Chapter 22
‘Fuckity fuck!’ I marched back to my villa, happy to be away from Cam and the awkwardness of that dance and that ridiculous, impulsive kiss.
The kiss must have worked, though, because the Blade seemed to accept our story and walked off.
Luckily for us, or else the evening might have ended very differently, us-chopped-up-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean differently.
God, why had that kiss felt so intimate?
‘No!’ I said out loud, kicking up some sand with my foot. I needed to get what I’d come here for and leave. No more Cam. No more dances, strange kisses, homicidal cocktails, strip-fighting on the beach, and cupboard wars. He was wreaking havoc on my brain, and I was spiralling. I did not spiral.
As I arrived at the koi pond, I crouched down and searched the water for my fish friend, the one who had looked like he wasn’t doing so well.
And when I caught sight of him, my fears were confirmed.
He was still rather close to the bottom, and when he moved, there was a strange tilt to his body.
I knew immediately it was his swim bladder, and if he was going to survive, I needed to do something.
The most common cause of swim bladder issues was actually constipation.
He needed to fast for a few days, then be given a laxative and taken out of this pond to avoid any stress. I would have to make a plan.
‘Hey, little guy, don’t worry, I’ll fix you,’ I said. People underestimate the intelligence of fish, because when he glanced up at me, I knew he understood exactly what I was saying.
I stood up again. I would leave this island as soon as I had sorted out that fish and retrieved my camera from Victor’s room.
In fact, now was actually the perfect time to do that, because he and Amber were still at the bar.
I quickly veered off course and made a beeline for his villa.
The door was unlocked, and I looked around before slipping inside.
My camera was right where I’d left it. I climbed onto a chair and plucked it from its hiding place.
I couldn’t wait to download this footage.
I already had the photo, but recordings like this worked wonders in a divorce settlement, making the guilty party much more amenable to splitting their finances generously.
I raced back to my villa, and was just about to open the door when a voice that was becoming way too familiar stopped me in my tracks.
Was Cam wrong? Did this guy know who we were – or at least suspect something? Because why else would he be here?
I turned and looked at him, and he let out a self-conscious laugh, as if he was genuinely embarrassed. Or was he just a great actor?
‘I swear I’m not following you,’ he said. ‘I’ve just been for a quick swim. The party sort of spilled onto the beach over there.’
I looked towards the beach. He was right. Couples were sprawled on the sand, others swaying lazily to the distant music.
‘I didn’t know this was your villa,’ he added quickly.
He was shirtless, his broad chest glistening, his blue eyes looking even bluer in the moonlight.
Under normal circumstances – i.e. if this man was not a highly trained killer who liked to do bad things to people with very sharp knives – I might have got him into bed for a no-strings-attached evening of guilt-free, feeling-free sex.
God, I needed that right now. But that was not an option.
I was not into keeping my enemies that close.
‘No worries,’ I said, in my most casual tone. ‘I was just calling it a night anyway.’ I gave him a small wave and turned back towards my villa.
‘Where’s your fiancé?’ he asked. I froze mid-step. My mind blanked. This was so not like me. I was usually great at rolling with the punches; I could come up with a story at the drop of a hat.
‘I hope things haven’t fallen apart already?’
I turned around. My mouth opened and closed, but no words came out of it. ‘Uh, he’s . . .’ I paused, watching as he ran a towel over his body, soaking up the water that was clinging to him. It felt like that towel was soaking up my thoughts too, because I suddenly had none in my head.
‘He’s . . .’ I repeated lamely, and that was when I saw it – a flicker in his eyes. Doubt, maybe? Suspicion? Or was it something far more dangerous?
‘Hey, honey bunny!’ Cam’s voice cut through the tension. I turned to see him walking up the path towards me, and shockingly, I was actually relieved to see him, which meant I must have been feeling very, very desperate.
‘So, reception says they can’t do breakfast at the villa tomorrow morning at such short notice . . . Oh, hey!’ he said, acting surprised when he saw the Blade. ‘Going for an evening dip? I was thinking of having one too. Nothing better, right?’
‘I’ve just finished,’ the Blade said. ‘But the water’s great.’ He wrapped the towel around his waist and pulled his T-shirt back on.
