A Place Beyond The Horizon Ch. 04

She stops and a shadow passes across her face.

"Through what?" Aidan prompts.

"A fucking minefield. You heard the stories here, right, of swimming with sharks? Nowhere near, not even close. Those predators out there," she says, nodding out at the ocean, "At least they kill to eat. The fuckers I saw, they just do it for fun."

Marley looks back at Aidan, her smile returning.

"Better off here. Better doing this, way better. Plus, I still have contacts."

He can see she's scrutinising him again, picking her words.

"Talking of which," she says, but then stops.

Aidan manages a smile. He's getting used to the way that Marley operates. She's smart, probing the angles and coming in at a tangent.

"Talking of which?" Aidan repeats.

"A friend of a friend flew in a couple of days ago. She's looking for a personal trainer and my friend reached out to me."

"Ah, I get it."

"You do?"

"Sure. You want me to backfill. Yeah, I can do that. They seem to all be pretty easy to handle."

At this, Marley laughs and Aidan's taken aback.

"You are just gold," she smiles.

"I, uh, what?"

"No, listen, I was thinking something else. I don't have either the time or the inclination to pamper to a Hollywood star's requests and requirements. I was thinking that you go instead."

"Hollywood? Would I know her?"

"Oh, Aidan, yes, I suspect you might."

There's a sparkle in her eyes and Aidan can see she's enjoying herself.

"What would I have to do?" Aidan asks.

"Really? Well, my friend told me she's training for a role, which means that she's going to need to look good on camera in a slinky dress, in her forties. So, I imagine it could be full-on. Knowing the way some of these people operate, the only thing I can tell you for sure is that it's not going to be your standard nine-to-five."

"Uh, okay."

She's grinning at him now. "So, what do you think?"

"How long's it for?"

"Until she says stop."

Aidan's trying to read between the lines, but Marley is inscrutable. There's something behind the smile, but he can't tell what it is. Once again, he feels like he's getting sucked along in the riptide.

"Sure," he says, finally.

"Oh, you're an absolute star," Marley replies, "Well, no. She's the star."

"So, who is it?"

"I have an address."

"And a name?"

"Yes."

"So what's her name?"

"Ah, no. Why spoil the fun?"

Aidan wants to insist, but Marley's already getting up, brushing the grit from her bottom and picking up the bag. Whoever it is, Aidan's only going to find out when he's there. Reluctantly, he follows her back through the tunnel in the cliff face to the beach.

---

He's having lunch on his own, back at the pub on the pedestrian mall. For some reason he keeps gravitating towards it, like an anchor in his otherwise rudderless existence. Upstairs, on the balcony with his burger, he's sipping a lemonade and distracting himself with his phone. A chat pops up and he clicks on it. It's his friend Anthony. He starts a call.

"Ant, hey."

"Aidan, hey, hold on."

He can here shuffling, then, "Theo's here too. You're on speaker."

There is a second voice, saying, "Good to hear your voice. Been a while."

Ant's voice again: "Yeah, so, hey, how you doing?"

Aidan smiles to himself, imagining Ant and his boyfriend with their heads together over the phone. He can hear the excitement in their voices.

"Going good," Aidan says, "I'm just in the pub having lunch. It's a lovely sunny day."

"Ah fuck, it's raining here. It's been raining for days."

"That sucks man. I'm real sorry to hear that."

"Fuck you. I'm sure you are. I saw your post, it looks awesome. You having a good time?"

"Yeah, I think I am."

There is a pause.

"Good. That's good to hear. Look, we hadn't heard from you for a while. I was gonna ring and then you just popped back up."

"Uh, yeah," Aidan replies, "Sorry. I just kinda dropped off the grid."

"Yeah, you did. I was starting to wonder."

"He was really worried," Theo interjects, "I said to just ring you, but he wasn't listening."

"Hey, yeah, thanks. Do you wanna be in this conversation or shall I go into the other room?"

"Don't stress."

"Okay. So, can I talk now?"

"Go ahead."

Aidan listens to the two of them squabble and it lifts his spirits. He misses them.

"Just, anyway," Ant says, "So, how are you?"

"Good," Aidan replies, then turns the conversation, "How about you? Anything happening over there?"

"Nah, same old stuff. We're really just doing the same as usual."

There's a muffled sound and he can make out that something's being said, but he can't hear the words.

"Yeah. Nothing much changes around here."

More background noise.

Aidan can just make out the words, "If he wants, he'll ask," and feels a chill.

They're arguing over something. Theo's trying to get a point across and his boyfriend isn't having any of it.

"How's everyone else?" Aidan ventures.

There's a pause.

"Ah, yeah. Good too. Arly's going good."

"We think," Theo interjects, followed by another muffled noise.

Aidan picks up on it and decides to press.

"Think?"

There's another pause.

"Yeah, look. Just so you know, we're a hundred percent Team Aidan. You know that right? Both of us."

"Uh, cool."

"Arly, uh, not so much."

"She's Team Rosa," Aidan acknowledges, "I get it."

"I don't think she knows what happened. Or she's just got Rosa's side."

"Ant, you don't know what happened either."

"Don't need to. I know she cheated on you. That's all the details we need."

"I appreciate that."

"Look, just saying that, um, we're here. You need to talk, we're right here."

"Thanks Ant. That means a lot to me."

"So, anything you wanna say, any questions?"

There's silence after this. Ant's waiting for Aidan to ask. He's lined it up. Aidan has that feeling again, as when he was on the board with Hardy, in the rip and getting pulled out to sea. This time, though, there's no board, there's no easy way back to shore.

"Seen Rosa?" he asks.

There's more background noise.

"Yeah," Ant replies.

"How is she?"

"Good, I think. We all caught up at a new restaurant that opened last week. Davey had invites."

Aidan puts the phone down on the table, his burger abandoned. He cradles his head in his hands. He needs to ask the question, he needs to know.

"And what team is Davey?"

"Yeah, sorry, he's Team Rosa all the way."

---

[Next chapter: Aidan meets the gorgeous Mara Fey and his life takes an unexpected turn.

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