Books & a Baller

Noah

"I need to talk to Lottie, I know she's brought him back with her, so she obviously likes him, but, she needs to know who he is, what he did, and why I've just reacted the way I have."

"You have every right to react that way, I'd be the same if my ex were to walk in,"

"Thanks for being so understanding Noah, really, it means a lot."

She looked up at me, sadness still lingering in her eyes. It had killed me to see her hurting so much, the look on her face when she had turned to me and nodded, confirming that it was her ex. All I had wanted to do was hold her, comfort her, and to reassure her that she would be okay. Everyone else had tried to rush around her, I knew they were just trying to be nice, checking on their friend, but only Priya had seemed to understand what Cara needed in that moment, she had helped me usher the others back outside, ignoring their protests. I could tell all she wanted to do was exactly what I was doing, but she knew it wasn't her that Cara needed, and she let me take her upstairs away from everyone.

I took her broken face in my hands, and brought my face down to hers, our noses almost touching, just as they had been at brunch before her world had come crashing down. I placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I know it's only day 4 Cara, but I'd do anything to make you feel whole again, I'll be whatever you need, your lover, your friend, your protector."

She returned my kiss and began to lead the way out the door, back into the villa.

We stepped back out into the garden, dropped my hand and briefly kissed my cheek before heading over to the sun loungers to grab Lottie for a chat. She marched over there like a woman on a mission, her head held high.

"Lottie, can we talk please?"

Lottie looked up at her, and without hesitation she jumped up and followed Cara over to the fire pit. I sighed as I headed to the bean bags and sat down with Bobby, Hannah, Gary and Marisol. Priya and Ibrahim were laid out on one of the day beds, Hope and Rocco had made their way over to the sun-loungers where Nathan had been left alone.

"Is she okay?" Marisol asked.

"No, not yet, but she will be, she just needs a little time to process all of this," I glanced over to the fire pit, Cara's eyes were red with tears again, and Lottie had her head in her hands.

"Is he," Bobby gestured over to Nathan, "the ex?"

"The one and only."

"What happened between them?" Hannah asked, "Cara told us that she'd been single for over 2 years, but never brought up her ex?"

"He ghosted her," Bobby looked at me for confirmation, I hadn't realised she had told him about Nathan as well.

"Yeah, so you know how she had the accident?"

"Yeah, she shattered her leg and everything right?" Gary asked.

"Yep, well she was dating Nathan at the time. He was supposed to be her main support system during her rehab, but six weeks into her recovery he ghosted her. Her parents flew her back home and she finished rehab back in London, and never heard from him again."

"Woah, and now he's shown up here? What to try and win her back or something?" Marisol glanced over to the fire pit, Cara and Lottie now had their arms wrapped tightly around each other. If I knew Lottie at all, she wouldn't pursue Nathan no matter how much she liked him. Cara had told me how loyal Lottie was to her girls, and that girl code was a big thing for her.

"Who knows what he's doing here," I said with a sigh.

"It could be by accident?" Hannah suggested, everyone looked at her.