that you need to think about your status here. You do not have a work permit, for example.’
He squeezed her hand conspiratorially. ‘It is not advisable to draw attention to yourself or the resort. Vlad would be most unhappy.’
Edie was speechless for a moment. No one had mentioned permits or any kind of legal nicety when she had pitched up and asked for a job. Typical of Vlad to use threats to keep people down. Suddenly, the tension that had been building exploded out of her.
‘Fuck Vlad,’ she shouted.
She got up, knocking her chair over in the process; it was one of the plastic ones, light and unstable. Exactly how she felt at that precise moment.
‘And fuck this whole stupid place.’ Without stopping to pick up the fallen chair, she marched off in the direction of her room. But her flouncing protest soon ran out of steam and she was already regretting her tantrum before she got even halfway through the olive grove and long before she reached her door. Once inside her room she flung herself onto her bed, clenching her fists tight and drumming them onto the pillow, tears of frustration pouring down her cheeks.
Edie needed Vuk right now, really needed him. She couldn’t go to sleep after their argument. What had her mother always said to her? Never let the sun go down on a quarrel. Not that it had been so much a quarrel as a disagreement – her disagreeing with Vuk, him implacable as always. But still, Laura’s presence, her support, could never be relied upon, whereas in Vuk Edie had seen the possibility of building the permanent, fulfilling, mutually beneficial relationship she so yearned for.
Slowly, she sat up and shuffled along her bed until she was facing the mirror she’d propped up on a shelf on the wall. She would have to go and see him, apologise, make up with him. Sniffing loudly, she rubbed her finger over the smudges of mascara on her cheeks whilst deciding what to do. Her make-up was strewn across the room and she gathered up the elements she needed – powder, mascara, some nude lip gloss that accentuated her pale rosebud mouth. She set to work on tidying herself up.
The heat still had not dissipated as she picked her way back though the olive trees, their silvery leaves shimmering in the moonlight. The paths were lit at ground level and by overhead lanterns, but she always deviated from them, preferring to take the most direct course possible, and she had already established an off-piste route to Vuk’s cabin. As she drew near, she could see Vuk sitting on a lounger, his legs stretched out in front of him, his bare feet crossed one over the other. It was impossible to tell if he was asleep or awake, except for the twitch of his fingers as he tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette. Silently, Edie slid through the darkness and onto the terrace. She paused, sheltered by the huge fig tree that grew there. It was heavy with fruit, small and green, that clustered pugnaciously on every part of every branch like knuckles on a clenched fist. Hidden from view, she watched Vuk, his brown limbs at ease, his eyes shut, his breathing slow and relaxed.
‘Edie.’
She jumped and her heart beat wildly. She had thought he couldn’t see her, wouldn’t know that she was there.
‘Why don’t you come over?’ His deep voice set her pulse racing.
Stepping out of the shadows, she padded across the rough stone slabs, designed to prevent water from making them slippery. She had heard that in the winter the rain here was torrential, sheeting off the mountains and cascading downwards towards the sea, forming seasonal waterfalls that thundered during their brief revival and then fell silent when summer came again.
Arriving at his lounger, Edie stopped and took a deep breath.
‘I’m sorry I shouted at you.’ The blurted apology was hard to make, but necessary. ‘It’s just because I’m worried about Laura. I mean, I wasn’t worried until Zayn put doubt into my mind and I probably don’t need to be worried, but somehow I am.’ She paused. ‘Just a bit,’ she added, lamely.
Vuk flicked his cigarette butt into the flowering oleander bushes that sprawled beside his cabin walls.
‘You like a beer? Go inside and fetch one from the fridge.’
Edie took the invitation to be Vuk’s way of saying ‘It’s OK, no problem, all forgotten.’ She made her way silently inside and into the kitchen. The senior members of staff who lived on site, namely Vuk and Vlad and Ivana, the admin manager, had cabins of their own. Although not as luxurious as the guest cabanas, they were still comfortable and Edie saw how they could be made really nice with the right touch – some rugs to absorb the echoes, pops of colour to break-up the monotony of the white walls and floors. An enormous bowl containing nothing but fifty lemons or limes sitting on a counter-top, like in the interior magazines or the home sections of the Sunday supplements.
Vuk’s cabin, though, had nothing homely about it. Containing only the bare minimum – bedclothes, a few mugs and a kettle in the kitchen, his toothbrush in the bathroom – the cabin could have belonged to anyone. It was utterly impersonal. She resisted the temptation to go into the bedroom and check it for signs of female visitors other than herself.
She came back with the beers, handed Vuk a bottle and kept one for herself.
‘Sit.’ Vuk indicated to his left hand side. As there was no chair there, Edie knelt down, resting on her upturned heels.
‘Are you still cross with me?’ Vuk was often so unreadable, so inscrutable that Edie could not tell what he was thinking.
‘Of course not.’
Vuk drank and put the bottle on the ground. Reaching out his left hand, he caught hold of the back of Edie’s head, his fingers tangling in her hair causing tiny stabs of pain in her scalp.
‘I’ll make some enquiries around and see if I can find anything out about your sister. You should stop fretting. Leave it to me.’
Adoration flooded through Edie. Vuk would not let her down.
His right hand was on his shorts zip, undoing it, opening the waistband wide. Whatever he wanted, she would give to him, in return for being her knight in shining armour. He wrenched her head roughly forward, grinding her face into his groin, and then releasing the pressure to allow her mouth to find his penis beneath the soft fabric of his underpants. Her lips felt him swell and harden, and she began to tease him, bringing him to full size. He pulled himself free and guided her mouth onto him. Controlling the rhythm, his fingers even more tightly wound in her hair, he made her take all of him in her mouth, arching his back to her until he came, emitting a groan that seemed to originate from somewhere deep within him, and then relaxing back into stillness.
Edie climbed onto the lounger and lay beside him, fitting her body into the spaces around his, nestling down between him and the arm of the chair. She shut her eyes and listened to the roar of the crickets and his steady breathing and the rustle of fallen leaves in the sandy soil as some night creature went about its business. She was so happy that she could please him, satisfy him. So happy he was finally here for her to do so. She didn’t mind that the sex they had was so often about satisfying his needs and so rarely about hers. If she could give him what he wanted, she regarded that as a privilege.
‘Shall we go to bed?’ she asked eventually. She thought he had fallen asleep and didn’t want to disturb him but it was getting uncomfortable wedged against the hard plastic and she had a sudden desire for sleep. She pushed herself upright and looked down at Vuk.
‘I’ll walk you back to your room,’ he said, swinging his legs over the side of the chair and getting up.
She
