Page 12 of One Week in Paradise

When I wake up, Cash is gone. The realisation fills me with relief.

I don’t know what the hell happened between us last night, but I’m not happy.

I feel used.

I feel gross.

I feel incredibly horny.

I need some time to myself. I use my time alone in the suite to take some more videos and photos.

Then I open Instagram and post one of my stories, remembering to tag the resort, and decide to finally post on the grid too.

My last post is from four months ago now, and that familiar feeling of anxiety bubbles up inside me again as I scroll through my gallery, looking for the best photos to post.

Amber has suggested turning off comments completely. That way, I won’t have to worry about the trolls, but that feels like I’m admitting defeat. And anyway, nobody turns off comments unless they have something to hide. Which I do, but still. The trolls don’t need to know that.

I end up choosing one of the photos Cash took of me last night in my blue dress, along with a handful of photos and videos that showcase the beautiful resort and the delicious meal we had last night.

I deliberate posting the photo Cash took of us on his phone outside the airport, but then I decide against it.

I don’t know what’s happened between us, and I’m still angry over how he completely ignored me last night.

I hit post and then disconnect my phone from the WiFi. I promise myself I won’t reconnect until this evening in an attempt to try and calm my anxiety.

By the time I’ve showered and gotten dressed, Cash still hasn’t returned. A small part of me wants to reconnect to the WiFi and message him, but the petty and irritated part of me wins, and I pretend like his sudden absence doesn’t bother me at all.

I head down to the restaurant closest to our villa – only a five-minute walk – and spot Bea, Meera, Sara and Lacey sitting around a table together. Meera waves me over with a bright smile on her face.

‘Morning, Bailey! We’ve been messaging you for the last twenty minutes.’

‘Sorry,’ I say, sliding into the seat furthest away from Lacey, who is still staring at me with big, apologetic eyes. ‘I disconnected from the WiFi for a bit.’

Meera nods sagely. ‘A digital detox. Fair.’

‘Where’re the guys?’ I ask.

‘At the gym,’ says Bea. ‘Isn’t Cash with them?’

I feel my jaw tighten at the mention of Cash, but I try and smooth my expression into an easy smile. I don’t need them thinking that our relationship – however fake it is – has fallen apart on the very first night. ‘That’s right. I thought they’d be done by now.’

‘Danny could spend all day in the gym,’ Lacey pipes up. ‘We’ll probably have to go and grab them after breakfast.’

I shrug. ‘Cash is a big boy. I’m sure he’ll find his way back eventually.’

Will he continue to pretend like nothing happened between us last night, though?

I order a plate of eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast and fall into an easy conversation with the girls.

‘What’re you doing today?’ I ask. We’ve all been sent Penelope’s packed itinerary, but, for the most part, we can pick and choose which activities and excursions we’d like to do.

‘We’re doing a guided heritage tour,’ says Sara. ‘I think we’re being driven to a town about an hour or so away from the resort, and we’ll spend the day there lapping up the culture.’

‘And eating good food,’ adds Meera.

Sara nods. ‘The tour is run by a local family, and they’ve invited us to have lunch with them too.’

‘That sounds great,’ I say. ‘What about you, Bea? What’re you and Marcus up to today?’

‘Snorkelling,’ Bea says. ‘We’re going to head down to the reef and spend the day there. Should be great.’

I nod. ‘That sounds amazing. And you, Lacey?’

She looks surprised that I’ve asked her. ‘We’re going for a waterfall hike. It wasn’t my first choice. I wanted to check out the beach, but Danny really wanted to give it a go, so…’ She shrugs.

I resist the urge to grimace and hope I manage to school my expression into something more smile-like. ‘We’re doing the waterfall hike too.’

I picked the hike excursion specifically because Penelope promised that the hike wouldn’t be too strenuous and that it culminates with a beautiful blue lagoon.

Penelope actually called it ‘ the perfect romantic hideaway ’, which probably would have sold me on the excursion if our relationship were real.

When she first mentioned it, I imagined taking a flurry of photos and videos of Cash and me playing up the dutiful loved-up couple role in the lagoon.

My excitement for the excursion has since dwindled significantly.

I don’t particularly want to spend the day traipsing through the jungle with Lacey, and cuddling up with Cash in somewhere dubbed ‘ the perfect romantic hideaway ’ is not at the top of my wish list right now.

But it’s too late to change my mind. The excursion has been booked, and we’re due to head off in an hour or so.

‘Ooh, fun ,’ Lacey says. ‘It’ll be just like a double date! You know, I didn’t get the chance to apologise last night, but—’

I hold a hand up to stop her. I don’t want to relive last night again. ‘It’s fine, Lacey. Let’s just forget it ever happened.’

