18

I stood thoughtfully at Valentina's front door, my phone in one hand and the doorknob in the other, and briefly thought about what would be the right thing to do now, until I opened Irina's chat history...

I will not make it today.

I didn't write more, although I would have really liked to see her, but Mandy just looked so broken. I didn't want to leave her sitting here alone.

"Come on, let's go," I spoke out loud and she stared at me questioningly for a few seconds until I took another deep breath.

"Where to?" she wanted to know, but I didn't know myself yet, so I ran to the couch, gave her my hand and was relieved when she took it after a moment's hesitation.

"Let's see where the evening takes us."

I pulled her outside into the pleasantly warm evening air and handed her my helmet when I got to my motorcycle, but she didn't want to take it at first.

"I've never ridden anything like this before," she explained sheepishly, looking very closely at my machine while I watched it curiously.

"Just sit and hold me," I smiled and after looking deep into my eyes for a moment, she swallowed hard and finally took the helmet to put it on while I got on and started my bike.

"Are you sure you can drive that?" she yelled at me from under the helmet and I immediately gave her an irritated look, which made her laugh softly and sit down behind me.

I felt her hands on my stomach, how she clawed tightly into my sweater and somehow I thought it was super cute at the moment, even though I would never admit it. As we slowly started to roll, she slid her entire body closer to me and I drove off with a grin, just to think about where we should go now.

Determined, I then drove to a small snack bar on the beach, where Odran used to enthusiastically say that they had the tastiest nachos far and wide. I just hoped Mandy was in the mood for the beach and nachos at all.

When we arrived, she was the first to dismount and immediately handed me the helmet, only to then ruffle her beautiful hair, which was sticking out through the helmet in all directions.

I had to grin at her outfit and she immediately smiled shyly and then looked around curiously. There wasn't much here. A long street with some stalls and behind it was just the seemingly endless beach that looked really beautiful in the setting sun.

"Are you hungry?" I asked her and when our eyes met, she nodded silently and walked next to me to one of the stalls where a few others were waiting for their food in front of us.

"I haven't been more than a beach for ages," she said, looking past the little house in front of us to the water.

"And why?" I wanted to know and followed her wistful gaze before taking out my wallet.

"I can't tell you. I don't know myself. I only noticed that I missed the sea when I see it again in front of me now," she explained in a low voice, fumbling with the ribbons of the pink sweater hereabouts.

The two women in front of us must have had their food and turned around so both were staring straight at me and gasping for breath... I had completely forgotten that Mandy and I looked like we had knocked each other out.

"You're Rian Gallagher's brother, aren't you?" said the black-haired woman, nervously nudging her friend, who also got wide-eyed at the same time.

"Yes, that's me," I said, only slightly annoyed, and took Mandy's hand in mine at that moment. First of all, I didn't want these money-hungry beasts to get stuck, nor did I want Mandy to feel uncomfortable.

The two looked a bit bitingly at our clasped hands, rolled their eyes when they looked at Mandy and, luckily for me, quickly disappeared down the street, so that I wanted to let go of Mandy's hand again, but now she suddenly held me tight.

I looked over at her confused, but she was still staring at the sea and didn't seem to have noticed much of it all.

I ordered two nachos and two cokes, only to have to let go of her hand and hand her her stuff before grabbing mine and then following her to the beach.

While my gaze kept falling fleetingly on her buttocks, I admonished myself and at the same time felt my cell phone vibrating constantly... Of course I was curious who was texting me, but I found it unfriendly to answer the cell phone when I was with someone was on the way, so I kept vibrating and ignored it.

"Are you often at the beach?" Mandy asked, sitting cross-legged on the warm sand and enjoying her nachos.

"Every day," I replied, noticing her questioning look as I sat down across from her. "I live on the beach."

"Honestly? That must be incredibly beautiful," she replied and then looked back at the sea...

"You can visit me once, then I'll show you."

She immediately looked at me again and blushed slightly.

"Do you mean some kind of therapy session at home?" she actually wanted to know and I had to laugh and shake my head.

"We could tell my brothers that, but I meant more like a friend visiting a friend," I said and she raised an eyebrow in interest while taking a sip of her Coke.

"So are we friends?"

"Well, we could be, but if we really are then you have to know that I'll probably kill your guy."

She swallowed hard and looked back at the sea, behind which the sun had now almost completely disappeared.

"I don't know how this could have happened to me, Senan," she whispered into the silence, looking down at her hands holding the Coke. "First there were minor bans, where as a woman you still think, wow the guy is jealous, so he loves me. Eventually the first slap came, then the second and now, I'm sitting here with a black eye and a split lip."

"But you can change it, Mandy. You don't have to put up with it. You have your sister, Padraig and me. This guy wouldn't even dare to go near you anymore."

"Aber-"

She interrupted herself by sobbing and wiping away sporadic tears.

"I always think he's changing. I keep thinking and hoping that and then I start defending him. Not because I want to defend him, but because I have to give myself some justification as to why I'm still with him. Me I'm just so cowardly," she explained in her soft voice, and I felt such pain in my heart at the sight of her tears that I had to suppress my hands from shaking. I hated men like that and would have liked to go to him right now, but without their permission I wouldn't interfere...

"Come here," I said and grabbed her hand to at least be there for her now.

She stood up awkwardly and I pulled her close to me, after which she sat down between my legs and rested her back against my chest.

"If you need help, I'm always there, but you have to want it, not me," I whispered in her ear and then felt her nod.

So, looking out to sea, with the sound of the waves in our ears and her back against my chest, we must have sat there for several hours.... just the two of us....