Chapter 16
Alex
Ryan:
So I have come to think you following Noa across the globe wasn’t the best idea we have ever had.
I think you should have put up more of a fight.
Alex:
We? I am not even going to go there. You have made our bed and now I am the one who has to lie in it.
Ryan:
She is pissed.
Alex:
Oh you have noooo idea!
S o far, Bangkok was not the relaxing trip Alex had imagined, and he would be sure to let his best friend know that the first chance he got.
God, did Ryan owe him for this. The city was busy and chaotic, a far cry from the small town he’d come from.
But it was also vibrant and exciting, bursting with life and he thought that getting out really was doing him some good.
He wouldn’t admit that to Ryan, though. And that’s if Noa Drake didn’t kill him first and dump his body somewhere along the way, which had felt extremely likely from the look she gave him when they’d first arrived.
Today, Alex decided to enjoy the bustling coffee culture that seemed to be so popular, which allowed him to escape the hectic streets for a while.
He tucked into a half-inside, half-outside coffee shop and ordered a Thai black coffee, giving him some downtime to think.
He needed to formulate a plan to get himself into Noa’s good graces, because, somehow, he had well and truly made it onto her shit list in the last twenty-four hours.
He, of all people, knew how stubborn she could be though, and he knew that getting on her good side would likely be an uphill battle .
He could think of countless examples of when he’d been on the receiving end of Noa’s stubbornness, but the night she refused to stay and talk after what he thought was a life-changing sexual experience definitely took the cake.
She’d been trying to bolt, whilst also refusing to leave without a written promise that he would keep it a secret.
He’d had to stifle a laugh as he watched her reach for the closest thing she could find—a paper party cup—before she’d shoved it in his face, ignoring his joke about ‘not being sure that would stand up in court.’ She’d stood, arms folded in an ‘I mean business’ stance with a very endearing, but very serious look on her face that would have made him laugh had the circumstances not felt like tiny splinters pricking his insides.
He wanted to take her back to bed and make those crease lines between her eyebrows disappear, but all she’d wanted was to leave and pretend it had never happened.
And she’d found a very creative, Noa-like method of getting her own way.
So, yes, you could say stubborn was her middle name, and that would make Alex’s life hard over the next few weeks.
Considering current events, maybe ignoring her when she’d returned to Freymoor hadn’t been his smartest move. But when it came to her, he’d never been very good at using his head to guide him.
Nevertheless, as he sat and sipped on his steaming mug of Thai coffee, sweetness followed by heady spices overwhelming his senses, he was taken back to last night.
Her sweet vanilla scent had drawn him in the second she took the corner before she almost ploughed straight through him like a woman on a mission.
A mission to avoid seeing him, no doubt.
She’d been doing that all day whilst she was out doing God knows what with her new friends.
But then, something had changed in that moment.
As she’d looked at him, a switch flicked.
The way her gaze had assessed every inch of him, drinking him in, he could tell she liked what she saw.
She didn’t even try to hide it and, hell, if his chest hadn’t puffed out a little bit at that thought.
He’d definitely banked that small bit of information for later.
Her face had turned the prettiest shade of pink when she’d realised she’d been busted, and the sight had only made him want to make her blush more.
And, right now, all he could do was sit and picture all the ways in which he would make that happen—his hands on her soft skin, the moans that would escape those plump lips.
Wait, no .
He could not be having these thoughts about his best friend’s sister. She was off limits and had red tape all around her. He needed to get himself together or else this was going to be a very, very long month.
Ryan was probably right. Alex was just uptight because he hadn’t gotten laid in a while. But that was easily resolved. Maybe he needed to find another body to get lost in for a little while. He was sure their hostel was teeming with women looking for a one-and-done on their travels.
There was only one small issue. When he was around Noa, he couldn’t bring himself to look at another woman.
She was all he saw. She took up all the space in a room, leaving none for anybody else.
So, he guessed for now, all he could do was try to keep his desires under control whilst trying to keep her safe, and just hope that she didn’t make it any harder for him.
A lex’s afternoon was spent much like his morning, sitting in cafés, soaking up the culture, and people-watching.
He knew he’d have a jam-packed itinerary once he left Bangkok, or as soon as Noa decided to stop ignoring him.
So, he decided to use this time to take it easy and just enjoy being in another country whilst not having the pressures of the bar to think about at all times of the day.
Although, he must admit he’d called Bella, who was taking care of The Brew, to check up on the place twice since arriving.
Turns out it wasn’t falling down without him.
She had, however, had some very choice words about his decision to ask Ryan to check in, despite that not strictly being true.
Ryan had, clearly, taken that upon himself, and his daily drop-ins at The Brew were apparently less than welcome.
After ranting about Ryan’s shenanigans, Bella had agreed to send text message check-ins every few days so Alex could shut off and attempt to be more present.
After his downtime that morning, Alex managed to see The Grand Palace Temple, which was exactly as the name described, grand.
His mouth almost hit the floor when he’d arrived and saw just how vast it was.
He had no words to describe it. The vibrant golden architecture towered above him and wrapped around him all at once.
It felt otherworldly, like he’d been transported to another era, or a fictional world, because there is no way someone could have designed and built this.
