Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Henry
W e somehow got away with that night. The next few that followed, too.
Without realising it, our days became about nothing else but finding ways to sneak off here and there together while Bailey and Andy made out around the pool, at the beach, or they skipped out on us altogether by disappearing for romantic lunches and dinners.
Their union turned into a blessing we hadn’t known we’d needed.
With them so occupied with one another, and Jace trying to convince Rhea he was worth taking a chance on, it left little time for either party to overanalyse or stare too long in our direction.
We were very much a group of six on this island together now, with one firmly established couple, two people somehow still skirting around each other, avoiding the inevitable… and then Phoebe and me.
Two lovers hiding in plain sight.
Two strangers finding solace in each other while everyone around them remained clueless.
Well, almost everyone.
I didn’t miss the subtle glances Rhea sent our way whenever Phoebe and I were talking around the pool or standing together inside one of Mykonos’s bustling bars.
Every time I caught myself grinning that private grin in Phoebe’s direction, I’d look up to see Rhea smiling at us before she blinked and looked away, pretending she hadn’t noticed a thing.
Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe it was all in my head.
Or maybe I was failing to hide the way I was beginning to feel about the little blonde-haired beauty who’d waltzed into my life at the most inconvenient of times and fucking robbed me of any control I’d once thought I had.
Any chance I got to touch her, I took. We’d had sex in every place we could get away with it, and the more familiar Phoebe’s moans of satisfaction became, the more I knew letting her go would probably be one of the hardest things I’d ever have to do. And there’d been a lot.
My paranoia at being caught out had started to grow with every passing hour, which was why I’d done everything I could to sneak Phoebe away whenever and wherever possible.
If I wasn’t touching her, kissing her, or inside her, I made sure to spend my time making that smile of hers come to life.
So much so, she’d started to rate my efforts on something she called ‘The Swoon Score’.
So far, I’d managed to arrange a small beach picnic for her that only lasted a couple of hours before we had to make our way back to the others.
But not before I’d enjoyed spending those one hundred-and-twenty minutes staring into her eyes, trailing my hands all over her silky-smooth skin, eating pizza out of a box, and feeding her strawberries and champagne while she giggled as though I really had distracted her from all her troubles, just as I’d promised.
That earned me a swoon score of eight out of ten, apparently.
The morning after that, I rented a moped and drove up to the apartments, texting her from outside with a promise of a good ride, only for her to jog down the pathway and come to a stop, wearing a smile the size of the ocean as she took me in, sitting there, holding my hand out for her to take.
I fucking loved it whenever she slipped her fingers through mine and looked up at me as though she trusted me.
Especially knowing she gave it out so sparingly.
We’d spent the early hours whizzing around the tiny island, with the wind on our faces, her arms firmly around my waist, and her chin resting on my shoulder.
There was a welcomed familiarity to her touch already that should have made me uncomfortable.
Instead, I revelled in it. I never wanted to get off that moped or remove her arms from around my body.
I never wanted to take her back to the apartments, where I’d have to share her with everyone else.
With her holding onto me, a peace I’d been seeking my whole life sank into my veins.
“Today was a nine out of ten,” she declared, kissing me reverently before she had to let me go and walk away again, making my shoulders deflate the moment she disappeared around the corner to go find the girls.
The day after that, we escaped to Venice Beach by day, where I made sure to spend every second of my time with her wisely, never letting her slip away from me for even a moment.
Later that night, while the others danced in a bar farther along the beach, I convinced Phoebe to sneak away to a secluded area and streak naked down the shoreline with me, delighting in every echo of her happiness that rang out around me while I chased her fine, naked body along the sand, with only the moon as our witness.
I guessed I could share her with that… begrudgingly.
The moment I caught her, scooping her up around the waist and spinning her around so her hair fanned out around her, her legs kicking free, the sound of her soul-deep happiness and carefree laughter lit up my own damn world.
She had the power to make me forget about my own desires, because the only thing that mattered now were hers.
“I can’t believe I’ve just done that,” she’d said breathlessly as she fixed her dress back in place and looked up at me, her cheeks rosier than ever. “You’re turning me into a mad woman, Henry.”
All I’d been able to offer her was my shit-eating grin and my obvious look of satisfaction, because if I’d even tried to voice what she’d turned me into, she’d have run. I’d started to need her company, her voice, and her touch the way I need the blood in my veins.
Phoebe made me forget about every mistake I’d ever made.
