Chapter 23
Alex
A fter another near miss yesterday, where it had taken everything in Alex not to kiss Noa, he had come to the conclusion that he was well and truly fucked.
Well, he’d known that before, but he had clearly been in denial.
The way he’d wanted to devour her last night was completely inappropriate.
Nothing about how he’d imagined tearing off her clothes when he was in bed last night was friendly, and it meant that it was time for him to put some distance between them.
They’d both spent the entire day doing their own thing after barely speaking at breakfast and he could tell there was tension there.
Then, she’d come out of their shared shower in nothing but a towel, looking like a goddamn goddess with her damp hair clinging to her tanned shoulders, and he thought he would have a heart attack.
He’d had to force himself to stop staring after he’d let his eyes follow the route a droplet of water took from her collar bone, down the middle of her full breasts.
He’d felt an irrational level of jealousy towards said water droplet in that moment.
She’d eyed him sceptically for a second before carrying on applying her make up for their night out that evening.
He’d thought he could be friends with her, but now he knew that was a naive concept and that he needed to put space there sooner rather than later.
She needed to see him again as the playboy he had always been, the version of him that he’d seemed to have forgotten about since they’d been away, and so had she.
Maybe a good fuck was all he needed to rid himself of these intrusive thoughts when it came to her.
And a night out felt like the perfect time to make that happen.
A lex waited in the bar with Marcus and Tom, playing pool and waiting for the girls to finish getting ready.
He liked this hostel more than most of the ones they had stayed in so far.
The bar had a very outside-inside feel to it.
Plants grew from pots scattered across the stone floor and hung from every rafter, or any place they could gain purchase.
Cool fairy lights and colourful Vietnamese lanterns looked like they were raining from the ceiling, and it made him want to do something similar with The Brew back home.
The constant flashing lights and noise of the city of Ho Chi Minh felt relentless, and it was nice to be somewhere that quietened the soul for a while.
Even if they were about to venture out into the chaos again later.
Alex sat on a bar stool, a pool cue in one hand and a beer in the other, as he found himself zoning in and out of the game currently underway. Since they’d met, Alex had been perpetually irritated by Marcus. So, blocking the guy out as much as possible seemed like the safest thing to do.
His and Noa’s ‘date’ thankfully never came to fruition, but that didn’t mean Marcus didn’t give her eyes that said he was imagining her with her clothes off every time she walked past. The last time he’d done that was when they’d left the dorm tonight, and Alex had practically growled in response.
But he must be either completely stupid and oblivious or have some kind of death wish, because the wolfish smirk he’d given Alex in return told him that he was completely unfazed.
Alex only tolerated him now because, for whatever reason, Noa did. And he’d given his best friend a promise that he’d look out for her. So, if that meant biting his tongue and waiting with a floppy haired douche-for-brains whilst she got ready for their night, then so be it.
Seriously, Ryan owed him.
A blonde little thing had been eyeing him from the bar since he’d arrived, and he watched her as he took long pulls on his beer.
Deciding to really move forward with his plan to put space between him and Noa, he tipped the neck of his bottle in her direction as his eyes made contact with hers, a subtle gesture to let her know he was interested.
She shuffled on her seat, a little bit flustered that she’d been caught, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
His gazed followed it, but his body didn’t react the way he’d expected it to.
He didn’t have the urge to bite along the path her tongue had just travelled.
And, as he watched her hand reach up to play with straight blonde locks, he didn’t want to wrap them round his fists and tug.
Not the way he had when he stared at rich brunette waves. He closed his eyes in frustration and a pattern of soft freckles danced across the back of his eyelids, but when he opened them, the blonde’s face in front of him was clear.
She gave him a flirtatious smile as she sipped her drink, puckering her lips a little more than necessary.
A tease.
What was wrong with him? He’d always loved this game.
Loved the part where he waited for them to finally put their pride aside and make the first move.
He’d give them eyes, making sure they knew, from just one look, the promise he was making if they came and took exactly what they wanted.
But tonight, the thrill wasn’t quite the same.
He needed to move past it, though. But, as he began to imagine all the ways that he could make this woman scream his name tonight, a loud whistle came from beside him where Marcus leant against the pool table.
‘Pheeeeew, that girl is fire,’ he hollered.
Alex found himself turning his head in the direction Marcus was looking to see who had caught his attention. His grip immediately tightened around the pool cue he was holding, enough that he felt it crack under his white knuckles, and he thought he might break it.
Coming down the stairs were the girls. Noa was front and centre, warm brown curls he wanted to run his hands through cascading over her shoulders, framing her beautiful, freckled face.
She wore a little red two-piece that hugged her curves and matched the colour of her painted lips.
He wanted to know the name of her lipstick.
For her to paint him with it. To paint his lips and body with it so everyone knew who she belonged to, specifically the bastard standing next to him.
He felt an overwhelming and feral need to claim her.
That’s all he’d ever wanted, but she was off limits to him and nothing had changed.
Her eyes homed in on his, seeking him out in the crowd, and the fire in them made his mouth go dry and left him breathless.
This woman could bring him to his knees.
She could chew him up and spit him out again and he’d ask for more.
She’d done it once before and he’d hurt so much that he’d locked his heart away ever since.
He couldn’t go there again. Losing Noa Drake once was hard, but to lose her twice might be something he simply would not survive.
For his own self-preservation, his pining needed to stop. Downing the remains of his beer, he slammed it down on the table and, without even thinking what he was doing, he stormed toward the blonde at the bar.