Free Tormenting Lila by Sarah Alderson Page A

Law but when that excuse had worn
thin (given we were in international waters) he had eventually admitted that Jack might have had something to do with it too.
    Turned out my brother held more sway than a Supreme Court judge when it came to laying down the law on Alex laying a finger on me. I pushed the thought of Jack away. Dwelling on it was risky.
Last time I’d been annoyed at Jack I’d almost caused a tidal wave.
    I hopped out of the four-poster bed and crossed to the window. ‘Let me just call and check then I’m all yours,’ I said to Alex, already dialling Nate’s number.
    Alex mumbled something into the pillow, which sounded like ‘You’re paranoid.’
    ‘No. I just know Nate,’ I answered ruefully as the phone began ringing in my ear. And I knew how far Nate would go to get a sneak peek at Alex naked. Almost as far as I would. Being
able to astrally project out of his body and fly anywhere in the world unseen, however, gave Nate an unfair advantage.
    I pulled the curtain aside and stared out at the blue rippling expanse of the Sound in the distance. It was strange being on dry land after six weeks at sea, and even though I missed seeing my
mum and dad every day, I had to concede it was nice to finally have some alone time with Alex. Whenever we had attempted to sneak off together on the boat, inevitably Jack would appear. It had
begun to feel like we were lovers in a Victorian novel, with Jack playing the part of the interfering chaperone. Now it wouldn’t be long before the summer was over and life went back to
normal – whatever that meant – so I wanted to make the most of the time we had left. What luck, I thought, admiring the four-poster bed and the fluffy robes on the back of the door,
that Jack was a thousand miles away, playing Jack Sparrow in the Gulf of Mexico.
    There was no answer from Nate, which made the alarm buzzing in my head double in volume. I hung up and dialled Suki.
    She answered on the third ring.
    ‘Hello?’ she said tentatively. In the background I could hear seagulls.
    ‘Suki? Where are you?’ I asked.
    Suki cleared her throat. ‘Atlanta,’ she said, though it came out sounding more like a question than an answer. ‘Where are
you?
’ she asked.
    I narrowed my eyes at the horizon. Suki could read my thoughts, even over the phone, so there was no point in lying. ‘I’m in Nantucket with Alex.’
    ‘What are you doing there?’ she asked lightly. The sound of seagulls cawing in the background grew louder.
    ‘We had to come to Boston. Alex had an interview at Harvard. So we decided to spend a few days in Nantucket before we fly back to LA.’
    ‘I thought he was going to accept the place at Berkeley.’
    ‘Still deciding,’ I said, turning to look at Alex over my shoulder. He had rolled over and was watching me. My gaze fell to his chest and I almost lost my train of thought. I turned
back to the window. ‘Listen, is Nate with you?’ I asked Suki, remembering why I was calling in the first place.
    There was a pregnant pause on the line.
    ‘Err, yeah, he’s um . . . he’s just . . . in the bathroom.’
    ‘You sound like you’re outdoors.’
    ‘Um, well, he’s peeing in a bush. We went for a walk.’
    ‘You went for a walk?’ I asked sceptically, an image of Suki in her standard uniform of six-inch heels and figure-hugging couture flashing before me.
    ‘Yes. Nate’s grandma was driving us mad. I am tired of being Nate’s beard.’
    ‘His what?’
    ‘His beard. It’s what they call a girl who acts like the girlfriend of a boy who likes boys to hide the fact he doesn’t like girls.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I
don’t want to be a beard any more,’ she said petulantly.
    She had a point. Nate clearly needed to come out the closet to his grandmother.
    ‘He’s not in the closet. He’s in the bathroom. I told you,’ Suki complained.
    ‘I though he was peeing behind a bush?’
    ‘Yes, that’s what I said,’ Suki said, her voice sounding