Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
A dam knew something was up when he stepped onto the beach. Even though Mattie smiled at Brandon and congratulated him for winning all four races, there was something off about the way she did it. Her smile wasn’t quite as warm, and she spoke with the cool, professional tone she’d used when they first met instead of the laid-back Southern sweetness he’d come to know.
He hadn’t been away from her that long. What possibly could have happened?
Adam sat on the loveseat with Mattie. “I really liked what you came up with for the last verse.”
It was a lame start to conversation.
“Thank you.” She sounded so distant he barely heard her.
Brandon walked up balancing two plates of food and a bottle of beer. “Hey, Mattie, want me to give you a few lessons on the board? Adam’s a lousy teacher.”
“No, thanks,” Mattie said. “I think I’ll stick to the beach. That really wore me out.”
“I promise it gets better,” Brandon said. He lowered himself onto the love seat next to them and arranged his plates around him like a buffet.
Adam tried again to get her attention. “I think we’ll finish the second song tomorrow, don’t you?”
Mattie nodded.
The knot of tension in his stomach tightened. She wasn’t frowning, but she wasn’t smiling, either. She looked like she had a stone in her shoe that she just couldn’t shake.
He shifted his chair closer to her until they sat face-to-face with their knees almost touching. “Okay, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” Mattie took a long sip from her cocktail.
“Did something happen while we were out on the water?”
Mattie’s gaze shifted to the left, then back. “Not really.”
Adam looked to see who’d caught her attention. Flynn lay on the lounge chair beside them, snoring. “Did Flynn do something? He’s an immature brat sometimes.”
“Flynn was actually quite helpful,” she said with a dangerous lilt.
It sounded like he’d just tripped over something important. “Really? How?”
Mattie pressed her lips together in a gesture he’d come to interpret as Southern politeness at war with the words she wanted to say.
He leaned toward her. “Come on. Just tell me.”
She sighed, then nodded as if she’d just agreed to some internal debate. “Remember the photo they took of us the day we met?”
He thought about it. “Us shaking hands at the studio. Right, so what about it?”
“Piper sent me a link. LA POP has picked it up, so we’ve gone national. It’s next to a headline that reads, ‘Bellamy Babe Banished.’ They think you and I escaped to a tropical island. ”
He could see how upset she was, but he didn’t see any issues with what she’d shared. “So?”
She gave him a look that told him he’d missed something blindingly obvious. “How’d they know we’re on a tropical island?”
“It’s just a lucky guess.” He shrugged. “It happens. Nobody actually knows we’re here except us.”
Mattie wiped the condensation on her glass. “My sisters know. So does Kat.”
“You think your manager leaked the info?” That would explain why she looked so preoccupied.
“No.” Mattie’s voice was firm. “Kat wouldn’t do that.”
“Okay. Who?” He glanced around at the group. Brandon tossed popcorn at Flynn’s open mouth with maniacal glee. Cooper avoided looking at them and ate his sandwich with the delicate touch of a world-class guitarist. LT was nowhere to be seen. “No way any of us would post anything about our location to anyone. They all know how important this trip is.”
To me , he added silently.
“Maybe not on purpose.” Mattie’s gaze flicked back to Flynn.
“Flynn’s not like that.” Adam shook his head.
Brandon paused in his assault on Flynn. “Tina might have told someone after she bolted. She can be pretty spiteful.”
Mattie frowned. “Maybe.”
“Is that what’s bothering you?” Adam asked.
“Not exactly.” Mattie clutched her cocktail with both hands. “When we met, you said you did writing retreats all the time. But the way I hear it, you do most of your writing in dive bars.”
Brandon winced. “Ouch.”
Adam tried to keep his expression neutral. “Who’d you hear that from? ”
“It doesn’t matter. Is it true?”
He thought about it. Mattie had gone back to the beach with Flynn while the rest of them played in the water. “Flynn.”
“Is it true?”
He sighed. The secret was out. He might as well come clean. “They aren’t dive bars. Exactly.”
“It’s a karaoke bar down by the bridge,” Cooper supplied. “Kinda sticky, but not seedy.”
She arched an eyebrow at Adam. “How many writing retreats have there actually been?”
He thought about denying it, but he didn’t see the point.
“None.” He glared at his brother and Flynn, then flicked one at Cooper for good measure. “This is the first time we’ve done something like this.”
“Okay.” Mattie nodded. “Then why did you lie to me about it?”
He cringed at the way she said the word “lie,” like it was the worst kind of curse. “I didn’t mean to. I blurted it out without thinking. Then I decided to make it true.”
Her expression shifted from suspicious to uncertain. “Why?”
“He does that a lot,” Brandon said. “He’s impulsive.”
