Andy threw his arm around Bailey’s shoulder, pulled her to him, which she embraced wholeheartedly, and cast his gaze down at our loaded-up bags. “Where’s the cheeky trio heading off to? Our pool not good enough for you today?”
Don’t tell him, don’t tell him, don’t?—
“Phoebe wanted to do a little exploring, so we thought we’d head down to the beach for the day,” Bailey answered.
“Without me?” he asked, slapping his chest with his free hand.
“Yes, without you.” Rhea smirked, pushing her bag farther onto her shoulder.
“Nah. That’s no fun. You need male protection down there. All those slimy men in and out of the bars, looking for fresh flesh to dig their slimy claws into.”
“Men like you?” Rhea raised a brow at him.
“I’m going to ignore your cattiness, Rhea, because I know it’s a defence mechanism to your feelings towards my friend Jace, there, over at the bar.”
On cue, Rhea glanced behind Andy to the cocktail hut, where Jace leaned against it, offering her a sarcastic little wave. She latched onto it immediately and huffed out a laugh before rolling her eyes and turning back to Andy. “Whatever.”
“We really should get going,” I interjected. “I want to get a good spot on the beach, and if we don’t leave now…” I trailed off the moment I felt a presence walking up behind me, followed by a shadow being cast over my shoulder, the air turning too thick for me to breathe.
How did hedothat?
Henry’s wet feet slapped against the pool edge’s tiles before he came to a stop and blew out a breath. Droplets of water fell on my skin through my super thin shirt, and I had to force myself to breathe before I slowly turned around to look up at him.
He was backlit by the sun, and my double-crossing heart soaked it all in.
“You were saying?” Henry rubbed his wet lips together. “Something about leaving?”
“Right.” I nodded. “Yeah. Me and them—the girls. We, ah, need to go to the, erm...” My brain glitched, and my words ran dry.
He smirked. Smirked! The arrogant little…
I shook my head, trying to ignore the rivulets of water cascading down his chest. “The beach. That’s where we’re going.” I blinked. “The beach.”
He looked amused, like he’d been about to say something else, but then a subtle clearing of Andy’s throat behind me stole Henry’s attention, and he looked over my head in his direction. Henry’s smile faded immediately. A few seconds passed by before he let his gaze drift down to me again, and he ran a handthrough his wet hair. “Well, don’t let me stop you.” Without another word, Henry stepped around me as if we’d never even seen each other or spoken, leaving all of us to turn and watch him go. Once he reached his sun lounger, he grabbed his towel and ran it over his face and hair without a care in the world.
Business as usual, I thought.
“Okay, then,” I said in a sigh, pressing my lips into a thin line and forcing the group’s attention back to me. “I’m outta here. Who’s coming, because I’m not waiting around any longer?”
“All of us.” Andy squeezed Bailey’s shoulder. “They have a volleyball section down on this one beach we heard about. What do you say? Girls versus guys?”
“That’s not fair. There are three of us and only two of you,” Rhea said, assuming through no fault of her own that Henry wouldn’t be joining us.
“We don’t mind. We can still take you.” Andy winked, earning himself a little rib nudge from Bailey, who didn’t do anything further to argue our case.
I mentally vomited right there and then, and I could see how our escape to the beach was about to go. Bailey and Andy snuggled up, trying to get into each other’s pants. Rhea and Jace playing their own version of interested-not interested. Then me, laid out next to them trying to read a book, unable to hear anything else but their bad jokes, giggles, and pet names.
Absolutelynot.
“Wait,” I said, taking a step towards them all, forcing each of them to look my way. “We don’t need your pity or an advantage. You’ve got three players.” I nodded towards Henry, who had laid back on his lounger and placed his hands behind his head, his eyes closed against the sun. The others turned to look at him, then looked back at me, scowling in confusion. “Use him,” I added. “Three versus three, or it’s no deal.”
“You want Cohen to come along?” Andy asked.
I shrugged. “Means nothing to me if he does or he doesn’t, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to kick your guys’ arses only for you to whine like babies that we had an unfair advantage.”
“That’s fighting talk.”
“What you gonna do about it?” I asked, sounding like someone I barely recognised.
