Page 13 of Walking the Bird

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“You’re a fucking douche bag, you know that?”

Harper’s intense words gained Alex’s attention a split-second before her hands landed in the center of his chest.

“I can’t believe I was on your side while you were down here playing with your groupies.”

Alex opened his mouth to defend himself, but movement along the entrance to the resort caught his attention. Realization slammed into him as he watched the back of his wife run between the closing doors.

“Motherfucker.” The oath left his lips as he took off like a rocket, racing across the sand and into the air-conditioned building. His expectation to find Eleni in the lobby fell short as he came to a screeching halt when he encountered a bridal party taking photographs. Ignoring the smiles and appreciative glances, looks like the ones just cast at him, had already cost him dearly.

Harper was partially wrong when she called him a douche bag. While he hadn’t invited the attention of the women on the beach, he hadn’t discouraged it either. It’d felt good to have a set of appreciative eyes on him, to hear the giggle of a female voice instead of the silence of disappointment.

Hurrying down the hall, Alex mashed the up arrow at the elevator bank, standing back and waiting not so patiently. This rift between them needed to end. He wanted his wife back, the beautiful woman who’d brought him coffee with nothing but a smile on, who’d carved out a spot for herself in his damaged heart and healed him with her unconditional love.

Exiting the elevator, Alex raced down the short hall, banging his clenched fist against the penthouse door. “Eleni, open up, we need to talk. It isn’t what you think.”

Leaning against the door, Alex took a deep breath as he considered what he needed to say. Eleni was ruled by facts and numbers. If things didn’t add up for her, she didn’t believe them. Alex knew what she was assuming, pretty girl plus failure of a husband equaled affair. The truth, and what he was determined to make her understand, was how the girl she saw him holding over his shoulder was there because of the cruelty of a dare, one cast by her so-called friends who’d slunk onto the private beach to see if they could do it without getting caught. Alex sensed the same apprehension in Ivy, as he did in Eleni, a result of his cousins menacing attempts to poison their relationship in the beginning.

Laying his palms against the grain of the door, Alex lowered his head, focusing his concentration on any sounds coming from the other side. When silence echoed back at him, Alex pushed off the door, spinning on his heels and heading back in the direction he’d come from.

Walking with determination through the main hall, Alex briefly scanned each store he passed. He knew his wife wasn’t normally an avid shopper, but she was resourceful, and would use anything she could to hide herself away if she needed to. Reaching the end of the hall, Alex smiled at the man behind the front desk.

“Can I help you find something, sir?”

Taking two steps toward the desk, Alex lay his arms against the polished wood. “Did you see a gorgeous brunette pass by?”

“I see lots of women like you describe, I’d try the bar if I were you.” Pointing to the set of double doors across the hall, the man whose nametag read Isaac said with a smile.

Drifting his gaze to the left, Alex pushed off the counter, tapping his fingers twice on the wood. “Thanks, man.”

Calypso music greeted Alex as he crossed the threshold of the bar. The smell of sunscreen and ocean water filled his nose, rounding out the picture-perfect island setting the hotel strived to achieve. Stepping to his left, Alex scanned the rows of sun worshippers, drinks in hand, and bodies covered in oil, the call of the ocean blue water robbing their attention.

“What can I get you?”

Shifting his gaze to the man behind the bar, a familiar set of eyes reflect back at him. “Wait, aren’t you the guy who drove the limo from the airport?”

“Name’s Bash,” the bartender smiled, offering his hand across the bar. “And yes, I did drive your limo the other day.”

Taking his offered hand, Alex glanced down at the sleeve of tattoos on Bash’s forearm, the one partially obscured by his shirt sleeve causing Alex to pause. “So, you’re a bartender on your off-time?”

“Not if I can help it.” Bash reached for a clean glass from under the bar, pulling back the tap on the first beer he came to. “When there isn’t a high-profile guest arriving, I’m generally helping with the scuba charters. The guy who normally tends bar is at the hospital with his wife who is having a baby.”

“And you drew the short straw?”

“No,” Bash slid one of the resort’s napkins across the bar, setting a glass of beer in the center. “I need the money, so I volunteered,” he shrugged.

Alex kept his focus on Bash, “I didn’t order a beer.”

“Nasty habit of mine, anticipating what the customer wants before they ask.”

“And this works for you?”

Wiping the bar with a white towel, Bash leaned his body against the edge of the counter. “Your accent tells me you’re from the Midwest. Based on the shade of your tan and size of your arms, you’re either a professional athlete or in some form of construction.”

Pushing the beer to the side, Alex pulled his cell from his pocket. “Excellent guess, Bash, but your assumption left out one giant detail.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Bash cocked his head to the side in curiosity. “What’s that?”

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