“Yeah,” Cooper said. “He was having an Adam moment. Like the time his mother wanted a new dishwasher, so he bought them a whole new house. Then his dad turned it down. Adam had to turn around and sell it. His parents still don’t have a new dishwasher.”
“Or the time that his favorite ice cream place down the street from the studio was going out of business,” Brandon said. “So he bought the building and leased it back to them for $1 a year.”
Cooper grunted a laugh. “Or the time— ”
“Stop helping.” Adam waved a finger salute at the pair of them.
Brandon laughed so hard he snorted. Cooper grinned and tipped his glass.
Mattie’s lips twitched with amusement, and the sparkle was back in her eyes. He took her hand in his and she didn’t pull away. “Truth. You seemed distracted and overwhelmed. I wanted to help, and I wanted to get to know you. The idea popped into my head and out of my mouth and I didn’t see any need to call it back. I scheduled the trip right after I dropped you off that night. Even if you’d said no, we still would have come here.”
“For a month?” Cooper raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” He stared at his feet. “Trisha’s been our unofficial mascot ever since she was born, and the diagnosis was a huge blow. Losing Johnny J left a hole we won’t ever be able to fill. It’s a lot to bounce back from. We all needed a break.”
Mattie studied his face. “That’s all this is? A break?”
“All?” Brandon snorted. “This is the best vacation ever .”
“Not sure how we’ll top this,” Cooper said, “but I’m willing to try.”
“Maybe next year we go skiing?” Brandon suggested.
“No way,” Cooper said. “Too cold. I want sun and bikini babes.”
“You need a girl to treat you right,” Mattie said, “not another babe.”
“Can’t I have both?” Cooper grinned.
“Next trip,” Adam promised. Just like that, he’d agreed to future vacations. “But next time you jackasses are paying your own way.”
“Definitely somewhere cheaper then,” Cooper said.
“Yo, Adam,” LT shouted from the hut behind them .
Everyone but Flynn turned their heads in his direction.
LT waved his cell phone at them. “You see this?”
Mattie stiffened. “See what?”
LT jogged across the sand to Adam and Mattie and held his phone out. Brandon and Cooper crowded around so they could see the screen.
The group shot the photographer had taken before they went Jet Skiing was displayed in vivid detail, but it was zoomed in so that he and Mattie were centered, while only half of Cooper’s face showed. Tina and Brandon were cut out entirely.
Mattie stood up and took the phone from LT. “Where did you find this?”
“ Buzz 9 . It posted about an hour ago.” LT kicked Flynn’s foot. “Dude. Did you send this shot to the vultures?”
Flynn snorted and jerked awake. “Hey! Watch it.”
“No way Flynn did that,” Brandon said. “Like, literally. Flynn didn’t bring his phone, and besides that photographer never sent us the image. Not to me, anyway.”
“Me either,” Cooper said. “And he should have, since my name’s on the account.”
“He didn’t send it to me either, and I’m paying the bill.” Adam looked over Mattie’s shoulder while she scrolled through the blog post. Tension rolled off her in waves.
Cooper pulled out his phone and tapped to bring up the website.
“What?” Flynn rubbed his face with both hands. “What’d I miss?”
“ Buzz 9 posted that group shot of you guys, that’s what,” LT said. “The story’s the usual crap. Not a big deal, but someone’s definitely sold out.”
“What’s it say?” Brandon asked. “Read it.”
Cooper cleared his throat. “‘ Bellamy and Brooks in Paradise. Look who isn’t wasting any time! It turns out the rumors might be true. Mattie Bellamy and Adam Brooks, along with the entire Delusions of Glory band, are in a tropical sweet spot and it looks like things are heating up. We think they look pretty cozy. Is it just us, or has this Bellamy Babe forgotten all about poor Devon Morales? No word on whether Devon is devastated over this latest development. ’”
Mattie groaned. “Perfect. Just perfect.”
Adam watched the tension creep over her face to crinkle her forehead. Gossip like this was a daily fixture in his life. Most of the time, he made fun of it or shrugged it off. His friends and family knew the truth, and that was all that mattered.
But he didn’t like that worried look in Mattie’s eyes. He wanted to punch the asshole who put it there. He flexed his fists in anticipation. “Who the hell sent them that shot?”
Brandon snatched Cooper’s phone out of his hand. “They post anything else?”
Adam looked at Cooper. “Would Tina do this?”
Cooper’s face clouded over. “I don’t know, man. A few days ago I’d say no way, but she was pretty pissed off when she left. She could have done it out of spite.”
Mattie handed LT’s phone back to him. “It doesn’t really matter now. It’s out there.”
LT studied the screen. “You know it’s none of us. Someone got paid, and none of us need the cash.”
