17. When Bottoms Collide
CHAPTER 17
when bottoms collide
MICK
I came into Coral Cove, ready to tell RiRi that I was done for the day, so I could find Belle and stay inside her until she had to leave. Maybe she'd tell me she loved me again. Fuck, but it had felt good to hear her say it. I was still on a high because of it.
The familiar sounds of laughter, the jarring music, and the smell of alcohol welcomed me.
"RiRi." I flopped onto a barstool.
She glared at me.
"What? I didn't put any new scratches on the boat; all the ones that are there are old—" I stopped talking when she tilted her chin and turned to look at what she was gesturing at. Belle stood at one side of the room, her arms crossed, her face pale…her suitcase by her feet, and her backpack on a chair.
I felt a knot in my gut.
She knew.
I knew she knew.
I walked up to her, and as I got closer, I saw her eyes were red-rimmed. She'd been crying. Fuck !
"Hey, darlin'." I decided to pretend that everything was fine and maybe everything was and I was just…. She pulled away when I tried to kiss her, shaking her head.
"Dr. Nicholas Augustus, I presume." There was a wealth of hurt in her voice, and pain simmered in her eyes.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my board shorts and stared down at my flip-flops for what felt like forever. Then, finally, I lifted my head to meet her gaze. "I'm Mick Bottom."
"Formerly known as Dr. Nicholas Augustus," she said sadly. "Were you just going to keep lying to me? Keep letting me believe that you were Mick, just some guy I happened to meet here?"
"That was the plan."
I folded my arms, feeling the weight of everyone's eyes on us—Franco, Cato, RiRi, even toothless Nick, all of them waiting to see how this would play out.
"Why?"
"Why?" I cocked an eyebrow. "You think you're the first person to come looking for me? You manipulated my mother into getting her to tell you where I was. There's a reason no one knows. Did you think that my privacy meant nothing?"
Okay, so maybe that was the wrong approach to take because she looked stricken. But I was cornered, and what did a rabid animal do when that happened? It attacked.
"You knew why I needed you."
I laughed without humor. "And you think you're the first pharma executive to chase me down? Newsflash, Babycakes—you're not the first corporate climber to try to use me to benefit their career."
"I'm not a corporate climber," she breathed. Her arms tightened around her waist as if she couldn't believe this was happening.
Well, hell, woman, neither the fuck can I.
"Really?" I mocked .
Stop it, Mick. Just because you got caught doesn't mean you have to be an asshole. This came from the guy with the horns on my shoulder. When your evil subconscious is telling you that you're being a dick, then you're really far gone. I was.
"You didn't have to pretend to be…. You didn't." She looked adorably sad and broken, and all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her it was going to be alright. But I was a practical man, and I knew that shit wasn't true, so I took the easy path again .
"Yeah, well, it seemed like that was the version of me you wanted, Belle. Come on, don't tell me you didn't enjoy your little island fling with a beach bum?" And then, because I was indeed an asshole, I added with a leer, "You came here to use me…I just let you use me differently ."
She recoiled, her eyes filled with a pain that cut deeper than I wanted to admit. "Use you? Mick, I didn't come here to use you. I came to find someone who could help me make a difference, who could save lives."
"You forget, I know your type. Hell, I was your type. But even I didn't go chasing someone to put a notch on my professional bedpost to a fucking Caribbean island at the ass end of nowhere. I was never that desperate."
She swallowed.
Stop it, Mick. You're hurting her.
"I told you what I was trying to do, and you let me go on, day after day, thinking I was chasing a ghost," she protested, her voice low.
"Because I was a ghost, Belle! You wanted Dr. Augustus for whatever little piece of scientific fame you were after. Don't act like it's some big charity mission when it's really just your shot at a published paper and a plaque on your wall."
She shook her head, biting back tears. "You don't understand. This isn't about fame for me. This is about saving kids' lives, about giving them a chance that no one else can?— "
"Right. And it just happens to be good for your career, too," I cut in, my voice hard, merciless. "Don't pretend this is all some selfless crusade. You're exactly like I was. Chasing awards, papers, that next title in front of your name. You've been ticking boxes since you got here, checking off find the reclusive scientist and save the day . But let me tell you something, Lady Freeze : you're not saving anyone here, least of all me."
I heard Franco hiss, and I realized he was standing behind me.
"Hey, Mick, why don't you and I go for a walk?" Franco suggested, his hand on my arm.
I shrugged him off.
The hurt in Belle's eyes was so raw that it almost made me stop. Almost . But I couldn't let her in, couldn't let her tear open all those pieces of my past I'd worked so damn hard to bury.
"I thought…" She choked on her words, her voice so soft I almost missed it. "I thought you cared. I thought…this was real."
I laughed, though it tasted bitter. "Real? What the fuck are you talking about? You came to find me, and I decided to have a little fun with it. No harm, no foul."
"Mick," RiRi said sharply. "Get da fuck out of my bar. Now ."
I turned around. "What? You all knew what was going on and?—"
"Shut the fuck up, Mick," Cato said, his voice hard. "You're being cruel, and you're gonna get an ass-kicking if you don't shut your pie hole."
"Fuck this!" I threw my arms up in the air and then turned to look at Belle. "I'm signing fucking nothing. Got it? And don't you fucking dare tell anyone where I am and ruin my peace of mind and my life. If you do, I still have a name in the industry, and I'll blackball you."
She took a step back at that.
What the fuck was I doing?
I'd been caught, and I was angry, so I was lashing out at her. But it was her fault. If she hadn't come looking for me, then I wouldn't be feeling like shit that she was leaving. I would….
She swallowed, and for a moment, I thought she might say something back to end this. But she didn't. She just turned, her shoulders hunched, as if the weight of everything I'd thrown at her had broken her.
Franco gave me a look of pure disgust, shaking his head, and even Cato, who'd always had my back, scowled at me. RiRi was glaring at me with a look that bordered on pity.
Belle walked into the night, leaving her suitcase and backpack behind. I watched her and every fiber of me ached with the things I hadn't said.
Don't leave the island.
Stay.
Say you love me.
But it was better this way. It had to be better this way. Because the truth was, if I'd let her stay, she'd keep looking for Dr. Augustus in me—and that was a man I'd left behind a long, long time ago.