Chapter 21
Alex
K rabi Old Town was somewhere Alex could lose himself in for days, given the opportunity.
It was so vastly different from Freymoor, the dusty streets lined with busy market stalls, the blues, pinks and greens of the shop fronts making it feel like they’d stepped into a rainbow, the sun painting the bricks in a warm glow that only enhanced that feeling.
Yet, being there made his mind still in a similar way that it did when he was home.
Maybe it was the change in pace from the rest of their trip.
Being in a small market town again, despite its differences, felt familiar.
Like he knew the locals who scurried through the streets, stopping to talk to their neighbours, and could understand the collective belonging they all felt for a place like this.
It was special. Just like Freymoor was special.
Noa’s hair fanned over her shoulders and down her back, wisps getting caught in the gentle breeze. Her waves mimicked the sway of her hips, snaking from side to side as she walked. She smiled brightly at the vendors who occupied the street, radiating sunshine to everyone she passed.
She was an image worthy of a postcard in itself, but with the town as her backdrop. He seriously debated pulling his phone out and capturing the moment.
It felt like they’d made progress in Koh Tao, and Alex was relieved that Noa hadn’t tried to fight him when he not-so-subtly started to help her work through some of the activities on her list.
They’d remained at the viewpoint until the sun started to set, and the whole experience had felt more intimate than it should have.
He’d been entranced by her and the way her face illuminated at the view, her nose wrinkling in concentration as she took it in, drawing her freckles together until they almost became one.
She’d come alive, and he’d noticed that her eyes had regained a sparkle in them that he hadn’t seen since she’d come home.
The same sparkle he saw now directed at everyone who came into her orbit.
A warm glow. An aura she just seemed to wrap people in without even knowing it.
He loved seeing her like that and wasn’t sure he would ever tire of seeing this version of her.
Friends like to see their friends happy, right?
That was the reason he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her like she was the best view in Thailand.
Because he was nothing if not a good pal, and he wanted to make sure she was having a good time .
After their hike, he’d almost managed to get the words she’d directed at Marcus days earlier out of his head… almost.
‘It’s a date.’
It’s a fucking date!
And he could have sworn she’d narrowed her eyes directly at him as she said it, as if in some sort of challenge.
Fuck .
Then, when he went back to their hostel that night, he’d had to try to tamper down the rage he felt as Marcus boasted to the guys that he had ‘bagged himself a date with the hot brunette from diving’.
Alex wanted to punch him in his stupid, smug face.
The way he’d announced it like he’d won her, accepting the pats on his back he was awarded by his friends as they talked on and on about how ‘hot’ she was.
Like that was all he saw. Because, of course, he did.
He hadn’t bothered to look any deeper, but Noa’s beauty was impossible for anyone to miss.
It stole the breath from his lungs most days.
But she was so much more than her physical beauty.
And she deserved to date a guy who saw that.
Not Marcus, the douche.
The thought had his fingernails biting half-moons into the inside of his palms as he squeezed his fists painfully tight. Uncurling them, he wriggled his fingers in an attempt to disperse the tension and, with it, the thoughts of Noa and her ‘date’.
He wanted to be in the present, taking in the wonders around him.
They were now well into their second day in Krabi, and this was definitely his favourite destination so far.
Yesterday, they’d gone with the rest of Noa’s new friends on a walk through a monkey trail, and then to an elephant sanctuary, which Lola had stated was ‘a rite of passage when in Thailand’.
He was starting to realise that he didn’t entirely hate the company of the rest of the group either, but he wouldn’t tell them that.
Prior to their visit to the sanctuary, Noa had been keen to research the hell out of the most ethical place to go.
They had ended up spending an entire afternoon feeding rescue elephants, listening to the guides talk in depth about their background, and then trekking through what was basically a safari by foot.
They’d been so close to so many beautiful giants as they roamed freely through knots of waist-high grass, finding shade underneath towering, tangled trees.
It was an experience he would never forget.
In fact, he wouldn’t forget a single moment of his travels so far.
It’d become abundantly clear to him that he’d spent too long going nowhere but Freymoor.
Moreover, whilst remaining in Freymoor for most of his life had been a choice—it was his home, and he loved it—he’d decided that it wouldn’t kill him to get out and see the world some more.
He’d spent so long trying to prove to everyone, himself included, that he wasn’t the flighty bastard his dad was, he realised, maybe, he’d taken it too far.
He never wanted people to think that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree where his dad was concerned, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of him living his life.
Because of that, he wasn’t going to waste a moment of his trip.
The group that they’d clearly inherited wandered through the old town, looking at the picturesque buildings of a multitude of different colours.
It really did make the dry stone and red bricks at home seem so lacklustre in comparison.
Krabi Old Town was vibrant and full of life.
Ambling through the streets, Alex’s eyes caught on a local gift shop, and an idea clicked into place, a vision suddenly playing out in his mind.
‘You go ahead,’ he said, ‘I’ll catch up.’
Noa considered him for a moment, but shrugged it off, carrying on down the bustling street, deep in conversation with Lola and Marcus. He paused briefly, debating whether to leave her alone.
The thought of leaving Marcus to weasel his way any further into Noa’s life irked him, but suffocating Noa with his own presence wasn’t the answer either. It was a surefire way to push her further into Marcus’s scrawny arms and drive a wedge back between them.
But that didn’t stop him from wanting to glue himself to her side and never leave.
Like hell was Marcus going to be the guy she’d have her ‘holiday rebound’ with.
Even though she’d made it perfectly clear that Alex was not to interfere, he would have to keep a closer eye on them. It’s what Ryan would want, after all.
Lola pushed at Noa’s arm, a deep laugh erupting from her at something Noa had said. A rosy blush crept across Noa’s cheeks in response, an adorably bashful look on her face.
