Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Phoebe
Y ou’re the last thing I want right now.
That arrogant son-of-a…
I’d made one promise to myself before taking this trip.
Just one: no men were going to ruin my holiday.
Yet here I was, brooding over a guy who seemed repulsed by the very idea of me.
Though I wasn’t exactly looking to hook up with anyone, his reactions still felt like tiny needles of disgust being injected into my own confidence.
Severely dented confidence I was desperately trying to repair after everything Rob had done to damage it.
Even several hours later, as Bailey, Rhea, and I got ready for the next night out, taking it in turns to use the bathroom to take showers, I couldn’t get the disgust on Henry’s face out of my mind.
The balcony doors were wide open, allowing the last remnants of the falling sun to filter into our room with only a small, welcomed breeze airing the apartment through.
Bailey sat on the tiny white stool in front of the mirror, clipping her earrings in, while Rhea waited out on the balcony, sitting on a plastic chair, her feet up on the table in front of her.
The two of them hadn’t stopped going on and on about Jace and Andy in the last hour, and given the fact that Henry came with them, the entire conversation had started to piss me off.
Was this how it was going to be for the next two weeks?
I hated even the thought of it.
“Are we really going to tie ourselves to these guys for the entire holiday?” I asked a little too grumpily from my position on the edge of Rhea’s bed, cutting Bailey off halfway through waxing lyrical about Andy.
She turned to study me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just… What happened to this being a girls’ holiday?”
“ We never agreed to your no men rule, Bee. That was all you.”
“Still. You literally landed in Greece, turned your head in one direction, and bam! Those two guys are everywhere we go now, tagging along like lost little puppies.”
“You don’t like Andy and Jace?” She raised a brow. “Have you not seen how hot they are?”
“Yes, Bails, I’ve seen that they’re attractive, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend all my days and nights with two guys I met barely two days ago.”
“We won’t end up spending the entire trip with them. This is just us having a little fun.”
“Getting a few free drinks here and there,” Rhea added.
“Right,” Bailey agreed—for once.
“Here’s to being independent females, then, huh?” I said, taking my frustrations out on them unnecessarily, but the lingering rejection from Henry sat coiled inside me, twisting every time a flash of the disgust on his face flickered through my mind, and I hated it.
I also hated the look my two best friends were currently giving me.
Maybe Cohen’s touch had rubbed off on me in more ways than one.
I sighed. “Just… let’s keep our options open, yeah?
They’re nice enough guys, sure, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be even nicer ones out there in other places.
You’ve literally got an entire island of single men at your disposal here, girls.
I thought you of all people would want to shop around a bit more before deciding which apple to take a bite of. ”
Thankfully, Bailey’s slow smile began to rise, and her eyes lit with a sparkle of excitement. “Well, I have always loved to shop.”
“Oh, please,” Rhea cried, shaking her head with obvious amusement. “Like she’s not going to bite four apples, seven bananas, and a few ripe peaches while she’s out here.”
“Hey!” Bailey hit back. Standing up, she gave herself one last inspection in the mirror before she turned to me wearing her white, slinky, body-hugging dress.
“But she’s right, Bee. I can’t even deny it.
It’s highly likely that I’m going to hook up with Andy very soon.
Don’t worry, though. You know me. Once I’ve got him out of my system, I’ll probably get bored and move on to the next.
You should want me to get this out of the way if you don’t want them hanging around.
Think of this as me doing you a favour.”
“A favour,” was all I could muster up in response when I realised I was doomed to yet another night of Andy and Jace hanging around.
I could only hope that Henry would decide to stay in his apartment again tonight and keep his miserable self away from the rest of us who were here to have a good time.
I didn’t trust myself to not tell him exactly what I thought of him after a few drinks if he didn’t.
The white-washed cobbled streets of Mykonos seemed too quaint and pretty to host one of Europe’s largest and most popular party scenes, but as the night sky grew darker, and the families on the streets changed into groups of partygoers, the island shifted from peaceful paradise to divine chaos within no time at all.
The girls and I had managed to wander from bar to bar, drinking cocktail after cocktail without bumping into any of the guys yet, which made me all the more relaxed as the night wore on.
The alcohol had finally undone the knot of anxiety in my stomach, and I’d shifted from seeing the disgust on Henry’s face as hurtful to hilarious.
Who the hell had he been to judge me?
I didn’t even know the guy. He meant absolutely nothing to my life.
Not. A. Thing.
He could take his towering form filled with perfectly defined muscles, tanned skin, lingering stares, moody undertones, and he could stick them where the sun didn’t shine. Preferably far away from Greece.
As midnight approached, we made our way to the next open-aired beach bar that invited us in with the promise of free shots and the best music on the island. They all said the same thing, though no one cared about the entertainment, only the alcohol.
