Free Between Us: Sex on the Beach by Jen McLaughlin

up a hand. “Oh, wait. I have breakfast with the girls in the morning, so we can catch up on our escapades so far. Can we make it ten?”
    “Sure.”
    I kissed her one last time, grabbed my shirt off the floor, and walked out of the room. As I shoved my keys into my pocket, I took a steadying breath. Walking out into the hallway, I checked my texts.
    I had a few from my buddy Chris and one from Rachel. My role in her life was the thing I wasn’t willing to share with anyone…not even Mackenzie. Some things were better left unexplained. I dialed her number and lifted my phone to my ear. She picked up right away. “Austin? Where the heck are you?”
    “I’m on my way home.”
    “Can you bring pizza?” She turned the music down, then I heard her flop down on her bed. Ironically enough, she was listening to Mackenzie. Not a huge surprise there. She was always listening to Mackenzie. “I’m freaking starving.”
    “Depends. Did you clean your room like I asked you to?”
    She sighed. “Yep. I even folded my laundry without you asking.”
    “Hm.” I pushed the button on the elevator, smoothing my hand over my tousled hair. I swore I could still feel Mackenzie’s fingers running through it. “I guess that constitutes a reward. Pick your topping, sis.”
    She closed a book. She was almost always buried in a book. “I’ll call it in, and you can pick it up on the way home.”
    I smiled and stepped onto the elevator. She sounded so much older than her sixteen years sometimes. Of course, with a dad like ours, how could she not have grown up faster? The smile faded from my lips at the mere memory of that asshat. “Deal. I’ll be home in twenty.”
    “See you then, bro.”
    “Bye, squirt.”
    “Austin,” she admonished. “I told you to stop calling me that when I turned fourteen. You need to respect my request.”
    Then she hung up on me.
    I laughed and dropped my phone into my pocket, staring at the numbers as I climbed lower and lower. It was weird that I’d just come from Mackenzie Forbes’s hotel room, and I couldn’t even tell anyone. It was a secret, and I got that. But Rachel would fucking flip out if she ever got to meet Mackenzie.
    The thought of the joy it would bring to her almost made me want to ask Mackenzie for the favor. Rachel never had much of a reason to smile. I would do anything to make her smile like she used to, before Dad ruined it all.
    Before he ruined us both.
    I’d been twenty-two. She’d been fourteen.
    They’d tried to place her in a home after my dad went all crazy, but I’d insisted on taking her myself. I’d already let her down once, and I wouldn’t do it again. Even after two years of her living with me, I still had visits from social workers on a monthly basis. No one thought I could handle her.
    They underestimated how much I loved her.
    I wouldn’t let her down again. She was my fucking world, and always would be. I’d been busting my ass to keep a roof over her head and food on the table ever since I took over her guardianship. I even had a small college fund for her, because there was no doubt in my mind she’d be going. She was a smart kid.
    The elevator doors opened. I stepped out of them, then headed out into the hot Key West night. I loved it here. Loved the heat and the energy and the music. But sometimes I wished I could pack up Rachel and run away. Go somewhere else. But where would we go? She’d lived here her whole life, and it felt wrong ripping her away from what she knew. Part of me thought it would be a good thing. A fresh start of sorts. Maybe it would help her forget.
    But nothing could erase bad memories. I knew that all too fucking well.
    God knows I’d tried.

 
    T HE NEXT morning, I leaned back in my chair and looked at my breakfast companions, Quinn and Cassie. They were watching me intently, waiting for me to tell them more about Austin. They didn’t trust him. I could tell by the way they kept sharing long, lingering looks. But I did