His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Arriving at the hotel, Sophia didn't think the views could get any more breath-taking, but she was wrong. The journey in the air-conditioned limo was a comfortable one and she spent the whole half an hour staring out of the window, taking pictures on her phone until the battery symbol drained to twenty per-cent. The hotel stood tall, with around fifteen stories, marble floors that were always polished to perfection and helpful, welcoming employees. A young man with tanned skin wearing red swimming shorts approached and helped the women out of the car. He shook hands with the men in greeting, but when it came to Noah the man stiffened. His hands fell to his sides and his posture straightened as if he were a soldier awaiting orders from his superior.

"Fetch Alaina, tell her we're here," Noah said to the employee, who didn't hesitate in nodding and rushing into the building. As the man disappeared behind the glass doors, four other employees dressed in smart shirts and shorts marched out and rushed over to the car with trolleys to unload their luggage. Their movements were swift as they worked mechanically, removing the luggage and slotting it onto the trolley as if it were a game of Tetris.

Alaina, the hotel manager, exited the hotel wearing a black dress with a floral pattern on the front. Her blonde hair was pinned to the side, making her look ten years younger. She outstretched her arms as she walked towards the party and Noah stepped forward, accepting her embrace. From the gesture, it was clear that the two knew each other well. "Welcome back, Noah," she said as she pulled away. "Can I show you to your rooms?"

They followed her inside to the front desk and a young man, possibly a couple of years older than the twins, grinned as they entered. Kelly ran over and threw herself at the man. "Oh my God, Kai!"

"It's great to see you, Kells! What's it been - four years?"

"Five I think," she told him and they talked a little while Alaina signed them in and handed over the room keys.

Once the keys were handed over she walked over to where Kelly and Kai were talking and smacked him on the back of the head. "You are being paid to work," she told Kai, who then excused himself and walked across the reception and outside. Alaina then turned to Noah. "Sorry about my son, he's got his head in the clouds these days." Noah waved her off and swiped a key card from the front desk, before walking over to the elevator. As he waited for the doors to slide open, Sherry walked over with two key cards in hand. She'd already asked Alaina about the room situation but she hadn't an answer.

"There are only two rooms," she said to her son.

"And?"

"There are six of us, we need our own space, Noah."

"That's why there are two rooms, Mother," he countered.

"Two rooms to share between six of us, can't you see what's wrong with that?"

The elevator doors slid open and he stepped inside, "I'm losing money for this vacation. I paid for the flights, you're all staying in my hotel free of charge, yet none of you will stop bothering me!" The doors started to slide close but Sherry put her arm in front and they sprung back open. As she did, Alan walked over.

"Don't be so disrespectful to your mother, we never raised you to be like that. I understand this is a stressful time for you, but there is no need to act like such an asshole. We're taking another room and that'll be the end of it," Alan shut his son down immediately and Noah nodded, muttering that they will be billed for the room. Sherry removed her arm and stepped away from the elevator doors before they closed. After collecting another key from the front desk the twins, their parents, Sophia and Mason rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor.

Sherry handed one key card to Kelly and the other to Jackson, "Kelly you'll share with Sophia and Jack you're with Mason. Your rooms are a couple apart and we're just down the hall on the left. If there are any problems you know where we are."

*

Sophia and Kelly settled into their rooms after browsing around the shops in the town when there was a knock at the door. Mason and Jackson stood outside, wearing a pair of swimming trunks and each had a towel thrown over their shoulder. "We were going to head down to the pool. You coming?" Jack asked the two women, who told him they'd meet them after they changed.

"What do you think of this one?" Kelly asked as she held up a vibrant pink bikini.

"It's a little bright," Sophia joked.

Kelly threw it back into her case and held up another. "What about this one?"

"I love that one and so will he," she smirked and Kelly asked who she was talking about. "You know who. Mason. Why? Who were you thinking about?" Kelly shook her head to dismiss her. "Kai at the front desk?"

"What? No."

"I saw the way you look at him and if I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a bit of a thing for him."

"Maybe when I was like 16 but not anymore."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive. Besides," her voice was a whisper. "While we were having our little chat, he asked me if Jack was single." Kelly told her and marched into the bathroom to change. While Kelly changed, Sophia did the same and slipped into a thin-strapped black bikini. She grabbed her towel, sunscreen and sunglasses, and they made their way down to the pool.

