“Stavros,” he barked.
I spun away from him and walked over to the window that looked out over the pool and sea. With only hours until I left, the intrusion was unwelcome, and whoever was on the other end of that call could go straight to?—
“It’s King.”
Oh.
I let out a sigh and turned to see Dimitri crossing the room to me, a smirk on his lips, the phone held out in his hand. I didn’t think I’d ever been irritated to hear from King, and I had to mentally slap myself out of my mood before I took the phone. He wouldn’t be calling if he didn’t have a good reason, and I instantly went on high alert.
“King,” I said, “what’s wrong?”
“Hello to you too, Benoit. No ‘nice to hear from you’ today?”
Considering he’d barged in at the worst possible time, I wasn’t exactly ready to greet him with my usual flair, but more than that, I was unnerved he’d called at all. I hadn’t heard from him this entire trip.
“Has something happened?” I said. “What do you need?”
“More like whatyouneed.”
I blinked. “Me?”
“According to your location tracker, it appears you’re not in an easy place to get to, and I’m assuming Dimitri isn’t offering his services to help you leave.”
Oh. Right. King wanted to help me get off this island and back home now that my time here was at its promised end. He wasn’t calling because anyone was in trouble; he was calling to take me away.
I didn’t know which was worse.
“Uh…” I looked up to see Dimitri watching me, his arms crossed tight over his chest. “We haven’t discussed those plans just yet.”
“No need. Lachlan and I are already in Athens. We’ll send a helicopter to you within the hour?—”
“No,” I said, the word coming out a little too forcefully. “I mean, uh, that time frame isn’t going to work for me.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Are you in danger? Yes or no.”
“Non, of course not.”
When I didn’t elaborate, I could practically see King’s frown forming. “Tomorrow morning, then?”
Putain, that was still too soon, but I wasn’t about to wear out my welcome here…or be the reason their tentative agreement went to shit. I bit the inside of my lip, hard, and forced the words out.
“That works. Thank you, King.”
“Are you…” He stopped. “Need to say goodbye?”
“Something like that.”
“All right. Be ready at seven.”
My body instantly rebelled at the early hour, but I found myself nodding and agreeing anyway. “Will do.”
I ended the call and handed the phone to Dimitri, but before I could turn away, he grabbed my arm.
“Is he on the way?” The harsh set to Dimitri’s jaw was as sharp as his words, as his eyes searched my face for the answer he sought. “Why aren’t you happier?”
“You know why,” I whispered, and gently pried his fingers from my wrist. “And no, he’s not on his way…yet.”
Dimitri swallowed and looked down at where our hands were connected. “When?”
