Somewhere New (Isle of Doughnut #1)

Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ASTER

I didn’t ascribe to Callum’s belief in Bonnie’s psychic ability, which she used exclusively to ruin his life. However, receiving a message from her on the morning I was trying hard not to think about how I only had one month left on the island did make me reconsider.

Come for lunch tomorrow. You’ve got a month left here, and there are some people I want you to chat up to convince that using council funds to back a recluse looking at flowers was a good idea. Plus, there’s a local botanist I want you to meet after.

Bring my brother

Dress nice.

I groaned, all the excitement the prospect of another day of ranging around the island looking at glorious flora infused me with draining away .

Callum appeared in the bedroom doorway, a crease between his impressive eyebrows. I tried—and failed—to avoid thinking about the last time I’d seen that expression on his face.

It was this morning. When I’d sucked his dick.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked, his mind clearly on my distress rather than recounting the—many—wondrous sexy times we’d had since introducing mouths-on-dicks into the mix.

I waved my phone at him. ‘Bonnie has summoned us for lunch tomorrow. She says there’s people I need to meet, and stuff to do in the afternoon as well.’

Callum sported the specific frown reserved for his older sister. ‘I’ll give you a lift down. Kit can bring you back up once you’re done.’

‘No chance you’ll join me?’ I tucked my phone into my pocket and followed Callum through to the cabin’s main room. I dodged Tim, who ran over to headbutt my shins.

Callum’s shoulders tightened as he resumed stirring porridge. ‘I can’t.’

I didn’t push him, just rested my head on his arm while he finished making breakfast. If I were his actual partner, someone who’d be here longer than four more short weeks, then maybe I would have. I’d take the progress we’d made with talking about his past and press into his other hurting places. But that kind of delving required being around for the fallout. I wasn’t about to push Callum to open up more and reconcile with his sister if I wasn’t also going to be here to support him through all of that.

‘She said to dress nicely,’ I mumbled around a mouthful of porridge once we’d relocated to the sofa. Callum didn’t look at me much while we ate. Maybe he found it too freaking sexy when I stuffed my face. A boy could dream. ‘What does that mean?’

‘My guess is she’s messing with you,’ Callum muttered, eyebrows drawn down. He scowled at the embers in the fireplace, the flames banked so they wouldn’t flare up while we were out for the day.

Despite my many attempts—most of which were sexual in nature—to distract Callum from his sister’s unerring ability to burst happiness bubbles, the frown never really left his face until he dropped me off outside her cottage the next day.

I grabbed his arm before he drove away on his quad bike/death machine. I wasn’t sure he would want to confirm Bonnie’s suspicions, so settled for squeezing his shoulder and giving him a warm smile.

‘I’ll see you later, Cal.’

He raised his fingertips to mine before revving the engine and speeding off. He’d confirmed Kit could give me a lift home, so after he completed his stockpile-esque shopping, he would head up the mountain without me. He’d asked if I needed anything and seemed confused when I’d said no. He couldn’t have known I was lying. There was no way I’d ask him to get the items I needed. Bonnie said there were other people to meet this afternoon, so surely I’d get a moment to sneak away to the island’s pharmacy.

‘Woah.’ Bonnie stood in her picturesque cottage’s doorway, her nose wrinkled. ‘No need to ask if you and my baby bro have been getting it on.’

I raised a hand to my face. I’d commenced a moisturising routine, so had barely any beard burn. The love bites Callum had sucked into my skin the night before were covered by clothing. Unless Bonnie whipped off my trousers and examined my inner thighs—which Callum seemed to have a not-at-all-unpleasant obsession with—then she should have no idea about them.

I pushed past her into the house and stripped off my coat and walking boots. ‘You’re a weirdo with no idea of normal decorum.’

Bonnie barked a laugh. ‘Nice shirt.’

I smoothed the fabric, then turned to meet her shit-eating grin. ‘Thanks.’

I hadn’t been sure whether Callum was right and Bonnie was messing with me, so I’d gone for a navy shirt patterned with tiny pink flamingos and my cleanest pair of dark jeans. It became manifestly clear she was being her usual amount of massively shit when I followed her into the kitchen-diner and everyone else was dressed in mud-splattered jumpers and fleeces.

Still, I wasn’t too overdressed and the only seat left at the table was as far from Bonnie as possible, so for most of lunch my smile was genuine. Others might think a meal spent defending the use of public funds for someone to catalogue flowers wasn’t a pleasant way to pass their time, but I loved this stuff. Seeing the dawning comprehension as people realised caring for wild places—and wild flowers in particular—had a direct impact on the not-so-wild places of this world made me want to punch the air and demand a round of high fives.

‘Good work in there,’ Bonnie said as she walked me to the front door a couple of hours later.