So, slipping away from them, Alex decided that, for now, Lola was as good of a buffer as he was going to get.
A fter finishing up in the shop, Alex caught up with the group in what appeared to be a small family-run café.
A few more additions had joined, some he recognised as guys from their hostel last night, and others he didn’t think he’d seen before. Lola and Thea were curled into each other, lost in their own conversation, but it wasn’t them he was looking for.
His eyes found her immediately. She sat at the table, her white linen dress riding high on her thigh, highlighting her tanned skin that glowed like it had been kissed by the sun.
Her rosy cheeks and freckles were on full display as she pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
She was giggling, and it made him smile until he looked to see what exactly she was giggling at.
Marcus sat too close to her. His messy, blond curls—that Alex really didn’t think gave the ‘surfer dude’ look he was going for—flying all over the place as he shook his head in some animated impression.
Noa’s bare shoulder shook as she laughed some more at whatever he had said and she reached out, her arm wrapping around his bicep and squeezing in response.
Alex couldn’t help the irrational anger wanting to bubble up inside of him.
He stood there for a second, trying to count to ten and calm himself, but when Marcus turned to wink at the men behind him before his hand fell to Noa’s knee, his legs were moving without his permission. Not in my lifetime, fucker .
Reaching their table, he loomed over them, shooting a glare in Marcus’s direction, hoping it was enough for him to get the message. This guy was definitely not worthy of having his hands on Noa.
Hell, he wasn’t worthy of having his hands on her.
Didn’t stop him thinking about it, though—her soft skin under his, watching that blush creep from her cheeks across her entire body.
He thought about it regularly, actually.
Usually at night with his hand gripping his cock in the shower.
It was the only way to keep from actually reaching out and tugging her to him.
Yes, he knew he’d be dancing with Lucifer in the fiery flames of Hell, but that was a battle for another time.
Right now, he had to find a way to remove the dipshit in front of him from his and Noa’s vicinity and fast, before the red haze threatening his vision won out .
He couldn’t directly tell Noa that the guy was a dick.
She’d only square her shoulders, find a creative way of accusing him of being overprotective, and then stubbornly be even more drawn to the guy than before.
Exactly like she had when he and Ryan had tried to convince her against dating Freddie Riley in college.
Luckily, it only took a minute before Marcus must have sensed the steam almost billowing from Alex’s ears, and he quickly lifted his hand from Noa like she was a hot poker.
That caused Noa’s head to whip between them as if she was trying to decipher a code.
Alex cleared his throat before he looked at her.
‘Want to take a walk?’ he asked.
She didn’t hesitate and started gathering her things.
‘Sure, anywhere in particular?’
‘No, I’ve just got something I want to give you.’
‘Ooooooh. So mysterious,’ she teased before saying her goodbyes to everyone.
As they began to walk away, Alex instantly felt more relaxed.
He was trying not to read too much into his reaction just now, but it couldn’t mean anything good, that’s for sure.
Ignoring the fact that his feelings for Noa Drake probably stretched beyond the boundaries of friendship was getting harder and harder.
As they made their way back through the town, down the busy streets, Noa incessantly tried to guess what he had to give her.
Impatient little thing. He just watched her and smiled at her animated babbling, because seeing her relaxed and happy, with her guard down, might just be his new favourite thing.
Once they reached the beach, they both settled on the sand.
Alex pulled the clothbound notebook out of his rucksack and handed it to her, suddenly realising that, maybe, this was too much.
Maybe, she had her own process, and she wouldn’t like it.
Or, maybe, she would just think it was childish, stupid, or cringey.
Any of those words likely fit. It wasn’t as if he knew anything about how to write a book.
She just looked up at him with wide, questioning eyes as she took it from his grip.
‘I thought you could use this to write. Number twelve on your list, right?’
She swallowed hard, his eyes tracking the movement of her throat. He wished he could trace the trail it took with his hips and see how she would react, to see if her pulse would race as he reached her pulse point, and then…
‘How… how do you remember all of this?’ Noa stuttered, breaking through his thoughts and bringing him out of his daydream.
‘Oh, Trouble. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you,’ he joked, trying not to let his current desire bleed into his voice.
But the hoarse words betrayed him. She didn’t seem to notice, though, and just rolled her pretty blue eyes at him.
‘ Now who’s being the dramatic one?’
‘Do you like it? If it’s not what you want to use for writing, then that’s okay. It was just an idea. I saw it and I thought of you.’
‘You thought of me?’
‘I think of you, Noa.’
A sudden tension surrounded them. Unspoken words that neither of them were willing to spill.
Noa licked her juicy bottom lip and bit into it.
She had no idea what that did to him. After a few moments of them locking eyes and just taking each other in, Noa finally broke the silence.
He was glad she did, because he could’ve sworn he was about to kiss her otherwise .
‘This is so thoughtful, Alex. You are thoughtful. Thank you for this and everything else. I really mean it.’
‘Careful, Trouble. I’ll start to think you actually like me.’
‘Don’t push it,’ she teased, trying to look serious.
He loved this side of them. The easy banter that they always had.
‘You could start writing now, whilst you’re travelling. I can’t think of a time when you’ll be more inspired.’
She nodded at him. Her eyes looked glassy.
‘I will,’ she whispered, like she didn’t want to let anyone else in on this moment between them.
The rest of the day passed, as did the next and the one after that. Every day Alex could find Noa, at one point or another, with her head down in her book, scribbling away. She would have her tongue sticking out, deep in concentration, and it was adorable.
Soon enough, another week had passed, and their Thai adventure came to an end. And, this time, as they boarded their flight from Phuket to Ho Chi Minh City, he did not feel like the girl next to him hated him. And nothing had ever felt so good.