Page 105 of Never Tell Secrets

Flustered, she scowled at him and turned on her heel, marching away into the crowd. Damien grinned at me. “I love this part.”

I watched them go, concerned. Should I go after her? Keira hated being coddled and I had no doubt she could handle Damien Marx. Besides, I’d already interfered in her business once, if she’d wanted me with her she would have told me so. But none of that stopped me worrying.

“He won’t hurt her,” Eli said, stealing my attention. He turned back to Maia and silently offered her his hand, confirming a suspicion I’d been brewing for a while that they’d connected at the Clubhouse. Maia paused, glancing at me.

“I’ll be fine if you want to go with him,” I said but she hovered another moment until Alfie appeared. He exchanged a brief nod with Eli and that seemed to seal the deal. The moment we were alone I rounded on Alfie, furious. He didn’t miss a beat.

“Before you lose your shit, just know this wasn’t my idea.”

“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. “Because this is so out of character for you.”

“Lola,” he sighed, “we didn’t even come here on my plane. Marx wanted to come and West came too, so I joined them.”

“Why?”

“The goals I set with Priya? Find happiness outside of you, remember? They’re my friends, I’m trying to…reconnect.” He grimaced as if the word was uncomfortable in his mouth. “We went kite surfing this morning–do you know how long it’s been since I just hung out with my boys?”

“About twelve years?”

He let out a humourless laugh and ran a hand over his jaw. “I wasn’t going to come tonight I promise, but I knew you’d be left on your own once they paired off with Maia and Keira andmy worry got the better of me. I’m sorry.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his grey suit out of place here. I studied his face, searching for the duplicity but so far, all I could see was honesty. “For what it’s worth, I tried calling you first.”

“My phone’s off.”

He tilted his head, eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“I didn’t want to be tempted to call you.”

“I see.” He wasn’t happy that I’d held back from getting in touch with him. It was exactly what he’d feared would happen when we agreed to put power in my hands.

“I’m on a girls trip, Alfie. My focus is supposed to be Keira, not you.”

“Fair enough. My being here changes nothing. I only came here to see that you would get home alright, not to interfere.”

“Not to interfere?” I scoffed. “You just got rid of our dates.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Alfie glared at me, taking a step closer.

“Your dates? Don’t be ridiculous, Lola.” He sneered as if the very idea of me having a date was laughable. “Those aren’t your dates, they’re Keira’s. If I thought that you had opted to date another man behind my back, you and I would be having a very different conversation.” His gaze ran cold and I shivered. He held me in that moment, freezing me until I felt like I might wither before finally relenting with a soft huff. “Believe it or not, I am trying to follow Priya’s rules. This trip isn’t about you, if Marx hadn’t come I would have stayed away I swear.”

I stared at him, his grey eyes clear in earnest. He was telling the truth.

“I’ll be here for the next few days, luckily I can work remotely out of my hotel, but the same rules apply here as in London. Contact is on your terms.” He paused. “So, tell me what to do. Do I leave or do I stay? What do you want?”

What did I want?

Was I angry with him for being here? A little, but his reasoning made some sense.

So, what now? For so long, every decision I’d made about Alfie was based on what I thought would keep my heart safe but I’d promised him that I would try to be open to him, try to let him in.

I took a deep breath.

Be brave, Lo. Try to be brave.

“I want you to buy me a drink.”

We talked for hours.

We talked about work, about travel, about Greece, he knew so much about the history here.