The Sun in My Eyes

32 It's Hard Letting Go of the Afterglow

The villa was in total chaos and Bobby could hardly bring himself to care.

The new islander, Chelsea had sauntered in, giggled like an absolute dafty and then dropped a drama bomb about Gary and Lottie. So of course Lottie had a melt-down and Priya started a fight. Same old villa.

The other new Islander, a snub-nosed behemoth named Jakub had eye-fucked Priya, Lili, and Hope before announcing that he was there to party and dragged most everyone who wasn't in the midst of the drama to the pool. Bobby had gone along, changing into shorts and leaping in the water, eager to escape the pain of Lili's anger. And his own.

Hope was squealing with laughter as Jakub picked her up out of the water and spun her around like a top. Everyone who wasn't arguing on the lawn, or who hadn't recently watched Lili throw a wine bucket, was having a good time.

Bobby crossed his arms over the edge of the pool and rested his head on them. He was horrified by his behavior. Never in his life had he fought with a girl he'd been seeing. He'd never raised his voice or swore like that at her. He'd never said something nasty. And he'd certainly never made someone mad enough to throw things. Growing up with his mum, he hated that kind of overblown reaction. When girls were frustrated with him, he soothed them, he joked, he charmed them until they relaxed. He didn't get emotionally involved enough to get mad back.

The worst part was that he was still mad. She wasn't being fair, and she kept going on about how he'd lied to her and it didn't make any sense. And then she threw things. His chill girl. His easy-going, peace-making girl had thrown things. He didn't even know how to deal with that, and the wealth of emotions it brought up. Anger, hurt, and a touch of desire. If they'd been alone, maybe they could have simply torn off each other's clothes and worked out their anger like people did in the movies. Fucking until they stopped being mad sounded pretty good. Better than him being miserable in the pool, while she was miserable across the lawn.

Maybe the villa was making them both crazy.

He climbed out of the pool and dried off before crossing the lawn. He didn't know how to fix things, but he knew he couldn't do it from a distance.

Lucas, Rahim, and Gary were hovering near the new girl, eyeing the bubbly blonde with naked curiosity as he approached. Lottie was storming off. For the second time.

Marisol shook her head. "I was hoping I could steal you away, Lili, and give these guys a chance to talk to Chelsea." She turned and her gaze landed on him. "Oh! You too, Bobby."

"You want me to talk to Chelsea too?" Neither of them changed expressions at his terrible joke. He coughed and gestured away from the garden. "Uh, lead the way."

Lili walked stiffly beside him as they made their way to the kitchen. "This party is a total disaster," Marisol said, perching herself on one of the bar stools. Lili sighed and planted her elbows on the counter. Leaning over, her soft cleavage spilled from her top, and the purple mark on her chest, as vivid as it was earlier, distracted him from his confused feelings. She raised a brow at his wandering eyes and his face burned.

Eager to combat his churning energy, he switched on the milk steamer and set about making three hot chocolates. "Yeah, when I think 'party' I think of smiling, dancing, and maybe Noah twerking on the daybeds. That sort of thing. Which wasn't far off what was happening at the pool, to be fair. But all that arguing? I wasn't loving that." He caught Lili's eye as he said it. She gave a tiny snort.

"All the drama was bound to happen," Lili said. "New islanders always have something spicy to say. The fact that it was about Lottie just took it from a mild jalfrezi to a full-blown vindaloo." They stared at her silently and she flushed. "I've got the worst craving for Indian food," she said. "Anyway it's not like things were stable before this."