“Go back to the others, Phoebe,” I said calmly, glancing back at my so-called brother. “You don’t need to see this.”
“As much as I appreciate the concern, if I’m going to be discussed, I’d rather have some input.” She folded her arms under her chest, eyeing both Andy and me nervously.
“Fine,” I said, swallowing down my annoyance at her stubbornness as I glared back at Andy. “Say what you’ve got to say, brother. It looks like there’s plenty.”
“Oh, I’m your brother again now? Well, if this is what you do to family, Cohen, I’d hate to think about what you do to your enemies.”
I let that insult sting, then pass straight through me. “You don’t know anything.”
“I know what’s right in front of me,brother,and it’s pretty clear what you two have been up to in here just now. I should have known this trip was a load of bullshit. Make up for your past mistakes, Cohen, or just see how many more you can make?”
There was so much I wanted to say to him. So many truths I wanted to hit him back with, but it wasn’t just my secret to reveal. Everything that had been happening between Phoebe and me was her business, too, and I had no right to out us without her approval first.
But, fuck, it physically hurt to keep the words I wanted to say locked deep down inside, so I stood there, motionless and far from emotionless, staring at Andy while I tried to control my rage.
He looked me up and down, shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes. “Can’t keep a promise for shit.”
Without looking Phoebe’s way, he stormed off, his fury propelling him to the top deck, leaving me standing there to let my gaze drop to my feet, not knowing what the hell to do or how to save this.
If I even wanted to…
My tangled thoughts threatened to eat me up, until her soft palm against my tense jaw had me glancing up at her through hooded eyes. That one point of contact made my shoulders sag, and I allowed myself to get lost in her gaze—the place that had somehow become my anchor over the last few days.
“You should go after him,” she said softly. “He’s your family.”
“But you…”
“… Don’t matter, remember?” She tried to smile, but it didn’t quite work, and she couldn’t hide the sheen of tears that coated her eyes no matter how hard she tried. “I’m temporary; you said so yourself. Andy… he’s with you for life.”
“Temporary,” I mouthed, hating the way it felt in my mouth, against my lips, in my tight chest.
“You can’t lose him over this. Do whatever you’ve got to do to make it right. Say whatever you’ve got to say. Tell him I mean nothing. Tell him you’ve never found someone so repulsive in your life. Tell him you were just stringing me along.”
“You want me to lie?”
“I want you to be happy, so if that means you have to lie, you should do it.”
Something akin to rejection tried to twist me up, making me scowl as I lowered my forehead to hers and breathed her in, absorbing the strength she seemed to have in abundance when it came to sacrificing herself for those she loved.
The last thing I wanted to do was leave. I wanted us both to jump on another boat, sail away to somewhere far away, and never look back.
The trouble was I had no idea whatPhoebewanted, and the word ‘temporary’ had fallen from her so easily, I couldn’t be sure she had the same desire to run away together as I did.
So, I nodded against her forehead and pressed my lips to hers one final time, letting them linger there a moment too long before I finally pulled away, pressed a kiss to her temple, then went to find the one man who’d saved me in the past, yet seemed determined to ruin me for the future.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Phoebe
Itook a moment to stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, my hands on the sink to steady me as the boat rocked. And there I stayed while a commotion happened above me, really taking myself in for the very first time since I arrived on the island. I looked different to the woman who left England behind. My hair, usually always straight, had that beachy curl to it now, and my tan had brought freckles out across my nose and cheeks I hadn’t noticed in years. The pale, ivory skin of the broken girl who’d arrived here had been replaced with the sun-kissed glow of a woman who’d somehow managed to make herself feel whole again.
All thanks tohim.
My not-so-little secret who had just been exposed to the very people we’d tried to hide it from the most.
“Would you just listen?” I heard Henry call out.
My Henry.