Cam stepped up beside me and slid an arm over my shoulder as if we were a regular happy couple posing for a pic. Just two lovebirds chatting with the neighbour – who happened to be a cold-blooded killer whose preferred method of unaliving people was a six-inch slit to the throat.
‘Have a good evening,’ the Blade said as he turned and walked off down the path.
‘You too,’ we called after him in unison, as if we really were that couple. As soon as he was gone, we walked into the villa as casually as possible and closed the door behind us.
‘Wow! I guess private detective work pays way, way more than mine does,’ Cam said, standing in the middle of the room and turning a full 360. ‘This place is incredible.’
‘Were you following me?’ I asked, folding my arms.
He gave me a small, guilty smile.
‘You were!’
‘But aren’t you glad I was? We’re supposed to be in love, remember?’
I scoffed. ‘Don’t push it. I’m still trying to get over my feelings of being left at the altar.’
‘I thought you said you forgave me?’
I shrugged. ‘I did. And then I remembered all my non-refundable wedding costs.’ I walked over to the window and glanced outside. The Blade was gone, for now. ‘Do you think he’s on to us?’
‘I hope not,’ Cam said and then to my utter disbelief, he started taking his shirt off.
‘Whoa! What the hell are you doing?’
He froze mid-movement, which only made his abs flex even more, turning his already impressive six-pack into what now looked like a ten-pack.
No one had a ten-pack. No one had a chest like that, arms like that, shoulders like that.
Crap! No one on the planet was supposed to be this good-looking, and yet here he was.
Standing in my room half-naked, like some aesthetic gift that God himself had gifted to womenfolk.
He might as well have been lying on a silver platter.
‘I know, it’s pretty impressive. Believe it or not, it’s from Pilates,’ he said jokingly, and gave his stomach a loud slap.
‘What? No! I wasn’t looking at . . . Talk about arrogant! I wasn’t . . .’ I was stumbling over my words because yes, I had been looking, and he knew that, so I suppose there was no point in lying about it.
‘I’ve seen better.’ I pointed vaguely at his body.
‘Well, I haven’t,’ he said, locking eyes with me. His words froze me for a second, but only for a second. The indignation burning inside me that I usually felt when I was around Cam kind of kicked all my muscles back into thermodynamic action.
‘What are you playing at?’
‘I’m not playing at anything, not if it’s the truth.’ He said it so calmly, so matter-of-factly.
‘Stop looking at me like that, Cam.’
He sighed. ‘Fine. I’m just trying to say that you look good, the years have been good to you, that’s all. You look . . . happy?’
‘Is that a question?’ I asked.
He shrugged. ‘I guess so. Are you happy?’
I thought about it for a while, and then smiled.
I had a great job, I could decide my own hours, I had Philly, Sid .
. . I did currently have a bit of a situation with Byron that I wasn’t quite sure how to solve, but yes, I was happy.
‘I’m happy.’ I nodded. ‘And you?’ The words were out before I could stop myself.
I hadn’t wanted to ask him that . . . or had I?
‘In some ways yes, and in other ways no.’ His stare took on a very meaningful look. Like penetrating laser beams, scanning my insides to find an answer to a question I didn’t know I had been asked.
‘Good!’ I said, though I didn’t know what I was actually saying good to. The fact that he was happy, or not happy? Did I want him to be happy?
‘Good,’ he repeated, and then pulled his shirt over his head.
‘Seriously, what are you doing?’ I waved my arm at his chest.
‘Going for a night swim.’ He tossed the shirt and I glared at it as it fell to the floor.
‘Since when are you such a neat freak?’ he shot back, pointing at the other side of the room, where my open suitcase lay, its contents spilling out, covering the floor as well as bits of furniture.
‘My room. My rules.’
Cam sighed, bent down and picked up his shirt. He then made a big show of dusting it off before folding it dramatically and placing it neatly in the closet, like he was performing in a one-man play and I was his audience.
‘Better?’ he asked.
‘As long as you pick it up when you leave after your swim.’
‘Leave?’
‘Yes, when you leave and go back to your floating not-midlife-crisis.’
‘I can’t go back, Lizzy,’ Cam said, pulling his shorts down now.
‘Why can’t you go . . . Put your shorts back on!’
