Luke remained almost as stationary as the rock beside him while he tried to take in the sight with which he was confronted. Lost for words, he remained silent, his mouth agape. Charlie and I too remained rooted to our spots. It seemed like an eternity passed while each of us processed the situation, calculating what we should do next.
Luke launched towards his pile of clothes, frantically forcing each item into place on his still wet body. Until now, he'd barely looked at us but once fully clothed he finally ran his eyes over our naked bodies; his dad and best friend covered with ropes of cum from the other, cum that was now trickling down our chests and into our pubic hair.
He had still not said a word. Instead, he turned away from us and hurriedly made his way towards the path from which we had arrived.
"Fuck!" Charlie said under his breath, quickly pulling on his shorts before scooping the rest of his clothing into his arms. "Luke," he cried as he ran towards him. Luke did not acknowledge his dad's call.
I threw on my own shorts, discarding the rest of my clothes on the beach, and made towards them.
"Luke. Wait! Please!" shouted Charlie, each statement sounding increasingly desperate. Luke stopped in his tracks, his back still turned to both of us.
The pair of us finally catching up to him, Luke turned around, his confused expression now replaced with one of rage. "What the fuck?" he addressed Charlie through his gritted teeth. "What the fuck are you doing?"
We both looked at Charlie, each hanging on his answer. What were we doing? What was this? Like Luke, I too was desperate for come clarification.
Charlie paused to think of a response. "I don't know! I don't know what to say. It just kind of...happened," Charlie tried to reason. "I'm so sorry. Luke, I really am sorry. Please, don't tell your mum."
Luke locked eye contact with me for the first time since he'd come storming up the beach. "Don't you fucking speak. That's my dad, you fucking freak," he snarled through gritted teeth. "You always were a piece of shit. I want you to fuck off, go home and get yourself out of my house."
He then turned his attention towards his dad. "Don't fucking talk to me, either. I'm going to see mum. And don't follow me...you make me sick."
Luke left us on the beach as he made his way back to the resort.
---
Charlie told me he'd book a flight home for me that would leave that evening. He would explain my sudden departure to Jen as some emergency that was yet to concocted in his imagination. He reassured me that he'd speak to me properly when he got back home, but for now he just needed to concentrate on making sure Luke didn't divulge everything to Jen.
I made my way back to the shared hotel room. Relieved to find Luke wasn't waiting for me, I packed my bags and left for the airport as Charlie emailed me my boarding pass.
---
The next few days alone in Charlie's family home were mentally exhausting. Constant scenarios ran through my head imagining what was happening back in Spain. Had Luke told Jen? Had Charlie confessed that he loved me? Was Jen raring to rip my eyes out when she got home? The questions swirled.
It didn't help that Charlie wasn't responding to any messages I'd sent him.
One thing was certain; I could no longer continue to live with Charlie and his family. Returning to my own family home was out of the question, so I found a room in a nearby house share. However, it would be four days until the room would be vacant. Until then, I just hoped I could wait it out, Jen hadn't been told, and I'd be able to avoid Luke.
From my bedroom, I heard a car pull up on the driveway. They were home. My heart felt like it had entered my throat. I was not ready to face what might come. and awaited the reprisals Jen might dish out to me for fucking her husband.
The front door opened. I heard her run up the stairs.
Oh, shit! She knew.
My bedroom door already ajar, was pushed open. Jen looked at me, her face pale, mine growing paler. I braced myself.
"You're here," she said with a hint of surprise in her voice. "Well?" she enquired.
How do I explain that I slept with her husband, betrayed both her and her son?
"Well?" she asked again, determined to elicit a response.
"Jen, I'm sorry" a guilty tear welling in my eye.
"Oh no, don't be sorry. It's good!"
Good? What?
"I understand. You had to leave quickly for the interview the next morning."
She didn't know. Charlie somehow had prevented Luke from divulging the truth, and seemingly made up some nonsense about a job interview to excuse my abrupt departure.
"I just hope you got it?"
I went along with the charade: "Well, I don't know yet."
She smiled and stroked my arm, "Hopefully you do. The boys were really miserable after you left -- barely spoke a word!"
---
I still didn't want insult Luke with my presence. I stayed in my room while he was home or would make excuses to be elsewhere. My tactics proved successful as I didn't see him once in the final four days.
It was on my last day that I finally got some alone time with Charlie, and we talked about what had happened after we'd been caught on the beach.
He'd arrived back at the hotel to find Jen in their room. She had not yet seen Luke. Luke did appear a couple of hours later, and although quiet, had not uttered a word about his dad and friend's sexual encounter. Later that night, Jen retired to bed leaving the two of them alone. Luke was still confused and angry and hadn't spoken to his dad since he'd berated him on the beach. Charlie apologised again about his infidelity, but assured Luke that the encounter between him and I had been a one-off; we'd never done anything before, and it didn't mean anything. He also confided to Luke that, although confused, he suspected he may be bisexual. However, until that day of 'madness' on the beach he'd never acted on those feelings. He reassured Luke he would never do anything like that again and pleaded with him to keep his indiscretion quiet.
And it worked. Charlie's attempts at damage limitation seemed to have encouraged Luke to brush the whole event under the carpet.
I understood why Charlie took the actions he did, but I was also hurt. It hadn't been a one-off, and I believed we'd started to develop feelings for one another. Perhaps it had all been in my head? I told Charlie I understood and asked him to leave my room. Alone, I tried to make sense of my turbulent emotions.
I left the house the following morning, thinking I would never see Charlie again. But there would be one final encounter.
---
It had been just over two months since I'd moved into the new room in the house share. I'd been on a "rebound" since Charlie and had a few guys over to fuck me in my bedroom. However, none of them felt like Charlie. I missed him and how content he had used to make me feel. I'd still look for his notes under my pillow, disappointed to find only an empty space.
I needed to forget about him. Why should I be so hung up on him? It was obvious that he hadn't felt as deeply about me.
Forget him!
My phone vibrated. It was him; our first contact since I'd left. My emotions heightened.
"Hi!"
