Devil and the Deep (The Ceruleans: Book 4) Read Free Page B

dress?
    Me: The boys.
    Cara: Si does!
    Me: Then he can dress up. But I had enough trouble
convincing the others to come without telling them they have to wear some
Austin Powers-style getup.
    Cara: OK. Later.
    Next my mother, on the phone:
    Mum: Scarlett! How’s it going?
    Me: Fine, Mum. Just looking for a gravy boat – do we have
a gravy boat?
    Mum: We must have. Your grandfather loved gravy. Ate bowlfuls
as soup! Did you check the sideboard in the living room?
    Me: Hang on… Yep, got it. Thanks, Mum.
    Mum: You’re welcome. Did the delivery man come yet?
    Me: No.
    Mum: Well, I bunged him an extra twenty, so he’d better
make it in time.
    Me: It’ll be fine.
    Mum: ’Course it will. I’m so excited for you!
    Me: Mum, it’s just dinner.
    Mum: I know, I know. I’ll rephrase: I’m just so glad
you’re back from your travels, and you and Luke have got over whatever little
hiccup made you split up, and –
    Me: Me too, Mum. See you on the fifteenth?
    Mum: Yes, absolutely!
    Next a bloke in a UPS uniform at the door:
    Delivery bloke: Scarlett Blake?
    Me: Yep.
    Delivery bloke: Sign here, please.
    Then Jude via text:
    Jude: You sure about tonight?
    Me: Yes. It’s time to clear the air.
    Jude: Okay. Just keep Luke away from the salsa.
    Me: It’s cool, Jude. It’ll be fine.
    And finally, Luke via text:
    Luke: You sure about tonight?
    Me: Yes. It’s time to clear the air.
    Luke: Okay. Just keep Jude away from the guacamole.
    Me: It’s cool, Luke. It’ll be fine.
    Would it be fine, though? Come early evening, with just
minutes to go until my first guest was due, I was slumped on the back doorstep in
a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
    The dinner party had seemed a good idea a week ago when I’d
come up with it, while watching an episode of Come Dine with Me with
Luke. A neutral environment, delicious food, free-flowing drinks and a friendly
atmosphere – surely these were the ingredients for breaking down barriers and
forming new alliances? Cara and Si certainly thought so, when I explained my
plan. But Luke and Jude took a lot of persuading.
    ‘I still don’t like that guy,’ was Luke’s complaint.
    ‘He still doesn’t like me,’ was Jude’s.
    I could have just left it at that. Since they’d known each
other, Luke and Jude hadn’t seen eye to eye. Last time they’d seen each other,
a simple conversation had descended into a heated dip-throwing incident. There
wasn’t much animosity on Jude’s side, as far as I could tell. But Luke had a
long history of mistrusting Jude, and since I’d got back and told the tale of
my time away, he’d been deeply conflicted. Jude had taken me from him, withheld
the truth, kept me on that island for months and very nearly faux-married me.
But he’d also saved my life, healed Cara’s legs and given me my freedom so that
I could come home.
    It was all such a tumultuous, emotional mess – not something
a typical guy would feel inclined to sort out. Better to keep a distance, they’d
both told me. Better to leave well alone.
    Better for Luke, perhaps, but not for Jude and me! Four
months I’d spent alone with Jude; for four months he’d been everything to me –
friend, protector, partner in crime. I couldn’t just scrub all that away now that
I was home. I wouldn’t. Plus, Jude was going through a bad time, I knew, having
lost the girl he loved and the trust of the leader he respected. I owed him my
loyalty and support now.
    But it was more than that – more than some selfless desire
to be there for Jude. I needed him. He was a Cerulean, and my guide to what I
had become. I could no longer stand to be entirely cut off from that world and
attempt to live the life of a simple human when I so clearly wasn’t.
    So tonight, I’d promised myself, the vast chasm between Luke
and Jude, Twycombe and Cerulea, human and Cerulean would narrow. It was a
Herculean task I’d set myself. Could I pull it off?
    In a corner of the garden a plum tree blurred out of focus.
Frowning, I