t leave you. Look, just come once, keep it quiet from the ‘rents, and I’ll owe you one.”

  “Oh great, thanks, well I can’t wait to collect on that empty promise.” I swigged more beer and contemplated his offer. True … this holiday was a little dull, but did we really have to hide a night out clubbing from our parents? Obviously his father issues were a little deeper than I thought if he couldn’t even let Mick see him enjoying himself. Hell, Kyle may never offer me this chance again. True, he was a prick, arrogant, self-centred, and rude. God, he didn’t have a lot of good qualities, but he was damn good-looking, popular, and just maybe this would be the ice breaker we needed to finally be friends. Maybe if I did this I’d be cool to him.

  “Fine,” I finished my beer and smiled to him. “Nothing more exciting than a secret rendezvous and plenty of booze.”

  “Nothing in it, Soph. Don’t get all dreamy on me.”

  “Get over yourself, Kyle, if our parents weren’t married you’d still be the last arrogant prick on Earth I’d want to date.”

  “Oh yeah?” he said with a smile, the first joking expression ever tipped my way, “And why’s that?”

  “Because you spend longer in the bathroom than me, and the spoilt, brooding teenager act is so 80’s.”

  He laughed and shook his head, “Breakfast Club?” he asked.

  “More Lost Boys.” I smiled. “Now I better get back to the parents before they get suspicious and happy that we’re speaking.”

  “Okay … well meet me down here at ten pm, Okay?”

  “Fine,” I said with a tight smile. “But if you leave me anywhere, I’ll rat you out as the secretly enjoying Mexico fiend that you are.” He looked up to me but didn’t smile; he just regarded me and nodded.

  “Ten,” he said.

  After that we spent the rest of the day as strangers and then went on to enjoy a dinner with our parents. When they settled to watch the hotel entertainment, Kyle excused himself, and twenty minutes later I did, too. I made my way back to my room, and as I reached the door Kyle poked his head out of his door, “Hi,” he said quietly, making his way to me.

  “Hi,” I said curtly. “I’ll meet you at the bar.”

  “What? You not ready?”

  “Not for clubbing,” I said motioning to my blue sundress and flowered flip-flops. I rushed inside my room and left him in the hallway. I eased out of my loose fitting sundress and found a tighter pink dress that I had brought just in case we got dressed up. It was low cut, tight at the top, and nipped in at the waist with a belt. The bottom part had small white hearts on it, and it plumed out into a full skirt effect. It was cut to the mid-thigh.

  I slipped into white wedges with a cork heel, touched up my make up, and ran my fingers through my tangled, blonde curls. I looked in the mirror. I looked good even if I did say so myself. The tan helped the effect of my make over, and the smile that I wore proved that I was a little excited, despite going out with my psycho step-brother. I grabbed a small, pink handbag, some money, my room card, and was ready to go.

  I stepped out of my room carefully, just in case our parents were there, and then made my way down the back stairs that led straight to the bar, hoping to avoid them. The bar was a typical holiday hotel bar with scattered white clothed tables, a huge circular bar with every spirit imaginable and was open plan facing the pool. It wasn’t too crowded and when I entered I looked around for Kyle, but he was nowhere to be seen. I rolled my eyes, this was probably his idea of an elaborate joke, so I turned to return before I looked humiliated.

  “Chica,” one of the hotel staff reps said as I turned into him, “I am Carlos.” He spoke in a broken English accent. “My, my you are a beauty. Who are you with tonight?” I opened my mouth to speak and then from behind me I heard him.

  “Me.” I spun to see Kyle standing there, still in his jeans and white shirt from before. His eyes roamed me up and down, and his mouth remained tight.

  “Ah Kyle,” Carlos said. “This your girlfriend?”

  “No.” He shook his h
ead but didn’t explain who I was to him, it wasn’t worth mentioning, I suppose. I was just someone he had talked into being his wingman, not worthy of an introduction.

  “Sophie,” I introduced myself quietly and nodded to Carlos.

  “Princess Sophie,” he said loudly. “A beautiful name for a beautiful chica.”

  Kyle smiled again tightly and then took my arm. “We’re off to the club.” He nodded to Carlos and then pulled me behind him through the bar. I waved to Carlos uncomfortably as I tottered behind Kyle.

