Chapter Eight
Chapter
Eight
Dani
There was no point in making plans anymore.
It seemed every hour, plans changed. Since they were no longer going back to Knossos, they first needed to stop by her hotel before they headed out of town to Chania.
She’d wanted to leave Harold a note. They may have known each other for only a few days, but it didn’t feel right not saying goodbye.
Of course, Maurice refused. Eye roll.
Sure, Dani understood that they weren’t on vacation, but this guy seriously needed someone to love him because he was the most unpleasant person she’d ever met.
Even Pierre Vautour wasn’t this unbearably unlikable.
Did someone piss in Maurice’s Cheerios when he was a kid?
Because for fuck’s sake, he had a permanent scowl on his face.
She hoped that someday she’d be able to locate Harold again to thank him for being a friend, even if for only three days.
By the time they made it to Chania, Demetrios’s was closed, so they’d have to wait until the next day to visit.
So for now, they checked into a small hotel on the outskirts of town, and after Maurice and Louis set up remote sensors on the doors and windows that would alert their phones of any escape attempts, Dani and Theo were finally alone. In another room with only one bed.
They stared at the queen-size bed in the center of the small, standard room, both of them still coated in olive oil and in desperate need of a shower.
The room was a far cry from the opulence of Vautour’s guest room.
The sickly sweet white lacy bedspread looked like the one her mom had gotten her for her fifteenth birthday—and that Dani had promptly taken to the bathtub to dye dark purple.
The bedside lamps had matching lace shades.
Aside from a dresser and nightstands, there wasn’t much more to the room.
But man, did it have a nice view out the window to the slopes of Chania.
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about the room being bugged like when we were at Pierre’s,” she said. “Now we can bicker like an old married couple in peace.”
She tried to lighten the mood, but Theo just stood there, awkwardly holding his arm across his waist.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he finally said.
Guess he wasn’t in a chatty mood. Sigh. They were already back to this.
But fine. Normally Dani wasn’t one for chivalrous gestures—which was a good thing since the casual relationships she usually engaged in left few opportunities for chivalry—but if he wanted to wake up with a stiff back and a crick in his neck, that was on him.
“Do you want to go ahead and shower first?” Theo asked.
“Oh yeah, sure,” she said, reaching for her bag.
She wasn’t used to being around Theo when they weren’t joking around and having fun. Not that their circumstances fostered that sort of environment, but still. Was this it? Was this how things were going to be between the two of them from now on?
There was no point in worrying about it now, so she dragged her suitcase into the bathroom and closed the door. For the size of the bedroom, the bathroom was quite large, with a sizable bathtub rather than a shower. It wasn’t an ideal way to rid her body of the oil film, but it would have to do.
She tried not to take too long since Theo was still out there covered in oil and likely unable to sit down or do much of anything else.
But the oil was stubborn, requiring multiple lathers and vigorous scrubbing.
Eventually, she was oil-free enough, so she quickly got out, drained the tub, and threw on a pair of linen shorts and a tank top, then turned the faucet back on to refill the tub before returning to the bedroom.
“It’s all yours,” she announced. “There’s only a bathtub, so I started refilling it for you.”
“Okay, thanks,” he said, grabbing his things and heading to the bathroom. But not even twenty seconds after the door closed, she heard something crash to the floor and Theo howl in pain. She rushed back to the bathroom and knocked on the door.
“Are you okay in there?” she asked.
“Yes…no…” he groaned.
“Okay, I’m coming in. Hope you’re decent,” she said.
Though she wouldn’t have minded if he wasn’t.
She opened the door and there he was, leaning against the vanity with his shirt pulled up on one side and cradling his arm on the other.
“What happened?!” she asked, hurrying over to him.
“It’s my shoulder. I fell on it wrong in the store,” he said, clearly frustrated by his slight incapacitation.
“Can you lift it at all?”
“No. Hence why I look like this,” he said, motioning to his half-disrobed body.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?”
He cocked his head to the side. “They wouldn’t take me to the hospital when they broke my nose, so I highly doubt they’d let me go for this. It will be fine, though. I just need to rest it for a couple of days. It’s happened before.”
“Well, let me help you,” she said, putting her hands on the hem of his shirt.
“No, I’ve got it.” He flinched at the brush of her fingertips, and she noticed bruising on his stomach.
“Oh my God, Theo!” she said, lifting his shirt to reveal his abs.