‘Do you realise what a risk it would be walking back to my boat with the Blade around? What if he saw me and got suspicious? You do know what that man does to people he’s suspicious of, right?’
‘You must be insane if you think I’m letting you stay here tonight,’ I said, giving a very ardent head-shake.
He straightened up, and that was when I realised what was happening down south over there.
I tried not to stare, but the tight white briefs he was wearing – did I say tight?
– stared back at me. I blinked, but my eyes felt irresistibly connected to that area, as if it was an attracting magnetic pole (pun intended) and I was powerless not to look.
‘I can’t thank Pilates for that, though,’ he joked.
I snapped out of it quickly. ‘What! No!’
‘It’s okay, I don’t judge you. I did the same in the closet, so I guess we’re even now.’
‘Are you really going to swim in those,’ I said, trying to not think about what exactly he’d seen when my crotch had been in his face.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
‘They’ll be totally transparent.’
He laughed, which made all those damn muscles do their ten-pack thing again. ‘Then don’t look.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Trust me, I won’t.’
‘Besides, I have nothing else to swim in. I can’t wear my shorts, or they’ll be damp all night and I’ll wet the bed.’
‘The bed?’ I paused for a moment, taking a second or two to let the implications of that sink in, and when they did . . . ‘Oh no. Nope! You’re not sleeping in the bed.’
‘Where would you like me to sleep?’ He looked around the room dramatically.
‘Lounger on the deck!’ I pointed.
‘Mosquitoes.’ He gestured to one that was already on the wall.
‘Mosquito repellent.’ I indicated the bottle I’d brought with me.
‘Sensitive skin?’ It was posed more as a question, and I burst out laughing.
‘Please! We both know that’s not true. If you have to sleep here, you have two choices. One is the floor, the other is mosquito repellent on a pool lounger.’
‘Well, I can’t take the lounger in case our friend comes back, and honestly, the floor might be risky too if he decides to come snooping later tonight.
I’m sure you’ve noticed how easy it is to see into the villas.
’ He pointed towards the small windows just below the roof – the same ones I’d used when I’d been looking for him.
I sighed. He was actually right. We couldn’t risk it. Who knew what the Blade was up to tonight. Probably surveilling Victor and Amber’s room. Or worse, surveilling us.
I scrutinised the bed. It was huge, but I doubted it would ever be big enough for me and Cam plus his rather overinflated ego. I turned back to him and shot him the most displeased look I could muster, making sure to add an exaggerated eye-roll for good measure.
‘But you’re sleeping in shorts and a shirt!’ My tone left no room for negotiation.
‘Wouldn’t assume anything else,’ he said, and started walking towards the door. ‘I don’t suppose you want to join me for a swim?’
‘That would be correct. I have footage to watch, and shockingly, a moonlit swim with you isn’t exactly on today’s wish list, especially when you’re wearing underwear that when dry already leaves little to the imagination and when wet . . . well, I don’t even want to think about it.’
‘Suit yourself, but I think you’re missing out . . . on both counts.’
‘God, Cam! I forgot how into yourself you are.’
He laughed as he left, and I’m not proud to admit it, but I did stare after him as he walked away . . . Those briefs really were tight.
I cleared my throat and picked up the camera to download the footage.
And as soon as the images flashed to life, I knew I had him.
Because there were Amber and Victor romping like teenagers.
I put the camera down. I would send this to Sharaz first thing in the morning, but right now I was utterly exhausted.
I dived into the water and then turned and looked back at the villa. It was lit up, and I could see her silhouette walking back and forth through the room.
I blinked, because a part of me still couldn’t believe this was actually real.
That Lizzy was here. It felt like I’d been handed a second chance, gift-wrapped and laid out for me on the shiniest silver platter imaginable.
There was no way I was going to let her go again this time. No matter how hard she fought it.
Because she would fight it. I smiled. Lizzy would fight anything.
It was ingrained in her, infused into her DNA; it was always her first reaction.
And while it was impressive – not to mention totally fucking hot too, and I’d admit to having instigated a few fights at college just to see her riled up – this time I needed her not to.
I wanted her to throw down her sword and take off that armour she always wore. Even if just for a moment. Because with her defences down, a moment would be all it would take for her to realise that we were perfect for each other, and that second chances didn’t come around every day.