Strobe lasers filled the air; gold, green, fuchsia, and blue lighting up the crowd’s faces as they danced barefoot on the sand beneath their feet.
To the left was the DJ deck—the man himself in front of a bright blue backdrop that showcased the name of the bar and made a glorious spectacle of the entire evening.
Sam Sparro’s “Black & Gold” blasted out of the speakers, and I let the thrill of the night run over me just as Bailey turned my way holding out a shot of something foul-looking.
“Why is it luminous?” I asked as I took it from her with a grin on my face.
“Who cares? It’s free.”
“Bring on the blood poisoning, then.”
We each downed our thimble of liquor, wincing at the bitter lemon aftertaste until the burn hit our chests and we turned to each other with only one thing on our minds.
“Time to dance!” I cried out, throwing an arm in the air and heading for the designated dance area of the beach. I led the way, swinging my hips, letting the freedom of the night take over, because here, on this island, I had no one else to answer to but myself.
Spinning around, I met the girls’ eyes, and they watched on as if they’d been waiting for this moment from me, where I finally learned how to let my hair down.
The song switched to “Oops” by Tweet and Missy Elliott, and the heavy beat had me closing my eyes and losing my mind.
All those years of dance classes to keep me busy and away from my arguing parents had given me a taste for music most people didn’t understand.
I didn’t care the genre as long as it had the kind of soul that made me want to focus on nothing but the way my body moved.
“Atta girl, Bee!” Rhea cried out over the music. “You’re feeling it!”
My smile erupted, and I opened my eyes to look at her, dancing in a way that made me feel as though I was coming undone, losing all the tension I’d carried for the last few years with one song.
Goodbye, reality. Hello, holiday mode. Finally.
A gorgeous woman wearing nothing but a gold bikini top and a pair of hot pants walked through the crowd, holding a tray of shots over her shoulder.
Bailey quickly caught her attention, dropped a note into a clear glass full of money, and she collected six shots: two for each of us.
We took them there and then, unable to stop ourselves from laughing as the wince of alcohol turned into pure magic.
Once we dropped the empty shot glasses back on the woman’s tray, she thanked us with a tip of her head and walked away.
I spun around with my arms in the air, swaying to the music, feeling the fabric of my little black dress rubbing against the sensitive, sunburnt parts of my hips, and that’s when I saw him.
Henry. Fucking. Cohen.
Standing at the edge of the crowd, wearing a short-sleeved white shirt that showed off his gloriously tanned skin, staring at me. A bottle of beer rested on the edge of his bottom lip, and his eyes burned with such intensity, it brought me to a complete stop.
My smile disappeared and my arms fell slowly until they hung limp at the side of my thighs.
We just stared at each other, so much being said without either of us saying a word.
I hate you. You hate me.
You disgust me. I disgust you.
But, damn, you look good. Do I look good too?
Your dark eyes raking over my body.
Those biceps stretching the fabric around your arm.
Your unkempt hair hanging perfectly over to one side.
Such a shame you’re a toxic arsehole, Henry.
He lowered his bottle of beer and sank his teeth into his bottom lip, dragging them back over it until it popped while he took me in from head to toe. It lasted only a matter of seconds, but that’s all it needed for my body to burn and for heat to rush to my cheeks.
Then I began to move again.
You’re the last thing I want ran through my mind on repeat, spurring me on, determined to make him choke on the sight of me now.
I closed my eyes again, feeling the music beat through my veins as I ran my fingertips over my thighs, my hips, my stomach, then the edges of my breasts.
Tweet and Missy Elliott kept singing, the words suddenly hitting me, perfect for the moment as Missy talked about how she looked over to the side, saw something she liked, and how she felt so good, she had to touch herself.
How she was eyeing her prize and coming out of her shell to get whatever the hell she wanted.
I didn’t care what that meant for tomorrow morning or even later that night. I lost myself in that one song, turning my body slowly, letting the alcohol flow through me as I pictured Henry’s intense gaze on every inch of my skin.
My breathing became laboured, and I was about to open my eyes and see if he was still looking at me when the song changed to something else, and I heard the delighted squeals of Bailey and Rhea.
I spun their way and looked up to find Andy wrapped around Bailey from behind, her head slung back to rest on his shoulder as the two of them whispered sweet nothings to one another.
To the side stood Jace and Rhea, not as intimate as Andy and Bailey, but Rhea couldn’t hide the fact that she liked what she saw as she practically pressed herself against Jace, leaving only enough room for his bottle of beer to rest between their chests.
Just like that, the buzz and satisfaction from the entire night faded away, and I found myself alone again.
Until I heard a subtle clearing of someone’s throat from behind me.
Him .