  “Jesus, Soph,” He sighed. “How can we be incognito when you’re dressed like that.” He motioned to me, and I looked down.

  “What?” I snapped, looking down at my outfit, “Too much?”

  “Every guy in that fucking bar couldn’t keep his eyes off you. We are hardly sneaking out.” He sucked his lips in and let out a deep breath through his nose, shaking his head.

  “I …” I started to speak but didn’t know what to say. “Well I wanted to look the part,” I whined, annoyed that I felt I had to explain myself to this unreasonable oaf.

  He nodded. “Well congrats you got the bloody job. Now let’s go.”

  He led me outside to the shuttle bus that left every half an hour to Cancun city centre. We glided along bench seats and sat inside with other party-goers. They were mostly British tourists, as well, who spoke to us excitedly as we sat down, asking where we were from and where we were going. I admitted it was our first night out in Cancun, and they offered for us to go to a few bars with them and then to the club around midnight when it got going. I smiled and nodded, looking to Kyle who was shaking his head.

  “Kyle?” I asked tentatively.

  “Fine,” he said, groaning. He really wasn’t a social person, and yet at school he had always seemed the epitome of the party animal. I suppose he had his group of friends and didn’t stray from them.

  We started the night a group of nine, Kyle and I, two girls, who were friends on holiday together, and five friends from Liverpool. We sat in the first bar drinking cocktails, the girls flirted with Kyle who seemed uninterested, and I chatted to the boys. I wondered if Kyle was really up for clubbing, as he didn’t seem interested in enjoying himself, just downing drinks. I laughed with one boy called Matt who was twenty and at University. He complimented me and touched me gently as we spoke.

  When Matt took a toilet break, Kyle appeared in his place. “Let’s get out of here,” he spat.

  “Bored?” I asked. “Aren’t those two giving you enough attention?” I motioned to the two girls and smiled jovially.

  “No,” he leaned in, “we better get out of here before you disappear back to the hotel with that idiot.” He nodded to Matt as he reappeared smiling at me, but my face must have displayed pure horror. I pulled Kyle away to the side.

  “You really are a dick head aren’t you? You don’t know a thing about me, you beg me to come out, and then I have a good time, and a better time than you it seems, so you hurl the insults. Well fuck you,” I spat haughtily walking away from him and the group. Fuck him … I would walk back to the hotel if I had to. I didn’t need to be out here drinking with strangers, I was fine at the hotel and had enough fun at home. This trip was supposed to be about relaxing not fighting with Kyle. I’d had a few drinks, and I started to feel a little tipsy as I walked. Kyle appeared to my right. I stumbled slightly, and he took my arm.

  “Come on,” he led me outside to the cooler air, and we leaned back against the wall outside as I gained composure.

  We stood in silence, and I contemplated how many cocktails I’d had.

  “Sorry,” he said, so quietly that I almost missed it, and from Kyle an apology missed would not be repeated. I nodded, acknowledging his word.

  “I don’t want to go home,” I said out loud, not to him or really to anyone, it was just a statement.

  “We won’t, let’s just stay away from random crowds.” I looked to him, and he smiled, it was small and tight, but it was enough.

  “You are a complete dick head, you know.” I smiled at him, unable to help my laughter. “How you have any friends is beyond me.”

  “I know.” He shook his head, “That Matt was just getting too close.”

  “Why do you care?” He just gave me his usual glare.

  “Fuck knows,” he said. We walked from the bar to the club and didn’t speak another word. Once inside we stayed at the bar, ordering vodka and coke to try and stay in control, but a couple of shots later and we were on the dance floor. Kyle began to loosen up, he danced like a mad man, jumping up and down, and we laughed, grinning at each other, having the time of our lives. At some point the lights came on, we were sweaty and pumped from all the adrenaline.

  At the hotel, we climbed the stairs weary and laughing about our night. “Ten pm tomorrow?” he asked.

  I smiled at him. “Okay.”

  The next week we snuck out five more times, each night we seemed to get on better, and Kyle would belly laugh at stories I told, and he opened up more about his life. He told me about his friends and girls in our year he’d dated. When girls approached him he smiled politely but didn’t stay in long conversations. When men approached me I chatted and introduced Kyle, but no one stayed around us for very long. We weren’t becoming friends, as during the day things were back to normal, but each night on that bus and after a few drinks we were confidantes.

