And it worked. They relaxed, letting me have a bit more space, even stopping with their daily check-ins.
“We go out,” I argued.
“Barely,” he pointed out. “And you’ve always avoided hanging out with my friends.”
I pressed my face into the pillow and grumbled unhappily.
He continued, “You needed a push.”
A push off a cliff would’ve been kinder.
“Everyone down there hates me.” I lifted my face from the pillow. “Couldn’t you have shoved me in the direction of people I stand a chance with?”
“They don’t know you,” he pressed. “Therealyou. The version of you that isn’t breaking rackets in the middle of matches.”
But he didn’t know the truth. Not with Inés. He didn’t know what I’d done. I’d never told anyone. Judging from everything she’d said—or more accurately, what she hadn’t said—I wasn’t sure she’d told anyone either.
“I don’t think they care about another version of me.”
“I think you’re wrong,” he pushed. I narrowed my eyes, sensing there was something else to this.
“You’re not...” I trailed off, wondering why all of a sudden he was pushing me to expand my social horizons. “Is there another reason you’ve tricked me into being here?”
“Nope.” He said the word too quickly.Suspiciouslyquickly.
“Henrik...”
“Well, look...” He pushed up onto his elbows, letting out a heavy breath. “I’ve met someone.”
I raised an eyebrow, my stomach dropping. “Someone?”
He nodded once, the tone of his voice dropping low. “Someone.”
“Oh,” I said, my gaze pulling from his. “Right.”
This was good for him. It had never been serious, but with our arrangement, I was finally beginning to get the benefit, move the boundaries with my parents into something resembling normality. He’d gotten on so well with my family. With him, I’d managed to gain a little more freedom, a step out from under their wing.
Now that would all be over. Was it right I was more disappointed about losing that advantage than about him getting serious with somebody else?
“And I thought...” he said, “with your parents, you’ll need some new friends.”
“And you thought the ‘we hate Chloe’ gang down there could do the trick?” I almost laughed, but the sick feeling growing in the pit of my stomach suffocated it.
His gaze softened, one of his blonde curls falling across his face, sticking to his forehead. “Nothing is straightforward. A year ago, you wouldn’t have caught Dylan in the same room as Scottie.” He shrugged slightly. “And now they are besties.”
“That doesn’t mean they will forgive me.”
And how could they? Sometimes, looking back at the footage, I couldn’t forgive the girl out on the court throwing a tantrum like a child. She felt like a different person.
“Maybe if you give them a chance, they will,” he pointed out.
I sighed, the reality of the situation kicking in. He’d brought me here, not mentioning that he was sharing the villa with people who actively hated me. And now my only ally was moving on. I felt like the floor had disappeared from under me. While I understood why he was doing it, that didn’t mean I liked it.
“So, who is she?” I asked, purposely changing the subject with a smirk tugging at my lips. “What happened to only looking for casual?”
“She’s my physio,” he started, his gaze leaving mine. But he shouldn’t have felt uncomfortable. It had been more than a few weeks since things were physical between us. I was starting to get a vibe. “It’s weird. I think being exclusive with you took casual sex off the table with anyone else, and it... it made room for me to actually get to know people deeper.”
I laughed awkwardly. “You’re welcome?”
