‘Don’t tell me you’re also a helicopter pilot,’ I said through gritted teeth.
‘You should be grateful I’m not – I’m a nervous flier, remember?’ he replied. I vaguely remembered that, yes, but there was a more pressing question.
‘Then what are you doing here?’
‘Well, Elsa was supposed to be leading this excursion, but something came up – a work thing – so…’ He stretched his arms out wide and shrugged.
‘You’re joking.You’recoming to Naxos?’
‘Don’t sound so thrilled about it,’ he said, pretending to be hurt.
‘This may come as a surprise to you, but I wouldn’t have agreed to come to Aetheria if I’d known you’d be here.’
This time, Tommy appeared legitimately hurt – and it cut me to the quick. I took a breath, schooling my expression.
‘I only meant?—’
I was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter approaching. We all looked skyward and Tommy shepherded us to the side of the helipad to safety.
It was probably best that I didn’t get to finish my thought, because it would have been a lie. Iwouldn’thave gone to Aetheria if I’d known Tommy was there. With Elsa. Who I did not care for and, in all likelihood, was his girlfriend. What he saw in her was baffling, but Tommy was a big boy – he could make his own mistakes.
Besides, he was no longer mine to worry about.
It was my turn to climb into the helicopter, and I snapped back to the present. The same pilot who’d flown me to the island gave me a little salute, which I returned with a smile. But it fell away when Tommy climbed in and sat next to me, his thigh pressed against mine. I scooched over to put a few centimetres between us. If it wouldn’t have been such an obvious move, I’d have asked to swap with Niki, who was across from me. But then I would have had to face him. A lose-lose situation.
Once we were all buckled in – a manoeuvre that required me to lift my arse off the seat so Tommy could fumble around beneath me to latch his lap belt – a steward closed the door and we were suddenly airborne – like the Skyscreamer at Blackpool, a ride I’ve been on exactly once and never (fucking) again.
Tommy nudged me with the back of his hand, but I didn’t respond. Then he pressed up against me, making it impossible to ignore him. He signalled for me to lift the headset away from my ear. Curious, I did.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked, leaning in close. His breath tickled my skin and in a feat of terrible timing, I inhaled deeply, catching a lungful of his freshly showered scent. Both were an assault on my senses, and I wished I’d left the headset where it was.
‘Fine,’ I replied out of the side of my mouth. I let the headset fall back into place, then Tommy lifted it again.
‘Do you mind?’ I asked curtly.
‘Youwere never a nervous flier,’ he said, seeming perplexed.
‘That’splanes, not helicopters. And don’t you feel queasy?’ I asked, shooting him an annoyed look.
‘No. Actually, it’s kind of exhilarating,’ he said earnestly.
‘Whatever.’
Doing my best to ignore Tommy – his thigh pressed against mine, the scent of his cologne, his very existence – I watched out the front window. It was impossible not to be impressed by the spectacular sight of Naxos looming before us – queasy stomach or not. It was huge compared to Aetheria.
But just as we approached the coast, we swung in a wide arc to the north, then back out over the sea.
‘Where are we setting down?’ I asked, holding down thetalkbutton on my headset.
The pilot pointed ahead of us and there it was – a yacht with a helipad on top. A yacht I knew far too well. Julian’s yacht.
We were landing on Julian’sbloodyyacht and he hadn’t even changed thebloodyname, like he’d promised. It was still calledAlly’s(bloody)Odyssey.
Andnowoman wants her name plastered across the scene of her marital demise.
Next time I saw Julian, I wouldn’t ask him to change it – I’dtellhim. And if he was short on ideas, I had plenty.
Tommy must have noticed I was rattled – and why. He leaned forward to look out the front window, then sat back abruptly and fixed me with a troubled stare.