  On our final night out, before we were due to fly home we launched onto the dance floor. “Let’s make this count,” I whispered in his ear as we began bouncing on the dance floor. I wore a fitted yellow sundress that was draped over my newly bronzed skin and was slightly see-through in the florescent lights. Kyle wore dark jeans and a light blue t-shirt, his dark hair a mass of sweat, falling into his eyes. I had pulled my hair onto my head long ago as the sweat trickled down my back. I watched him bounce and smiled at how much fun he was when drunk, and I suddenly felt a pang of regret that this would never be us again, we would never have this again as once the holiday ended so too would our faux friendship. I was nowhere near his social standing at school, and he would never admit to being my friend.

  He leaned into me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

  “Soph,” he breathed into my ear.

  I looked up to him and his eyes met mine with something I’d never seen there before. “Sophie, you …” He didn’t finish, instead he leaned down to my confused face and kissed me. I was stunned, my eyes bulged out of my head, and I tried to push him away. He didn’t budge, his hard body moulding into mine. I pushed harder, but he wasn’t for moving, and when I relaxed I realised how nice this was, his smell, his taste, and I gave in. I gave in to the attraction that I had fought this last week because he was an idiot, because I knew his history, and because he was my step-brother.

  He melted himself into me and I leant into him, his kiss became more urgent, and his tongue plunged into my mouth, caressing my tongue and set me on fire. Shit, I needed to regain myself, this was so wrong on so many levels, despite being my step-brother he was also an arsehole who I hated. I tried again to push him away but far too timidly. After what seemed like forever he pulled away from me. I stared into his eyes and took some comfort in the fact that no one here would know who we were and what we were to each other.

  “Kyle,” I said, looking to him, my mouth agape. “This is wrong.”

  “I know,” he whispered as he closed his eyes and his head fell back. “But that was fucking dynamite.” He leaned into me again, his forehead on mine, looking into my eyes. “Let’s just have tonight.” His eyes bored into me pleadingly, and I opened my mouth to protest, but rather than speaking, he covered my mouth with his again, and I took him at his word. Tonight we wouldn’t be step-brother and sister, tonight we’d be Kyle and Sophie, two kids who knew each other from school kissing in a club that could have been anywhere. Just two teenagers enjoying each other and ending the perfect week of partying with a goodbye kiss.

  Five – Just kissed


  Now

  The drive with Kyle was long, and the summer sun shone through, taunting me all the way, trying to entice me to be happy. The air con made it comfortable, and the summer was a reminder that I should be happy … except I wasn’t. I had managed to give myself a make over, well my mum had forced me into it kicking and screaming, and the alcohol last night had convinced me that I needed a change of scenery, but was it all just too much?

  “What are you thinking?” he asked as we neared the city. I looked over to him. He was still just as beautiful as he had been as a teenager. As a twenty eight year old man he was devastatingly handsome, and I fully expected to be introduced to his latest woman whilst I stayed with him.

  I shook my head. “This was a stupid idea,” I groaned, covering my eyes with my hands.

  “Why?” he looked straight ahead, and I couldn’t see his eyes behind his aviator glasses.

  “What am I doing, Kyle? I’m not ready for this, I should be at home crying. This is going to be the worst few weeks of your life. I’ll be moping all over the place, and you’ll get sick of me.”

  He smiled but didn’t look back to me. “I can’t believe you’re letting him define you like this. The Sophie King I knew would never have let this happen, she was strong.”

  “What?” I was annoyed, and he was enjoying it, looking at me again, “You’ve turned into a sap. What’s so great about this guy that you can’t get over it?”

  “I can get over it,” I snapped. “It’ll just take time. We were going to get married, I thought I was safe and that my heart would never break again. You wouldn’t know anything about that.”

  “Oh I know about heartache,” he laughed lightly, “you’ve taught me all about that.”

  I didn’t look at him, didn’t dare. I wasn’t sure if he was alluding to our tangled past or my heartache now. “Look,” he said, breaking the sudden awkward silence. “Let’s just hang out, go out, enjoy ourselves, and maybe in a few weeks a few minutes will pass without you thinking about dickhead.” He sighed. “I might seem like I don’t know about this stuff, and I’m not a chick, but I do know that keeping busy and time heal a broken heart. I’m not gonna get mushy, but this is the best decision you could have made.”