Page 46 of Nine

“She was just correcting me on my use of certain words here.”

I look at little Miss Beyoncé who is even more beautiful up close. She raises a challenging eyebrow at me as she hands Trig money.

“Isn’t your job to exchange currency?” I ask.

“Yes,” she replies with attitude.

“Then stop throwing yourself at men, and do your damn job, bitch.”

“Excuse me?” she says with disgust.

“You heard me.”

Trig puts his hand over my mouth and grabs the money from her.

“Thank you,” he says.

He pushes me forward and then picks up his two bags. I walk ahead of him mad, and I’m not even sure why. We locate a taxi outside and hop in.

“Is there a nice hotel close by?” Trig asks the driver.

“Royal Hotel. It’s beautiful. You’ll love it.”

“Great. Take us there.”

I sit in the cab, staring forward with my arms folded.

“Nine,” Trig says. I ignore him. “Nine,” He repeats again.

I turn my head and stare at him.

“What was that back there?”

I shake my head. I’m a little embarrassed at my actions. I really don’t even know why I did that. It’s so unlike me. I’m at a loss for words.

“I don’t know,” I say.

“Are you jealous, Nine?” He smirks.

“Of Beyoncé back there? No.”

He laughs hard and holds his chest.

“You think this is funny, don’t you?” I frown, and scoot away from him.

“Come here.” He pulls me close to him against my will. I’m pulling my face as far away as possible, and yet he has now managed to squish me into his chest.

“I didn’t come to Fiji with you to pick up on other girls.”

“No, you came here to escape. Now that you’re free, you can be whom you want to be, and do what you want to do. Your new life doesn’t have to include me.”

I push away from him. Trig just turns and smiles out the window.

“What?” I say.

“I think you’re cute when you’re jealous. Your face gets all scrunched up, and your eyes become squinty. You look like a pissed off squirrel.”

“Oh my god. Did you just say that?”

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