Page 57 of Three's a Crowd
Daisy drew back to look into his eyes, the expression she found there intense but unfathomable. She felt swallowed up by the depth of this enigmatic feeling. She was out of control, miles away in her head, lost in sensation.
Then suddenly, rudely, she was jerked out of her hypnotised state by Adam pulling roughly on her arm, tearing her from Zach’s grip and almost sending her spinning across the floor in her heels.
Looking into his face, she saw intense fury there and her stomach rolled with anxiety.
‘Get your fucking hands off her, Dryden!’ he raged at his friend. Bringing his arm back, he swung his fist hard into Zach’s jaw.
There was a sickening crack and Zach stumbled backwards, taken completely off guard by the attack. After regaining his balance, he turned to stare at Adam, a look of disbelief and controlled anger in his eyes.
‘What the fuck was that for?’
‘You just couldn’t leave her alone, could you?’ Adam shouted, his voice shaking with anger. ‘What? Not going to deny it?’ His tone was coldly patronising now.
Zach held up his hands in defence. ‘I don’t know what you think’s going on, but I can assure you that nothing is,’ he said, his voice level.
Daisy could sense he was fighting hard to control his temper as well as his distress at fighting like this with his best friend.
Adam swung round to look at Daisy now, seeming to be demanding an explanation from her as well.
‘None of this is Daisy’s fault. It’s mine,’ Zach said, directing Adam’s attention back to him. ‘I just wanted to make things okay with us all again. We’re just friends, Adam, I swear. I wouldn’t do that to you.’
‘Yeah, sure, you fucking liar!’ Adam spat, moving towards him menacingly. Zach backed away slowly, his hands still up in defence.
‘How could you think I wouldn’t notice?’ Adam said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Zach shook his head, then took a steadying breath and looked directly at his friend, as if he’d changed his mind about something. ‘You’re not good for her, Ad. You suck all the fire out of her,’ he said quietly, his voice shaking now.
‘What the hell are you talking about? We’re great together,’ Adam spat back at him. ‘You really think she’d be better off with you! You’ve no idea how to love another person.’
Zach looked like he’d been smacked in the face again and stared back at his friend with a wretched expression.
There was a moment of silence between them. Nobody moved or said anything, the anticipation in the air thick.
Seeming to decide there was nothing he could say to make things better right now, Zach turned away and pushed through the crowd, leaving Adam standing there in a passionate fury.
‘Go on then, you fucking coward. Run away, just like you always do!’ Adam yelled at his retreating back. Then spinningaround, he turned back to face Daisy, looking at her with such a cold expression, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
‘As for you, you treacherous bitch…’ he began, but he suddenly seemed to run out of words. He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes so full of pain, it took Daisy’s breath away.
She put her hand out to reach for him, to try to soothe him in some way, but he just looked at it as if it was something filthy and turning on his heel, strode away from her, forcing his way through the crowd that had gathered to watch in awed silence.
Daisy was aware of a rising murmur of voices and heard a couple of people behind her murmur, ‘How embarrassing.’
‘What happened?’
‘It’s her fault, apparently. They were fighting over her.’
‘Her?Really?’
Humiliation crashed over her as she was suddenly confronted by the realisation that she was now completely alone, standing there in the middle of a crowd of unfriendly strangers who were staring at her in fascinated mirth.
Fear quickly followed. What was she going to do? She was trapped on a boat full of people who didn’t know or care about her, with no way of getting away from the awful scene that had just played out.
Panic started to rise in her chest and she looked around desperately for a way out of there. A strong, warm hand suddenly closed over her arm and she was relieved to see a familiar face smiling down at her. She allowed herself to be led away from the crowd and into the corner of the bar area, behind a partition, where she was gently guided down into a seat and a glass of, what looked like, champagne put into her hand.
She took a large gulp of it, but her hand was shaking so much, she nearly spilled what was left of it onto her dress, and was grateful when it was taken away from her and put onto a nearby table, before the liquid could ruin the beautiful material.
She turned to face out towards the sea for a moment to steady herself and noticed with a rush of relief that the yacht was pulling into the harbour.
