“You’ll have to ask Macy.” I step aside and allow them to pass. Macy’s jaw drops when they move toward her. I stay close, so she knows I’m here for her.
“Macy, do you have a minute?”
The music pumps over the speakers, and Brody yells for her to hear him. I can keep a safe distance as I’ll hear every word.
“We’re sorry it’s taken us a while to apologise. We never meant for it to go as far as it did.”
She frowns at Brody but remains silent.
“We were wasted, and it was a stupid prank,” Davidson says.
Damn right, I want to add.
“Reef, here, has given us a hard time, and we never meant to hurt you. We really like you and can’t believe we were so stupid,” Brody tells her.
“It was. And you did hurt me.” She glances past them to me. “You hurt us,” she adds.
“What can we do to fix it?” Davidson asks. “We’ve wanted to come and see you for weeks.”
She hands them her glass. “You can start by buying me a drink… and Reef.”
“I’m all good. I have to get going.” I wave at the group, satisfied my friends have given her an apology.
Macy’s eyes round. “You’re going now?” she yells over the music.
“I’m going surfing in the morning, so I’m heading to bed. These guys will look out for you.”
She rolls her eyes. “More like I’ll be looking out for them.” She smiles at me with contentment in her eyes, and it warms my heart.
I don’t want to ruin it with a false sense of hope until we talk. And right now, I need time to mull over how I’m going to explain it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
REEF
Are you coming in for coffee?
It’s a text I’ve been waiting for, and yet I decline.
Sorry. Have a big day planned.
After my surf, I headed to the club for training, and now that I am home, I plan on tidying the apartment and chilling.
Can I come see you after work?
I have something for you.
I hesitate before replying.
Sure.
Tidying the mess my teammates left last night, I place an online grocery order and click for it to be delivered later this afternoon.
Sending the last of the trash down the shoot, I ask Google to play my favourite playlist.
The groceries arrive and are packed away. I consider making her a cheese platter only my gut won’t stomach anything until I get out what I have to say. Locking the door, I take the elevator to the lobby.
Lifestyle, Men’s Health, and women’s magazines—I’ve flicked through several while I wait. I recheck the time and stand when a brunette with a familiar sway of hips makes her way toward me.
“Hey.” Her smile reaches her eyes when she hands me a wrapped box. “Sorry, it’s late. I got it for you in Broken Hill and then decided to give it to you for Christmas.”
“Should I be nervous?”
She giggles. “Maybe.”
“Do you mind if I open it after we take a walk?”
“A walk?”
“A stroll.”
I hand my gift over to Janelle, the receptionist, and ask her to keep it behind the desk for me. I take Macy’s hand and lead her to the beach, down past the rocks, and onto the sand. We kick off our shoes and carry them while we walk along the water’s edge.
“I get the feeling we’re breaking up again even though we’re not together,” Macy croaks.
I look up to the sky and think about my words. “The choice will be yours, not mine.”
She stops walking, so I turn.
“I can’t do this again,” she whispers, her eyes watering.
Hell. I close the gap and place both hands on her shoulders. “I’ll get straight to the point rather than drag this out. Remember I asked you, what do you want? Where you saw yourself in five or ten years?”
She nods slowly. “Was it a trick question?”
I run my hands up and down her bare arms. “No. I tried to gauge what it is you want.”
“I want you,” she rasps. “I know that now without the baggage I carried before.” She lowers her gaze to her bare feet, pushes her toes into the sand.
“What changed your mind? Because you didn’t feel this way a few weeks ago.”
She takes a step back and closes her eyes momentarily before speaking, “I thought about my personal growth. My future. The type of guy I’d want to be with. You ticked all my boxes, and besides, you already own my heart. The thing to really resonate was the kindness you offered.”
“You remember our talk at Adele’s?”
“Not much.” Her eyes are apologetic. “I heard about the incident with the homeless man.”
“Yeah, the police got back to me and said he was discharged and being monitored by a shelter.”
“He’s my friend… Harry.” She smiles, and I swear the whole beach lights up with a thousand suns shining down on us. “I try to help Harry when I can. When I learned he was bashed, I wanted to rush to the hospital. Oliver had camera footage, and after talking to the police, he said you helped save him.” She steps forward and places both hands on my chest. “I knew instantly it was a sign. You care for people so much… you care for me so much. And you didn’t give me a chance to explain, but you’ve proven time and again that you regret it, and you don’t want to hurt me. I trust you won’t do that again. I trust you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat with our lips close—longing, belonging—pulling us together.
“I’m infertile,” I murmur, not wanting to stall any longer.
“What?”
“My ex. Felicity…”
She nods.
“Told me she was pregnant. I had extra tests not long before because I was hit in the sack playing football. I didn’t tell her about the tests. Turns out, I have extremely low sperm count. The chances of me ever fathering a child are incredibly slim, if not impossible. So, I knew her being pregnant was a lie.”
She blinks at me, comprehending.
I remove her hands from my chest, both of us needing space.
“Are you sure?” She shakes her head. “Sorry, it’s none of my business.”
“You have a right to know. It fucked up my head for a while until I decided coming to Adelaide was the best thing, and I threw myself into training.” I turn to the ocean. “And surfing.”
Macy’s hand rests on my cheek, and she guides my gaze back to hers. “I don’t care.” She shakes her head.
“What if I care, Mace. You said you wanted kids, and I’m not going to take that from you if we have a future together.”
“There are other ways.”
I take her hand and lead her along the sand toward my apartment. “I need some time on my own. I want you to process what I’ve told you. Other than Chance and my family knowing, it’s not something I share. I didn’t even tell Felicity. Just allowed the truth to come out when I pushed her to see a doctor for pregnancy tests.”
We walk in silence until we reach her car.