Every fault I’d ever found in myself.
Every person missing from my life.
Which was what made it hard to process that I’d only known her for such a short amount of time as I watched her from behind my sunglasses the next day, her lithe body sliding through the water.
She made her way to the opposite end of the pool, where Bailey and Andy were wrapped around each other, no longer caring how they’d pretty much alienated themselves from everyone else over the last few days.
Phoebe swam past them, and I saw the subtle smirk on her face before she hit the end of the pool, turned in the opposite direction, and began swimming back towards me. As soon as her eyes found mine, the heat in them told me everything she couldn’t say out loud.
She wanted to be able to do with me what Bailey was doing with Andy right now.
In front of everyone. Loud and proud.
Time spent apart felt wasted as the clock ticked down to us having to part ways.
If I’d have known how deeply she’d dig her claws into me, I never would have started anything between us, but that was irreversible now. Those claws were buried down to the bone, and the only regret I had was wasting those first few days pretending not to want her.
I’d never wanted anyone more.
When she reached the end of the pool by my feet, she half-pulled her body up on to the edge, her arms folded against the wet tile as she bounced in the water and looked up at me.
I cast a quick glance Andy’s way—although the four of them were getting used to Phoebe and me being around each other now, since we hadn’t had much choice—and when I saw him totally immersed in his own holiday romance, I scooted to the edge of the sun lounger, my legs parted, with my arms dangling between them as I leaned down to get closer to her.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Mmhmm.” She rubbed her lips together as water beaded down the side of her face, but I could see something lingering in that look she gave me.
“What is it?”
“What is what?” she asked.
“That thing turning over in your head.” I cast a quick glance Andy and Bailey’s way before looking back at Phoebe. “Is it them?”
“No.” She paused, then sighed, shuffling her weight against the pool’s edge. “I’m happy for them. For Bailey. I love that she’s found someone who’s making her summer so special.”
“But…?”
Her big eyes held me captive, and all I wanted to do was run my thumb over her pouty bottom lip.
“But…?” I asked again.
“We don’t have much time left,” she said softly.
The reminder may as well have been a knife in the chest, because the thought of losing this moment to the past and returning to a shitty future without her began to suffocate me.
“Then, we’d better make it count, hadn’t we?”
“More sex?”
My chest bounced with silent laughter. “There’s more to me than my skills in the bedroom, you know.”
“Oh…” She sighed. “I know. I really, really know.”
A sad yet comfortable silence formed between us, and I was fairly certain that if Andy were to turn around and pay even the slightest bit of attention to the expression on my face right now, we’d be rumbled in a heartbeat.
I just found myself losing the will to give a shit as Phoebe stared up at me, taking me in.
“It’s not been long enough,” she finally admitted.
“It’s not over yet.” I smiled flatly, even though those five little words from her caused an avalanche of dread to wash over me.
Dread at having to say goodbye. Dread at it all being over.
Dread at going back to that life and feeling trapped again when everyone expected me to be nothing but grateful.
Phoebe had been about to say something else when Jace came around the corner of the pool’s entrance with Rhea in hand, throwing his free arm in the air and crying out, “Pack up your shit, my people! Big Daddy here has just won big on the footie, and because I’m a sharer and a carer, I’ve used the winnings to take you lovely lot out on a little daytrip. ”
Rhea bounced on her toes beside him, clapping her hands together. “He’s only gone and booked us all onto a private catamaran sunset cruise around the island.”
The splash of water pulled my attention to where Andy waded through the pool, with Bailey hanging off his back. “What the hell, Jace? How much did that cost?”
“Doesn’t matter. Got lucky on a little footie bet, so it’s practically free money.” Jace’s smile seemed a mile wide as he glanced around all of us, his brows shooting up. “Come on, then. What you all waiting for? Let’s go.”
The rest of us glanced at each other before the cheering began, and Andy and Bailey came unglued enough to climb out of the pool, but when I looked back down at Phoebe, she stared up at me as though the rest of them weren’t even there.
“A sunset cruise,” she said, running a hand over her wet hair. “Almost sounds… rom an tic.”
She gave me a secret look that spoke of all the bad things she wanted to do with me, then made her way to climb out of the pool, and all I could think as I watched her toned, smooth legs emerge from the water, and her adjust the small piece of material around her tight arse was…
I’m breaking every rule I ever placed on myself for you.
And you’re worth every consequence I have to face because of it.