Chapter 7

Lucien usually spent his weekends out of the house so when Star came downstairs, she was surprised to see him. He was in the sitting room flipping through the pages of a business issue magazine with a cup of coffee in his hand. Star watched him as he took a sip from the cup.

"Good morning." Star called out as her legs resumed their trip to the breakfast room.

"Morning." Lucien didn't spare her a glance.

Star grabbed two pieces of toast and took them back to her room with her. She had a day planed with her friends. As this was one of those rare moments they sent time together, she was not going to cancel.

A few minutes later she was back downstairs dressed casually in jeans, a sweater and boots. She was going through her purse as she passed by the living area and was surprised when Lucien asked her where she was going.

"We're having a day out." She said her gaze lifting from her purse to him. "Octavia wants to go to the beach. Charlotte wants to surf… she's going to do that with her brother. I think Xiamie and I will stay on the beach. We plan to have a little bonfire since it's getting chilly out. We're having sandwiches, pizza and some s'mores. Xiamie is bringing the crackers, and the marshmallows. Your sister is bringing the chocolate and drinks."

Star zipped up her purse and then suddenly asked. "Do you want to join us?"

"I'll drive, you navigate we can take the Land Cruise." Lucien surprised both himself and his wife by agreeing. "Take a blanket." He suggested as he got up and went towards his room. He needed to wear warmer clothes and get the car keys.

  ***

  Star could not contain her excitement. She had excitedly opened a chat with her friends telling them that Lucien was coming over too. Octavia said that Tristian was also coming and accompanied that with an angry emoji.

Star laughed and told Lucien who grunted and Star let out another laugh. Tristian was the cheery type that his siblings preferred in small doses. Star glanced at her husband and was pleased to find that her husband was smiling. This was yet another first in a long time. Them alone together and easy going with no bad energy between them. Star smiled and impulsively opened her window. The wind was cold and she lifted her face into it.

Lucien stole a glance at his wife and it hit him how gorgeous she looked. Her delighted little laugh as some locks of dark brown hair that were blown into her face did a number on his heart rate. She brushed the hair away from her face and closed her eyes leaning her face into the wind like a puppy, grinning.

Yes, she is adorable, the thought popped into his head. And you are going to kill her by not focusing on the road.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel and he forced himself to keep his focus on what he was doing. He was driving and they wouldn't make it to their destination if he put them in a wreckage.

They were thankfully close to their destination and when Lucien slowed the car down Star rolled the window up while recognising some cars in the parking lot.

Octavia and Richard seemed to be having an intense argument and paused when they saw Lucien's Land Cruiser. Octavia said a few more words to Richard, picked up a cooler and a picnic basket and shuffled  furiously  towards the beach. Richard watched her go for a moment or two then ran after her. He wrestled the cooler from her grip and the two walked together to where the rest of the group was.

"What was that about?" Star thought out loud.

Lucien shrugged. "Since it's Octavia, I don't want to ask." He said "She got the grumpy mood when she hit puberty and it never went away. I love my life too much to poke that bear."

He unclipped his seat belt and got out of the car. He took out their folding chairs, from the back of the trunk. Star took out the blankets, books they intended on reading and snacks Lucien had insisted on packing from their pantry.

The two went down the beach together. When they got close enough, they could hear that Octavia and Tristian were locked in battle and the rest of the group was looking at the pile of driftwood they had gathered.

Charlotte ran over to her cousin. And almost toppled her over.

"Did you bring a lighter?" she asked breathlessly.

"I have one in the grove compartment." Lucien said and there was humour dancing in his eyes.

"I told you to bring a packet of matches, you free loading bone head!" Octavia shouted at her brother and Star immediately understood the situation.

"Hie guys!" she said cheerfully when she reached the group.

"We have no fire!" Octavia said in response.

"Lottie is getting a lighter from Lucien's grove compartment." Star said soothingly.

"Okay," Octavia said. And then to everyone's surprise started walking away. They gaped after her for a moment.

"I'll go after her." Xiamie said and jogged to catch up with her friend.

"She's been snippy the whole morning." Tristian said worriedly. "Do you think something is wrong with her?"

"She doesn't say much about her problems." Starlet said. Her friend liked to keep to herself.

"She gets into her head sometimes." Lucien said. "She'll come out of it, don't worry." He then went to digging out a shallow pit for their fire.

Tristian, and Antonia (Xiamie's older sister) began to help. Richard was too busy stopping to look into the direction where Octavia had gone to be of much help. His sister and his cousin noticed though they refrained from saying anything. When it came to Octavia they knew not to interfere.