He wanted to explore every corner of it and memorise every intricate detail, all the beautifully colourful mosaics and murals throughout.
He spent an hour trying to do just that.
His pulse picked up when, in the golden hour sun, each colourful piece glistened, refracting the light and almost creating its very own light display.
It was magical. As a result, the colours of the tiles changed, dependant on the angle that you looked at them, taking the saying ‘seeing something in a new light’ more literally than ever before .
Alex read that the palace had been built in the 1700s, and he couldn’t help but imagine a time when people constructed these delicate patterns by hand. He was in awe by the amount of patience and work that must have taken. And he thought he’d worked hard to get The Brew ready for reopening.
Once the sun started to set, Alex decided to head back to the hostel before it got dark. The smell of incense, a redolence of burnt sandalwood and jasmine, clung to his skin. He wished he could bottle it up to take home, along with this feeling created by the lingering memory of his day.
When he reached the street leading up to the hostel, Alex spotted Noa and a group of other travellers.
They were deep in conversation outside a food vendor’s market stall.
He decided that this was when he was going to take a chance to reconcile and bring some civilisation back into their relationship.
Because, even though they had history that he knew could never be repeated, Noa had once been a huge bright spot in his life.
Having her friendship back would mean a lot.
Plus, he knew that Noa would happily avoid him to avoid conflict for the rest of the trip if he let her, and that would just make things all kinds of awkward.
With that purpose in mind, he pushed forward to where she was stood.
But first, he came face-to-face with Lola.
Her blonde hair the colour of caramel was wild around her face in messy ringlet curls.
She stood with her hands on her hips and her tongue jutted out into her cheek, like she meant business.
This girl was an absolute pocket rocket.
Everything about her was his usual type, but he felt no desire toward her at all. Weird .
‘Hey there, handsome. I was wondering when you were going to show your pretty face,’ she crooned, smiling sweetly and fluttering her eyelashes .
He’d play the game, maybe his dick had just gone to sleep and needed a wakeup call.
‘Well, I couldn’t go disappointing you now could I?’ he cooed in response.
‘Your girl’s told us all about you. Can’t say she’s as impressed by your presence, but the rest of us would never turn down some eye candy in the group. Why don’t you tag along?’
‘My what?’
His mind couldn’t focus on anything but those words. Had she just called Noa his girl?
‘You know, the damsel in distress that you’re guarding in her tower,’ she quipped as her eyes flicked to Noa.
‘Well, you seem to know a whole lot for someone I’ve barely met.’
‘She seemed to have a whole lot to say about you,’ she retorted, waggling her eyebrows at him.
The words gave him a strange sense of satisfaction, though he could only imagine the things she’d heard.
‘Only good things, I hope?’
‘I could never divulge that information,’ Lola said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the group. ‘But you should join us for dinner, help keep the night interesting.’
As he followed or, more accurately, was dragged behind Lola, his eyes met Noa’s stormy ones.
Hell. She looked pissed off, and that fiery spirit looked ready to come to the surface.
It made his dick almost come alive in his pants and he had to quickly think some unsexy thoughts before that fact became impossible to hide from her.
So much for his sleepy manhood theory. He was clearly only affected by one woman in particular, at the moment, and that was a definite complication that he did not need.
‘Hey, Trouble,’ he said nodding at her .
The name slipped so easily off his tongue, and her eyes widened comically like they had the night before. Recognition clear in them at his use of her once-familiar nickname. But then, irritation followed.
‘You following me?’ she snapped.
‘Have you always had such high opinions of yourself or did becoming a big city girl go to your head?’
He knew that he was poking the bear, but he wanted a reaction from her. Anything was better than the cold shoulder. The irony wasn’t lost on him that he’d done just that to her for years. But even still, he antagonised her now, hoping she would bite, because he actually liked Noa’s fiery side.
She scoffed at him, and he was again reminded of all the other beautiful sounds that mouth of hers could make. He shoved the thought to the back of his mind. He would deal with that in the shower later.
‘Hey look, we should talk. You’ve got a lot of animosity toward me, and I think we should air it out. If you would rather carry it around and have this awkwardness between us the whole trip, then that’s fine. But I, for one, would rather not ruin a perfectly good holiday with petty bickering.’
Her eyes softened for a second before the fire returned and she spat, ‘Are you calling me petty?’
For a girl who hated conflict, she could certainly find anything to argue about with him.
‘Of course, that’s the part that you heard. Noa, I know you’ve always been a stubborn ass, but please, for the sake of this trip, can we just talk and call a truce?’
She looked shocked at that.
‘A truce?’
It looked like she was spinning the words round in her head, trying them on for size .
‘Fine,’ she said, but not without an exasperated huff and an eye-roll to emphasise her displeasure.
He’d always loved this side of her. He’d let her give him hell all day long, just to see the sass and the fire she wore when she was comfortable enough to do so.
‘But you are buying me one of those banana rotis for my troubles. I’ll meet you on the bench so we can talk .’
She did air quotes with her hands as she pronounced ‘talk’, but he would take it as a small win.
‘Yes, miss,’ he winked as he joined the rest of the rowdy group in the queue. Because, as had always been the case, what Noa wanted when it came to him, Noa got.