Ashlynn and I stayed on the same team along with three other girls who seemed friendly enough and two guys who both just seemed glad to be included. Perfect setting. No cocky assholes or douche-canoes making us wish we had worn bigger bathing suits.
The game started out as a laughing, screaming free-for-all. We collectively sucked, and knew it, but we were all also free from classes and school stress for a week and in paradise, so no one cared. Our team got stomped on and lost by eleven.
"Maybe you guys want to switch sides?" Lance called from across the net, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
"And maybe you're just scared we're on the comeback trail," Ash shot back with a laugh.
We got set and I served the ball. My serve actually went in bounds and we managed to get it over four times before someone on the other team dove for it and missed.
"See?" I crowed. "Watch yourselves, now."
I served the ball again and it came screaming back to me a second later. Just as I was about to lunge for it, a low male voice sounded from a few feet away.
"Melissa? Is that you?"
That low, gritty baritone set every nerve ending in my body into overdrive as a thousand and one feelings shot through me at once, each fighting for supremacy.
Pain. Need. Sadness.
Sheer, unadulterated joy.
And then pain again as the volleyball connected with my face, dead on.
I dropped to the sand, flat on my back and the breath left my lungs in a whoosh. I blinked unseeingly into the blinding sun as one thought raced through my mind on a continuous loop.
Either I was insane, or Robbie Stevens was here in Monaco.
Robbie Stevens, my high school sweetheart.
Robbie Stevens, my first.
Robbie Stevens, my only.
Robbie Stevens, who had broken my heart into a zillion little pieces before dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire.
Please God, let me be insane.
Robbie
I stared in shock at Melissa lying motionless on her back.
Jesus, that ball had hit her hard. I jogged over, pushing my way past her teammates as they crowded around her. I lowered myself to kneel next to her, fighting the urge to cut and run.
It had been a long time. Four years now. No way I couldn't get within a few feet of her and live to tell the tale. It would be fine. A surprise to run into her here, but no big deal. Just a bump in the road.
Then she opened her big, green eyes and stared right into mine. It was like being kicked in the gut by a mule and the words that had been on the tip of my tongue dissolved as I stared back at her.
I'd imagined her so many times, seen her in the faces of strangers, and had been wrong. But I knew her body better than I knew my own, and I hadn't been able to control my reaction when I'd seen her, even in profile.
Her long fall of auburn hair hadn't changed much since the last time I'd seen her. Even now, my fingers itched to dive into it. How many times had I held fistfuls of it in my hands while we made love?
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
She'd leaned out some, her stomach had lost the slight curve beneath her belly button, her profile was sharper. But there was no mistaking that stance. Shoulders thrown back, feet planted, wide open and ready for the world. I loved that about her. She was game for anything. If there was a cause, Melissa was first in line to fight for it. Needed a friend to do some shitty job like help you move, or help you with yard work? Melissa would show up in shorts with a rake in hand.
Now, as I stared down at her, memories rolled through my mind like an old movie projector.
Me and Melissa, in my beat up Mustang as I taught her how to drive.
Me and Melissa at Arnie's Burger Bar, seeing who could fit more fries in their mouth.
Melissa, beneath me, eyes wide with wonder as I slid deep inside her.
Now, though, those eyes were wide with shock instead of wonder as she struggled to sit up.
I reached out to help her, but she moved away.
"I got it," she said, wincing as she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.
"Do you think you broke it?" I asked, wincing in sympathy along with her. Boxing was hard on the nose and I'd broken mine twice. She was looking at a pair of shiners by morning if she had, and that would definitely put a damper on her vacation.
She shook her head slowly but before she could answer, another girl dropped to her knees on the other side of Melissa.
"What the hell happened? Didn't you see the ball comi-" The girl made eye contact with me and I forced a tight smile.
"Hey, Ash."
Ashlynn's dark eyes narrowed into slits making me think of a Discovery Channel documentary I'd watched on pit vipers.
"What are you doing here, Rob?"
She said my name like she’d just tasted a piece of shit, but I kept my gaze impassive. Fact was, I didn't blame her. They'd grown up together. Shared birthday parties, near constant sleepovers, wearing each other’s clothes and finishing each other's sentences.