I glanced up from lacing my boots. Her voice was even and sincere, her words unclouded by double meaning. ‘Thank you?’ I said, as I shrugged on my coat .

She rolled her eyes. ‘Is it so hard to believe that I genuinely wanted you to do a good job today?’

I narrowed my eyes, sensing she wouldn’t want to hear my answer. But then, she was mayor. She’d made the decision to let me come here. She was my main advocate.

‘Actually no.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘How does it feel to press pause on being an arsehole?’

Bonnie grinned wolfishly and, before I could stop her, did the weird face touching thing she’d done the last time I’d had lunch here.

She stepped back and tipped her head to one side. ‘Now you’ve got my cooties.’

I yanked open the front door. ‘Which one is Frank’s house again?’

‘Sure you don’t want me to walk you there?’ Bonnie’s smile as I spun away was full of the promise of inappropriate things she’d say if I lingered for a minute longer in her presence.

‘I’m going to go with no.’ I stomped down the front path to the pretty gate. Poor island children had no idea a monster lived here. I wondered how many Bonnie ate each year.

‘It’s the sky-blue one in the middle of the far row,’ she shouted over the clanging gate. ‘Oh, and please tell my brother that having regular orgasms normally chills people out. He could use that chill to, you know, see his friends and family. Perhaps even converse with them.’

‘Bye, Bonnie,’ I shouted, refusing to turn my head and let her see my flushed skin. She might suspect Callum and I were fucking, but that didn’t mean the rest of the island had to hear about it. I didn’t think Callum would be ashamed, but he was a private guy. There was a difference between not hiding something and broadcasting it far and wide.

The red tinge to my cheeks could be blamed on Doughnut’s cutting sea wind rather than cringing embarrassment by the time I reached the end of Bonnie’s section of terraces and walked along the frontages of the second. They were all painted bright colours like the rows on either side, but their downstairs windows had been widened to show off the wares inside. A pink bakery sent sugary smells out to the narrow street, a red bookshop boasted a Gruffalo display, a yellow supermarket touted fresh fruit and veg. I ducked into the dark blue pharmacy.

I couldn’t buy what I needed without being noticed by someone, but I hoped the only witness would be the tiny old woman knitting behind the till. I didn’t know the deal with pharmacists, but some kind of confidentiality had to be at play here. The islanders wouldn’t appreciate their various ailments being discussed without permission. I had to hope the same courtesy extended to visitors.

I quickly scanned shelves of shower gels and various tubes of cream I didn’t read the labels of too carefully, and found what I needed tucked in the furthest corner from the till. I’d expected the condom and lube selection on a tiny island to be dusty and sadly lacking, but the display ran across four shelves. There had to be other randy couples on Doughnut giving this section of the pharmacy a steady stream of business.

I grabbed a couple of tubes of the most expensive lube and a jumbo pack of condoms. I loved what Callum and I were currently doing, but more and more I’d been eyeing his dick and wondering what it would feel like to have it inside me. If our previous conversations about my sexual desires were anything to go by, only minutes would pass between me expressing an interest in penetration and Callum fingering me open. So, best to be prepared.

I hurried my purchases over to the till. The old woman barely paused knitting to scan them. Her eyes stuck to her clicking needles as the card payment went through. I was marvelling at what a painless experience buying the necessary equipment for full-blown sex with Callum had been when the bell above the door rang.

‘Please don’t be Bonnie,’ I whispered, desperately shoving the condoms into my bag. I blamed the terror of Callum’s sister seeing me buy sexy-time items for why my hand jerked when I picked up the tubes of lube. Before my horrified eyes, they fell from the counter and bounced in different directions across the pharmacy.

‘Um, not Bonnie,’ a nervous voice piped up behind me. ‘This yours?’

I turned around to find a blushing Kit holding out one of the tubes of lube. My face ridiculously warm, I grabbed it and bent to pick up the other. The action toppled the huge box of condoms from my bag.

I closed my eyes. ‘Can we pretend this isn’t happening? Like, can we wilfully decide we’re in an alternate universe where you’re not seeing me buy sex supplies?’

‘Yes,’ Kit said. Infinitely more dexterous than me, he grabbed the tubes of lube and shoved them, along with the box of condoms, into my bag. He zipped it shut and pulled me to standing. ‘Oh, hey, Aster. Nice to see you here, making no significant purchases at all.’

I willed my cheeks to return to a normal colour. ‘Hello, Kit. Nice to see you too.’

It was nice to see him, despite the last time when I’d kind of wanted to punch him in the face for hugging Callum. But I was a mature individual. I’d take sweet and shy Kit catching me buying condoms over Bonnie any day. Even if that did mean I had to be nice to someone who I didn’t appreciate rubbing themselves all over Callum when my back was turned.