Oh my God was right. It had been several years since she saw Theo with his shirt off, and he certainly wasn’t this ripped back then. Even last night in the pool, it had been hard to see his physique under the lapping water and the moonlight.
She blinked several times to focus on the bruising and not on the tautness of his body, running her hand along his skin.
“And how did this happen?” she asked. “Do I need to break out of this room so I can go kick Maurice’s ass?”
Theo laughed. “Relax, it’s from the oil bottle, Juicy. But please, feel free to kick Maurice’s ass anytime.”
“God, that guy is a real piece of work, isn’t he?”
“You have no idea. Try spending a year with him.”
“I’d rather not, thanks. Come on, let’s get you out of this shirt.”
Theo crouched to her level, and she peeled the shirt over his head, careful not to pull at his shoulder.
“Okay, there you go,” she said, setting the shirt beside him on the vanity. She then noticed a bit of ink underneath his arm on his side right beneath his armpit. “What’s that? Is that…is that a tattoo?” she gasped.
He looked down, realizing his ink was visible. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, come on. You got a tattoo? Lemme see,” she said, lifting his arm. Thankfully, his good arm.
His arm was limp in her hand, and he looked away as she inspected the tattoo.
Π?ντα ?σουν εσ?
“When did you get this?” she asked, running her finger along the words. The letters were clean and crisp. It couldn’t have been too old.
“Right before I left the States.”
“Well, what does it say?”
“It’s a Greek saying.”
“Okay? And what does it mean?” God, he was being weird, again.
“It’s…it’s personal.”
Dani’s gaze shot to Theo’s. Oh. Personal. In other words, none of her business.
“Sorry, I’m being nosy, aren’t I?” she asked, ducking her head and tucking her wet hair behind her ear.
No response. Point taken. She felt like she’d been punched in the gut.
She slowly lowered his arm. “Well,” she said, backing away, “need anything else?”
“No, I think I’m good.”
“Okey dokey,” she said, giving him a salute as she turned around. Did you seriously salute him? Dani’s entire body recoiled, and she squeezed her eyes tight as she walked toward the door, waiting for him to tease her for it. But no teasing came.
She hated how awkward things were between the two of them.
It never used to be like this. Normally, if she did something that cringey, he’d never let her live it down.
And she wouldn’t want him to because keeping each other in check was one of the things she appreciated about their connection.
It didn’t mean that they didn’t still have their weird personality quirks and annoyances, but she sort of enjoyed his playful ribbings.
This boring-ass shell of their former relationship wouldn’t do.
Dani spun back around right as he was untwisting the button on his pants. “Really?” she said.
He jumped and then froze with his hand on the fly of his pants.
“Jeez, Juicy! You startled me.”
“Sorry, but are you really not going to say anything? I literally saluted you and nothing. Nada.”
“Did you want me to comment on it?” He looked beyond confused.
Welcome to the club.
“Come on, Theo. That was Grade A cringe and you’re giving me blasé. Give me some sort of emotion!” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Is exhaustion not an emotion?” he asked, hanging his head to the side.
“No, Theo! It’s not!”
“Well, can we pretend it is then?” he asked, his weariness palpable. “Because it’s been a really long fucking year, and while I’d love to make fun of you for being a gigantic dork, I also just really want to get this oil off me.”
If Dani hadn’t already gotten clean, she would have wrapped her arms around him and given him a hug. Being practically alone for a year surely did a number on him. Of course he wouldn’t be joking around like the good ole times.
But at least he acknowledged the dorkiness of her salute.
“Thank you,” she said.
He wrinkled his nose. “For what?”
“For calling me a dork.”
He shook his head and smiled. For now, she’d consider that a win. But his smile was quickly replaced by a glower when he attempted to lift his arm again.
“You know, it was really hard to get all the oil out of my hair. You sure you don’t want help?” she asked.
“Help with what?”
“With washing your hair. I don’t think you’re going to be able to do it with one hand.”
Theo’s eyes about popped out of the sockets. “You want to help me bathe?”
Did she?
Oh God, what in the holy fucking Pandora’s box had she just opened?
Dani’s gaze shot to Theo’s groin, and then she blinked and straightened her body, quickly looking back at his face.
“Well, no, I think you can handle washing your naughty bits,” she said, trying to play it off, “but you look like you might struggle with everything else.”
He raised his brows.