Mason was swimming laps in the pool and Jackson was laying on a lounge chair with his earphones plugged in and a baseball cap set low on his forehead when the women arrived. Sophia laid her towel onto the chair on the right of Jackson and Kelly sat next to her. Jackson smiled as he saw Sophia and plucked his earphone from his ear. They talked for a while and Jackson's full attention was focused on her. He listened, talked and gave her the friendship and support he knew she needed to cope over the next week. "That room there is mine and Mason's." Jackson pointed at the fourteenth floor of the tall building in front of them. He then dragged his finger across the open air to a room a couple of balconies to the left. "So that one must be yours. You know what that means?"

"Unfortunately," she joked. "If you try to walk across the edge of your balcony to mine in the middle of the night wearing a red thong and a towel, I will not be unlocking the door." Sophia told him, referencing the movie 'John Tucker Must Die' that they had watched on the flight.

He laughed. "I was just gonna say if the one next to yours is free, we'd technically be next-door neighbours..." he paused. "So walking across wouldn't be that hard."

"Or you could just walk down the corridor like a normal person would."

"Is that an invitation?" Jackson smirked.

"Yeah, in your dreams."

"Right... that's where I pictured this going in a whole other direction." He paused for a quick second, then: "I'm really glad you came on this holiday. Would've been pretty shit having to hang around Kelly while she drools over Mason for ten days."

"Would it have really been that bad?" She countered.

"Absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I love them both, but just not together."

Sophia's tone turned serious. "At least she's found a good guy. There's not many of those out there."

Jackson shrugged in understanding and changed the subject. "We should probably head up to shower. Kelly and Mason have already gone. The restaurant opens in a half-hour." They went their separate ways as they reached the fourteenth floor, Sophia to her room and Jackson to his. As she entered, the giggling that could be heard from outside stopped and two sets of eyes bore into Sophia's. A second later, Mason stood from his laying position next to Kelly and left the room without a word.

"Don't." Kelly ended any thoughts that were about to escape Sophia's lips. She concealed a smile as she grabbed her toiletries bag and went into the bathroom to shower. After curling her hair and slipping into a smart-but-casual outfit, she and Kelly met the two men outside their room and were escorted down to dinner, arm in arm. Jackson, being the gentleman he was, pulled out a chair for Sophia before settling next to her. At the restaurant, there were only six of them. Brooke and Noah were nowhere to be seen as they ordered their starters. The two seats were vacant for the rest of the evening, even though Sherry had insisted Noah would join them soon. As the last drop of wine was poured and the final slice of cake devoured, Sophia knew their evening was coming to an end. It was only ten-thirty and she wasn't tired in the slightest, although she knew she should have been. Her body was telling her it was four-thirty, the time her internal body clock woke her up. Sophia was used to the long days without any sleep, it was how she lived while in college and into her twenties, it seemed to have stuck. She often went two or three days with little to no sleep as she juggled her assignments, classes and a part-time job. That, in the end, was why she agreed to move in with Brad after such a short time. His apartment was closer to her job, although a little further from campus, and he drove her to and from each day. Towards the end of their relationship, she realised she craved any moment away from him and his temper, but in the beginning having him by her side was bliss.

The next two evenings followed in suit. Noah and Brooke didn't join the McKenzie family for their evening meal or the drinks that followed. Noah had been distant and his mother was becoming increasingly concerned.

"Want to take a walk?" Jackson asked as he and Sophia were the last two at the table. Just like her, he could function on little sleep. His parents had gone to bed and so had Kelly and Mason. The moon reflected onto the ocean, the picture bobbing from the gentle waves. Jackson and Sophia sat at the end of the pier with their legs dangling over the edge, looking out onto the horizon. "Can I ask you something?" Sophia told him to go ahead. "Why did you agree to come?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you come with us? You didn't have to, James didn't."

"I wasn't going to pass up a once in a lifetime opportunity. I've never been to Hawaii and I don't think I'll ever have the chance to come here again."

"I just don't understand why you'd put yourself in this position."

"What position?"

