Page 52 of Enemies to Lovers

‘Show me,’ Adonis says, pulling away and pushing down on the top of my head, making it very clear that he wants me on my knees.

‘Urm …’ I say. ‘I don’t think—’

‘Go on,’ he presses. ‘I need you …’ His hands fall to my wrists, where he holds on and grips tightly.

‘Let go,’ I say, a growing sense of unease pulsing through me.

‘Come on,’ he says. ‘Don’t be a tease.’

He moves his massive, commanding body in a way that almost makes me fall to the floor, but I’m just strong enough to resist.

‘Stop,’ I reply, trying to get out from his grasp. It doesn’t work. ‘Hey,’ I repeat. ‘Stop!’

‘SHE SAID STOP!’ comes Jamie’s voice. ‘Get the hell off her.’

Adonis lets go and pulls me towards him in a hug, so that my face is against his chest. ‘Fuck off, man,’ Adonis says. ‘This is private.’

‘Flo?’ Jamie asks, and I push Adonis away and hate that I have tears in my eyes, that he could make me feel this way and that Jamie gets to bear witness.

With both hands I launch myself at Adonis’s chest, hard, so that he stumbles back, and then I run as fast as I can out of there, leaving both men behind me.

I don’t even know where my shoes are. I run past the bonfire, up to the main road and let my bare feet hit the rough stones of it, and then the dirt path that leads back to the villa in darkness.

Fortunately I have my bag looped over my body, so I have my phone. I’m trembling as I fumble at the zip and struggle to get hold of it.

‘Shit,’ I say, looking at my fingers wobble.

‘It’s adrenaline,’ Jamie says, from further down the hill. ‘That’s all. You’ll shake it off in a minute.’

I look at him. ‘What the fuck?’ I say. ‘That fucking … that horrible …’

Jamie comes closer and lingers opposite me.

‘Do you want to be hugged?’ he asks, and I nod miserably. When his arms are wrapped around me, I let the first tear fall, and then another, and then I am sobbing uncontrollably.

‘I know,’ Jamie says, stroking my hair. ‘I know. That wasn’t your fault.’

I feel so ashamed. I should never have gone into the cave with Adonis, never made him think that’s what I wanted. I knew, on some level – even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself – that I didn’t want him, but I went with him anyway.

‘It’s not your fault,’ Jamie keeps telling me, over and over again. ‘Okay? Just breathe, Flo. Do it with me: in … and out …’

He pulls back, so that he can hold my face between his hands and look me in the eye as he demonstrates extra-deep breaths. I follow him, and move a hand to rub over my heart.

‘I’m okay,’ I say. ‘I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay …’

Jamie reaches out and puts his hand to mine and tells me, ‘You are.’

We stand, with Jamie watching me like a hawk, I suppose to assess how traumatised I feel. The answer is: quite a lot.

‘I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there,’ I say. ‘That’s what really gets me. That’s why I’m freaking out.’

Jamie shakes his headno.‘Flo, you would have kicked him in the balls, and Adonis would have deserved it. But Iwasthere. So.’

I digest this.

‘Yeah,’ I say. And then, ‘Wait. But why were you there?’

Jamie blows out air with puffed-up cheeks, like it’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Finally he says, ‘You know why, Flo.’

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