Free Waves of Betrayal (The Isabel Marsh Trilogy Book 1) by Michelle J. Bennett Page A

was eighteen. I started to see him differently, I suppose.’ Rachel nods seriously, encouraging her to continue. ‘I suppose you could say that I developed my first crush,’ Isabel smiles fondly at the innocent memory.
    ‘What happened Iz? Your dad doesn’t strike me as the sort of man who kicks people out of his home for no reason,’ she asks, taking a noisy drink through her straw.
    ‘I thought that I was imagining things when he began to flirt with me, until one day his expression changed. At first I thought he was angry with me, but I mistook this for passion. I didn’t resist. His hands were all over me, exploring beneath my school shirt...’ she blushes, avoiding Rachel’s eyes, ‘I wasn’t afraid. He was so intense. His eyes, he had beautiful blue eyes...’
    ‘And..?’
    ‘And nothing. That was it. Nothing really happened, although it might have, if my father hadn’t come into the room. I just remember feeling totally mortified when I saw the shock on his face. The disgrace. I never saw Marcos again,’ Isabel recalls, as she drops her hands into her lap and starts to pick at her nail polish.
    ‘Did Paul know?’ Rachel asks, quietly.
    ‘No, for some reason this was a secret that was so precious that I wanted to keep it to myself. We know all about each other’s ex’s, but Marcos was different. I know I was only young, but I think I loved him. I swore I’d find him one day when I was old enough, but life goes on I suppose. I’ve never forgotten him though.’
    ‘So, hang on... he’s engaged?’
    ‘Yep, and we’re invited to the bloody party! Mum and dad are coming over in a few days and insist on taking us along. Marcos has no idea that I’m going to be there. Oh holy-shit, Rach!’
    ‘Crikey, this is real soap-opera stuff,’ Rachel slurps the remainder of her drink, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘You’re full of surprises, you dark horse,’ she adds laughing, banging her empty glass down heavily on the table.
    ‘He’ll be thirty-one now,’ continues Isabel, ‘let’s just hope that he’s aged badly and that he’s fat and bald with bad skin,’ she smirks, looking up at Rachel, ‘I doubt it though.’
    ‘This could be fate you know Iz,’ says Rachel, winking.
    ‘Rachel, he’s engaged!!! We’re going to celebrate the happy event with him for god’s sake!!!’
    ‘Ahhhh but he hasn’t seen you in your floor length Monsoon dress yet, has he...??! And his fiancée is probably a moose anyway,’ she laughs, feeling the effects of the two mojitos!
    ‘It’s a pool party, I hardly think an evening gown is in the dress code! You certainly know how to turn a crisis into a celebration, Rachel!!’
    ‘Too right! Let’s ask Mr Perfect for the cocktail list!’
    After a gorgeously sophisticated Margarita each, with a couple of bowls of green olives, which Rachel decides that she actually likes, in spite of her initial urge to push them over to Isabel’s end of the bench, they start to get an attack of the giggles! As tears flood down their faces and they roll backwards on the seats, gripping the table in front of them, struggling to stop, Rachel has an idea. ‘Let’s make a night of it Iz! We’ll go back to the house, glam ourselves up a bit and go in search of a trendy beach-side restaurant with some good tunes.’
    ‘Plenty of those around,’ Isabel slurs and sweeps her arm out in front of her, indicating the many choices, knocking over an empty Margarita glass. This causes another uncontrollable fit of laughter!
    They manage to swing their legs back onto the solid deck and make their way down to the toilets, gripping each other’s arms for balance. ‘Who needs a man anyway?’ says Isabel, blurting out the question much louder than she had expected.
     ‘Exactly...’ Rachel agrees, and then stops suddenly in her tracks ‘apart from my Stephen, of course!!’
    ‘Ok, ok... Iz, you lead the way!’ rhymes Rachel as she links arms with her friend. They’ve both