He gestured to the surroundings. "This one. The one where you have to be around the man you love while he's here with his fiancée." Sophia shook her head as if to dismiss his interrogation. "Do you love him?" Jackson asked.

She stayed silent, replaying his words in her mind. The name of the person being talked about didn't have to be mentioned, there was an understanding between them. She kept her gaze cast out onto the ship out on the distant water as she wondered how to answer. Did she love him, or was it lust she was feeling, lust for a man she knew was out of her reach? And although she was sure there were sparks between them, she wondered whether they were feelings of gratefulness; after all, he'd saved her from the streets, even though he did cast her aside the first chance he got. But now she was in Hawaii on his family vacation paid for by him, and she thought of the possibility it had been a gesture to apologise. Deep down, she hoped it wasn't. Deep down, she hoped the reason she was invited on the vacation was because he missed her as much as she missed him.

"Sometimes I wonder if love is even real. In the end, you always get hurt," Sophia admitted.

He turned to look at her and something caught his eye in the distance. "If there isn't such a thing as love, then I don't believe you and I would be sitting here."

"How so?"

He tilted his head up to the right, looking in the direction of the hotel. "Look around: we're in Hawaii, sitting on the beach and we haven't had to pay a dime."

"That's the sort of thing family does for each other."

"You're not family and you're here."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you mean a lot to all of us." She thought back to her recent conversation with Alan. "But you mean the most to my brother."

She shook her head, wanting to change the topic. "He's always talking in riddles, so if that is true - which it isn't - then why doesn't he tell me that himself? On the plane here, Noah told me that he had to choose between me and your family, yet here we both are. He claims it wasn't between Brooke and I, but how can I believe him when she's up there with him and I'm down here with you looking like an emotional wreck pining after a man who doesn't want me!"

"Has he told you he doesn't want you?"

"Typically, people don't tell you that they don't want you, they just ghost you and forget you exist."

"Yet here you are," Jackson mimicked her words from before. "You're stubborn, you know that?"

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm being realistic."

"You're being far from realistic. He's clearly head over heels in love with you and you're too stuck in your ways to see sense. Just because he doesn't scream it from the rooftop, doesn't mean he isn't feeling it."

"For someone who has never been in love, you have a hell of a lot of opinions on it."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I have eyes, Sophia. I can see the way you two look at each other. You snuck into the bathroom on the plane to do god knows what. You weren't exactly subtle about it."

Her cheeks flushed red. "We just talked."

"Did he take Brooke into the bathroom to talk?" She stuttered for words. "Or any of us? Sophia, I've come to realise you're like a sister to me and I love you, but you're such an idiot. I'm telling you this as a guy and as your friend; us McKenzies aren't very good at showing our feelings, Noah in particular. He rarely tells our parents he loves them, but we all know he does. He would go to the end of the earth and back for us and I know he'd do the same for you. But Brooke... that's a whole other story. There was one time he would've done anything for her, but that was a long time ago."

"Explain to me why he's still with her, because nothing makes sense to me anymore."

He sighed. "There's always something driving Noah, he never does anything without a motive. I don't know what that motive is, but I'm sure there is one. You just need to talk to him."

"I try, but he always shuts me down. Complains of me being in danger." At that moment she knew she'd said too much, but thankfully, Jackson hadn't picked up on it and she continued. "He doesn't love me."

Jackson veered the conversation in a different direction. "How long have we been sitting here?"

Sophia looked at her phone. "About half an hour, why?"

He turned his head to the right again and she did the same. As her eyes locked with the man's whose ears must have been burning, Jackson spoke. "He's been standing there this whole time." No more was needed to be said and she turned back to Jackson, who had stood and was dusting off his shorts. He held out his hands for Sophia and she took them gratefully as she got to her feet. In the distance, the sound of metal crashing onto the floor caused Sophia's head to jolt to the side, to where Noah had been standing a couple of seconds earlier. In his absence, a trash can rocked back and forth on its side and walking away from the scene was Noah, his hands balled into fists and his body tense.

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How did you enjoy this chapter? Let me know in the comments!

Also my amazing friend agirlypage made me a new cover for His Secret. What do you guys think?
Should I change it or should I keep the one I have already?
I love them both so I really don't know!
(This is the new cover she made)