By the time the fire was a steady blaze Octavia and Xiamie were walking back. To the group. Star was reading a book next to her husband as they sat in the sand. Lucien was gazing at the fire roasting two sticks of marshmallows. When they were a golden brown, he gave one to Star who looked at him in surprise.

"You skipped breakfast," He explained. "You need to eat something."

She took the marshmallow and popped it into her mouth.

"You don't intend to stuff her up with marshmallows, do you Lucy?" Octavia said drily then realised what she just said. Her face was a disgusted expression and the like minded Tristian burst into laughter.

"What's funny?" Xiamie who was lounging on a beach chair a safe distance from the fire asked and Tristian doubled over.

She did not get the joke. Neither did Star so she did what her husband was doing and ignored them, going back to her book. Lucien got a text and got up to jog up to the parking lot. Star looked his way in confusion.

"What's up with him?" She asked Xiamie looked up from the selfie session she was having with Octavia and shrugged.

"Maybe he needs the bathroom, badly." Octavia said while taking more selfies with her phone, Xiamie going for different poses between clicks.

Antonia and Tristian had their heads together talking in a low tone discussing something. They seemed too deep in their conversation to notice anyone else around them.

Star was about to get up and follow her husband when she saw him coming back with boxes of pizza and a plastic bag with water bottles in his hands.

"Brought food." He said as he laid the boxes on one of the folding chairs he and his wife had swapped out for the sand.

He opened a bottle of water and gave it to Star who understood the assignment and washed her hands over a spot of sand.

He then put a pizza box close to her. She took two slices and slapped them together crust out, held them almost like a sandwich and took a bite.

Octavia made a face at that and poked at Tristian. He stopped mid-sentence to whatever he was saying to Antonia and glared at his younder sister.

"Pass the pizza," she said. "You're closer."

He grabbed one, opened it, and held it out so that his sister and Xiamie could each pick a slice then he offered the box to Antonia before picking a slice for himself. He looked over at his brother and noticed he was almost huddled close to his wife. Star was leaning on her husband's side and he had his arm wrapped around her frame while the other was working a slice of pizza into his mouth.

Tristian smirked and wondered if his brother knew what he was doing at all. The man cared for his wife or at the very least was attracted to her.

Star finished her pizza tuned to get more slices to sandwich together and realised she was in Lucien's arms. Her back pressed to part of his chest. He got an open box and put it within her reach. He looked at her didn't register or ignored that she was gaping at him and pointed at the box with his chin.

"Eat." He told her and took a bite of the half-eaten pizza slice in his hand.

Star grabbed two pizza slices pressed them together, thought about it and added a third crust out.

"What an evil group people." Richard said as he reached the group in his surfing suit his hair dripping with water a towel around his neck.

"No one thought to tell us there was food."

"You wanted us to yell at you over the distance and the sound of the waves and wind?" Octavia asked drily her eyebrow lifted.

"If you'd tried it," Richard smirked at her. "I'd have heard you call my name."

"Stop being cheesy, bro." Charlotte who was behind him with her hair in a towel said. And missed Octavia's furious blush. Star did notice and her gaze went between her sister-in-law and cousin suspiciously.

She opened her mouth to say something but Lucien put his hand firmly on her shoulder and she turned to him. He discretely shook his head with a secretive smirk and she smiled back at him.

She hadn't looked at his eyes from this short distance in a long time. So many shades of chocolate in the same place. So beautiful. Her gaze moved to his nose marvelling at his clear skin and the bones beneath. Such beautiful structure. Her gaze went lower still such beautiful lips… Her gaze snapped back to his eyes and what she saw in them surprised her so much that she quickly turned her head away.

You idiot! She cursed herself almost immediately. Why didn't you grab hold of the chance you had?

But what if he had pushed me away? Another part of herself argued.

In front of all her friends she would not have taken the rejection without embarrassing herself. She would rather throw herself in the fire than have him reject her like that with everyone watching, too.

You're mistaken anyway, she tried to console herself. He would never look at you with that emotion in his eyes.

She wanted to turn her head and scrutinise his eyes to be sure but she did not dare.

  Lucien took a few moments then shifted. Star moved so that he could get up. He excused himself from the group and headed for the toilets. He could feel his wife's gaze on his back like a warm hand but he did not turn. He needed to clear his head of the thoughts in his head. He needed a few breaths of cool air without her scent to clear his blood of the drug that was her.

He paced the sand in front of the toilet and came to a realisation. One that he did not like…

He was in serious trouble. A lot more than he realised when he invited himself to this trip. He raised his hands to run them through his hair and stopped. One of them was greasy. He walked into the men's room and washed his hands with the soap provided. He washed his face. Looked at himself into the mirror and almost wondered why it wasn't written on his forehead. He was in danger of falling in love with his wife.