“Getting a few free drinks here and there,” Rhea added.
“Right,” Bailey agreed—for once.
“Here’s to being independent females, then, huh?” I said, taking my frustrations out on them unnecessarily, but the lingering rejection from Henry sat coiled inside me, twisting every time a flash of the disgust on his face flickered through my mind, and I hated it.
I also hated the look my two best friends were currently giving me.
Maybe Cohen’s touch had rubbed off on me in more ways than one.
I sighed. “Just… let’s keep our options open, yeah? They’re nice enough guys, sure, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be even nicer ones out there in other places. You’ve literally got an entire island of single men at your disposal here, girls. I thought you of all people would want to shop around a bit more before deciding which apple to take a bite of.”
Thankfully, Bailey’s slow smile began to rise, and her eyes lit with a sparkle of excitement. “Well, I have always loved to shop.”
“Oh, please,” Rhea cried, shaking her head with obvious amusement. “Like she’s not going to bite four apples, seven bananas, and a few ripe peaches while she’s out here.”
“Hey!” Bailey hit back. Standing up, she gave herself one last inspection in the mirror before she turned to me wearing her white, slinky, body-hugging dress. “But she’s right, Bee. I can’t even deny it. It’s highly likely that I’m going to hook up with Andy very soon. Don’t worry, though. You know me. Once I’ve got him out of my system, I’ll probably get bored and move on to the next. You should want me to get this out of the way if you don’t want them hanging around. Think of this as me doing you a favour.”
“A favour,” was all I could muster up in response when I realised I was doomed to yet another night of Andy and Jace hanging around.
I could only hope that Henry would decide to stay in his apartment again tonight and keep his miserable self away from the rest of us who were here to have a good time.
I didn’t trust myself to not tell him exactly what I thought of him after a few drinks if he didn’t.
The white-washed cobbled streets of Mykonos seemed too quaint and pretty to host one of Europe’s largest and most popular party scenes, but as the night sky grew darker, and the families on the streets changed into groups of partygoers, the island shifted from peaceful paradise to divine chaos within no time at all.
The girls and I had managed to wander from bar to bar, drinking cocktail after cocktail without bumping into any of the guys yet, which made me all the more relaxed as the night wore on. The alcohol had finally undone the knot of anxiety in my stomach, and I’d shifted from seeing the disgust on Henry’s face as hurtful to hilarious.
Who the hell had he been to judge me?
I didn’t even know the guy. He meant absolutely nothing to my life.
Not. A. Thing.
He could take his towering form filled with perfectly defined muscles, tanned skin, lingering stares, moody undertones, and he could stick them where the sun didn’t shine. Preferably far away from Greece.
As midnight approached, we made our way to the next open-aired beach bar that invited us in with the promise of free shots and the best music on the island. They all said the same thing, though no one cared about the entertainment, only the alcohol.
Strobe lasers filled the air; gold, green, fuchsia, and blue lighting up the crowd’s faces as they danced barefoot on the sand beneath their feet. To the left was the DJ deck—the man himself in front of a bright blue backdrop that showcased the name of the bar and made a glorious spectacle of the entire evening.
Sam Sparro’s “Black & Gold” blasted out of the speakers, and I let the thrill of the night run over me just as Bailey turned my way holding out a shot of something foul-looking.
“Why is it luminous?” I asked as I took it from her with a grin on my face.
“Who cares? It’s free.”
“Bring on the blood poisoning, then.”
We each downed our thimble of liquor, wincing at the bitter lemon aftertaste until the burn hit our chests and we turned to each other with only one thing on our minds.
“Time to dance!” I cried out, throwing an arm in the air and heading for the designated dance area of the beach. I led the way, swinging my hips, letting the freedom of the night take over, because here, on this island, I had no one else to answer to but myself.
Spinning around, I met the girls’ eyes, and they watched on as if they’d been waiting for this moment from me, where I finally learned how to let my hair down.
The song switched to “Oops”by Tweet and Missy Elliott, and the heavy beat had me closing my eyes and losing my mind. All those years of dance classes to keep me busy and away from my arguing parents had given me a taste for music most people didn’t understand. I didn’t care the genre as long as it had the kind of soul that made me want to focus on nothing but the way my body moved.
“Atta girl, Bee!” Rhea cried out over the music. “You’re feeling it!”
My smile erupted, and I opened my eyes to look at her, dancing in a way that made me feel as though I was coming undone, losing all the tension I’d carried for the last few years with one song.