“Who had access?” Brandon asked.
“Any of the staff on the island could have done it,” LT said, “but the best bet is the photographer. He had the shot.”
Adam squeezed Mattie’s shoulders. “I’ll be right back.”
Adam stalked toward the hut where he saw several resort staff huddled together. Halfway there Mattie joined him, matching him stride for stride. The rest of the band followed close behind.
The clustered group of employees watched them approach with wide eyed shock. One peeled off from the rest to run through the doors at the back of the hut where Adam assumed the manager was hiding.
A short, thin woman with speckled gray hair and a freckled face stepped forward as they entered the hut. Her hands were outstretched in the universal please-don’t-kill-the-messenger gesture. “Mr. Adam, I am Sonji, the day supervisor. I have just been informed that there may have been a…a…”
“I think ‘leak’ is the word you’re searching for.” Adam took the phone from LT and held it out to Sonji. “I want to know who sold us out.”
“Mr. Adam, no one here would do such a thing. No one. I am so sorry this happened.”
“Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” Adam said. He would do whatever it took to make this go away for Mattie.
“Where’s the photographer?” Cooper asked in the calm, neutral voice he used whenever he thought Adam needed to be handled.
Sonji spread her hands out wide. “I do not know, Mr. Cooper. He has gone. I do not know where he went. I am so sorry.”
The door banged open, and several resort staff rushed through, led by Mattie’s butler, Abayomi, and a tall woman dressed in a crisp linen suit and air of authority.
“Mr. Brooks, Miss Bellamy.” The woman held out her hand for them to shake. “My name is Veronique Labrosse, and I am the general manager for the Syer Island Resort. I apologize for taking so long to greet you. I wanted to check our records to be sure I could provide answers.”
“Where’s the photographer?” He tried to keep his tone polite, but anger made his voice shake.
“Mr. Donnelly has left the island, Mr. Brooks. My apologies, but he is no longer an employee. ”
“When?” Cooper asked.
“Where the hell did he go?” Adam demanded.
Veronique looked apologetic. “He left two days ago on the supply shuttle. He requested a day pass to take care of some business on the main island and did not return. His number has been disconnected, and the address on file is a post office box in Los Angeles, California.”
“Bingo,” Brandon said. “We have a winner.”
“Why are we so worried about this?” Flynn asked. “The shot’s not that exciting.”
Adam gritted his teeth. “We’re worried about it because we came here to avoid this kind of crap.”
“I thought you vetted all the staff here,” LT said. “How’d this douche slip through?”
The manager clutched her hands in front of her. She looked professional and polite, but not nearly concerned enough for Adam’s liking right now.
“Mr. Donnelly was a temporary employee, hired from a very reputable agency to fill in for our regular photographer who was called away at the last minute. The agency performs rigorous background checks and sent him with the highest recommendations. We will, of course, be looking into this matter further with the agency.” Veronique spread her hands in a gesture of apology. “We pride ourselves on our discretion and service and I assure you this will not happen again. To make up for our lapse I will be providing a substantial discount on the final total of your stay. I hope this in some way alleviates the pain this has caused.”
“I don’t need a damn discount,” Adam snarled. “I need to know where this asshole went and what other shots he sold and where.”
“How much of a discount?” Cooper stopped in front of Adam and held out a placating hand to shut him up .
Veronique smiled. “I am happy to negotiate the exact number when you have time, Mr. Cooper.”
“I need someone to find this jerk.” Adam turned to LT. “Isn’t your cousin a detective or something?”
LT shook his head. “He’s a state trooper in New York. Won’t do you any good, man.”
“There’s bound to be somebody we can hire.”
Mattie put a hand on Adam’s arm. “There’s no point. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Her voice sounded hollow and empty, and it ramped up his anger several more notches until the back of his neck felt prickly.
“I’ll fix this,” Adam told her. “I swear I will.”
“How? You can’t go back in time. You can’t rewrite history. Nobody can.” Mattie squeezed his arm then turned to her butler. “Abayomi, is there a golf cart I can use?”
“I will take you home, Miss Mattie.” Abayomi stepped forward. “Come with me.”
“Wait,” Adam held out a hand to stop her, “I’ll take you.”
“No.” She flashed a quick smile, but it was quickly replaced by a look of utter exhaustion. “I need to get some rest, and you need to stay and deal with this.”
He wanted to protest, but she waved at the rest of the group and followed Abayomi out of the hut before he could stop her.
He watched her go, hoping like hell this stupid stunt didn’t push her away from the island, and him. After the way she’d reacted when they’d first arrived, and the shit Devon the Douche had pulled, he had a feeling he might find her packing her bags when he got back to the villa.
He hoped he was wrong. He’d never hoped for anything more in his entire life.