AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I will not add to Melissa’s problems by using her. She is better than that, and yet I know she wants it. She wants the excitement, the adventure, and the love story. I see it in her eyes and the way color brightens her face as her eyes sparkle. The hitched breath and the quiver to her lower lip as she glances my way. She would fall hard; I realize that and yet I’m not the man for her.
I’m the bastard who is setting her up for a gigantic fall and I won’t be there to catch her. I wish I could hide out in here for the entire flight, but she deserves my respect and what I just did blew that sky high. I used Chloe to release my frustration that I can’t have the women waiting patiently for me in the next cabin. More importantly, I use her because I can’t have the one woman I have only ever loved.
I lie back on the bed and try so hard to lock away the memories, but they are always there, waiting to drive that knife a little deeper into my soul.
You can’t catch me.
The sunlight glints on her almost white, blonde hair and her blue eyes sparkle with mischief. She tears off down the beach giggling and we set off after her. The fuck if I’m letting my brother get to her first and I shove him hard and catch him off balance. His low growl only spurs me on as I chase after the girl who I’m fixated on.
Phoebe is an angel. It’s what she’s known as around here. The angel who plays with the bad Constantine brothers, courtesy of her father being employed by mine. George Psakidas is one of our enforcers, and yet when I glance into the eyes of his beloved daughter, I only see innocence. She is unspoilt and has a lightness to her spirit that I crave for some reason.
We are ten years old and my interest in her is one of fasciation for the unknown. Aside from mom we have no other females in our lives except for the maids. Our grandparents live in Kefalonia, we do not. We live on an island that keeps the city at bay. It keeps everyone at bay because my father places our security above everything else.
“Apollo.” Her excited squeal makes me smile as she dances in the waves, the crystal waters flowing around her as she catches the sun’s rays.
Her eyes flash with joy and her slight figure is covered in a bright pink swimsuit. There is no color in our lives. Everything is black and I am in awe of her, as she shines like the brightest diamond.
Adonis catches us up and nudges me hard, and I stumble on the sand, and we waste no time in letting our fists fly as we struggle to gain the upper hand.
“Boys.” She shouts above the sound of the crashing waves, but her words are carried off by the hint of a breeze on a warm summer’s day.
I punch Adonis hard in the stomach and he rewards me with a strong blow across the head. It knocks me sideways, and then a terrified scream drags my attention toward the waves.
Phoebe isn’t there.
We take off at speed and dive into the ocean, both of us desperately trying to locate her slender body.
I dive under the crystal water and see a flash of pink struggling and I power toward her with real fear in my heart.
She falls into my arms, and I pull her to the surface and onto the beach, lying her down and staring at her with concern as Adonis joins us.
“My foot.” She gasps, the pain in her eyes hard to watch, and I note the tell-tale sting of a jellyfish marring her beautiful skin.
We work quickly to remove the tentacles that are alien on her perfect skin, and she cries tears of pain that she wipes away with sand encrusted fingers.
I shout to one of the guards nearby, “Phoebe’s hurt!”
He wastes no time in raising the alarm, and she smiles at me through the pain.
“It hurts, Apollo.”
A lone tear slides down her face and I surprise myself by brushing it tenderly away, careful not to hurt her fragile, soft skin. That was the moment I fell in love with Phoebe Psakidas and the moment my life was set to burn.
I wrench my mind from the memory and take a deep breath to bring my emotions under control. I don’t allow myself long to dwell on the past. I definitely can’t think of the present and the future is all I have left to live for. A future that cannot involve the woman waiting innocently for me in the main cabin.
It would be so easy to start again with someone like her. A goddess in her own right. The perfect woman for any deserving man. But I don’t deserve her. I already know that and so I grit my teeth and head back to finish what I started.
She is staring out of the window at the heavens as I drop into the seat beside her, gripping the glass of whiskey that Christos always keeps full.
“Hey, are you okay?” She smiles sweetly and I nod, chucking back the contents and relishing the slow burn of alcohol to numb my brain.
“Great, thanks.”
I’m anything but great and she reaches out and grasps my hand and I sigh inside. Fuck my life.
“This island in Italy. Have you been there before?”
“Several times.”
