Page 44 of My Kind of Trouble
‘Okay…’ Noa said apprehensively. ‘And the truth is?’
‘Well, that man is hot as balls, could have any single woman in all of Southeast Asia, but he only has eyes for you. And you just ran away from him like he was a serial killer,’ Lola said matter-of-factly.
‘Eyes that he likes to fuck you with on a regular basis, no matter who’s watching,’ Thea added, wagging her brows. ‘And, before you try to play dumb, the man we are referring to is Alex.’
‘And if you really do think that the two of you are ‘just friends’, then, yes, it is time that we stage an intervention. So, what’s going on?’ Lola asked.
These girls. Noa felt so much love for them in such a small time, and these moments of girl talk with them would be some of the fondest memories of her whole trip. Even if they were currently being assaulted by rain from all angles as a tour guide spun their boat in circles. She knew she’d made friends for life and, staring at their serious faces now, she didn’t know whether to roll her eyes, wrap them all in a hug, or burst out laughing.
Gripping the side of the boat, she went with the eye roll and decided to brush them off.
‘You guys have lost your minds. If you knew his reputation back home, then you would know that Alex sees any hole as a goal. I am nothing special. In fact, if I wasn’t Ryan’s sister, I doubt he would even notice me at all,’ she said, her own words stinging and tasting bitter as they left her mouth.
‘Oh, girl. He would notice you,’ Lola responded. ‘And whether that was true or not before, I’ve not seen him take one girl home since you both arrived, but I have seen the way he looks at you. And it’s not like a guy who sees you as any other single woman for pursuing. But I think you know that, too… so truthfully, what is actually holding you back?’
Noa sighed. They were so perceptive, and she did need someone to talk to about her feelings. Knowing she could trust them, she decided to finally admit the truth.
She told them about Ryan—the conversation she had overheard between him and Alex, and the offhanded comments he had made that felt like a warning over the years since. She told them a CliffsNotes version of why she felt protective over Ryan’s and Alex’s friendship, and why she didn’t want to come between them. When she was done, she felt lighter. Unburdened.
‘You know that’s not your responsibility, though, right?’ Lola pressed, looking Noa straight in the eyes for emphasis. ‘You do not own their feelings, Noa. They are both big boys and their feelings and reactions are their own. You can’t go about your life censoring yourself and denying yourself something that will make you happy just so you don’t upset other people.’
‘Do you really think that the feelings between you and Alex are wrong?’ Thea asked, and Noa had to think about that for a minute before she shook her head. ‘And have you ever stopped to think that, maybe, if your brother’s relationship with his best friend couldn’t survive this, then it is not as strong as you think?’
The truth was, Noa had never looked at it like that. And she knew that what the girls were saying was right. It was not her relationship to protect. And a realisation like that felt heavy.
As if trying to lighten the mood and rescue Noa from her own spiralling thoughts, Lola winked at her, nudging her with her shoulder before saying, ‘I say you climb that man like a tree the next opportunity you get. Before someone else does.’
The thought of anyone else ‘climbing Alex like a tree’ more than rattled her.
She considered them, trying not to think about Alex with another woman as the conversation changed. But, as theypulled back up to the hut on the riverbank, and Alex came back into view exactly where she’d left him, she had one thing on her mind. Him.
Chapter 27
Alex
‘Noaaaa,’ Alex warned, dragging out her name for emphasis. ‘I am not playing around right now. You are not getting on a moped on your own. I’ve been a reasonable man, but even I have my limits. I am putting my foot down. Over my dead body…’
Before he could even finish, he was forced to jump out of the road and press his back to the café wall. The five bikes that had threatened to either knock him on his ass or flatten him like a pancake just carried on their journey like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Meanwhile, he tried to calm his racing pulse as Noa smirked into her fist,probably at the irony of it. Or because the little troublemaker enjoyed seeing him all flustered.
Hanoi was like a whole other planet. In his entire life, Alex had never been anywhere quite like it. He’d never been a city boy, preferring the small-town life, but he’d always thought London was busy. This place was next level and never stopped. The noise was constant, car and scooter horns being the main source. He wasn’t even sure where all the people came from. He’d never been to a place so hectic.
Since the moment they arrived, he’d been on high alert, constantly needing to have a hand on Noa, scared that one of them was about to be taken out by the insane number of vehicles that flew through the streets with no particular rules of the road whatsoever.
Noa, however, had taken to it like a natural. He was surprised but, then again, she and Lola had been practically joined at the hip, so maybe she was rubbing off on her. Noa would walk out into the road like a local, shoulders held high, demanding that people stop for her. His stomach almost bottomed out every single time, and Alex couldn’t wait to get her out of there safely and in one piece.
Today was their last day in Vietnam, and the reckless girl in front of him wanted to rent a moped as a means to travel around the city and see the sights. She must have bumped her head if she thought he was about to allow that. She’d tried saying that she’d added it to her ‘30 before 30’ list to justify the act of lunacy, but there was absolutely no way in hell he was allowing it. If she wanted to go on a moped, he would take her so that he could keep her safe. All she needed to do was ask.
‘No,’ he stated, after he’d righted himself from his near miss with the other side.
His voice was firm and steady, leaving no room for her to question him. But that stubborn streak reared its head, meaning she would try anyway.
‘I’m sorry? When was it that you think that I asked for your permission?’ she argued with a serious face that would be so cute if she wasn’t currently trying to put herself in danger.
‘Noa,’ he warned.
‘Alex.’
She was absent-mindedly testing the stability of the moped as she sat on it, like he wasn’t standing there warning her otherwise. Testing his patience, too.