Lacey’s smile is full of relief. ‘Got it.’

After breakfast, I head back to the suite quickly to grab some comfortable trainers for the hike.

As soon as I step into the suite, the bathroom door opens, and Cash comes sauntering out.

I hate the way my throat goes dry as I take in his still-glistening body and the towel wrapped low around his waist. He doesn’t deserve my attraction.

‘Oh,’ he says, blinking down at me. ‘Morning, Bailey.’

‘Good morning,’ I say curtly as I storm past him with barely a glance. ‘We’re due at the front desk in ten minutes to leave for the hike.’ I rifle through my suitcase and pick out my most comfortable pair of trainers hidden amongst a sea of strappy sandals and heels. ‘I’ll see you down there.’

‘Bailey, wait.’

He moves to grab my arm as I brush past him, but I shake him off.

‘ What ?’ I spit, whirling around to face him. Even I’m surprised by the amount of venom I can hear in my voice. ‘What do you want, Cash?’

‘Last night—’

‘Last night, you were just doing what I asked you to, and things got out of hand,’ I say through gritted teeth. ‘I get it. It didn’t mean anything. Don’t worry. I won’t make that mistake again.’

Maybe if I say it enough times, I’ll believe it too.

‘Bailey.’

But I don’t listen. I whirl around and storm out of our suite before he can spot the tears that quickly begin to well in my eyes.

A car takes us on a twenty-minute drive away from the hotel to the outskirts of the jungle.

We’re accompanied by a tour guide named Leroy, who happily informs us of all the names and uses of the exotic-looking plants we pass by.

It’s all incredibly interesting information, but I barely hear any of it.

Focusing on not looking focused on Cash is taking all my attention. I can see him out of the corner of my eye, desperately trying to catch my gaze, but I stare steadfastly ahead. I won’t let him have the satisfaction of seeing how much his actions have affected me.

I pull out my phone and record the short drive through the window, getting shots of the winding roads and the clear ocean peeking out from over the side of the mountains we’re crawling along.

The prospect of spending the day with Lacey and Danny hadn’t filled me with excitement, but now I’m grateful for their presence. They’re a convenient buffer between Cash and me. I don’t even mind when Lacey monopolises the entire twenty-minute drive, bragging about her last PR trip to Dubai.

‘Now, that was a real luxury trip,’ Lacey says. ‘Not that this isn’t nice, because it is. Just that Dubai was on a whole other level, you know?’

‘Sure,’ I say, though I don’t. I once went on a weekend trip to Cornwall with a cosmetics company which was fun enough, but this is definitely the biggest PR trip I’ve ever been invited on. It annoys me even more that Cash is here to experience this milestone in my career.

I’m starting to wish I’d chosen to bring anyone else. Surely even plucking a random man off Tinder would’ve been better than this?

‘What about you, Cash?’ Lacey swivels around in her seat to face him. ‘Have you been anywhere nice recently?’

‘Does Hastings count?’ Cash jokes.

Lacey blinks at him. I’m not too sure she even knows where Hastings is.

‘No,’ Cash says eventually, once he realises he’s not going to get a response from her. ‘I don’t really like flying. This is the first time I’ve stepped on a plane since I was a kid.’

My brows knit into a frown. I didn’t know that. The question spills from my lips before I can catch myself. ‘How come?’

Cash glances at me and quirks a brow as if to say, ‘ Oh, you’ve remembered I exist ?’

I raise my own brow in retaliation.

‘Planes make me nervous,’ he says with a shrug. ‘Too many unknowns. I like to be in control or at least be able to see the person who is in control. I’d rather sit on a boat for twenty-four hours than get on a plane.’

I think back to the flight and remember how standoffish and nervous he’d been. I hadn’t realised just how much he hated flying.

‘Aw.’ Lacey shoots us a sickly sweet smile. ‘And he still agreed to come on this trip. Bailey, that’s a keeper right there.’

And the thing is, she’s right. Knowing that Cash was happy to get on a plane for me, despite his fears, makes my heart swell.

But then I remember last night and how he behaved in the aftermath of it all, and my expression clouds with irritation once more.

‘We’ll see about that,’ I say.

Next to me, I feel Cash twitch, but he doesn’t say anything.

Our car stops in a small clearing, and Leroy instructs us to get out.

‘We’ll start our hike here,’ he says, his bald head shining in the relentless sun. ‘It’s about a twenty-minute walk to the waterfall. And we’ll spend the afternoon there. Keep up, drink plenty of water, and let’s go!’