Chapter 29
KOSTAS’S SUITE, HOTEL MARGARITáRI, AVLAKI
There was banging like a wrecking hammer inside his head and, as Kostas came to, it got louder and punchier until he realised that the sound wasn’t coming from inside his head but from outside. The door. Someone was knocking on his suite door. He pulled at the sheet and then…
‘You did that all night.’
A woman’s voice. Next to him. He shifted away, fast, to the outside edge of the bed.
Someone was in his bed. He focussed his gritty eyes, took in the long dark hair over bare shoulders.
Roula. What the fuck had he done? Last night was flooding back, rolling wave after nauseous wave.
Going back to the taverna. Unable to convince Stathis to leave after his sights were set on squid.
Watching Faye return and that fuck, Alexandros, lean all over her any chance he got.
He had drowned his own choice of meal – meatballs – with too much dry white wine and then… Tinder.
‘Wow,’ Roula said. ‘So I disgust you now? You can’t bear to be near me?’
‘No,’ Kostas said roughly. ‘No, of course not. I just… this is unexpected.’ His eyes scanned the room for clothing he could grab as the door was knocked again.
‘Unexpected?’
‘Sorry.’
The knocking got louder. Was it something serious? Because if it wasn’t, who the hell was hammering his door down at… He checked his watch: 8 a.m. He pulled back the sheet, grabbed at what he hoped was his underwear on the floor.
‘What are you doing? You’re not going to answer it, are you? It will be the maid!’
‘I don’t know any maids who would knock this long or as loud,’ he answered, grabbing a hotel robe.
‘I do not know any celebrity who would actually answer.’
Celebrity. She knew who he was? Had he been so drunk he had gone against his usual code of practice of making sure his matches didn’t know his identity? His dating app profile had a different name and very carefully chosen photos…
‘Celebrity?’ he queried, pausing by the door.
‘Aren’t you?’
She was good, but he caught the second of hesitation before her reply. Last night had been a big mistake all round.
‘When I have stopped the noise I will call you a taxi,’ he said.
‘Good luck,’ she said. ‘I tried to do that last night when you passed out on me.’
‘What?’ He really needed to start remembering the details of the early hours of this morning.
‘Yeah, biggest waste of great lingerie I’ve ever had. The only reason I slept in this bed was because you spilt wine all over the sofa and the bed in the other room smelt like cat pee.’
‘So, nothing happened? We didn’t…’
Roula sighed. ‘No matter how much you drank, if we did something together, I’d be memorable.’
There was the knocking again. He didn’t know what to say to the woman in his bed…
‘Just answer the door,’ Roula told him. ‘And don’t let whoever it is in here.’
Somewhat cautiously, he opened the door and there were at least half a dozen grinning faces of children gazing up at him in awe. Fuck. The worst timing.
‘Hey,’ he answered, his voice scratchy, his throat parched.
And that’s when they began to all talk at once and come closer, too close, some waving paper and pens, others with items of clothing. One boy was holding a cat… Had that been in the suite?
‘It is him! I thought your sister was lying!’
‘He is so tall! Taller than a cypress tree!’
‘Is he real? Or AI?’
‘He is dressed like an angel.’
OK, that was enough. Kostas pulled the hotel robe a bit tighter around his body. It was like the local school had thrown up on his threshold.
‘So, who would like a photo?’ Kostas asked them.
Smartphones were already out but that was what he wanted to avoid, at least for now.
There were cheers and cries of ‘ne’ and he silenced the children with a loud whistle.
He was going to make this into an opportunity, one not dissimilar to the ones Stathis had been alluding to.
‘OK, patience,’ he told them. ‘Everyone will get a photograph. But what I need you to do is go back to reception and ask for Mrs Lawson. Tell her I am coming to the conference room to sign your things and for photos.’
There was general hubbub amongst the children, and the cat meowed.
‘Let me get dressed, yes? And I will be there in fifteen minutes. Ask for Mrs Lawson, remember?’
He pushed his door back open and backed away as the children scattered, eager to get to the main body of the hotel. Kostas took a breath. He now had very little time to get showered, dressed, call Stathis and get his Tinder match out of his suite. He had had better starts to the day.