‘Down boy,’ I muttered as I followed Kit out of the pharmacy-of-forgotten-moments. Callum wasn’t mine to get jealous over. We’d said we were exclusive, but only for now. The thought of Callum with someone else—someone who looked remarkably like Kit—made me want to hone the power to rain fire down on the whole island, but I also didn’t want Callum to be alone forever. I would leave and his life would go on.

‘How was lunch?’ Kit tucked a scarf around his neck. His light brown curls bounced in the fresh sea breeze.

‘Fun.’ I turned towards the final row of cottages where the guy Bonnie wanted me to meet lived, not at all annoyed when Kit fell into step beside me. I might not wholly resent the guy who would likely usurp me in Callum’s affections, but I didn’t have to be all buddy-buddy with him either. I cringed when I remembered I was getting a lift back up the mountain with him. I needed to better remember my nemeses to avoid situations like this.

Kit side-eyed me. ‘You found talking to all those argumentative people fun?’ He puffed out a breath and I refused to notice how classically good-looking he was. He and Callum would look stupidly fantastic together once I was out of the picture. ‘I can’t stand meetings like that. I don’t like talking to most people. I think that’s why Callum tolerates me more than anyone else. At least I don’t make him chat to me.’

I felt like Kit was trying to say something with the words he was pushing past his beautiful lips apparently against his will. ‘Callum likes you the best, huh?’

Kit pinched his mouth together. ‘I don’t think Callum liked anyone much at all until you arrived. He just disliked me the least.’

Oh. I tried to reconcile what Kit was saying with the lingering embrace I’d caught them in. ‘Why would he hug you then?’

Kit shrugged, like me bringing up one moment of contact between two friends that had happened weeks ago wasn’t utterly strange. ‘I don’t get touched much. Sometimes he’s kind to me.’

Ah. This was an annoyingly familiar feeling. I’d been a dick. Kit wasn’t in competition for Callum’s affection. He was just a lonely guy.

‘Hey.’ I stopped walking and grabbed his arm. ‘I’m always up for a hug.’

Lesser mortals might need time to reconfigure their brains upon discovering someone wasn’t an enemy but instead needed a snuggle, but not me. I wrapped my arms around Kit’s middle.

There must be something about this island. Kit’s arms twined around my neck before I could blink. Apparently everyone here craved a good hug.

I nuzzled into the thick knit of Kit’s scarf. ‘I’m glad it was you who caught me buying condoms and lube, and not Bonnie,’ I said, because I couldn’t let a moment be nice and not ruin it by bringing up things I’d said I wanted to forget.

Kit laughed as he stepped back. ‘Your incredibly secret sexual endeavours are safe with me.’

I narrowed my eyes at him as we continued walking towards the sky-blue cottage nestled in the middle of the final row of terraces. ‘Level with me. How come everyone’s assuming me and Callum have slept together?’

Kit raised his hand to his nose, then shook his head. ‘Bonnie’s messing with you.’

That didn’t feel like the whole truth, but I let it lie as I wandered up the front path to Frank’s cottage. Bonnie had told me exactly nothing about him apart from that he was a keen botanist and he wanted to meet me before I left the island.

I knocked on the door and practically stomped on Kit’s boots when I stepped back. I looked over my shoulder. ‘You’re coming in as well?’

He nodded, not quite looking me in the eye.

The door opened, and thick grey dust exploded towards my face. Without thinking, I raised my hands and closed my eyes, willing whatever it was to be non-lethal and non-clothes-staining.

Behind me, Kit gasped. Gingerly, I opened my eyes.

The dust had slammed into an invisible shield. I lowered my hands, and the thick powder fell to the ground.

A short Black man was revealed, grinning in the sky-blue cottage’s doorway. ‘Definitely a witch then.’

‘I’ve never been able to shield before.’ I blinked, thoughts bustling for attention in my head. ‘Hey, you know about witches?’

Kit patted my shoulder. ‘I’ll leave you two to play, now we know you’re not going to faint or anything.’

I pointed at the pile of dust. ‘That stuff would have made me faint?’

Frank grinned unrepentantly. ‘Only for a little while. Come on in, and we can chat about why being on the island has unlocked your powers. ’

‘Um, sure. Yeah. That’s totally fine. Going into the home of someone who just threw potentially lethal dust into my face seems like a perfectly sensible idea.’

Frank’s laugh was low and warm. ‘I like you.’

‘Thank you?’ I said, following him into his house.

Like I would miss the chance to talk to someone who knew anything about being a witch, or might know why my puny powers had gotten an upgrade on Doughnut.

‘No more dust throwing, yeah?’